Dirty Dozen Brass Band

Dirty Dozen Brass Band
Dirty Dozen Brass Band in 2018
Background information
Origin	New Orleans,Louisiana,U.S.
Genres	Jazz,New Orleans R&B,Jazz fusion,Second Line,Funk,Soul,Jam Band
Years active	1977–present
Labels	Concord Jazz,Rounder,Columbia,Mammoth,Ropeadope,Shout! Factory
Members	Gregory Davis –trumpet,vocals Roger Lewis –baritone,sopranosax,Vocals Kevin Harris –Tenor saxophone,vocals Kirk Joseph– Sousaphone TJ Norris –Trombone,vocals Julian Addison –Drums,Vocals Takeshi Shimmura –Guitar
Past members	Charles Joseph– Trombone Benny Jones – Bass drum Lionel Batiste –Bass drum Jenell Marshall –Snare drum Keith Anderson –Trombone Richard Knox –Keyboard Big Sam–Trombone Jamie McLean –Guitar Julius McKee –Sousaphone Revert Andrews –Trombone Terence Higgins –Drums Jermal Watson –Drums Kyle Roussel–Keyboard Jake Eckert –Guitar Efrem Towns – Trumpet,flugelhorn
Website	dirtydozenbrass

TheDirty Dozen Brass Bandis an Americanbrass bandbased inNew Orleans,Louisiana.The ensemble was established in 1977, by Benny Jones and members of theTornado Brass Band.The Dirty Dozen incorporatedfunkandbebopinto the traditionalNew Orleans jazzstyle, and has since been a major influence on local music. They won theGrammy Award for Best American Roots Performancein 2023.

Beginnings

The Dirty Dozen Brass Band grew out of the youth music program established byDanny Barkerat New Orleans' FairviewBaptistChurch. In 1972, Barker started theFairview Baptist Church Marching Bandto provide young people with a positive outlet for their energies. The band achieved considerable local popularity and transformed itself into a professional outfit led bytrumpetplayerLeroy Jonesand known as theHurricane Brass Band.By 1976, however, opportunities for brass bands were drying up; Jones left the group to play mainstream jazz and, after a brief period as the Tornado Brass Band, the group fell apart.

A few of the musicians from the Tornado band—trumpeter Gregory Davis,sousaphone playerKirk Joseph,trombone playerCharles Joseph,andsaxophone playerKevin Harris–continued to rehearse together into 1977, and they were joined by Efrem Towns (trumpet player/lead singer) and Roger Lewis on saxophone and Benny Jones and Jenell Marshall on drums. By this point the popularity of brass band music in New Orleans was at a low ebb, and paying gigs were rare, a circumstance which influenced the early development of the band. As Davis describes it:

In the beginning, there was a lot of rehearsal going on,... [and] we started to develop a repertoire.... We were just rehearsing, and we were interested in learning the chord progressions and the melodies.... We were all free to bring in whatever we wanted to rehearsal. We weren't thinking about getting gigs.

This sense of freedom allowed the band to incorporate bebop tunes andjazzstandards into their repertoire, as well as lighthearted pieces likeThe Flintstonestheme song.

When Benny Jones, who was active in the social and pleasure club scene, was asked to get a band together for a parade, he would draw from this rehearsal group; before long, Gregory Davis assumed leadership of the band. "I thought it would be better to use the same people as often as I could," he explains. "That helped to keep it tight." The band initially called themselves the OriginalSixth WardDirty Dozen, a name created to show their strong connection to theTreméneighborhood and the local social club scene, as represented by the Dirty Dozen Social and Pleasure Club.

The band began playing regular Thursday night gigs at aSeventh Wardclub called Daryl's, and later added a regular spot at the Glasshouse, a neighborhood bar in a black neighborhood ofUptown New Orleans,which lasted "about seven or eight years". The performances at Daryl's caught the attention of Jerry Brock, a radio broadcaster and co-founder of new local radio stationWWOZ.Brock describes his initial reaction to the band:

I'll never forget the first time I walked in there.... The people were so exuberant—the floor was covered with people, rolling on the floor!... This is what the Fairview band and the Hurricane Brass Band had been leading up to—the Dirty Dozen had renewed this music to the New Orleans community. The people were going wild. Going to Daryl's became the weekly ritual.

Popularity

In 1980, Jerry Brock made the first professional recording of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, which he played frequently on WWOZ. He also prepared a press kit for the group and, in his words, "helped them to present themselves professionally".

Back in 1982, Brock had arranged a concert for the band at the well-known local music venueTipitina's,which was the first time they had played at a "white club" in New Orleans. It was a double bill with Danny Barker. Barker and The Dozen were both apprehensive about the match-up: Barker about being blown off the stage and The Dozen out of respect and knowledge of Barker's deep roots and knowledge. The Dozen were recognized as the new energy and force that they were and Mr. Barker held his own as the elder statesman giving his blessing to the generations to come. Afterwards the band had one of its first international appearances, whenKidd Jordanrecommended the band to the organizers ofSwingin' Groningenin theNetherlands.

The band's popularity began to take off in 1984. PromoterGeorge Weinbooked them on a tour ofsouthern Europe,and when they returned to the United States they secured engagements at two clubs inNew York:Tramp's andThe Village Gate,where their original short bookings were extended to six weeks. After a week at home in New Orleans the band travelled toCaliforniafor four weeks, and before the year was out they made three more trips to Europe. 1984 also saw the recording and release of the band's first album,My Feet Can't Fail Me Now,on theConcord Jazzlabel. Gregory Davis assesses the band's popularity at the time:

Outside Louisiana, support was in pockets. It was okay in California, but our widest support was in Europe.... There were many more festivals and clubs that featured jazz, and a high level of enthusiasm. We got the same sort of reception inJapan.

In 1986, the band's set at theMontreux Jazz FestivalinMontreux,Switzerland,was recorded and released asMardi Gras at MontreuxonRounder Records.The album and the band's touring successes attracted major-label attention, and in 1987 the band signed a contract withColumbia.Their Columbia debut, 1989'sVoodoo,featured guest appearances byDr. John,Dizzy Gillespie,andBranford Marsalis.Later recordings saw them joined by a variety of special guests includingElvis Costello,DJ Logic,Norah Jones,and the man who started it all,Danny Barker.The group has also toured and recorded withjam bandWidespread Panic,as well as spending almost all of 1995 as the opening act forThe Black Crowes'Amorica Or Bust' US Tour.

Dirty Dozen Brass Band in 2008

In 1998, after a five-year hiatus from recording, the band switched labels to releaseEars to the WallonMammoth Records.They followed it up in 1999 withBuck Jumpwhich was produced byJohn MedeskiofMedeski Martin & Wood.(Medeski also playedHammond B3on the album.) Their next album, 2002'sMedicated Magic,appeared onRopeadope Records,as did their subsequent studio release,Funeral for a Friend,which appeared in 2004.Funeral for a Friendrepresents something of a return to the band's roots: it is a documentation of a New Orleans "funeral with music",the original environment of the brass band form. They appear on the 2005 benefit albumA Celebration of New Orleans Music to Benefit MusiCares Hurricane Relief 2005,with the song "Mardi Gras In New Orleans". They were also featured on two tracks onModest Mouse's albumGood News for People Who Love Bad News:"Horn Intro" and "This Devil's Workday." On August 29, 2006, the Dozen releasedWhat's Going On,their version of the entire 1971Marvin Gayelandmark discWhat's Going Onas a response to the devastation ofHurricane Katrinathat struck New Orleans exactly one year earlier.

The band appears in performance footage and bandleader Davis is interviewed on screen in the 2005 documentary filmMake It Funky!,which presents a history ofNew Orleans musicand its influence onrhythm and blues,rock and roll,funkandjazz.In the film, the band performs "My Feet Can't Fail Me Now" with guestsIrvin MayfieldandTroy Andrews.

Influence

From the beginning, the music of the Dirty Dozen was a departure from the traditional New Orleans brass band sound, and as the band's popularity increased, the distance between them and more traditional groups only grew. When Kirk and Charles Joseph suddenly left the band in 1991, citing the pressures of the group's demanding touring schedule, Davis was forced to replace Kirk Joseph not with another sousaphonist but with anelectric bassplayer. Similarly, in 1994 drummersLionel Batiste(who had replaced Benny Jones onbass drumsome years earlier) and Jenell Marshall left the group; Davis was unable to find a pair of drummers who met his expectations, and instead hired a single musician to play thedrum kit.The subsequent addition of a keyboard player andguitaristremoved the band still further from its street-band roots. Finally, throughout the band's history they relied on written arrangements to a far greater extent than do most other New Orleans brass bands.

Despite the Dirty Dozen's uniqueness, however, the band's success inspired a resurgence of New Orleans' brass band music, both in the city and nationwide. The band was most influential in the 1980s, when they demonstrated by example that brass band music could be successful by moving beyond a type of music that risked stagnation as nothing more than a tourist attraction. Before the Dirty Dozen band was formed theOlympia Brass Bandwas already mi xingR&Band jazz influences in with traditional tunes; the Dirty Dozen took this farther, and gave the trend worldwide visibility. Bands which followed in their wake did not all follow their more jazz-oriented stage-band approach—only theSoul Rebelshave gone in that direction—but a wide variety of bands, from theRebirth Brass BandtoWisconsin'sYoungblood Brass Band,have been influenced by them in other ways. Rebirth has the most direct connection with the Dirty Dozen: they got their start playing at Daryl's when the Dirty Dozen was on the road.

Awards and honors

Grammy Awards

Year	Category	Work nominated	Result	Ref.
2023	Best American Roots Performance	"Stompin' Ground" (withAaron Neville)	Won

OffBeat's Best of The Beat Awards

Year	Category	Work nominated	Result	Ref.
2002	Best Brass Band		Won
	Best Brass Band Album	Medicated Magic	Won
2004	Best Brass Band		Won
	Best Brass Band Album	Funeral for a Friend	Won
2006	Best Brass Band Album	What's Going On	Won
2020	Lifetime Achievement in Music		Won

Discography

• 1984 –My Feet Can't Fail Me Now(Concord Jazz)
• 1986 –Live: Mardi Gras In Montreux(Rounder)
• 1989 –Voodoo(Columbia) featuringDr. John,Dizzy GillespieandBranford Marsalis
• 1990 –The New Orleans Album(Columbia) featuringDanny Barker,Dave Bartholomew,Eddie BoandElvis Costello
• 1991 –Open Up: Whatcha Gonna Do for the Rest of Your Life(Columbia)
• 1993 –Jelly(Columbia)
• 1996 –Ears to the Wall(Mammoth)
• 1999 –Buck Jump(Mammoth) featuringJohn Medeski
• 2002 –Medicated Magic(Ropeadope Records) featuringJohn Bell,Dr. John,Olu Dara,Norah Jones,DJ Logic,andRobert Randolph
• 2003 –We Got Robbed: Live in New Orleans(self-released)
• 2004 –Funeral for a Friend(Ropeadope)
• 2005 –This Is the Dirty Dozen Brass Band(Compilation,Shout! Factory)
• 2006 –What's Going On(Shout! Factory)
• 2012 –Twenty Dozen(Savoy Jazz)

The Dirty Dozen Brass Band appears on:

• 1986 –Phil Alvin:Un "Sung" Stories(Slash)
• 1989 –The Neville Brothers:Yellow Moon(A&M Records)
• 1989 –Elvis Costello:Spike(Warner) Songs – "Deep, Dark, Truthful Mirror", "Chewing Gum", "Stalin Malone"
• 1999 –Joe Henry:Fuse(Mammoth)
• 2000 –Widespread Panic:Another Joyous Occasion
• 2003 –Dave Matthews:Some Devil
• 2004 – Widespread Panic:Night of Joy
• 2004 –Modest Mouse:Good News for People Who Love Bad News
• 2007 –Goin' Home: A Tribute to Fats Domino(Vanguard), performing "Every Night About This Time" withBuddy GuyandJoss Stone
• 2009 – Modest Mouse:No One's First and You're Next
• 2023 – Johnny King and Friends:Call It Confusion"Recensie: Johnny King and Friends – Call it confusion".bluesmagazine(in Dutch). 2023-05-23.Retrieved2024-01-16.

Further reading

• Burns, Mick.Keeping the Beat On the Street: The New Orleans Brass Band Renaissance.Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2006.ISBN0-8071-3048-6

External links

• Official website
• Dirty Dozen Brass Band collectionat theInternet Archive's live music archive
• Press Kit from Ropeadope Records
• MusicWeb Encyclopedia of Popular Music
• Interview with Efrem Townsat About
• Interview with Roger Lewisat TheWaster