Read Keeping the Beat on the Street Online
Authors: Mick Burns
Keeping the Beat on the Street
KEEPING THE BEAT ON THE STREET
Rebirth Brass Band
Photo by John McCusker. Courtesy Hogan Jazz Archive, Tulane University
.
Majestic Brass Band (Joe Taylor, Jerome Davis, Flo Anckle)
Photo by Marceljoly
The people got the soul. We don't have it. They always say, “The band got the soul.”
We don't have no soul. The people got the soul.
â
FLOYD “FLO” ANCKLE
, leader, Majestic Brass Band
ON THE STREET
The New Orleans
Brass Band Renaissance
MICK BURNS
LOUISIANA STATE UNIVERSITY PRESS
BATON ROUGE
Published by Louisiana State University Press
Copyright © 2006 by Louisiana State University Press
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
LOUISIANA PAPERBACK EDITION
, 2008
FIRST PRINTING
DESIGNER
: Andrew Shurtz
TYPEFACE
: Tribute
PRINTER AND BINDER
: Thomson-Shore, Inc.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Burns, Mick, 1942-
      Keeping the beat on the street : the New Orleans brass band renaissance / Mick Burns,
           p. cm.
      Includes bibliographical references (p. ), discography (p. ), and index.
      ISBN 0-8071-3048-6(cloth : alk. paper)
   1. Bands (Music)âLouisianaâNew Orleans. 2. JazzâLouisianaâNew OrleansâHistory and criticism. J. MusiciansâLouisianaâNew Orleans. 4. New Orleans (La.)âSocial life and customs. I. Title.
ML1311.8.N48B87 2005
784.9'l65'0976335-dc22
ISBN 978-0-8071-3333-0 (paper : alk. paper)
Published with support from the Louisiana Sea Grant College Program, a part of the National Sea Grant College program maintained by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the U.S. Department of Commerce.
The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library Resources.
To the memory of Anthony “Tuba Fats” Lacen
BAND CALL
: Fairview Baptist Church Brass Band, Hurricane Brass Band, Chosen Few Brass Band
Danny Barker and the Fairview Baptist Church Brass Band
Anthony “Tuba Fats” Lacen, Bass Horn
Joe Torregano, Saxophones and Clarinet
Tad Jones, Jazz Writer and Historian
BAND CALL
: Dirty Dozen Brass Band
A Note on the Tremé and Its Music
Gregory “Blodie” Davis, Trumpet
“Uncle” Lionel Paul Batiste Sr., Bass Drum
Jerry Brock, Historian, Broadcaster, and Filmmaker
Keith “Wolf” Anderson, Trombone and Bass Horn
Kermit at Vaughan's, October 31, 2002
A Note on the Tambourine and Fan Club
Jerome Smith, Community Leader
Cayetano “Tanio” Hingle, Bass Drum
Kenneth “Little Milton” Terry, Trumpet
Edgar “Sarge” Smith, Bass Horn
Donna Poniatowski-Sims, Venue Proprietor
James “Little Twelve, ” Andrews, Trumpet
Lajoie “Butch” Gomez, Saxophones
“DJ” Davis Rogan, Radio Announcer
A Note on Ernest “Doc” Paulin, Trumpet
Norman Dixon, New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival Coordinator
Epilogue: Second Line on Sunday
Select Discography:
Recommended Listening
Zulu Social Aid and Pleasure Club with Tremé Brass Band, 1990
Jolly Bunch parade, 1973, second line and band
Hurricane Brass Band at George “Kid Sheik” Colar's birthday party
Dew Drop Cafe, 2840 La Salle Street
Joe Torregano with the Hurricane Brass Band, 1980
Roger Lewis, Jackson Square, 1986
Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews, Lionel Batiste Sr.
Tremé Brass Band at Freddie Kohlman's funeral, 1990
Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Jackson Square, 1986
Kermit Ruffins, Jackson Square, 1992
Tremé Community Center, St. Philip and Villere
Ruddley Thibodeaux and Danny Barker
James Andrews and Mick Burns, November 2002
Curtis Mitchell, Michael White
Aaron, Ricky, and Roddy Paulin
Brice Miller and Morten Nilsen, Copenhagen
Thanks and acknowledgments are due to
The Board of Directors of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation, Executive Director Wali Abdel Ra'oof, Program Director Sharon Martin, and Archivist Rachel Lyons, for their support and contributions
The Lincolnshire County Council
Jazzology Press, for permission to reprint passages from my book
The Great Olympia Band
New Orleans Music,
for permission to reprint “Anthony Lacen: Goodbye Tuba Fats”
The New Orleans Jazz Commission and the New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park
The William Ransom Hogan Jazz Archive at Tulane University, Curator Bruce Boyd Raeburn, and Lynn Abbott and Alma Williams Freeman
The Amistad Research Center at Tulane University, Director of Archives Brenda Square, and Heidi Dodson
Parker Dinkins, Peter Nissen, Brian Wood, Bill Bissonette, Emile Martyn, Anthony Lacen, and Helen Regis
Marcel Joly, Bill Dickens, Butch Gomez, Mike Casimir, Leroy Jones, Dave Cirilli, and Mike Peters, who provided photographs
Holly Hardiman, who helped with the index
The musicians and citizens of New Orleans, who gave freely of their time for interviews so that this story could be told
Barry Martyn, whose assistance was invaluable
Louisiana State University Press and editor George Roupe
KEEPING THE BEAT ON THE STREET
The early years of the twentieth century saw the explosive beginnings of the most culturally significant American art form, jazz. The influence of this creative phenomenon born in New Orleans changed things for ever. The whole spectrum of music, from Tin Pan Alley to musical shows to Stravinsky and Shostakovich, reflected the spirit and sound that first found expression on the streets of a city in southern Louisiana. Louis Armstrong, Sidney Bechet, Kid Ory, and King Oliver achieved considerable personal success outside the city. But they were the most visible members of a larger diaspora that carried the new music not only across America but to London, Paris, Cairo, Moscow, and Beijing. Almost all the practitioners of this new art form found a cradle for their burgeoning talents in the brass bands, which had been around for decades before jazz began. One hundred and thirty years later, the brass bands of New Orleans still perform the same function they always did and still provide a crucible for the seemingly inexhaustible supply of creative fire that is New Orleans music.
According to contemporary accounts, the first black brass bands in New Orleans appear to have hit the streets in the 1870s. Typically consisting of nine or ten pieces, they played whatever they could get hired to playâdignified sonorous dirges for funerals, sprightly military marches for parades, and popular hits of the day for dances and concerts. At that time, the brass band movement, mostly fueled by amateur musicians, flourished all over America and Europeâthere were bands attached to villages, churches, factories, plantations, and coal mines; they served as a creative outlet for the working man and a symbol of celebration and solidarity for their communities.