(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .
IVH: Eureka Brass Band / New Orleans Funeral & Parade [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2025-07-10
Tonight’s selections from Eureka Brass Band’s New Orleans Funeral & Parade: The Original 1951 Session album.
"Second line bands, the bands that march in the streets, initially was done for funerals," Allen Toussaint said. "To march real slow on the way to the funeral and cut up on the way back. That’s how you lay the dead away—with a band. You take ‘em on out and you boogie back." — Reverb
West Lawn Dirge
Over the course of the past century, the sound of horns singing out above a driving second-line beat has become an ingrained component of New Orleans’s unique musical culture. This tradition dates back to the mid-19th century, when a national craze for brass bands erupted in New Orleans. By century’s end, there were an estimated 10,000 active bands in the US, equaling roughly one band for every 6,300 people. These bands embraced the popular music of the period, including transcriptions of opera overtures, martial music, folk songs, and popular melodies. In New Orleans, both white and black brass bands existed and operated in similar spheres—playing a similar repertoire, wearing military-inspired uniforms, and adopting aspirational and inspiring names such as the Excelsior and Onward. During the same period, benevolent societies and social aid and pleasure clubs boomed in popularity among the city’s African-American and Afro-Creole populations. These groups sponsored church, club, and funeral parades, providing work for the many black brass bands and creating a mutually beneficial patronage relationship that has nurtured brass band music, musicians, and parade culture through the decades. The gigs informed the repertoire, which combined sacred hymns with popular tunes according to occasion and audience. — Historic New Orleans Collection
Sing On
One of the best known of the early traditional New Orleans brass bands was the Eureka Brass Band. Founded around 1920 by trumpeter Willie Wilson, it was led through the years by Wilson, trumpeter Alcide Landry, sousaphonist Joseph “Red” Clark (briefly in 1937), Dominique “T-Boy” Remy, and finally Percy Humphrey from 1946 until it broke up in 1975. It was a fixture in New Orleans for many years, performing at parades, funerals, and parties. [...] Recently, an LP titled New Orleans Funeral and Parade Music was released that has the best performances from those two dates, with five songs from 1951 and two from five years later. Listening to these primitive performances, it is easy to imagine that this is how jazz sounded 50-55 years earlier when it was first being formed. “Sing On” is entirely comprised of ensembles by the 11-piece band (consisting of three trumpets, two trombones, E flat clarinet, alto sax, tenor sax, sousaphone, snare drum, and bass drum) and has the group repeating the melody throughout the performance. There is some improvising by the horns and the bass and snare drummers contribute exuberant rhythms. Particularly effective is the very slow and mournful “West Lawn Dirge” which, with its halting rhythm, slightly out-of-tune horns, and very dramatic playing, is certainly very serious funeral music. It is followed by a joyful “Lady Be Good” which clearly is what the band would be playing right after a burial is completed. — Syncopated Times
Just A Closer Walk With Thee
Lady Be Good
WHO’S TALKING TO WHO?
Jimmy Kimmel: Eric Bana, Heather McMahan, Queens of the Stone Age, guest host Anthony Anderson
Jimmy Fallon: Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Lionel Boyce, Keke Palmer (R 6/19/25)
Stephen Colbert: Clarissa Ward, Michael C. Hall, Sienna Spiro (R 6/25/25)
Seth Meyers: Chris Hayes, Mike Birbiglia (R 6/19/25)
After Midnight: Rhys Darby, Rory Scovel, Baron Vaughn (R 7/8/24)
Watch What Happens Live: Tamra Judge, Steven Mcbee Jr.
The Daily Show: Youngmi Mayer, host Ronny Chieng
[END]
---
[1] Url:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/7/10/2330830/-IVH-Eureka-Brass-Band-New-Orleans-Funeral-amp-Parade?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=latest_community&pm_medium=web
Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.
via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/
