Keeping the Beat on the Street Read Free Page B

alone. “At the same time that the city employs the iconic second line in its self-marketing,” notes Regis, “it heavily taxes the social and pleasure clubs for their anniversary parades.

    Jolly Bunch parade, 1973, second line and band Photo by Bill Dickens
    They are required to buy permits, insurance, and police protection, which, with the price of the brass band, cost several thousands of dollars, a significant amount to clubs whose members hold down two or three jobs to meet their expenses.” 10 Nevertheless, many members “spend from five to six hundred dollars” dressing up for their parades, says Norman Dixon. “It’s according to how you want to look. The more money you put into it, the better you’re going to look, and this is what it’s all about. Once a year, you spend the money for yourself. You avoid your family, just to have that one day. The family’s behind you all the way.” 11
    But the thousands of people making up the sixty or more clubs obviously feel that it’s money well spent, just to feel the joyous energy of Sunday afternoons on the streets. As Walter Payton put it, “When you entertain the people, it bounces back, and you get that vibe, that electricity.”
    How do brass bands achieve success beyond the local recognition of the second line? Basically, there are three obvious ways to earn a living: club appearances, touring, and recording. Each of these working situations releases the band from a combination of restraints. They no longer have to work outdoors, they don’t have to play acoustically, and they don’t have to be mobile. There are huge differences between presenting a forty-minute stage set and playing for four hours to an alfresco crowd.
    If most of your jobs are on a stage, then, like the Dirty Dozen’s are, it’s logical to use a regular drum set. Once you’ve done that, then why not have a guitar or keyboards? There’s nothing new in this: the old Onward Brass Band did stage concerts with a banjo, and Dejan’s Olympia regularly played club dates with a lineup that included piano and conventional drum set. So the sound itself changes, the presentation has to be tighter, and the music will have more emphasis on vocals, solos, and entertainment content.
    The recently formed Forgotten Souls Brass Band was aimed specifically at recordings and concerts. They get their massive percussion sound by using both snare and bass drum and a conventional drum set. And at least a couple of other brass bands have been making local club dates with a deejay and turntables!
    In the early 1990s, the Young Olympia Brass Band was formed under the aegis of Milton Batiste, led by trumpet player Mervyn Campbell. The band worked under two different names: it was the Young Olympia by day for what the band called “traditional” events, and by night they were the Soul Rebels, supplying “funky” music for nightclubs and parties. The Rebels came up with their own musical thing. Their first CD, Let Your Mind Be Free, features a combination of influences—rap, funk, reggae, and jazz—and many original compositions, lots of vocals, tight arrangements, and blistering New Orleans energy. They’ve had a lot of success with club audiences—they were resident at Donna’s Bar and Grill for a long time, and the last time I checked, they were holding down weekly engagements at El Matador, Le Bon Temps Roulé, and Cafe Brazil. But the Rebels band was never intended to work on the street. How can you rap without a microphone to thousands of people? So the title of their latest CD, No More Parades, seems a bit redundant, particularly considering that the cover photograph features possibly the least street-friendly of instruments, the vibraphone.
    Bands like this have found their own niche success, and they play serious music. I think it’s fair to regard them as from the brass band movement, rather than