Let the Good Times Roll. New Orleans reflects a stunning musical melting pot of influences from around the world. Featuring brass band pioneers The Dirty Dozen Brass Band and packed with a multigenerational lineup of some of the city’s greatest talent, Take Me to the River: New Orleans celebrates the musical history, heritage and legacy of one of our most unique cultural jewels.
Line-up: The Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Ivan Neville, Ian Neville, George Porter Jr, Big Chief Monk Boudreaux, Lost Bayou Ramblers Duo, 79rs Gang, Terence Higgins
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Read on (scroll down) for more information about the performers!
Sponsored by Dr. Neal Beckford & the UTHSC Dept. of Otolaryngology
American Music Series Sponsored by neXair
The Dirty Dozen Brass Band
Celebrating over 40 years since their founding in 1977, New Orleans-based Dirty Dozen Brass Band has taken the traditional foundation of brass band music and incorporated it into a blend of genres including Bebop Jazz, Funk and R&B/Soul. This unique sound, described by the band as a ‘musical gumbo,’ has allowed the Dirty Dozen to tour across 5 continents and more than 30 countries, record 12 studio albums and collaborate with a range of artists from Modest Mouse to Widespread Panic to Norah Jones. Forty-plus years later, the Dirty Dozen Brass Band is a world famous music machine whose name is synonymous with genre- bending romps and high-octane performances.
In 1977, The Dirty Dozen Social and Pleasure Club in New Orleans began showcasing a traditional Crescent City brass band. It was a joining of two proud, but antiquated, traditions at the time: social and pleasure clubs dated back over a century to a time when black southerners could rarely afford life insurance, and the clubs would provide proper funeral arrangements. Brass bands, early predecessors of jazz as we know it, would often follow the funeral procession playing somber dirges, then once the family of the deceased was out of earshot, burst into jubilant dance tunes as casual onlookers danced in the streets. By the late '70s, few of either existed. The Dirty Dozen Social and Pleasure Club decided to assemble this group as a house band, and over the course of these early gigs, the seven-member ensemble adopted the venue's name: The Dirty Dozen Brass Band.
Ivan Neville
Ivan Neville & Ian Neville
Ivan Neville and Ian Neville, members of Dumpstaphunk, stand out among New Orleans’ best as part of one of the funkiest bands to ever arise from the Crescent City. Born on the Jazz & Heritage Festival stage, and descended from Neville family bloodlines, these soldiers of funk ignite a deep, gritty groove that dares listeners not to move. Their performances combine ingenious musicianship and complex funk and jazz arrangements.
Ivan has played and appeared on several Neville Brothers records, two Rolling Stones albums, as well as his father Aaron Neville’s solo records. He has performed in Bonnie Raitt’s band and was a member of Keith Richard’s solo band, the X-Pensive Winos. With Dumpstaphunk, Ivan and Ian have performed on the Late Show with David Letterman and become mainstays at music festivals across the country.
George Porter Jr.
George Porter Jr.
George Porter Jr. is best known as the bassist of The Meters, along with Art Neville, Leo Nocentelli and Joseph Zigaboo Modeliste. The group was formed in the mid 60's and came to be recognized as one of the progenitors of funk then called R&B. The Meters disbanded in 1977, but reformed in 1989. Today the original group still plays the occasional reunions but the Funky Meters, of which Porter and Neville are still members, most prominently keeps the spirit alive.
Few bass players in the history of modern New Orleans music are as storied as George Porter Jr. During the course of a career spanning more then four decades, Porter has not only made a deep impression with his work in the Meters, but he's notched session work with artists as diverse as Paul McCartney,
Jimmy Buffett, David Byrne, Patti LaBelle, Robbie Robertson, Tori Amos, Taj Mahal, Ryan Montbleau and live performances with Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann, Warren Haynes, John Scofield, Steve Kimock, Eric Krasno (and including recent studio releases with Warren Haynes and Bill Kreutzmann) just to name a few.
Monk Boudreaux
Big Chief Monk Boudreaux
The New Orleans Mardi Gras Indian phenomenon is part music, part heritage, part ancestry, part revelry, part fashion, and oft misunderstood. Big Chief Monk Boudreaux is one of the most famous and enduring leaders of that culture and head of the Golden Eagle Mardi Gras Indian tribe. Joseph Pierre “Big Chief Monk” Boudreaux is the leader of the Golden Eagles, a Mardi Gras Indian tribe of New Orleans, Louisiana. Born in New Orleans on Pearl Harbor Day, December 7, 1941, Boudreaux is a vital figure in the tradition, and has steadfastly distinguished himself as a gifted folk artist and dynamic performing musician through his unwavering dedication to this singular African American culture.
Boudreaux is known for his long-time collaboration with Big Chief Bo Dollis and the Wild Magnolia group, though he left the group nearly a decade ago to form the Golden Eagle Mardi Gras Indians. His latest album Rising Sun is a collaboration with Reverend Goat Carson, a professed “Renegade Cherokee.” In 2016, Boudreaux was given the lifetime honor of the National Heritage Fellowship by the National Endowment for the Arts.
Lost Bayou Ramblers
Lost Bayou Ramblers
79rs Gang
79rs Gang
Featuring Jermaine Bossier, chief of the 7th Ward Creole Hunter gang & Romeo Bougere, chief of the 9th Ward Hunter gang. Once rivals, they now come together to make beautiful music. Regulars at the legendary Tipitina’s and New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, they have also performed with the Stooges and Papa Mali.
Terence Higgins
Terence Higgins
Terence was born in New Orleans in 1970 and was raised in the suburb of old Algiers. He was introduced to the drums at a very young age by his great grandfather and he has been playing ever since. In high school he was one of two students chosen from the state of Louisiana to perform in the McDonald's All-American band, after high school he enrolled in music studies at Southern University, after a few years he decided to pursue a career in the music business. Terence credits George Porter Jr. for taking him under his wing and introducing him to the vast repertoire of New Orleans music.
His professional career has taken him all over the world and his unsurpassed skills on the drums have allowed him to play with an eclectic group of musicians. Terence has performed with artists like Dr. John, Earl King, Fats Domino, Allen Toussaint, The Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Kermit Ruffins, Johnny Adams, The Wild Magnolias, Ivan Neville & Dumpstaphunk, Norah Jones, Ani DiFranco, John Scofield, DJ Logic, Robert Randolph, Widespread Panic, The Black Crows, North Mississippi All-Stars, Treme Brass band and many other New Orleans artists.
