October 13, 2023

Journey To Nawlins, Chapter XIII : Brass Bands & Second Line
(Dirty Dozen Brass Band, New Orleans - Rebirth Brass Band, New Orleans - The Hot 8 Brass Band, New Orleans - Milton Batiste & Alton Carson with the Magnificent Sevenths, New Orleans - Mardi Brass Band, France - Funky Butt Brass Band, St Louis)



Social Clubs, Brass bands, Jazz Funerals and Second line
Early New Orleans brass band
Before going any further, in order to get a basic insight into the New Orleans brass bands ecosystem, it seems necessary to me to remind a few facts through this introduction, actually a remixed version of a text from Chapter III.

The tradition of brass bands in New Orleans appeared in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a fusion between European military bands and African traditional music (especially from the Yoruba culture
of Nigeria) brought by enslaved West Africans. New Orleans Brass bands played a significant role in the development of early jazz.

October 08, 2023

Journey To Nawlins, Chapter XII : Dr. John
(Television, 1994 - Anutha Zone, 1998 - Creole Moon, 2001)


 → Thanks also to the late Blue DeVille...


New Orleans' voodoo wizard
Dr. John, who departed this world in June 2019 😢, was a fascinating character ! Not only was he a great pianist, but he was also a fantastic composer, arranger and producer, and he had the most incredible and inimitable voice you could find. The words were rolling around in his mouth as if he was swallowing a gumbo or munching an oyster "po' boy" while singing ! Just listen to the way he pronounces the word "limbo" on track three ! His kind of squeaking voice should normally be hard to bear. Not with the Doc. Instead it's highly captivating.
Self baptized the Nite Tripper and famous for his voodoo witch looks  —  fancy feathered hats, mojo necklaces, sculpted canes, skull on his piano —, he personified New Orleans through his mix of swinging Nola R'n'B and swamp funk soaked in damp Creole voodoo mystery. Not many could do that

October 06, 2023

Journey To Nawlins, Chapter XI : Kermit Ruffins (Discography 1992-2017)


Is Satch back ?
If New Orleans' tutelary figure Louis Armstrong ever had a spiritual son, Kermit Ruffins must be the one. Even more than trombonist Glen David Andrews. He has the trumpet, he has the growling voice, he has the rejoicing kind and warm friendliness, he has the exuberant showmanship.
Oddly enough, though he started playing trumpet at 13, he didn't get really interested in jazz before discovering Armstrong at the age of 17, which is amazing considering that he is a full New Orleanian, raised in Tremé and in a very musical family (1).

October 01, 2023

Journey To Nawlins, Chapter X : Tremé : The Music, The Neighborhood, The Seriesb (About The Soundtrack From The HBO Original Series, Seasons 1 & 2)


Is music stronger than hurricanes ?
Before going any further, I must strongly encourage those who didn't or couldn't watch yet this fascinating series to do so by any mean (downloading, streaming * or... buying the DVDs separately or the complete box set). This is not compulsory to appreciate this great 2-CD soundtrack but it will put things in perspective.

September 22, 2023

Journey To Nawlins, Chapter IX – Troy Andrews a.k.a. Trombone Shorty


Trombone slinger
Jazz ? Not in the way you imagine. R&B ? Yes, but not as you'd think. So what ? So, it's New Orleans, the Big Easy, the city where all musics mingle together, where all styles nourish each other, where horn instruments are sacred, where all people of all colors brotherly dance on Mardi Gras, where musicians are laid to their grave in music…

The old French city where slaves were entitled to sing, play percussion and dance on Congo Square on Sundays… The city where jazz is born, where rock'n'roll was born, where rhythm'n'blues was born, where funk was born… The city where unclassifiable musician Troy Andrews aka Trombone Shorty was born in 1986...

September 21, 2023

Journey To Nawlins, Chapter VIII  - Various Artists & Albums


 All from Nawlins
(except one...  guess who)


 

 

 









 Snooks Eaglin - New Orleans Street Singer (1959/2005) : https://onurblues.blogspot.com/2022/02/snooks-eaglin-new-orleans-street-singer.html
 
  Johnny Sansone - The Lord Is Waiting And The Devil Is Too (2011) : https://onurblues.blogspot.com/2022/11/johnny-sansone-lord-is-waiting-and.html

Journey To Nawlins, Chapter VII : Irma Thomas

→ Thanks also to the late Blue DeVille


The Soul Queen of New Orleans
T
he soul voice of Irma Lee, aka Irma Thomas, born in 1941 in Ponchatoula, Louisiana, has been heard on airwaves, jukeboxes and in concert halls by several generations since her debut nearly 65 years ago. Her early career wasn't easy and she had to be thoroughly tenacious to become one of New Orleans icons. But she had a treasure : her voice.

Journey To Nawlins, Chapter VI - The Rough Guide To The Music of New Orleans (2-CD Special Edition, 2012)

→ Thanks also to the late Blue DeVille


The city where music never stops
I
n a recent review, I wrote : “New Orleans and her Mardi-Gras and Carnival, New Orleans and her old dixie jazz, New Orleans and her jazz funerals and second line parades, New Orleans and her tribal rhythms, New Orleans and her swamp blues and bayou R'n'B, New Orleans and her Zydeco and Cajun music, New Orleans and her French creole culture, New Orleans the unique, New Orleans the Big Easy where music is a way of life, New Orleans the Big Funky…” These few lines would fit perfectly this 2-CD Rough Guide.

Journey To Nawlins, Chapter V - New Orleans Funk (Vol. 1, 2, 3 & 4 - 2000, 2008, 2013, 2016)

→ Thanks also to the late Blue DeVille


The Big Easy...
The Big Funky
New Orleans is a fascinating musical melting-pot which not only gave birth to jazz more than a century ago, but also to funk. Funk is before all a matter of rhythm and groove, and both are historically printed in the city's DNA. This amazing four-volume 85-track collection (mostly rare singles) intends to show how this new genre of music evolved, from the pioneering steps of innovative musicians in the 1950s to adulthood in the 1970s.

Journey To Nawlins, Chapter IV - The Neville Brothers
Fiyo On The Bayou (1981) - Live at Tipitina's 1982 (1998) - Yellow Moon (1989) - Brother's Keeper (1990) - Valence Street (1999) - Walkin' In The Shadow Of Life (2004)

→ Thanks also to the late Blue DeVille


Art, Charles, Aaron & Cyril Neville
Mystic funk on the bayou
Nawlins R'n'B, bayou funk, Afro-Caribbean voodoo atmosphere and... the unique angelic voice of brother Aaron : the Neville Brothers' sound became one of the trademarks of the Crescent City.

The origins of the Neville Brothers as a band are intricately entangled with the history of several previous New Orleans groups where the brothers honed their trade : eldest brother Art's band The Hawketts in the 1950s; The Sounds, that became the house band for Allen Toussaint's Sansu label in the late 1960s, and later took the name The Meters; The Wild Tchoupitoulas, a Mardi-Gras Indian group led by their uncle George Landry aka Big Chief Jolly, whose backing band were the Meters until 1976 when they disbanded.