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The Trémé Brass Band are the real
life, everyday soundtrack for Trémé, one of the
oldest black neighborhoods in the country and the
setting for the acclaimed,
eponymous
HBO series.
Located just north of New Orleans’
French Quarter, Trémé is a real haven for brass-band
music.
The band is Anchored by snare drummer
Benny Jones, the band’s leader, and bass drummer
“Uncle” Lionel Batiste - the sharpest looking
septuagenarian you’ll ever meet. Jones and Batiste
were both founding members of the Dirty Dozen Brass
Band thirty years ago, but neither wanted to tour
full-time, so they formed a stay-at-home band that
has become a kind of “finishing school” for an
entire generation of up-and-coming New Orleans brass
band musicians.
And on any given night in a
backstreet barroom, a Trémé Brass Band set can take
you almost anywhere with classic brass-band
repertoire, like “I Found a New Baby,” “Joe Avery’s
Blues,” or the hilarious “I’ll Be Glad When You’re
Dead (You Rascal, You).” With extended jams and
virtuoso solos, they can swing the pants off
audience favorites, like “Wonderful World” or a
spirited “Darktown Strutters Ball” and “When the
Saints/Mama Don’t Allow” medley.
This is classic, funky New Orleans
brass-band music, recorded live in the studio, and
just one listen will easily demonstrate why the
National Endowment for the
Arts has named the Trémé Brass Band as a
national treasure
and
National Heritage Fellows.
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