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Oct. 28, 2004
by BOB DORAN
FORMED IN 1977 IN THE BIRTHPLACE
OF jazz, New Orleans, the Dirty Dozen Brass Band [photo above]
traces its history back to traditions from years earlier. Trumpet
player Efrem Towns explained that prior to '77, the band was
part of an organization called the Dirty Dozen Social and Pleasure
Club.
"It was a community thing.
It was like a lot of social and pleasure clubs in New Orleans
in poor areas of the city. It was for those who could not afford
insurance, people who weren't even offered insurance. Basically,
you would join the social club, and in time of crisis and need,
you would get help," said Towns in a call from the Midwest,
where the Dirty Dozen were on tour.
The social and pleasure clubs
typically employed musicians for club functions. One particular
area where the clubs and the bands came into play was when there
was a death in the family. "When one of the members died
they'd give them a funeral -- a jazz funeral -- a second line
parade when they passed away," said Towns.
With Funeral for a Friend,
the band's latest album for Rope a Dope Records, the Dirty
Dozen pay their respects to the jazz funeral tradition while
honoring their friend and former bandmate Anthony "Tuba
Fats" Lacen.
"He passed on in February,"
said Towns. "He had a huge funeral, the whole city put on
a funeral. He was one of the legends in New Orleans, everybody
knew Tuba Fats."
The band offers a collection
of traditional hymns and jazz tunes from "Just a Closer
Walk With Thee" to "Down by the Riverside," all
played with a Dirty Dozen twist.
"You could hear any hymn
at a jazz funeral," said Towns, "but over the last
25 years everything changed. The whole culture was revised as
the younger generation got involved in the music -- of course,
the younger generation is going to bring their musical influences
in there.
"When jazz was instituted,
in its early inception it was a new form -- now 125 years later,
some look at it as a museum piece. I have nothing against playing
traditional music, but it has to evolve. We try to keep it to
the reality we live in today, but with a respect for where the
music came from.
"We make it funky, but
we also can get subtle. No matter what song we play, you know,
that's the Dirty Dozen. There's no mistaking the sound we create.
When you come to one of our shows, you get a little bit of everything."
The band's current cross-country
tour puts them in the middle of a showcase of Southern heritage
music that includes an opening set of pre-jazz by the Rising
Star Drum and Fife Band. Closing the show, the North Mississippi
Allstars, a country blues jam trio featuring brothers Luther
and Cody Dickinson, sons of noted music producer Jim Dickinson.
"With this tour, you get
a perspective on the whole history of this music," said
Towns. "You'll get a little southern adventure through the
course of the night. You might hear anything -- the rudiments
that started it all, you'll hear spirituals, hear what's happening
today. Of course, no matter how far you think you've progressed,
some things never change."
The Dirty Dozen have appeared
locally a number of times. The North Mississippi Allstars were
here a couple of years back with The Word, a gospel/blues outfit
assembled for a Rope a Dope disc that also included John Medeski
(from MMW) and pedal steel player Robert Randolph.
Towns says he's having "a
blast" on the joint tour in progress. "We've been having
a great time together. We've been doing a lot of interacting
with each other -- they come play on our set, we'll play on theirs.
A lot of creative stuff has been happening. You tell the people
out there, we'll all have a helluva good time when we come there,"
he concluded.
HSU's AS Presents a Halloween
concert with the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, the North Mississippi
Allstars and the Rising Star Fife and Drum Band on Sunday, Oct.
31, at 8 p.m. in HSU's Kate Buchanan Room. Tickets are $25/$20
in advance, or for HSU students $20/$15 in advance. Call 826-3928
for further details.
Bob
Doran
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