New Orleans Brass Bands

This CD starts off with a potentially very interesting session, the first-ever recording of a New Orleans brass band. Bunk Johnson heads a group consisting of two trumpeters (the other is Kid Shots Madison), trombonist Jim Robinson, George Lewis on the eerie E flat clarinet, Isidore Barbarin on...

On their tenth album, the Crescent City's Dirty Dozen Brass Band bring it all back to the cobblestone streets where it began. The Dozens have done it all, from straight New Orleans jazz to restless funky experimentation, and here they put it all down to the roots of its origin. Funeral for...

The Dirty Dozen Brass Band have never ceased to surprise, for better or worse, on their recordings. In 2004 they took their sound all the way back to its roots to pay tribute to deceased founding member Anthony "Tuba Fats" Lacen who passed away just a few weeks after the album was...

If you have been yearning for the original sound of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band to return, Buck Jump is it. Produced by John Medeski, the ensemble returns to their roots, but with a twist. They remain the ultimate party group, but are fastened to the stage with a drummer, organist, the full...

The release of Hot Venom finds the Rebirth Brass Band adding a definite ap element to the traditional brass band music indigenous to New Orleans. Rebirth is successful in combining the community-based traditional brass bands (which have always been a street art, featuring music that is used for...

By kicking up the beat and adding in elements of op, R&B and funk to the century-old tradition of funeral and parade standards practiced by New Orleans street bands, the Dirty Dozen Brass Band has almost single-handedly revitalized the genre over the past 30 years, and with an outstanding...

Funky Butt was the name of a New Orleans club on Ramparts Street, as well as the moniker for an old but salacious dance. Combining these associations, Funky Butt is a fiery, funky Norwegian group that delivers a New Orleans jazz band sound as bawdy as any lyrics could imply, though there are...

On Year of the Snake, the Revolutionary Snake Ensemble met a tough challenge: to create jazz with roots in the jovial New Orleans brass band tradition, but with more than enough modern twists to make it sound fresh and original, and certainly not at all revivalist. It's not just that the...

Alto saxophonist Ken Field fronts the Revolutionary Snake Ensemble, a band that has taken danceable music to both earthy and progressive levels. This CD pays close attention to the traditions of New Orleans funeral, march, and groove musics. Judging by the costumes the band wears on the booklet...

Kermit Ruffins is one of the prime reasons why New Orleans is mending post-Katrina, bringing his good-time music to the people as an entertainer. As a trumpet player and singer of heritage jazz, soul, and popular music, he's uplifting the spirit of Crescent City dwellers who are slowly but...

Mid-'80s session featuring The Rebirth Brass Band, New Orleans' finest contemporary ensemble playing in this style, along with The Dirty Dozen Brass Band. Unlike the Dirty Dozen, who are more eclectic and also have worked with high-profile rockers, the Rebirth crew mainly stick to the...

The first of a three-part series by this modern brass band devoted to reproducing vintage music in quasi-authentic style. While it's difficult for me to hear the difference between Dixieland and New Orleans traditional, the listener can judge for themselves what the differences are when...

The third volume in a three-part series by The Olympia Brass Band devoted to vintage New Orleans material. This one covers more popular and novelty tunes than its predecessors, but is done in the same exuberant, yet reverent fashion. ~ Ron Wynn, All Music Guide

Not at the same level as their debut (My Feet Can't Fail Me Now), the second outing by the Dirty Dozen Brass Band (taken from a couple sets performed at the 1985 Montreux Jazz Festival), Live: Mardi Gras in Montreux is overly loose in spots and has some lightweight material that was better...

On Big Easy, trumpeter and singer Kermit Ruffins is aiming for "that Thursday night at Vaughan's vibe," a live-and-laid-back feel that allows him to draw on all of his various stylistic strengths and influences and to go with whatever feels right at the moment. And indeed, he...

Well, there must be an original CD called "No More Parades" out there since this is a collection of alternate remixes and five previously unreleased tracks by the most lauded New Orleans brass band since Rebirth, with no musician credits. While the Soul Rebels seem intent on offering a...

Call it voodoo, mojo working or whatever you please, despite the label The Dirty Brass Dozen Band is burning in the great New Orleans tradition.It is somewhat amazing that after 18 years The Dirty Dozen Brass Band is still evolving. The New Orleans Album was acclaimed by many as one of their...

Call it voodoo, mojo working or whatever you please, despite the label The Dirty Brass Dozen Band is burning in the great New Orleans tradition.The opener is a wild kicker with special guest Dr. John supplying vocals and a mean piano on It's All Over Now. Legendary trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie...

Putumayo provides a nice introduction to Nawlins jazz here, with a pretty good mix of the classic and the contemporary. The music remains, despite its era or performer, fully of the New Orleans style. The patron saint of the city, as well as the genre, Louis Armstrong, is presented with one of...

Rounder Records began recording New Orleans musicians in 1981 and over a quarter of a century later the label has built up an impressive catalog of Crescent City releases across a wide variety of styles, from rag tag second-line street bands, lues singers, and hard pounding piano soloists to...