[Dixielandjazz] New Orleans Brass Band "Soul Rebels"- On the Road Again

[Steve Barbone]

This article courtesy of Tom Wiggins.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone

On the Road Again - By Geraldine Wyckoff - From New Orleans On Line

³Hey, you¹re back!² is a greeting repeatedly heard around New Orleans these
days. ³Well, not really,² is too often the reply, followed by, ³I¹m still
inŠ² fill in the blank‹Houston, Atlanta, Austin. Musicians have scattered
around the country since Katrina, but those who are close enough to do so
are returning to town as often as they can despite skyrocketing gas prices
and grueling hours on the highway.

While most people would consider driving into New Orleans from Houston for a
job a really, really long commute, Lumar LeBlanc, the leader/bass drummer of
the Soul Rebels, views it as the group being on the road. ³That helps us put
ourselves in a mental fix,² LeBlanc says. ³It¹s like we¹re the Dirty Dozen
or Rebirth or something. We look at it like we¹re on tour to do a New
Orleans gig every week.²

The band¹s Thursday destination is Le Bon Temps Roule, and it has played
there weekly for the last six years. When the club called the Rebels after
Katrina and told LeBlanc that it wanted to help pioneer the return of live
music in the city, the group immediately committed to traveling in for the
gig. The hard-hitting ensemble returned to blow its singular brew of brass,
funk, hip-hop and jazz at the Magazine Street club in early October in front
of a very appreciative crowd. Those were the days when the crowd spilled out
on to Bordeaux Street because Le Bon Temps had no neighbors, and the
National Guard might step through the doors with weapons on display to
enforce the 2 a.m. curfew. The Thursday night gig has become the core around
which the band books other jobs in the New Orleans area. On Saturday, August
5, the Soul Rebels will close the Nola.com Brass Band Stage at Satchmo
SummerFest at 5:30 p.m.

At the end of June, the Soul Rebels racked up an impressive seven gigs over
a four-day period with stops at the Bon Temps, the Louisiana Music Factory
and d.b.a., along with dates in Baton Rouge and Lafayette. ³It was a
profitable weekend,² LeBlanc says, even considering that gas alone rings up
at an intimidating $200 for a round trip that, without traffic tie-ups,
takes five to six hours each way.

LeBlanc puts the tip money aside to cover travel expenses but sometimes,
when the band¹s schedule isn¹t quite as hefty, the group will take a gig and
dedicate the money to gas and vehicle maintenance. Nonetheless, the leader
sees the bright side of the experience. His aim has always been for the Soul
Rebels to evolve further as a road band in the mode of the Dirty Dozen and
Rebirth brass bands.
Because the majority of the members‹all of whom boast college degrees‹had
day jobs including careers as teachers and counselors, traveling used to be
prohibitive.

³I¹ve always wanted to gravitate the Soul Rebels to a place where we¹re
Œlegitimate¹‹the members just to be musicians. Because of the storm, we were
forced to do that,² says LeBlanc, who before Katrina was a teacher in the
Orleans Parish school system and a psychiatric technician with Ochsner
Hospital, where he remains on call. ³It¹s helped me to finally get the band
focused on touring. It¹s really helped the Soul Rebels mature as a touring
band.² The band is also enjoying more out-of-town exposure than it ever has
in its 15-year history. Albums such as last year¹s explosive Rebelution sell
quickly off the bandstand, often scooped up by those digging the band for
the first time.

Because the Rebels enjoy a busy schedule and his wife¹s job at Tenet was
transferred from New Orleans to Houston, LeBlanc says the income from
playing music is all he needs to survive. But, he quickly adds, ³If it
wasn¹t for her, I don¹t think we would have made it.²

Damion Francois, the Rebels¹ tuba player, displays more frustration than his
bandmate with the situation. He is one of the band¹s three members who now
live in Houston, and he says of New Orleans, ³The city doesn¹t give a damn
about musicians.² He would like to see the city offer some sort of gas card
to the New Orleans musicians that are now commuting to gigs from Dallas,
Houston, Lafayette, Baton Rouge and other points outside the city. ³They
really need to consider the importance of the musicians in New Orleans and
try to work with them to ease up the pressure on us so we can feel
comfortable to produce what we need to produce. When you come to New
Orleans, you¹re so stressed out and beat out from just trying to get there.
The amount of money you¹re spending is really becoming a deterrant.²
Both LeBlanc and Francois praise the work of Bethany Bultman of the New
Orleans Musicians¹ Clinic, as well as Tipitina¹s Foundation, Jazz Fest,
MusiCares and the New Orleans Musicians Hurricane Relief Fund. The clinic
donated the 1986 Ford truck with a camper on the back that carries LeBlanc,
Francois and trumpet player Marcus Hubbard and their equipment to New
Orleans each week.

³The people are the reason we come back,² Francois acknowledges. ³You come
back because you love the people‹our family members and our fans. LeBlanc
agrees, saying, ³We¹ve committed ourselves to our fans and we¹ll do it as
long as we physically can.²

³Living on the road now, it¹s different; it¹s crazy,² says trombonist Corey
Henry. As leader of the Lil¹ Rascals Brass Band and his own
swing/jazz/R&B/hip-hop group, the Young Fellas, he is jumping between
Houston, New York City and New Orleans. ³It ain¹t the greatest but we manage
to make it,² he says, explaining that in Houston he¹s usually playing with
the Fellas, in New Orleans he meets up with his family and the scattered
members of the Rascals and in New York he visits his girl while trying to
book some gigs with cats living there. He still plays when he can with
Kermit Ruffins and the Barbeque Swingers, and he will lead the Rascals at
Satchmo SummerFest at 4 p.m. on Saturday, August 5.

The Jazz Foundation in Houston has been instrumental in setting up Henry and
the Fellas at performances in schools, universities, museums and homes for
the elderly. And though he¹s done his share of trucking back and forth
between cities, the trombonist often catches a flight to connect with
members of his various ensembles at a destination.
³Houston is good and New York is good but there¹s something about New
Orleans, you can¹t get it anywhere,² says Henry, who is also trying to ³get
something started² in Austin. ³I¹m making a living.²

The New Orleans brass band scene is a close-knit community and has long
involved a mix-and-match of musicians. Rebirth and New Birth once completely
swapped their front horn lines. It¹s natural that on occasion, Henry has
added his sweet-toned trombone with members of the New Birth Brass Band
(SummerFest, August 6 at 5:30 p.m.), who are also based in Houston.
Combining forces led to the emergence of another group on the New Orleans
scene, the Free Agents Brass Band. Though the group was formed just prior to
Katrina, after the storm it brought musicians together who were in need of
work. It has also filled a void when other bands like the Hot 8 (SummerFest,
August 6 at 2 p.m.) or New Birth were out of town or unable to take a job.
³I consider myself a free agent, so that¹s where the name came from,² says
leader, bass drummer Ellis ³EJo² Joseph, who was headed to France with the
Pinstripe Brass Band at press time. ³We¹re all trying to be generous to
everyone to make sure everybody has work.²

The group¹s first gig after the storm was the funeral for Chef Austin Leslie
in Atlanta and on its return, the band picked up a house party job from
Rebirth. With most of its musicians in town, the membership of the Free
Agents has recently become more stable. However, Joseph, a cousin of
Rebirth¹s Frazier brothers, points out that with people going back and forth
to visit and check up on relatives in various states, ³everybody is still on
the road.²

All of these guys have become the mortar cementing the New Orleans brass
community‹the musicians and followers‹together. They do, however, express a
deep concern for the building blocks that will secure the future of this
city¹s brass band musical heritage. It has been a tradition that the music
and culture be handed down from generation to generation. The music
blossomed and was nurtured on neighborhood streets and stepped out of school
marching bands. With those links weak or missing, how will the tradition
survive?

There are some young groups such as To Be Continued (TBC), the Truth‹whose
members range in age from 15 to 20 years old‹and All For One brass bands,
but they could suffer from lack of tutelage.
³We have enough musicians but not enough quality musicians,² Free Agent¹s
Joseph observes. ³Learning the tradition is what completes you. Actually,
that should be first.² He says that there are musicians who have extended a
hand but for many, just making gigs and trying to keep things together is
already a challenge.

³Young kids would be around and piggyback on what we were doing every day,²
LeBlanc says of those budding musicians who would pick up licks and tunes
from the Rebels. He, along with other members of the Soul Rebels, have made
it a point to put horns in their own children¹s hands in hopes of keeping
the music vital. ³The storm has definitely affected the younger generation¹s
ability to be involved. You don¹t have the neighborhood genre like you did
before.²

Banjoist/guitarist/author Danny Barker saw the decline of the brass band
tradition when he returned home from New York in 1965, and he took action.
Approached by the Fairview Baptist Church¹s Reverend Andrew Darby, who was
looking to establish a church band, Barker began gathering up young
musicians. He started with a then 13-year-old trumpeter Leroy Jones who
lived nearby, and enlisted trumpeter Gregg Stafford, trombonist Lucien
Barbarin and numerous other now well-known names. The Fairview Baptist
Church Brass Band played its first gig in 1971 and its members have filled
the ranks of jazz bands ever since. We sure could use Barker right now or
someone with his dedication.

³I think the music would have died if it wasn¹t for Mr. Barker creating
interest in people like myself,² Stafford once declared.

With their kids in good schools in Houston, their wives working, and the
Soul Rebels gigging enough to meet expenses, LeBlanc and Francois don¹t
envision returning to live in New Orleans any time soon. ³I have to see what
happens after the storm season,² says LeBlanc. ³Nothing¹s going to stop
me‹but the Lord‹coming to New Orleans and doing my work every week. New
Orleans will always be home. I¹m home every week. I think I have my family
in a safer place until the city gets back on its feet. What¹s been
interesting in Houston,² he continues, ³is we¹ve been able to do jazz
funerals. Unfortunately, there were some people from New Orleans who died
here and they had jazz funerals. So when the funeral parlors saw what we do
they said they¹d like to offer that to other families. You¹ve got a lot of
our culture seeping in here. People are amazed at how we are like
professionals on partying."

³I try to get the positive out of everything,² he says. ³When the storm hit,
we kept in touch. I told the band, ŒDon¹t give up because the only thing we
have right now is the music.¹²

When playing out of town, Corey Henry says, ³It¹s almost like we have to
educate the people on what¹s really going on with the music.² He hopes to
return to his hometown as soon as possible. One reason: ³In New Orleans, we
just strike up the band and everybody just parties automatically. In New
Orleans, we just do it like that.²