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Benny’s Back |
Drummer Benny Jones has long been at the hub of the New Orleans brass band scene. That’s one of the reasons that his absence has been so deeply felt by the community. When the word got around that Jones, who leads the much-loved Tremé Brass Band, returned to town at the end of January after five months away from his hometown, the shout went up, “Benny’s back!”
“Charlie was tickled to death,” says Jones of the greeting he received from Charlie Simms, the owner of Donna’s Bar & Grill where, until Hurricane Katrina, the Tremé Brass Band played on Friday nights. With a smile in his voice, Jones remembers Simms enthusiastic welcome: “Our band is back home.” Simms then quickly confirmed that the Tremé would hold down its usual Friday night gig at the North Rampart Street bar.
The snare drummer will again be teamed in the rhythm section with his partner and longtime friend, bass drummer “Uncle” Lionel Batiste. The two grew up together in the Tremé neighborhood and paraded with the Dirty Dozen Kazoo Band, the predecessor to the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, which boasted Jones’ drumming in its early years. They also laid down the rhythm with the Chosen Few Brass Band, which was founded by Jones and the late Anthony “Tuba Fats” Lacen.
With most of Tremé’s membership still out of town, Jones says he’ll rely on whoever is around to fill in the ensemble’s ranks, naming artists like trumpeters Leroy Jones and Jamal Williams and trombonists such as Charles Joseph and Jones’ nephew, Corey Henry. The bandleader left many of the Tremé Brass Band regulars like saxophonist Frederick “Shep” Sheppard, trumpeter Kid Merv Campbell and trombonist Eddie “Boh” Paris in Arizona, where he stayed and the Tremé gigged for almost four months. Arizona booking agent Bart Sullivan sought out Jones after the storm, encouraged him to get a band together with the promise of multiple jobs and housing for all the guys. The band performed at a wide variety of venues including churches, bars, schools and senior citizens homes.
“They really love New Orleans music; they’re really attuned to it,” Jones remarks of the older folks. “And the kids, this music was something new to them.”
Though anxious to return home, Jones stayed on the road to earn money to repair his flooded house near the Fair Grounds. On arrival by Greyhound bus on Jan. 31, Jones says he was surprised at all the torn down houses, closed business and vast areas without lights. Nonetheless, he declares, “I’m glad to be home and to see all my kin people and all my friends.”
With the Tremé blowing on Friday nights and To Be Continued (TBC) coming in on Saturday, March 11 and 18, Donna’s reclaims its title as New Orleans’ brass band headquarters.
Sandbar at the Flambeaux
The popular Sandbar Series presented by the University of New Orleans’ Jazz Studies program, which is now in its 17th year, starts March 8. Wednesday nights will once again find top-of-the-line, professional jazz musicians performing with the jazz students. The mix offers upcoming musicians insight and information and audiences an equal amount of entertainment.
“The best way of learning jazz takes place on the bandstand,” says Steve Masakowski, the Astral Project guitarist and music professor at UNO who presently holds the endowed chair that was once occupied by pianist Ellis Marsalis. “It [students playing with pros] develops a heightened sense of the real jazz world.”
The series has expanded from seven to nine shows this spring, and it includes appearances by saxophone great Ravi Coltrane on March 15 and guitar wizard Mike Moreno on March 29. Both musicians will also perform at Snug Harbor, on March 16 and March 30, respectively. In April, Latin pianist Arturo O’Farrell and New Orleans native, saxophonist Victor Goines will perform. Because the Sandbar is in rough shape after UNO became an unofficial shelter for those stranded in Gentilly, so the series has moved to a new locale, the Flambeaux Room in the rear of the University Center. Showtimes are 7:30 p.m. and the cover charge is $5, free to UNO students and faculty.
Nom de Plumes
Making a Mardi Gras Indian suit is expensive, some costing thousands of dollars. Realizing that many Indians lost suit-making supplies in the flood and are too financially strapped to replace them, Big Chief Monk Boudreaux of the Golden Eagles along with Festival Production’s Quint Davis spearheaded an initiative to procure materials to help enable the Indians to build costumes for this year’s Carnival.
On February 20, 91 Mardi Gras Indians who had signed up for the program each received two pounds of custom dyed African plumes — a whopping 170 pounds in total — and 10 strings of marabou to adorn their suits. A major task was to find out what color each of the Indians was planning to wear so that the feathers ordered through Jefferson Variety would match their outfits. Boudreaux took up this job and much of the coordination that was required for this adventurous and worthy project. “He was the Big Chief [of the endeavor],” Davis declares.
The money came from numerous sources including the Norman Dixon Fund, the Gibson Foundation, donations from the likes of New Orleans-loving celebrities Ed Bradley and Harry Shearer and benefits such as the one put on by trumpeter Wynton Marsalis at Lincoln Center.
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