Keeping the beat on the street : the New Orleans brass band renaissance

Told in the words of the musicians themselves, Keeping the Beat on the Street celebrates the renewed passion and pageantry among black brass bands in New Orleans. Mick Burns introduces the people who play the music and shares their insights, showing why New Orleans is the place where jazz continues to grow. Brass bands waned during the civil rights era but revived around 1970 and then flourished in the 1980s when the music became cool with the younger generation. In the only book to cover this revival, Burns interviews members from a variety of bands, including the Fairview Baptist Church Brass Band, the Dirty Dozen, Tuba Fats' Chosen Few, and the Rebirth Brass Band. He captures their thoughts about the music, their careers, audiences, influences from rap and hip-hop, the resurgence of New Orleans social and pleasure clubs and second lines, traditional versus funk style, recording deals, and touring. For anyone who loves jazz and the city where it was born, Keeping the Beat on the Street is a book to savor. "We should be grateful to Mick Burns for undertaking the task of producing... the only book to cover the subject of what he rightly calls the brass band renaissance." -- New Orleans Music "A welcome look at the history of brass bands. These oral histories provide a valuable contribution to New Orleans musical history.... What shines through the musicians' words is love of craft, love of culture." -- New Orleans Times-Picayune "A seminal work about the Brass Bands of New Orleans." -- Louisiana Libraries

Told in the words of the musicians themselves, Keeping the Beat on the Street celebrates the renewed passion and pageantry among black brass bands in New Orleans. Mick Burns introduces the people who play the music and shares their insights, showing why New Orleans is the place where jazz continues to grow.

Uniformed brass bands have been around since the late-nineteenth century, throughout Europe and the United States, but African American brass bands in New Orleans have always played music differently: the way it is lived on the street. Performing in funeral processions and in parades for social clubs, they learned how to play by interacting with their audiences. This spontaneity and feeling became trademarks of jazz.

Brass bands waned during the civil rights era but revived around 1970 and then flourished in the 1980s, when the music became cool with the younger generation. In the only book to cover this revival, Burns interviews members from a variety of bands, including the Fairview Baptist Church Brass Band, the Dirty Dozen, Tuba Fats' Chosen Few, and the Rebirth Brass Band. He captures their thoughts about the music, their careers, audiences, influences from rap and hip-hop, the resurgence of New Orleans social and pleasure clubs and second lines, traditional versus funk style, recording deals, and touring.

"My dream is I would love to win a Grammy with a brass band," confides Philip Frazier III of the Rebirth Brass Band. "But if I had to do it again for no money, I would, because I love doing it." For anyone who loves jazz and the city where it was born, Keeping the Beat on the Street is a book to savor.

About the Author:
Mick Burns is the author of The Great Olympia Band and has played jazz professionally in Europe and the United States for forty years. He lives in Spilsby, Lincolnshire, in England.

Publishers Weekly

According to Burns, jazz musician and author of The Great Olympia Band, African-American brass bands, which date back to the 1870s, "still provide a crucible for the seemingly inexhaustible supply of creative fire that is New Orleans music." He specifically addresses the resurgence of the brass band scene over the past 30 years, interviewing key musicians and other players and presenting their first-person accounts in sections titled "Band Call." Together these stories weave a loose history of the music and the social club scene that has traditionally sustained it, charting the rise of youth bands in the 1970s, the huge success of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band in the '80s and international interest that continues today. Many musicians start with the New Orleans address where they were born and recall local heroes and rehearsals in nearby garages, showing the vibrancy of brass band music to those who play it and its importance to New Orleans life. The book was completed before the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, and the disaster's implications are not considered in the text, though it is clear that the music and the city are inextricably entwined, making this retrospective as poignant as it is informative. Photos. (Jan.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Told in the words of the musicians themselves, Keeping the Beat on the Street celebrates the renewed passion and pageantry among black brass bands in New Orleans. Mick Burns introduces the people who play the music and shares their insights, showing why New Orleans is the place where jazz continues to grow. Uniformed brass bands have been around since the late-nineteenth century, throughout Europe and the United States, but African American brass bands in New Orleans have always played music the way it is lived on the street. Performing in funeral processions and in parades for social clubs, they learned how to play by interacting with their audiences. This spontaneity and feeling became trademarks of jazz. Brass bands waned during the civil rights era but revived around 1970 and then flourished in the 1980s, when the music became cool with the younger generation. In the only book to cover this revival, Burns interviews members from a variety of bands, including the Fairview Baptist Church Brass Band, the Dirty Dozen, Tuba Fats Chosen Few, and the Rebirth Brass Band. He captures their thoughts about the music, their careers, audiences, influences from rap and hip-hop, the resurgence of New Orleans social and pleasure clubs and second lines, traditional versus funk style, recording deals, and touring. "My dream is I would love to win a Grammy with a brass band," confides Philip Frazier III of the Rebirth Brass Band. "But if I had to do it again for no money, I would, because I love doing it." For anyone who loves jazz and the city where it was born, Keeping the Beat on the Street is a book to savor. "Told in the words of the musicians themselves, Keeping the Beat on the Street celebrates the renewed passion and pageantry among black brass bands in New Orleans. Mick Burns introduces the people who play the music and shares their insights, showing why New Orleans is the place where jazz continues to grow." "Uniformed brass bands have been around since the late-nineteenth century, throughout Europe and the United States, but African American brass bands in New Orleans have always played music differently: the way it is lived on the street. Performing in funeral processions and in parades for social clubs, they learned how to play by interacting with their audiences. This spontaneity and feeling became trademarks of jazz."