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Treme Brass Band: Gimme My Money Back |
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Saturday, 04 February 2006 10:10 |
Treme Brass Band
Gimme My Money Back
Arhoolie CD 417 (1995)
By John Sinclair
There's nothing like waking up on an early Sunday afternoon to the sound of a New Orleans brass band leading a parade of exuberant celebrants down the middle of the streets of your neighborhood. In fact, there's nothing like this anywhere else in America, and the brass bands of New Orleans are one of the many blessings one is given as a resident of this steamy Southern city.
I live on the cusp of the French Quarter and the adjacent area known as Treme, which happens to be the oldest urban African American neighborhood in the USA. Brass bands have been sounding forth from Treme since around the end of the Civil War, and they continue to serve the same function in the 21st century.
The Dirty Dozen, the Re-Birth Brass Band, the Little Rascals and a host of other funky street ensembles of today have their roots here, but the pride of the Sixth Ward is the all-star outfit called the Treme Brass Band, and Gimme My Money Back captures a particularly stellar edition of the band at the very peak of its powers.
Kermit Ruffins and James Andrews on trumpets, Kirk Joseph on sousaphone, Elliott Stackman Callier and the late great Fred Kemp on saxophones, and the relentless rhythm of Benny Jones on snare and Uncle Lionel Batiste on the bass drum power their way through a relentless program of irresistible modern-day classics, from the title track through Food Stamp Blues and Just a Closer Walk With Thee.
Produced by Jerry Brock for Arhoolie Records, Gimme My Money Back is not only one of the finest brass band albums ever made it's one of the greatest records ever to come out of New Orleans.
--New Orleans
2003
(c) 2004, 2006 John Sinclair. All Rights Reserved.
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