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 playerKirk Joseph, trombone playerCharles 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.
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.[3] In the film, the band performs "My Feet Can't Fail Me Now" with guests Irvin Mayfield and Troy Andrews.[4]
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.
^"IAJE What's Going On". Jazz Education Journal. 37 (5). Manhattan, Kansas: International Association of Jazz Educators: 87. April 2005. ISSN1540-2886. ProQuest1370090.
^Make It Funky! (DVD). Culver City, California: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. 2005. ISBN9781404991583. OCLC61207781. 11952.
Burns, Mick. Keeping the Beat On the Street: The New Orleans Brass Band Renaissance. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2006. ISBN0-8071-3048-6
