new orleans brass band traditions and popular music _ elements of

8/19/2019 New Orleans Brass Band Traditions and Popular Music _ Elements Of

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University of Iowa

Iowa Research Online

Teses and Dissertations

2012

New Orleans brass band traditions and popularmusic : elements of style in the music of mama

digdown's brass band and youngblood brass bandMahew Tomas DriscollUniversity of Iowa

Follow this and additional works at: hp://ir.uiowa.edu/etd

Part of the Music Commons

Tis dissertation is available at Iowa Research Online: hp://ir.uiowa.edu/etd/3287

Recommended CitationDriscoll, Mahew Tomas. "New Orleans brass band traditions and popular music : elements of style in the music of mama digdown's brass band and youngblood brass band." dissertation, University of Iowa, 2012.

hp://ir.uiowa.edu/etd/3287.

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NEW ORLEANS BRASS BAND TRADITIONS AND POPULAR MUSIC:

ELEMENTS OF STYLE IN THE MUSIC OF MAMA DIGDOWN’S BRASS BANDAND YOUNGBLOOD BRASS BAND

byMatthew Thomas Driscoll

An essay submitted in partial fulfillmentof the requirements for the Doctor of

Musical Arts degreein the Graduate College of

The University of Iowa

July 2012

Essay Supervisor: Professor, David A. Gier


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Copyright by

MATTHEW THOMAS DRISCOLL

2012

All Rights Reserved


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Graduate CollegeThe University of Iowa

Iowa City, Iowa

CERTIFICATE OF APPROVAL

_______________________

D.M.A. ESSAY

_______________

This is to certify that the D.M.A. essay of

Matthew Thomas Driscoll

has been approved by the Examining Committeefor the essay requirement for the Doctor of Musical Artsdegree at the July 2012 graduation.

Essay Committee: ___________________________________David A. Gier, Essay Supervisor

___________________________________Jeffrey Agrell

___________________________________John Manning

___________________________________

John Rapson

___________________________________Richard B. Turner


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ii

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I wish to express my gratitude to several teachers, friends, and family members

who helped me develop the skills necessary to complete this project. First I would like to

thank Dr. David Gier for his patience as a fantastic mentor and for his musical guidance.

Without his help none of this would have been possible. A specific thanks to my friends

and family who have always encouraged me to pursue my goals as a musician: to my

friend, Beverly Barfield, and the writing center at the University of Iowa for their helping

hands in developing my writing skills as an author. Most importantly, I want to thank my

wife, Ginny, for her endless support, encouragement, words of wisdom, and infinite love

through our lives together, but especially during the completion of this essay.


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TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF FIGURES .............................................................................................................v

CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION .....................................................................................1

Background .......................................................................................................2Review of Literature ..................................................................................4

Purpose of the Study .........................................................................................8Methodology and Organization of Essay .........................................................8

CHAPTER II. HISTORY OF THE NEW ORLEANS BRASS BANDS ......................10

Foundation of a New Orleans Brass Band ......................................................10Military Influence ...........................................................................................14Benevolent Societies and Jazz Funerals .........................................................18Second Line Rhythm (Beat) ...........................................................................20The First Brass Bands .....................................................................................24Brass Band Revival .........................................................................................27

CHAPTER III. POPULAR MUSIC MOLDS THE REPERTOIRE .............................31

Popular Music Genres.....................................................................................32 Maryland, My Maryland ............................................................................33

Cakewalks to Ragtime ....................................................................................38 Panama ......................................................................................................39

Jazz to Rhythm and Blues (R&B) ..................................................................42Dirty Dozen Brass Band .................................................................................47

My Feet Can’t Fail Me Now ......................................................................49Rebirth Brass Band .........................................................................................51

Do Whatcha Wanna ...................................................................................53Soul Rebels Brass Band ..................................................................................57

Soul Rebels Creative Process ....................................................................60Sour Rebels Music .....................................................................................61

CHAPTER IV. NEW ORLEANS STYLE ARRIVES IN MADISON .........................65

A Brass Band Tradition Starts in Madison .....................................................65Mama Digdown’s Brass Band ........................................................................66

Mama Digdown’s Music ...........................................................................67Youngblood Brass Band .................................................................................70

Influence of New Orleans on Youngblood ................................................74Youngblood’s Music .................................................................................75

Avalanche .............................................................................................78

Brooklyn ................................................................................................80 J.E.M. ....................................................................................................83

CHAPTER V. CONCLUSION .....................................................................................88

Hurricane Katrina ...........................................................................................88Suggestions for Further Study ........................................................................90

APPENDIX A. LEMAR LEBLANC INTERVIEW .....................................................91


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APPENDIX B. ERIK JACOBSEN INTERVIEW ........................................................97

APPENDIX C. JORDAN COHEN INTERVIEW ......................................................101

APPENDIX D. DAVID SKOGEN INTERVIEW.......................................................103

APPENDIX E. NAT MCINTOSH INTERVIEW .......................................................106

APPENDIX F. CHRISTOPHER OHLY INTERVIEW ..............................................109

APPENDIX G. CHARLES WAGNER INTERVIEW ................................................111

BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................................117


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v

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure

1. In the Sweet Bye and Bye ..........................................................................................20

2. Habanera ..................................................................................................................22

3. Tresillo ......................................................................................................................22

4. Cinquillo ...................................................................................................................22

5. 3-2 Clave ...................................................................................................................22

6. 2-3 clave ....................................................................................................................23

7. Mardi Gras Indian rhythm tresillo ............................................................................23

8. Mardi Gras Indian rhythm cinquillo .........................................................................23

9 New Orleans Jazz Funeral ........................................................................................25

10. Maryland, My Maryland ...........................................................................................34

11. Maryland, My Maryland , four-bar introduction. ......................................................35

12. Maryland, My Maryland , interlude...........................................................................36

13. U.S. Army, Assembly Call ........................................................................................36

14. Maryland, My Maryland, O Tannenbaum melody ...................................................36

15. Maryland, My Maryland . ..........................................................................................37

16. Second line bass drum rhythm ..................................................................................37

17. Panama, original piano melody ................................................................................40

18. Panama, Eureka Brass Band introduction ................................................................41

19. Bass drum and cymbal rhythm to Panama ...............................................................42

20. Rhythm of lyric to My Feet Can’t Fail Me Now ......................................................50

21. My Feet Can’t Fail Me Now, St. Thomas melody ....................................................50

22. Sousaphone bass line, Do Whatcha Wanna ..............................................................55

23. Percussion and vocal parts, Do Whatcha Wanna .....................................................55

24. Ffun melody ..............................................................................................................56


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25. Call and response instrumental dialogue, Do Whatcha Wanna ................................57

26. No Place Like Home, sousaphone bass line, Violent Femmes Blister in theSun ............................................................................................................................63

27. Avalanche, introduction, mm. 1-4, score in C ..........................................................79

28. Avalanche, introduction, mm. 5-8, score in C ..........................................................79

28. Avalanche, sousaphone part ......................................................................................80

29. Brooklyn, sousaphone bass line ................................................................................81

30. Brooklyn, sousaphone feature ...................................................................................82

31. J.E.M., introduction ..................................................................................................85

32. J.E.M., measures 19-22 .............................................................................................86


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CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

This topic developed while researching the Youngblood Brass Band as a project

for the Advanced Brass Pedagogy and Literature class. I was impressed with the band’s

level of talent and the innovative mixture of styles. Youngblood uses the traditional

instrumentation of a New Orleans brass band (trumpets, trombones, saxophones, and

percussion) and their music incorporates jazz, rap, and rock influences. My initial

research focused on how and why the New Orleans music influenced this band in

Madison, Wisconsin. Beyond the instrumentation, I was unfamiliar with the history,

origins, and influence of New Orleans brass bands.

In the summer of 2005, I traveled to New Orleans for the International Trombone

Festival. In addition to the recitals and master-classes, I had the privilege of seeing a live

performance of the Soul Rebels. I had no idea that I was about to see a traditional New

Orleans brass band. When I first arrived, the audience members were in different

locations of the club. As the Soul Rebels started to take the stage, the crowd began to

gather in anticipation of the live music. By the time the Soul Rebels played their first

notes everyone was gathered around the small stage area shoulder to shoulder with hardly

any room to move. After the band played their first tune of the night, I was hooked on

the music and could not get enough of it. The Soul Rebels combined the styles of hip-

hop, rhythm and blues (R&B), funk, reggae, and jazz. Among the repertoire the band

played that night were originals I had never heard, and an arrangement of a song by the

popular hip-hop group Outkast. My initiation to a true New Orleans brass band left me

wanting more of the music and the knowledge of why the ensemble was so popular in

New Orleans. More importantly, I wanted to know how this music inspired Youngblood

Brass Band in Madison, Wisconsin.

Later that same year I attended a performance by Youngblood in Iowa City. After

arriving early, I was able to briefly interview one of Youngblood’s members, Charles


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Wagner (trumpet). I asked him, “What is your connection to the New Orleans brass

bands?” He explained that the band’s origins come from the study of the New Orleans

music and playing with the same instrumentation. After listening to Youngblood live, it

confirmed my decision to continue with this investigation into why they play this style of

music directly related to New Orleans, and how they got started.

Background

Brass bands in New Orleans make up a large part of the city’s music and culture.

In general, people associate this style of music with Mardi Gras and funeral processions,

but in fact there is more to the music than those celebrations. The New Orleans brass

band style has continued to be an audience-centered form of music, which has been

transferred and transformed throughout the world.

From its inception, the majority of brass band repertoire was developed through

the incorporation of popular music into their style. As the band’s music changed with

society and time, the foundation of rhythm and connection to their African heritage,

dating back to dance and music celebrations at Congo Square, remained.

Brass band musicians first learned a repertoire of marches, funeral dirges, and

hymns, along with dance music and popular tunes.1 At the end of the nineteenth century

ragtime, cakewalks, and two-steps were the popular music styles added into the brass

band tradition. Later in the twentieth century the popular musical genres incorporated

were jazz and R&B. Dejan’s Olympia Brass Band fused the rhythms of R&B with the

Congo Square beat also known as second line rhythms. The Olympia band also played

arrangements of R&B tunes. In the 1970s and ’80s, the Dirty Dozen Brass Band and the

Rebirth Brass Band continued the evolution of popular music into the repertoire. The

aforementioned styles continued to be utilized into the twenty-first century. Now

contemporary bands like the Soul Rebels Brass Band include rap in their original works

1 William J. Schafer, Brass Bands and New Orleans Jazz . (Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State

University Press, 1977).


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and have even played arrangements of songs by the heavy metal group Metallica. Though

there has been research on the evolution of brass band music through the 1980s, there is a

lack of information regarding contemporary bands and their utilization of traditional

brass band elements as well as the incorporation of popular music of the last 30 years.

The modern bands manage to make brass band music exciting for new audiences,

not only by incorporating elements of popular music, but by holding on to the forms and

rhythms of a traditional New Orleans brass band. The phrasing and form of the music is

related to the march, one of the first styles the bands played, which usually includes eight

to sixteen bar phrases. Then, when jazz influenced the bands, they added a traditional

element of jazz form with a solo section in the middle of the piece. The main underlying

element is the rhythm in the percussion with the added syncopation, referred to as the

second line beat. The second line rhythm is what makes the music danceable and attracts

audiences. Rhythms that are prominent in R&B, funk, and hip-hop have been added on

top of the second line beat. That element has continually attracted audience of all ages,

but especially new younger audience members. This paper helps the reader understand

both the traditional elements and the new elements in the music of the New Orleans brass

bands and how the traditions have been adopted and modified by two bands from

Madison.

Mama Digdown’s Brass Band and Youngblood Brass Band connect to the

tradition yet move the style forward by incorporating popular music (which is itself a

time-honored practice). These groups traveled to New Orleans to study the most popular

bands who were playing parades, funerals, and clubs. The Madison bands befriended the

members of the local bands, particularly members of the Hot 8 and the Soul Rebels. With

a better understanding of the music and the traditions, Mama Digdown’s made a

conscious effort to portray New Orleans culture with dignity and respect. In a similar

manner, but with a different approach, Youngblood took the ideas of compositional

practice and the incorporation of popular music styles to another level. The paper will


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show how Youngblood is an extension of the New Orleans brass band style because they

play the newest forms of popular music through elements of style, rhythm, and

compositional technique. All of these elements can be heard in the music of Youngblood.

In that respect, they are like the Dirty Dozen and now the Soul Rebels.

Review of Related Literature

There are limited resources regarding the New Orleans brass band history, music,

and style. Some of the resources mention that popular music was added to the New

Orleans brass band repertoire but do not elaborate any further. In regard to Youngblood

Brass Band and the Madison bands, no scholarly resources are present.

William Schafer’s book Brass Bands and New Orleans Jazz (1977) mentions how

brass bands played the popular music of the day.2 There is some commentary on how the

bands arranged the original works into brass band tunes. In general, the book covers the

history of the brass band from the late nineteenth century into the 1970s. Schafer tells of

the beginnings of the brass bands in New Orleans, what music was played, and where it

was performed. Schafer writes about the popular brass bands at the time the book was

published and argues that the bands helped to develop the beginnings of jazz. In the

appendix, he includes a transcription of a piece from 1894, Fallen Heroes, a popular

dirge. This book is helpful in understanding the early history of the brass bands and the

early repertoire played.

Mick Burns’ Keeping the Beat on the Street: The New Orleans Brass Band

Renaissance (2006) is a book about brass bands in New Orleans.3 Burns documents the

contemporary brass bands and writes about the most popular bands from the late 1970s to

the beginning of the twenty-first century. He mainly features the Fairview Baptist

2 Ibid.

3 Mick Burns, Keeping the Beat on the Street: The New Orleans Brass Band Renaissance. (BatonRouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press, 2006).


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Church Brass Band, Hurricane Brass Band, Chosen Few Brass Band, Dirty Dozen Brass

Band, and Rebirth Brass Band. He includes interviews with members of those bands,

with comments in the introduction about how the Soul Rebels are taking the brass band

traditions further into the future. Another book written and compiled by Mick Burns is

The Great Olympia Band (2001), which includes an introductory chapter commenting on

the importance of Dejan’s Olympia Brass Band and his experiences with the members of

the band.4 The majority of the book focuses on interviews compiled over the years with

members who have played with the Olympia band.

In Richard Turner’s recent publication, Jazz Religion, the Second Line, and Black

New Orleans (2009), the author discusses the New Orleans brass bands and their

connection to their African, Haitian, and Cuban heritage through religious and musical

practices.5 This book provides an understanding of the lineage of the brass band traditions

in New Orleans.

Richard Knowles’, Fallen Heroes: A History of New Orleans Brass Bands,

provides the history of the brass band movement up to 1996, the year of publication.6

Knowles recaps some of the history that Schafer discussed and features some of the early

popular brass bands. Knowles also discusses the brass bands involvement with the

recording and film industry.

Herlin Riley, Johnny Vidacovich, and Dan Thress wrote New Orleans Jazz and

Second Line Drumming , which details the percussion rhythms.7 This book is a method

4 Mick Burns, The Great Olympia Band. (New Orleans, LA: Jazzology Press, 2001).

5 Richard Brent Turner, Jazz Religion, the Second Line, and Black New Orleans. (Bloomington:Indiana, Indiana University Press, 2009).

6 Richard H. Knowles, Fallen Heroes: A History of New Orleans Brass Band. (New York: W.W. Norton, 1993).

7 Herlin Riley, Johnny Vidacovich, and Dan Thress, New Orleans Jazz and Second Line Drumming. (Warner Brothers Publishing, 1996).


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book, with transcriptions of popular rhythms of the brass band’s drum sections. It has

commentary and description about the rhythms and how the style has affected drum-set

playing outside of the tradition. Reid Mitchell’s book, All on Mardi Gras Days, has

specific chapters that are helpful when outlining the brass band’s roots.8 Those chapters

cover the early days of Mardi Gras and Louis Armstrong. There are other books that

discuss New Orleans brass bands in chapters and sections that are concerned primarily

with jazz or New Orleans music, but none that contribute significantly to the literature.

Articles providing evidence of the rhythmical background of brass band music

trace influences back to West Africa and the Caribbean. These articles support the

assertion that brass bands have used elements of popular music since their beginnings. In

addition, Christopher Washburne’s article, “The Clave of Jazz: Caribbean Contribution to

Rhythmic Foundation of an African-American Music,” provides an account of brass

bands’ rhythmic foundations.9 Yet another article that supports this information is that of

John Collins, “The Early History of West African Highlife Music.”10 Karl Koenig, author

of the New Orleans, Jazz Club; the Second Line, is known for his research in early jazz

history.11 He has a series of articles that discuss the teachers of the early brass bands of

New Orleans and their impact on the number of brass band musicians in and around the

region.12 In addition to the scholarly research in journals, there are online magazines of

CD reviews of brass band music. Two magazines that have offered insight on brass bands

8 Reid Mitchell, All on a Mardi Gras Day. (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1995).

9 Christopher Washburne, “ The Clave of Jazz: Caribbean Contribution to Rhythmic Foundationof an African-American Music.” Black Music Research Journal 17, no. 1 (Spring, 1997) 59-80.

10 John Collins, “The Early History of West African Highlife Music.” Black Music Research Journal 18, no. 3 (1989). 221-230.

11 Karl Koenig, “Louisiana Brass Bands and Their History in Relation to Jazz History.” NewOrleans, Jazz Club; the Second Line (1983).

12 Karl Koenig, “Professor Hingle and the Sweet Sixteen Brass Band of Point a La Hache.” NewOrleans, Jazz Club; the Second Line (1983).


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are Offbeat 13 and Where Y’at Magazine.14 These magazines, which are printed monthly

and offered online, focus on the music, culture, and cuisine of New Orleans.

There are two important documentaries detailing the lives of musicians in the

early brass bands and the traditions in which they participated. Sing On documents brass

bands from 1914 through the 1960’s, and New Orleans Jazz Funerals from the Inside, a

video narrated by Milton Batiste, the lead trumpet player from Dejan’s Olympia Brass

Band, describes the history of the funeral procession. Another helpful resource in

understanding the activities and repertoire of a jazz funeral is a CD that features The

Magnificent Sevenths Brass Band.15

Web pages of the contemporary brass bands presented in this essay have been

vital resources in staying current with the bands’ activities, touring and new music. Some

of those bands are Dirty Dozen,16 Rebirth,17 Soul Rebels,18 Mama Digdown’s,19 and

Youngblood.20

13 Louisiana Music and Culture, www.Offbeat.com, (Accessed December 2011 and 1 January2012).

14 WHERE Y’AT Magazine, www.whereyat.com/neworleans/, (Accessed November 2, 2008).

15 Magnificent Sevenths, Authentic New Orleans Jazz Funeral , CD 2004.

16 Dirty Dozen Brass Band, www.dirtydozenbrass.com, (Accessed October 6, 2009).

17 Rebirth Brass Band, www.rebirthbrassband.com, (Accessed November 2011 and February 13,2012).

18 Soul Rebels Brass Band, www.soulrebelsbrassband.com, (Accessed February 1, 2012 andJanuary 1, 2012).

19 Mama Digdown’s Brass Band, www.mamadigdownsbrassband.com, (Accessed March 3,2010).

20 Youngblood Brass Band, www.youngbloodbrassband.com, (Accessed December 15, 2011).


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Purpose of the Study

The purpose of this study is to trace the history of brass bands and show how they

have incorporated popular music within their style of playing since their inception in

New Orleans. There are no studies that focus primarily on how popular music has been

incorporated in the music of the brass bands. This essay discusses specific brass band

compositions, pointing out the popular music elements. This study will also show how

the movement has influenced the establishment of other bands, with a concentration on

groups from Madison, Wisconsin. There will be an in-depth investigation of two bands:

Mama Digdown’s Brass Band and Youngblood Brass Band, with a discussion of their

history, music, and connection to the New Orleans brass band style. This essay will be

the first document to present material on the active brass bands of Madison.

Methodology and Organization of the Essay

A historical overview of the brass bands and their development before being

labeled as a brass band will be included in chapter two. This chapter will discuss the

contributing factors leading up to their formation.

Chapter Three discusses the incorporation of popular music into brass band

repertoire. The repertoire includes examples that incorporate elements of the march,

ragtime, funk, and hip-hop. There is a concentration on three contemporary brass bands:

the Dirty Dozen, Rebirth, and the Soul Rebels. Interviews with Lemar LeBlanc (Soul

Rebels) and Phillip Frazer (Rebirth) highlight the ways in which the bands created their

own repertoire while staying true to the traditions of the music.

Chapter Four concentrates on the two groups from Madison that are based on the

musical styling of New Orleans brass bands. This chapter presents interviews with key

members of the bands Mama Digdown’s and Youngblood Brass Band. There will be an

analysis of their music to identify traditional elements of New Orleans brass bands. There

will also be specific examples of Youngblood’s music that show how they have


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incorporated new styles from popular music of today. Interviews with members of the

Soul Rebels, Mama Digdown’s, and Youngblood are included in the appendices.


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CHAPTER II

HISTORY OF THE NEW ORLEANS BRASS BANDS

Many factors contributed to the existence of New Orleans brass bands. The first

to be discussed is Congo Square and the musical activities that took place there. The

second factor was military instruments and repertoire of the first brass bands. Those

instruments were included in the musical celebrations of Congo Square, and military

music became some of the first repertoire of the brass bands. The third contributing

factor to the New Orleans brass band tradition was benevolent societies. These societies

hired bands to play for funerals and parades, which gave the bands more publicity and

provided opportunities to play at other parades and social events. The traditions of New

Orleans brass bands are a combination of African-American heritage, military influences,

and funeral processions.

Foundation of a New Orleans Brass Band

Brass bands have performed in parades and funeral processions in New Orleans

for more than a century. The repertoire, however, has changed as a result of the influence

of popular music. The foundation of brass bands dates back to the beginning of the

nineteenth century, when slaves gathered to express themselves through music and dance.

The addition of popular music to the African diaspora allowed slaves an outlet for

expression and cultural remembrance.

At the beginning of the nineteenth century, New Orleans had a large black

population that was mixed with slaves and free Negroes, a term commonly used at that

time.21 Free Negroes populated the area due to immigration and because of emancipation

laws that allowed slaves to be freed under certain circumstances. For example, one rule

stated that if a slave taught a master’s children, that slave would be free; another rule said

21 H. E. Sterkx, The Free Negro in Ante-Bellum Louisiana. (Cranbury, New Jersey: AssociatedUniversity Presses, Inc. 1972),15.


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that if a slave had a child with a non-slave, the child was free along with the mother.22

More than half the population of free Negroes was from Haiti, having fled the country in

search of a better life.23

Code Noir, translated as Black Code, was a law that gave slaves permission to

have Sunday afternoons free in New Orleans to play music and dance.24 Congo Square,

which is now Armstrong Park, was the public gathering place where free Negroes joined

the slaves in these celebrations. Louisiana was the only state in the United States to

allow such self-expression by slaves. The population of Louisiana and New Orleans

included people originating from Senegambia nations such as Bambara, Mandinga,

Wolog, Fulbe, Nard, Mina, Fon, Yoruba, and Konga as well as areas of the Caribbean.25

At these musical performances, the Congo Square gatherers sold fruits, vegetables, and

homemade goods.

White people would also congregate in Congo Square, drawn by the sounds of

musical celebrations that included singing and rhythms played on percussion

instruments.26 Lichtenstein reports that it became a form of entertainment to the white

audience, as they showed curiosity and support. The white audiences not only enjoyed

the music produced by slaves but participated as well. This active participation of all

races and backgrounds is at the heart of the modern New Orleans parades. These weekly

Sunday celebrations began around 1835, although some sources state that the Sunday

gathering at Congo Square had been in existence as early as the beginning of the

22 Ibid., 16.

23 Ibid., 275.

24 Ibid., 16.

25 Freddi Williams Evans, Congo Square: African Roots in New Orleans. (Lafayette, LA:

University of Lousiana at Lafayette Press, 2011), 47.

26 Grace Lichtenstein and Laura Dankner. Musical Gumbo: The Music of New Orleans. (NewYork, W.W. Norton, 1993), 19.


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nineteenth century. Later, as brass bands took form, Sunday became a popular day for

the bands to parade through the band members’ neighborhoods.

The music at Congo Square accompanied dances of African origins like the

bamboula and calinda, with links to the Caribbean.27 Yoruban religious worship

included bodily celebration; in the words of a scholar Freddi Evans, “to meditate was to

dance.”28 Ventura describes how Africans believed the spirit world and human world

intersect. The Yorubans believed that the body became the crossroad, and that dance was

a spiritual/religious connection. They believed that the right angles formed by the

intersections of the cross represent the place where the spirit and human world come

together. The dances at Congo Square were an act of religious celebration, similar to the

Yoruban celebrations. People that participated in the music and dance celebrations were

not restricted to Congo Sqaure: there were also reports of the style of dance in the streets,

backyards, and dance halls throughout New Orleans.29 In the twentieth and twenty-first

centuries, the second line dancers following brass bands incorporated elements of these

dances.30

The rhythm-based music that accompanied these dances was performed on

homemade instruments linked to Africa.31 Materials were collected from nature and

modeled after prototype instruments from West Africa.32 Performers used sticks to beat

on animal bones, skulls, and drums made from barrels of various sizes. The performers

27 Ibid.

28 Michael Ventura, Shadow Dancing in the U.S.A. (Los Angeles, CA: Jeremy P. Tarcher, Inc.,1976), 109.

29 Evans, 94.

30 Turner, 5.

31 Kmen,Henry. Music in New Orleans: The Formative Years 1791-1841. (Baton Rouge,Louisiana State University Press, 1966), 226.

32 Evans, 63.


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played rhythms of African and Caribbean origin that later become the heart of the

rhythmic cells of New Orleans brass bands. Typically, a master drummer was responsible

for the foundational beat. His task included “sending signals and cues, alerting other

musicians and dancers of breaks in the music, and responding to the constantly shifting

improvisations of other participants.”33 Other instruments included balafons and stringed

instruments that resembled, respectively, the marimba and the guitar. Surrounding

participants used their hands and feet to clap and stomp rhythms while the

“congregation” (those not actively playing percussion instruments) danced and sang.

Those musical activities reconnected them with their African and Haitian spiritual

heritage.34 Marie Laveau was a free Catholic woman of color, born in 1801, who became

the most important spiritual leader in New Orleans.35 Laveau was a Voodoo queen who

combined Haitian vodou with Catholicism,36 performing dances accompanied by drums.

The drummer of the Voodoo ritual was viewed as a holy servant. Like many other

religious traditions from Africa, Voodoo rhythms were considered prayer or worship, not

music until later generations labeled it as such.

The music that was played during the celebrations was improvised and

syncopated, and utilized “call and response,” which created participation with the slaves

and free Negroes who were not playing percussive instruments. Improvisation,

syncopated rhythms, and call and response are still at the foundation of brass band music

today, “yet disguised enough to make them accessible to a larger audience.”37

33 Ibid.

34 Turner, 39.

35 Turner, 26.

36 Ventura, 125.

37 Rick Koster, Louisiana Music: A Journey from R & B to Zydeco, Jazz to Country, Blues toGospel, Cajun Music to Swamp Pop to Carnival Music and Beyond . (Cambridge, MA: Da CapoPress, 2002), 58.


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Although the music and activities of the New Orleans brass band are largely

based upon African origins, European music also had a profound effect on the bands’

development. Germans, Spaniards, and Italians immigrated to New Orleans before the

Civil War, and many of the immigrants were trained musicians who taught free Negroes

how to play an instrument.38 An advertisement in one New Orleans newspaper offered

free lessons to black musicians on a brass instrument. New Orleans also had a longtime

connection to the Paris Conservatory: a scholarship, established before the United States

purchased the territory from France, was provided to a person of color to study in Paris.39

Studying privately with a teacher introduced black musicians to written music,

which led to all-black ensembles that played classical music, music for dance, and Creole

folk songs with French lyrics. All-black orchestras performed concerts in a classical

setting, in which people listened to the ensemble while seated. These all-black orchestras

played for social dances, incorporating African syncopated rhythms into the music,

making the music more danceable and helping them become popular.40 This idea of

playing popular music selections with syncopation carried over to the brass band

performances.

Military Influence

Europeans contributed to New Orleans brass bands not only through classical

training, but also through the military institutions. Brass bands performed the repertoire

of the military bands, giving them music to play at a parade. During the War of 1812, the

governor of Louisiana recognized the city’s love for brass bands and parades and passed

38 Sterkx,15.

39 Kmen, 274.

40 Ibid.


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a bill that authorized a new militia unit made up of free Negroes of the state.41 This bill

afforded free Negroes the opportunity to play for social events as well as to march.42

In 1820, the New Orleans Independent Rifle Company posted an advertisement

offering men of color free lessons on keyed bugles in exchange for joining the military.43

This posting was made in response to the increasing popularity of all-black military units.

The training contributed to the free Negroes’ knowledge of brass instruments and

provided an outlet for free Negroes to express themselves during time off from work.

Black soldiers in these bands played military-style marches infused with African

syncopated rhythms, like those heard at Congo Square.

By 1830, a newspaper reported free Negroes playing Yankee Doodle on fife and

drums accompanied by a dancing crowd.44 If this performance had taken place in the

twenty-first century, the crowd would be referred to as the “second line.” This early

incarnation of the second line is unique, because if Yankee Doodle had been performed in

its standard compositional form, such a large crowd might not have gathered to dance.

Traditionally, Yankee Doodle would have been played to march the troops to battle. The

band, however, incorporated their musical heritage and experiences from Congo Square

into their arrangement of Yankee Doodle. This made it danceable, with syncopated

rhythms improvised on drums and fifes playing the main theme. Some may have been

embellishing the melody.

The militia companies grew and eventually several companies existed throughout

Louisiana. By 1838, three thousand free Negro men were uniformed and had their own

41 Sterkx,183.

42 Ibid.

43 Kmen, 202.

44 Ibid.


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military bands.45 The all-black militia units marked the start of the brass band tradition in

New Orleans.46

The brass band instrumentation evolved over time. The musicians first played

homemade instruments at Congo Square and eventually replaced them with manufactured

ones. During the Civil War, many bands were assigned to each regiment primarily

playing bugles and drums. Schafer’s research shows that when the war concluded, there

was an abundant supply of brass instruments available to the general public, because

when the ensembles disbanded, soldiers sold their instruments to pawn shops on Rampart

Street in New Orleans.47 Koenig explains that the recently invented keyed bugle was

mass-manufactured. He believes that the advancement in valves contributed to the

flexibility and range of timbres available, leading to the popularity of the instruments.48

The keys made it easier for non-musicians to learn how to play, causing an increase in the

demand for brass instruments.

Schafer and Koenig document the instrumentation of the first brass bands in

personnel lists discovered in their research. These lists give the members’ names and the

instruments they played, confirming the scholars’ theories as to what instruments were

used in the first brass bands. They were the Eb and Bb cornet, alto horn, baritone, valve

trombone, Eb bass tuba, marching bass drum, cymbal, and marching snare drum.

At the turn of the twentieth century, the instruments of wind and jazz dance

bands’ influenced the evolution of brass bands. The cornets that were played were

pitched in Eb and Bb. The wind band’s repertoire in the nineteenth and early twentieth

45

Ibid., 203.46 Mary Ellison, “Dr. Michael White and New Orleans Jazz: Pushing back Boundaries whileMaintaining the Tradition.” Popular Music and Society Vol. 28, No. 5, (December 2005), 619-638.

47 Kmen, 226.

48 Koenig, 4-11.


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centuries had parts written for Bb trumpets and Bb cornets, so eventually Eb cornets gave

way to solely Bb parts. The instrumentation of a wind band included clarinets and

saxophones, both eventually becoming part of the brass band’s instrumentation. An Eb

clarinet was popular initially, for its high pitch that could cut through the other brass

instruments and carry the melody.49 Later, the Bb clarinet replaced the Eb clarinet, which

probably blended better with the ensemble because of its timbre. The saxophones were

added as a result of the popular dance band sounds of New Orleans in the middle to late

1910s.50 The alto and tenor saxophone replaced the alto and baritone bugles: “These

instruments inject[ed] a dance-band element into the band’s sound.”51 The slide trombone

replaced the valve trombone because of dance bands. Brass bands switched from tuba to

sousaphone at the beginning of the twentieth century. However, photographs from the

middle of the twentieth century show brass bands employing the tuba and the

sousaphone. The majority of the bands use the sousaphone because of its lighter weight

compared to the tuba, which makes it easier to carry while marching in parades.

The percussion section was made up of marching military drums, including the

bass drum, snare drum, and cymbal. A wire hoop, made of material similar to a wire coat

hanger molded into a circle and clamped together with a wooden handle, was used

instead of a regular bass drum mallet. When the wire hoop struck the cymbal, the sound

could be heard more easily as it played the upbeats to the bass drum’s downbeats.

Eventually the Rebirth Brass Band used a screwdriver to replace the wire hoop. It

became the mallet of choice for other bands to follow.52

49 Schafer, 39.

50 New Grove Dictionary of Music, 2nd

ed., volume 12, Jazz , “Schwandt, Erich and Lamb,Andrew.”

51 Schafer, 39.

52 Burns. Keeping the Beat on the Street, 113.


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Contemporary bands play the same three percussion instruments. One exception

is the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, which replaced the marching percussion with a drum

set.53 Other bands kept the original marching percussion and added auxiliary percussion

instruments like the bongos, congas, and suspended cymbal, mainly for performances at

clubs or on a stage.

Brass bands added microphones to their live performance to ensure the vocals

could be heard. The electric guitar was added to some bands, which helped the bands add

more effects to mimic the sounds that could be heard on R&B or hip hop albums.

Benevolent Societies and Jazz Funerals

At a time when many immigrants and former slaves were in need, benevolent

societies began to spring up around New Orleans in the middle of the nineteenth century.

Predominantly black benevolent societies were established to help former slaves and

immigrants when they arrived to America by providing medical services, educational

funds, burial funds, and means for self-help.54 These societies felt it was important to

conserve the African cultural concepts and celebrations.55 Benevolent societies, then

known as mutual aid and benevolent clubs, were attracted to the brass bands’ music.56

Benevolent societies often hired brass bands for parades, weddings, parties, and

funerals. As a result of playing such varied social events, the bands developed a wide

repertoire. A significant portion of the literature was derived from different stages of a

funeral ceremony: the wake, the procession, and the joyous send-off. Funerals were often

provided for members of the benevolent societies and their family members, as well as

53

Ibid. 54 Jazz Funerals, DVD produced by David M. Jones (New Orleans, LA: DMJ Productions, LLC,1995).

55 Michael P. Smith, “Behind the Lines: The Black Mardi Gras Indians and the New OrleansSecond Line.” Black Music Research Journal, Vol. 14, No. 1 (1993): 43-73.

56 Jazz Funerals, DVD.


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respected musicians in the community, with a funeral parade reported in the newspaper as

early as 1830.57

The wake service took place either at the church or at the home of the deceased.

The music consisted of hymns of Methodist and Baptist origin and African-American

spirituals. Family and friends gathered to sing these hymns and spirituals like As I Lay

My Burden Down, Down by the Riverside, and What a Friend We Have in Jesus.58 For

that reason, those hymns became part of the repertoire.

On the day of the funeral, the band met at the church and proceeded to the burial,

followed in the procession by the casket and the congregation. The band played dirges as

accompaniment. The bass drum was struck four times, then the band began playing as

the body came out of the church and proceeded to the cemetery. Figure 1 is the

introduction to In the Sweet Bye and Bye as performed by The Magnificent Sevenths.

The snare drum plays an introductory rhythm with snares off, then a drum roll leads into

the bass drum playing the first eighth note on the “and” of beat three in measure two.

Then the second, third, and fourth “sound” of the bass drum is played in measures three

and four as the band begins the melody on beat three of the fourth measure led by the

lead trumpet, as seen in Figure 1. Other pieces played, included Just a Closer Walk with

Thee; Lead Me, Savior ; and Walk Through the Streets of the City.59 This band ceremony

before reaching the cemetery was referred to as “cutting the body loose.”60 The band

would play Taps for a military person or the blues for a “blues man.”61

57

Kmen, 207. 58 Magnificent Sevenths, Authentic New Orleans Jazz Funeral , CD 2004.

59 Ibid.

60 Ibid.

61 Jazz Funerals.


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Figure 1 In the Sweet Bye and Bye

Once the ceremony was over and the casket was lowered, the bands celebrated the

life of the departed with upbeat music. When the cadence of the drum became more

active and faster in tempo, the band played syncopated marches, upbeat hymns, and

popular ragtime and jazz compositions of the day. One of the most popular upbeat

hymns, When the Saints Go Marching In, is still popular today. Other trendy pieces

performed were Bourbon Street Parade, Didn’t He Ramble, Feels So Good , and Panama.

The organizational pattern of the procession placed the band and grand marshal as

the first line, with the second line including the people who followed the band back from

the burial. The procession of people danced to the upbeat music as they followed the

band away from the graveyard. The second line tradition, or “second lining,” refers to

people from the neighborhood who would join in the celebration and dancing as the band

marched away.

Second Line Rhythm (Beat)

The second line rhythm is a common phrase used to describe the rhythms of the

percussionist performed in a New Orleans brass band. The second line rhythm, also

referred to as second line beat, originated in Congo Square and then became the

prominent rhythm performed in brass bands during parades.


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Jordan Cohen, the bass drummer of Mama Digdown’s Brass Band was asked to

describe the second line beat:

There isn’t one second line beat, broadly speaking; I’d say it

involves two different clave patterns and their interplay. Onewould be two dotted quarter notes followed by the quarter note,and the other is five dotted eighth notes starting on the “&” of 1.But these don’t necessarily have to be explicitly stated, and thereare a ton of variations based on an awareness of these claves.Another important element is an accent on the last upbeat of the phrase, but again, it’s not a hard and fast rule.62

Two dotted quarter notes followed by the quarter note is similar to the clave rhythm

Evans reports was played at Congo Square as seen in Figure 5 and is referred to as the 3-

2 clave.

Lemar LeBlanc describes the second line beat as being directly related to Africa

and Congo Square, but that it has been modernized and updated over the past one

hundred years, combining jazz and Afro-Cuban rhythms.63 Cohen discusses the different

versions of the second line beat: the bass drum and mounted cymbal play a combination

of the African rhythms of Congo Square with European marches. That combination

emphasizes the last upbeat of the phrase while the snare drum plays a blending of the

march-rhythm and the 2-3 clave beat, shown in figure 6.64 This blending, combined with

the syncopated rhythms of the Cuban and Caribbean clave, tresillo, and cinquillo, are the

“second line beat.”

Freddi Williams Evans agrees with LeBlanc in her book Congo Square: African

Roots in New Orleans, and writes that there were four main rhythms that came from the

dance and music celebrations at Congo Square.65 Those rhythms, the habanera, the

62 Jordan Cohen, interview by author, email questionnaire, 24 August 2010.

63 Lemar LeBlanc, interview by author, digital recorded phone interview, Coralville, IA., 26March 2010.

64 Stanton Moore, Take it to the Street: A Study in New Orleans Street Beats and Second-line Rhythms as Applied to Funk. (New York, NY: Carl Fischer, 2005), 7.

65 Evans, 42-44.


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tresillo, the cinquillo, and the clave, provide “the rhythmic patterns of the New Orleans

street beat, bamboula beat, second line beat, and New Orleans beat.”66

Figure 2 Habanera

Figure 3 Tresillo

Figure 4 Cinquillo

Figure 5 3-2 Clave

The rhythmic patterns can be traced to Africa and Cuba with the tresillo and

cinquillo at the foundation of the New Orleans brass band’s street beat.67 Stanton Moore,

the New Orleans drummer who studied the rhythms of the New Orleans brass bands and

Mardi Gras Indian rhythms, states that the brass bands use 2-3 and 3-2 clave because it

66 Evans, 42.

67 Ibid. 40.


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emphasizes the “Big 4,” the fourth beat of measure two, as shown in Figure 6.68 The

clave rhythms are in two bar phrases and the use of the 2-3 clave help to emphasize the

“Big 4.”

Figure 6 2-3 clave

The tresillo and cinquillo from Figures 7 and 8 are two frequently performed

rhythms of the Mardi Gras Indians. Moore says, “the grooves are played on bass drums

(usually turned sideways and often without a bottom head), tom-toms, snare drums

(usually with snares off), calfskin-headed tambourines, cowbells and sometimes congas

and liquor bottles.”69 Moore implies that there are no strict rules on how to perform these

rhythms; rather, it is important to feel the rhythm.

Figure 7 Mardi Gras Indian rhythm tresillo

Figure 8 Mardi Gras Indian rhythm cinquillo

68 Moore, 7.

69 Ibid.


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The First Brass Bands

The Congo Square celebrations, the influence of the military band, and funeral

processions contributed to the formation of a New Orleans brass band. Jazz historians

generally agree that 1880 marked the official beginning of the New Orleans brass bands.

It was during that decade when the brass bands began to be recognized as formal groups

and the instrumentation began to evolve into what is known today.

The first brass bands in New Orleans were the Excelsior, Eureka, Deer Range,

Pelican, Pickwick, Olympia, Onward, and St. Joseph Brass Bands.70 These were some of

the most popular bands, and they performed at many social events in and around New

Orleans. Brass bands were so popular in the late nineteenth century that thirteen played

at President James A. Garfield’s funeral in 1881.71 In 1883, the Excelsior Brass Band

played for the opening of the New Orleans Cotton Exposition and was known as “the

finest black brass band in the city.”72 Just as the brass bands were hired for major events

in the beginning of their existence, the bands have consistently been booked for such

mainstream events through today.

The first brass bands performed for major events, parades, or dances, and they

wore matching uniforms, as seen in Figure 2. The brass bands at the turn of the twentieth

century wore formal, military-style coats with matching slacks. The cap had a bill in the

front and the band’s name across the front of it, like a military Marine or Navy cap.

Patent leather shoes completed the brass band uniform.

70 Schafer, 8-9.

71 Lichtenstein and Dankner, 20.

72 Schafer, 9.


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Figure 9 New Orleans Jazz Funeral73

The brass bands of New Orleans from the 1890s through the beginning of the

twentieth century usually consisted of ten to sixteen members. There were two to three

each of cornets or trumpets, trombones, and clarinets, though once saxophones became

part of the instrumentation the bands included a mix of clarinets and saxophones. There

was one tubist, one person playing the bass drum and cymbal, and one snare drummer.

All of the bands had a designated leader who called rehearsals and booked performances

for the band. The bandleader was likely a musician who was influential in bringing the

band together. Often, the leader was the tubist or snare drummer.

The people who played in these brass bands were dedicated musicians, and

among them were educators of the craft. Brass bands have had important instructors

73 Hurricane Brass Band, www.hurricanebrassband.nl, (Accessed September 25, 2011).


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throughout the history of the genre. In the beginning of the brass band era, Paul

Chaligny, Robert Hingle, James B. Humphrey, and Dave Perkins performed in their own

brass bands, and taught young musicians the brass band repertoire and how to improve on

their instrument.

Humphrey was a black man who taught on the east bank of the Mississippi River

that included the Magnolia, Deer Range, and Oakville Plantations. He established a

Black Band Academy, where he taught young musicians how to play instruments and

introduced them to the brass band music.74 He was the founder of the Eclipse Brass

Band, which met twice a week for three to five hours per rehearsal.75 Humphrey wrote

marches and other exercises for the band to play in the brass band style. In a distinct New

Orleans tradition, a family that had multiple musicians participated in brass bands and

other musical genres. Humphrey had relatives to carry on the tradition of brass bands in

the early twentieth century — for example, his nephew, Percy Humphrey, played in the

Eureka Brass Band.

Hingle, a white man, was a lawyer and musician who taught white and black brass

bands on the west bank of the Mississippi, the area of Point a la Hache.76 The all-white

brass bands were most likely more of a community band in the style of a British brass

band than one that played marches with the syncopation and elements of Congo Square.

Hingle helped start three popular brass bands in the late nineteenth century. The first was

the Sweet Sixteen Brass Band that began in 1883; the other two were St. Joseph Silver

Cornet Band and the Juvenile Brass Band.77

74 Schafer, 22.

75 Ibid.

76 Karl Koenig, “Professor Robert Hingle and the Sweet Sixteen Brass Band of Point a LaHache.” ( New Orleans, Jazz Club; the Second Line, Fall 1983), 4.

77 Ibid., 5-11.


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During the Great Depression, the brass band tradition in New Orleans saw a

decline. Although a few bands survived within the black communities, they were not as

popular as the Excelsior, Eureka, Deer Range, Pelican, Pickwick, Olympia, Onward, and

St. Joseph Brass Bands.78 Harold Dejan was a prominent brass band musician and was

the band-leader of Dejan’s Olympia Brass Band. Musicians like Dejan kept their skills

polished and the bands that survived during those decades hired him to play. Dejan

shared that the Eureka, the Tuxedo, Manuel Perez’s, and Henry Allen’s brass bands hired

him during the Depression era. One of the requirements for brass musicians was the

ability to read music, “If you couldn’t read, you couldn’t play with them.”79 Dejan states

that, “New Orleans music went backward because of the Depression,” implying that

musicians learned by ear rather than through “literate” training.80

Brass Band Revival

The 1950s marked a revival of brass bands, and the Eureka, Olympia, Onward

and the Original Zenith brass bands all rose to prominence.81 In the middle of the

twentieth century, technology assisted the brass bands, resulting in them being heard by

larger audiences via radio, recordings, and television broadcasts. Bands also toured cities

around the world making this genre of music known across the globe.

The earliest recording of a New Orleans brass band was in the middle 1920s,

when Jack Laine's Reliance Brass Band was recorded performing at Mardi Gras.82 The

first documentary of a working brass band featured Eureka’s 1951 tour of Washington,

78

Schafer, 22.79 Ibid.

80 Burns, The Great Olympia Band, 35.

81 Turner, 113.

82 Sign On. VHS, directed by Barry Martin, (American Music, 2001).


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D.C.83 The film, by David Ashforth, included footage of the band playing traditional

songs, and interviews with the musicians about the repertoire and events for which they

performed in New Orleans. One year later, three to four brass bands, including the

Jackson Brass Band, were featured in additional films by Ashforth.

Dejan played in brass bands the majority of his life, largely the Eureka Brass

Band. In the 1960s, Dejan helped to keep the old traditions of the brass band alive. He

revived the name of an early brass band from the turn of the twentieth century. While he

played with the Eureka band, the band was so popular it was offered more performances

than they could play. A second band with whom Dejan played at the time took some of

the leftover jobs, and he referred to the latter as Number Two Eureka:

I was using the name the Number Two Eureka at that time. I was playing with that band when Barry Martyn came from London. Hesaid “Now, I’d like to change that brass band name.” I said, “Ialways said I’m gonna call my band Dejan’s Olympia Brass Band,’cause the first Olympia Brass Band was organized in 1883 andwhen I was a kid I played in the Olympia Serenaders.”84

Dejan’s Olympia Brass Band wore uniforms like the bands at the end of the

nineteenth century. The name of the band was labeled on the front of the bands’ hats and

on the head of the bass drum. At the beginning of the twentieth century, brass bands

played for funerals and found any reason to march in a parade, most often on Sundays as

a memory to Congo Square celebrations.85 Dejan’s Olympia Brass Band made it a

priority to play at funerals and march in as many parades as possible.86

The Olympia band exposed the culture of New Orleans music and brass bands to

people around the globe. As stated by LeBlanc of the Soul Rebels, Olympia band was

83 Ibid.

84 Burns. The Great Olympia Band , 35.

85 Burns. Keeping the Beat on the Street , 161.

86 Burns. The Great Olympia Band , 36.


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the first to play at major events overseas, and performed at the Super Bowl. They were

featured in a movie, and played for the King and Queen of England.87 Major European

music festivals featured the band at their events, including “The David Frost Show” in

London and the Volks Festival in Berlin.88

Milton Batiste joined Dejan’s Olympia Brass Band as lead trumpet player in

1963. He was well respected in New Orleans and also played in rhythm and blues bands.

“Milton Batiste created and coached three different versions of the Junior Olympia band

during the 1980s, based largely on the Tambourine and Fan Club (a neighborhood youth

sports and social club).”89

When Dejan’s band could not play for minor events, such as a parade or funeral,

they gave the job to the Young Olympians, one of the Junior Olympia bands. Dejan

states, “They’re not playing that garbage like other bands are playing, just copying after

these rock and roll players. They’re trying to play the traditional music, to keep the good

New Orleans tradition going.”90 Four members of the Young Olympians Brass Band

would later come together to form the Soul Rebels Brass Band.

Danny Barker is another musician in New Orleans recognized for perpetuating

brass band traditions. Barker was the guitarist with Jelly Roll Morton, a musician who

also made efforts to educate youth about brass band traditions. Barker created a brass

band composed of young teenagers who wanted to learn and made his headquarters at

Fairview Baptist Church.91

87

Lemar LeBlanc, phone interview by author, Coralville, IA., 26 March 2010.88 Burns, The Great Olympia Band , 6.

89 Ibid.

90 Ibid., 37.

91 Burns. Keeping the Beat on the Street . 15.


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Barker taught young musicians the traditions and heritage of second lining, and

his pupils became known as the Fairview Baptist Church Brass Band. The band played

for funerals and parades.92 In the 1973, the band was featured in an article in Jive

magazine discussing the impact of the band members on the community and on music.93

Jazz musicians in the 1980s were once again inspired, as they had been by the turn-of-

the-century brass bands. Dr. Michael White and Wynton Marsalis were two examples of

the new breed to emerge from the Fairview Baptist Church Band.94 Fairview Baptist

Church spawned other bands as well, including the Hurricane Brass Band, Younger

Fairview Brass Band, and the Dirty Dozen Brass Band.

Contemporary bands like the Dirty Dozen have inspired many other brass bands

by continuing to incorporate popular music genres of the day. The Dirty Dozen started in

1977 and updated New Orleans brass band music with aspects of R&B and soul, while

incorporating jazz classics of John Coltrane, Freddie Hubbard, and the Jazz Messengers.

They played the traditional repertoire, but often with faster tempi and more intricate

rhythms.

The Rebirth Brass Band followed the Dirty Dozen’s lead as a contemporary group

to re-work the repertoire. Rebirth credits the Dirty Dozen as being an influential band

who inspired them to explore other popular music genres in the 1980s. Rebirth combined

elements of hip-hop with their music and added rap. The fusion of those styles and

rhythms with brass band music spawned other New Orleans brass bands in the 1990s,

including the Soul Rebels, to be discussed in more detail in Chapter Three.

92 Ibid., 15.

93 Ibid., 18.

94 Turner, 115.


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CHAPTER III

POPULAR MUSIC MOLDS THE REPERTOIRE

Brass bands survived and flourished by incorporating popular music.

Contemporary brass bands are no exception to this tradition. This chapter discusses the

specific pieces that have been part of the brass band repertoire since the turn of the

twentieth century. It will focus on how the band members adapted popular music into

their own style to fit the band’s instrumentation, technique, and aesthetic. In addition, the

continuation of popular music’s influence on the repertoire will be discussed in

relationship to specific bands.

Early brass bands built their repertoire both from the music played at funeral

processions and that of immediate appeal.95 Often bands were hired to play for public

events where the audiences may not have been familiar with hymns and spirituals. To

make the audiences comfortable, the brass bands performed familiar pieces, such as

marches that were also played by military and town bands at the time. Popular dance

music — such as the foxtrot, cakewalk, two-step, and eventually ragtime, a jazz precursor

— were also incorporated into brass band literature. This practice of developing

repertoire became part of the present day tradition that attracts an audience through well-

known melodies. Adding syncopation through the second line beat and improvisational

techniques into unique arrangements allowed brass bands to unite popular music (non-

western classical music) with the spiritual roots of their heritage.

As jazz became increasingly popular during the 1920s and ‘30s, these new

arrangements were appropriated into the standard repertoire. Songs by well-known jazz

artists like Louis Armstrong, Sidney Bechet, and Kid Ory could be heard in the sound of

New Orleans street parades.

95 Schafer, 68.


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Beginning in 1948 and lasting through the 1950s, R&B became the next popular

music genre to be appropriated. Olympia Brass Band was the first to incorporate R&B

into its music. Eventually Dirty Dozen and Rebirth revived the traditional repertoire with

the adaptation of new rhythms and electronic instruments from popular music in the

1970s and ‘80s. Other styles to soon follow were funk and hip-hop, which were

eventually adapted by contemporary bands. The Olympia and Dirty Dozen were primary

inspirations who continually updated the genre by incorporating popular music. This

affected the overall feel of the music through the rhythms in the percussion and

harmonies in the horns.

Popular Music Genres

As stated, one of the first genres brass bands incorporated into their music was the

march. With several union bands stationed in and around New Orleans, the march

became a well-known form.96 The New Grove Dictionary of Music describes a march as

“music with strong repetitive rhythms and an uncomplicated style usually used to

accompany military movements and processions.”97 Because of the popularity of the

military and processions in New Orleans, the style of the march worked well with the

activities of the brass band. The march’s repetitive rhythms, steady tempo, and standard

meter are much like the brass band style of playing, with the rhythms in the percussion

and melodies in the horns. With the additions of syncopation and improvisation from

Congo Square and the Caribbeans, brass band music was transformed into a dance driven

by the drums and ostinato bass line of the tuba.

The brass bands of New Orleans are like a mobile jukebox. This is because

originally they were hired to perform a wide repertoire for their audience. Arrangements

96 Karl Koenig, “Louisiana Brass Bands and History in Relation to Jazz History,” New Orleans Jazz Club: The Second Line, (Summer 1983), 10.

97 New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2nd

ed., vol. 15, March “Tyrrell, John.”


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of familiar tunes became a popular outlet because it was a way that the bands engaged the

crowd’s participation before the band performed original compositions.

Maryland, My Maryland

Elements of the march can be heard in the brass band arrangement of Maryland,

My Maryland . The band took the Maryland state song and made it into a march with

rhythms that are heard in the drums with a light syncopation.

In 1861, as the Civil War began, James Ryder Randall, caught up in pride of his

home state, wrote a nine-stanza poem titled Maryland, My Maryland . In 1939 the song

was set to the tune of the popular German folk song O Tannenbaum, or as Americans

sing it, O Christmas Tree, and was adapted as the state song. Figure 10 is a facsimile

copy of the original composition. The compositional structure is ABA form with a four-

bar introduction and scored for voice and piano.

The Eureka Brass Band featured an arrangement of Maryland’s state song on

volume two of The Music of New Orleans.98 The band’s arrangement was transposed

down a whole step, from its original key of G major to F major. The meter was changed

from 3/4 to cut time, resulting in the sound of a march, with syncopated upbeats in the

cymbal, and the bass drum “Big 4,” and swung eighth notes in the melody. The

instrumentation was changed from voice and piano to alto saxophone, tenor saxophone,

two trumpets, trombone, tuba, snare drum, bass drum and cymbal.

98 The Music of New Orleans, Vol. 1.


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Figure 10 Maryland, My Maryland

Traditionally, New Orleans brass band arrangements and original compositions

most often begin with the tuba or drums. The Eureka Brass Band followed this style of

arrangement in Maryland, My Maryland and began their arrangement with the drums.

The lead trumpet joins the drums in the third bar of the four-bar introduction as seen in

Figure 11. The Eureka Brass Band arranged the song into a two-part song with a four-bar

introduction and an interlude, which is played at the beginning of the second part, and

every time the second part is repeated. The first melody will be referred to as the A

Section and the O Tannenbaum melody will be referred to as the B Section. An Interlude

is performed before each return of the B Section.


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Figure 11 Maryland, My Maryland , four-bar introduction

The interlude melody is also played during the second section, the A part of the O

Tannenbaum melody, but not the B section of the original. The interlude played by the

lead trumpet includes the following melody from Figure 12 while the rhythms of the

marching percussion continue through to the B section. The trumpet interlude was likely

inspired by a military bugle call because of its rhythm and the sound. An example is

provided in Figure 13. It sounds as though it could be the Assembly or Adjutants’ bugle

call of the U.S. Army because of the similar dotted-eighth rhythms found in both.

Another plausible reason for the bugle call is Irving Berlin’s popular Alexander’s

Ragtime Band, which incorporates the bugle call from Swanee River .99 Alexander’s

Ragtime Band became yet another popular source upon which the brass bands could

draw.

99 David A. Jasen, Alexander’s Ragtime Band , and Other Favorite Song Hits, 1901-1911. (NewYork: Dover Publications, Inc. 1987), Introduction.


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Figure 12 Maryland , My Maryland, interlude

Figure 13 U.S. Army, Assembly Call .100

Figure 14 Maryland, My Maryland, O Tannenbaum melody

The O Tannenbaum melody in Figure 14 is from the Maryland state song

arrangement that constitutes the B Section of the Eureka Brass Band’s rendition. The

saxophones, 2nd

trumpet, and trombone play this melody while the lead trumpet plays the

interlude. The percussion and tuba parts kept a simplified version of the second line beat

as the foundation. The percussion rhythm was in a march style playing on the beat, with

the incorporated “and” of two in the second bar of the two bar phrase known as the “Big

4.”

100 United States Army Band, http://bands.army.mil/music/bugle/, (Accessed October 2, 2011).


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that the way percussionists have always played in a brass band in New Orleans is that the

player had to feel the rhythm, and its roots date back to Congo Square.101 The feeling to

which Leblanc is referring is the syncopation that occurs on the “and” of two in bar two,

which can be seen in measure two of Figure 16. During the B section, the bass drum only

plays on beats one and three. The tuba plays on beats one, three, and four. The

syncopation is created by the cymbal as the tuba emphasizes the bass drum’s down beat

and allows the music to be heard as if it were moving forward to the next measure, thus

giving the piece the feeling of a dance.

Cakewalks to Ragtime

Cakewalks were a popular genre in the 1890s dating back to the 1840s when

black slaves performed plantation dances to imitate their owners.102 Koenig describes the

cakewalk, and its rhythm of sixteenth-eighth-sixteenth, as a main motif and claims that

ragtime had similar rhythms. Because of the similarity in rhythms between the cakewalk

and ragtime, they are commonly mistaken for one another.103 The most commonly

mistaken cakewalk is the Mississippi Rag by William H. Krell, published in 1897.104

Ragtime was created by African Americans and was most popular in the first

decade of the twentieth century. Because of the ragged, syncopated rhythms the style was

given the name “ragtime” and primarily was written for piano. It was written in the strict

form of a march, but with folk song material and rhythmic flexibility.105 Koenig describes

how the ragtime was constructed:

101 Leblanc interview.

102

The Harvard Dictionary of Music, 9th ed. Cakewalk “Kernfield, Barry.”103 Karl Koenig, Jazz in Print (1856-1929): An Anthology of Selected Early Readings in Jazz ,(Hilsdale, NY; Pendragon Press, 2002), 67.

104 David A. Jasen. Cakewalks, Two-Steps and Trots for Solo Piano: 34 Popular Works from the Dance-Craze Era. (Mineola, New York, Dover Publications, Inc., 1997), iii.

105 Koenig, 67.


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Whether deliberate or not, the composition of ragtime took theform of the popular music of the era, the military march. Themusical form of the cakewalk, ragtime and the march are basicallythe same. The march was a composition style that used variousmelodic themes in two or more sections, including a trio withtransitions to proceed from one section to the other. Of course, the

main difference was in the rhythm. Both utilized steady rhythm, but ragtime included syncopation.106

Syncopation is characteristic of both styles, with the cakewalk being lightly syncopated

as compared to the rag, which had more prominent syncopation. Because of that

similarity, the rag is a more accessible rhythm for dancing and reproduction by the

majority of the population, and works well with the style of the brass bands.

Panama

Panama, or Panama Rag, is commonly mistaken as a ragtime piece. It is a two-

step, which is a sub-genre of the rag that is lightly syncopated, similar to a cakewalk, but

not to the degree of a rag. The two-step was most popular at the beginning of the

twentieth century and lasted through World War I. Panama and other two-steps were

printed most frequently from 1900-1910.107

William H. Tyers is the composer of Panama. Tyers was born in Petersburg,

Virginia in 1870; his parents were former slaves in the state.108 He was a prominent black

composer and performer in the late nineteenth century who experienced immediate

success arranging for musicals in New York City after 1898.109 Panama, arranged by

Louis Dumaine, is a frequently performed piece of the New Orleans brass band

repertoire. Harold Dejan said, “He’s (Dumaine) the one that arranged all the hit numbers

106 Ibid.

107 David A. Jasen. Cakewalks, Two-Steps and Trots for Solo Piano: 34 Popular Works from the Dance-Craze Era. (Dover Publications, INC. Mineola, New York, 1997), iii.

108 http://ragpiano.com/comps/wtyers.shtml (Accessed October 3, 2011).

109 http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib (Accessed August 10, 2011).


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like Panama.”110 His brass band arrangement has been recorded by Eureka, Olympia, and

Onward brass bands and often performed by jazz artists such as Kid Ory.

Tyers’ original composition is in 2/4 time, therefore the brass bands did not

change the original meter. The original follows the military march form as discussed by

Koenig, written into sixteen-bar phrases, with each phrase being a strain. There are three

different strains of sixteen-bar phrases and a trio section in the middle before the last two

strains end the piece as a recapitulation of the beginning theme.

The brass bands use the same phrasing and form as both the original and

Dumaine’s interpretation. A slight modification is found within the trio section, which is

replaced as a repeated solo section. The main themes in each strain are variations of the

original melody, with the tuba and bass drum playing a march-like rhythm as an

accompaniment. The marching rhythms were popular and easily recognized because the

repertoire was performed in parades throughout New Orleans. The first measure of the

first strain in the original piano composition has the melody starting on the second

sixteenth of the first beat, as seen in Figure 17.

Figure 17 Panama, original piano melody

The brass band arrangement shifts the first sixteenth note to begin on beat two of

the first measure, with the eighth notes being swung, as seen in Figure 17. When the

melody line is shifted to the upbeat, it becomes more accessible to brass band

instrumentation. This version is simpler to play with swung eighths notes, fitting the tuba

110 Burns, Great Olympia Band , 35.


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and percussion parts within the brass band. (The adaptation of music to fit a New

Orleans brass band will be discussed later in relation to interviews with Lemar LeBlanc.)

Figure 18 Panama, Eureka Bras

new orleans brass band traditions and popular music _ elements of

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