[Dixielandjazz] Jubilee, Sacramento Bee

[Robert S. Ringwald]

Sacramento Bee
May 30, 2007

Sunday night in Old Sac. The smell of barbecued oysters fills the air. The 
Delta
breeze is sending a cool breeze up the waterfront, and at the Firehouse lot, 
the
joint is jumpin'. The Rebirth Brass Band has just taken the stage.

A gift from the shattered city of N.O., rebirth launches into a few 
traditional numbers,
including a fine version of Duke Ellington's "A Train". But then they get 
funky -
the way we like it - with a rendition of Dixie Cups' "Iko, Iko". Soon the 
area in
front of the stage is a Crescent City Mosh Pit, with folks young and old 
bopping
to a beat that seemed to blow in straight from the Gulf of Mexico.
This is the Jazz Jubilee?

For a few seconds - or more accurately, for about 7,000 seconds - I thought 
I was
back in Nawlins' Jazz Fest. Cold beer in hand. Fried catfish in my tummy. 
And the
sound of seven guys who can make magic from a tuba, two trombones, a 
trumpet, a sax,
bass drum and snare drum.

Snare drummer Derrick Tabb was the star of Sunday's show. It was Derrick's 
birthday,
and as he beat the dickens out of his drum, the rest of the band gigged him 
mercilessly.
At one point they even revealed his hotel room number to the young gals 
dancing in
front of the stage.

Mystery Man was the other big star. When Rebirth started playing an up-beat 
version
of "When the Saints Go Marching In,' they were looking for an audience 
volunteer
to sing a few lines. Out of nowhere, Mystery Man takes the microphone and 
brings
down the house with seveal soulful stanzas. What a voice? Who was this guy?

Whatever. At that point, there was no doubt that my wife Micaela and I were 
staying
for Re- birth's second set. The only difficult question was whether we'd 
stay hydrated
with an Alaskan Amber of a Blue Moon.

Rebirth, founded in 1983, hails from a vital but imperiled tradition in 
American
music. Historically, these brass bands came out of the poor neighborhoods of 
New
Orleans, and would play on street corners or lead funeral processions. Now 
they play
a mixture of traditional jazz, rock, funk and even hip-hop - trying to claim 
a new
base of fans in a town that has lost more than half of its population.

That's why it was so stirring to see Rebirth at the Jazz Jubilee. In recent 
years,
this music festival itself has struggled with an identity crisis. Its core 
audience
is the older folks who enjoy a gentle form of Dixieland jazz. But its future 
may
well rest in the mosh pit of the Rebirth show.

Judging by Sunday's audience, there are lots of folks in Sacramento who 
appreciate
true roots music - the kind you hear at the New Orleans Jazz Fest or South 
by Southwest
in Austin, Texas. The trick is honoring the origins of true American jazz 
while attracting
a new generation of music lovers. Rebirth is what it is all about.

-Stuart Leavenworth
sleavenworth at sacbee.com