The Dirty Dozen Brass Band is an American brass band based in New Orleans, Louisiana. The ensemble was established in 1977, by Benny Jones and members of the Tornado Brass Band. The Dirty Dozen incorporated funk and bebop into the traditional New Orleans jazz style, and has since been a major influence on local music. In 2023, they won the Grammy Award for Best American Roots Performance.
Beginnings The Dirty Dozen Brass Band grew out of the youth music program established by Danny Barker at New Orleans' Fairview Baptist Church. In 1972, Barker started the Fairview Baptist Church Marching Band to provide young people with a positive outlet for their energies. The band achieved considerable local popularity and transformed itself into a professional outfit led by trumpet player Leroy Jones and known as the Hurricane Brass Band. By 1976, opportunities for brass bands were drying up; Jones left the group to play mainstream jazz and, after a brief period as the Tornado Brass Band, the group fell apart.
A few of the musicians from the Tornado band—trumpeter Gregory Davis, sousaphone player Kirk Joseph, trombone player Charles Joseph, and saxophone player Kevin Harris–continued to rehearse together into 1977, and they were joined by Efrem Towns (trumpet player/lead singer), Roger Lewis on saxophone and Benny Jones and Jenell Marshall on drums. By this point the popularity of brass band music in New Orleans was at a low ebb, and paying gigs were rare, but the band continued to rehearse and develop a repertoire.
When Benny Jones, who was active in the social and pleasure club scene, was asked to get a band together for a parade, he would draw from this rehearsal group, which had named themselves The Original Sixth Ward Dirty Dozen, a name created to show their strong connection to the Tremé neighborhood and the local social club scene, as represented by the Dirty Dozen Social and Pleasure Club.
The band began playing regular gigs at the Seventh Ward club Daryl's, and at the Glasshouse, a bar in a black neighborhood of Uptown New Orleans. The performances at Daryl's caught the attention of Jerry Brock, co-founder of the radio station WWOZ.
Popularity In 1980, Brock made the first professional recording of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, which he played frequently on WWOZ. In 1982, he arranged a concert at Tipitina's, which was the first time they had played at a "white club" in New Orleans.
In 1984, promoter George Wein booked the band on a tour of southern Europe. That was followed by dates in New York—at Tramp's and The Village Gate, and three more trips to Europe, where their original short bookings were extended to six weeks. Concord Jazz released of the band's first album, My Feet Can't Fail Me Now.
In 1986, the band's set at the Montreux Jazz Festival was recorded and released as Mardi Gras at Montreux on Rounder Records. The album and the band's touring successes attracted major-label attention, and in 1987 the band signed a contract with Columbia. Their Columbia debut, 1989's Voodoo featured guest appearances by Dr. John, Dizzy Gillespie, and Branford Marsalis. Later recordings saw them joined by a variety of special guests including Elvis Costello, DJ Logic, Norah Jones, and Danny Barker. The group has also toured and recorded with jam band Widespread Panic, as well as spending almost all of 1995 as the opening act for The Black Crowes 'Amorica Or Bust' US Tour.
In 1990, at the memorial service for Jim Henson, the band played a Dixieland jazz version of the "When the Saints Go Marching In" at the St. John's Cathedral in New York City. Through letters written prior to his passing, Henson requested that a Dixieland band play a rousing version of "Saints" at the conclusion of the memorial service. The performance was described by Life magazine as "an epic and almost unbearably moving event".
In 1998, the band released Ears to the Wall on Mammoth Records. They followed it up in 1999 with Buck Jump, which was produced by John Medeski of Medeski Martin & Wood. Their next album, 2002's Medicated Magic, appeared on Ropeadope Records, as did their subsequent studio release, Funeral for a Friend, which appeared in 2004. Funeral for a Friend is a documentation of a New Orleans "funeral with music", the original environment of the brass band form. They appeared on the 2005 benefit album A Celebration of New Orleans Music to Benefit MusiCares Hurricane Relief 2005, and on two tracks on Modest Mouse's album Good News for People Who Love Bad News. On August 29, 2006, the Dozen released What's Going On, their version of the 1971 Marvin Gaye album What's Going On as a response to the devastation of Hurricane Katrina that struck New Orleans one year earlier.
The band appears in performance footage, and Gregory Davis is interviewed, in the 2005 documentary Make It Funky!, which presents a history of New Orleans music. In the film, the band performs "My Feet Can't Fail Me Now" with guests Irvin Mayfield and Troy Andrews.
Influence The band's success inspired a resurgence of New Orleans' brass band music, in the city and nationwide. The band was most influential in the 1980s, when they demonstrated that brass band music could be successful; the Dirty Dozen gave it worldwide visibility.
Discography
1984 – My Feet Can't Fail Me Now (Concord Jazz) 1986 – Live: Mardi Gras In Montreux (Rounder) 1989 – Voodoo (Columbia) 1990 – The New Orleans Album (Columbia) 1991 – Open Up: Whatcha Gonna Do for the Rest of Your Life (Columbia) 1993 – Jelly (Columbia) 1996 – Ears to the Wall (Mammoth) 1997 – This is Jazz (Columbia) 1999 – Buck Jump (Mammoth) 2002 – Medicated Magic (Ropeadope Records) 2002 – Down and Dirty (Terminus Records) 2003 – We Got Robbed: Live in New Orleans (self-released) 2004 – Jazz Fest 2004 (Home Grown Distribution) 2004 – Funeral for a Friend (Ropeadope) 2005 – This Is the Dirty Dozen Brass Band (Shout! Factory) 2005 – Jazz Moods: Hot (Columbia) 2006 – What's Going On (Shout! Factory) 2012 – Twenty Dozen (Savoy Jazz) 2018 – Live at JazzFest 2018 (Munck Music) 2019 – Live at the 2023 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival 2019 (Munck Music) 2022 – Live in New Orleans (501 Record Club) 2023 – Live at the 2023 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival (Munck Music) 2024 – Live at JazzFest 2024 (Munck Music)
The Dirty Dozen Brass Band appears on:
1984 – Rebirth Brass Band: Here To Stay! 1986 – Phil Alvin: Un "Sung" Stories (Slash) 1987 – Buckwheat Zydeco: On A Night Like This 1987 – Toby Mountain: Louisiana Scrapbook 1988 – Toby Mountain: Modern New Orleans Masters 1989 – New Orleans Brass Bands - Down Yonder 1989 – The Neville Brothers: Yellow Moon 1989 – Elvis Costello: Spike (Warner) 1989 – B. B. King Blues Hour: Cooking With The Blues, Shows 80 & 107 1990 – The Neville Brothers & Friends: Live at Storyville Jazz Hall 1990 – B. B. King Blues Hour, Shows 116 & 120 1990 – Acoustic Christmas 1991 – Poi Dog Pondering: Jack Ass Ginger 1991 – Elvis Costello: Mighty Like a Rose 1991 – The Manhattan Transfer: The Offbeat of Avenues 1991 – The Neville Brothers: Tell It Like It Is 1992 – Zachary Richard: Snake Bite Love 1993 – Buckwheat Zydeco: Menagerie 1994 – Phil Alvin: Country Fair 2000 1995 – Sonia Dada: A Day At The Beach 1995 – The Real Music Box: 25 Years of Rounder Records 1995 – Louisiana Spice 1995 – The Black Crowes: Three Snakes and One Charm 1996 – Elvis Costello: Plugging The Gaps, Vol. 2 1996 – Crossroads: Southern Routes—Music of the American South 1997 – Elvis Costello: Extreme Honey 1997 – Mama Digdown's Brass Junction: Big Boy 1998 – The Black Crowes: Sho' Nuff: The Complete Black Crowes 1998 – Mardi Gras Time 1998 – Louisiana 2: Live from the Mountain Stage 1998 – Kickin' Some Brass 1999 – The Black Crowes: By Your Side 1999 – Widespread Panic: Til the Medicine Takes 1999 – Joe Henry: Fuse 1999 – Buckwheat Zydeco: The Buckwheat Zydeco Story: A 20-Year Party 1999 – The Tigers: Shout & Testify 1999 – Zydecco Madness: Ga Ga for Ya-Ya 2000 – Widespread Panic: Another Joyous Occasion 2000 – Cafe Jazz, Vol 2 2000 – Mardi Gras Essentials 2000 – Tri-C Jazz Festival 2000 2000 – Buckwheat Zydeco: Ultimate Collection 2001 – La Thorpe Brass: All Things Move 2001 – Forgotten Souls Brass Band: Don't Forget 'Em 2002 – Widespread Panic: The Earth Will Swallow You 2002 – Bonnaroo: Live from Bonnaroo Music Festival 2002 – Mardi Gras in New Orleans 2003 – Dave Matthews: Some Devil 2003 – Aaron Neville: Believe 2003 – Angel Beach, Vol. 3 2003 – Boyd Tinsley - True Reflections 2003 – Gov't Mule: The Deepest End, Live in Concert 2004 – Modest Mouse: Good News for People Who Love Bad News 2004 – Widespread Panic: Night of Joy 2004 – Widespread Panic: Jackassolantern 2004 – Acoustic, Vol. 4 2004 – Today's Christmas 2004 – Blues Love Song 2004 – Dr. John: N'Awlinz: Dis, Dat or D'udda 2004 – San Francisco Jazz Festival: Best Of The Fest' 2000-2003 2004 – Slang: More Talk About Tonight 2004 – Doctors, Professors, Kings and Queens: The Big Ol' Box of New Orleans 2005 – Dr. John: The Best Of The Parlophone Years 2005 – Make It Funky! The Music That Took Over The World 2005 – Our New Orleans: A Benefit Album for the Gulf Coast 2005 – Time Life: New Orleans Party Classics 2005 – Aaron Neville: Gospel Roots 2005 – The Work: Bring Back The Good 2005 – A Celebration of New Orleans Music to Benefit MusiCares Hurricane Relief 2005 2006 – From the Big Apple to the Big Easy 2006 – The Subdudes: Behind the Levee 2006 – North Mississippi Allstars: Electric Blue Watermelon 2006 – Panama Jack Christmas Collection 2007 – Putomayo Presents: New Orleans Brass 2007 – Goin' Home: A Tribute to Fats Domino 2007 – City of Dreams: A Collection of New Orleans Music 2008 – Shout!: Shuffle 2008 – The Essential Guide to New Orleans 2008 – Stanton Moore: Take It To The Street 2009 – Modest Mouse: No One's First and You're Next 2009 – Best of Jazz in Burghausen, Vol. 3 2010 – Norah Jones: Featuring Norah Jones 2011 – Tinariwen – Tassili 2011 – Warren Haynes Band – Live From The Asheville Civic Center 2013 – New Orleans Funk, Vol. 3: Two-Way-Pocky-Way, Gumbo Ya-Ya & The Mardi Gras Mambo 2014 – Dr. John: Ske-Dat-De-Dat: The Spirit of Satch 2014 – Dr. John: Dr. John 3-4 2016 – Dr. John: The Musical Mojo of Dr. John: Celebrating Mac and His Music 2021 – New Orleans Brass Bands: Down Yonder 2023 – Birthright: A Black Roots Music Compendium 2023 – Johnny King and Friends: Call It Confusion 2024 – Elvis Costello: King of America & Other Realms 2024 – Terence Blanchard: Music From Tiana's Bayou Adventure
Awards and honors
Grammy Awards +YearCategoryWork nominatedResultRef.2023Best American Roots Performance"Stompin' Ground"
OffBeat's Best of The Beat Awards +YearCategoryWork nominatedResultRef.2002Best Brass BandBest Brass Band AlbumMedicated Magic2004Best Brass BandBest Brass Band AlbumFuneral for a Friend2006Best Brass Band AlbumWhat's Going On2020Lifetime Achievement in Music
References
Further reading Burns, Mick. Keeping the Beat On the Street: The New Orleans Brass Band Renaissance. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2006.
External links
Official website Dirty Dozen Brass Band collection at the Internet Archive's live music archive Press Kit from Ropeadope Records MusicWeb Encyclopedia of Popular Music Interview with Efrem Towns at About.com Interview with Roger Lewis at TheWaster.com