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Told in the words of the musicians themselves, Keeping
the Beat on the Street celebrates the renewed passion
and pageantry among black brass bands in New Orleans. Mick
Burns introduces the people who play the music and shares
their insights, showing why New Orleans is the place where
jazz continues to grow. Brass bands waned during the civil
rights era but revived around 1970 and then flourished in
the 1980s when the music became cool with the younger generation.
In the only book to cover this revival, Burns interviews members
from a variety of bands, including the Fairview Baptist Church
Brass Band, the Dirty Dozen, Tuba Fats' Chosen Few, and the
Rebirth Brass Band. He captures their thoughts about the music,
their careers, audiences, influences from rap and hip-hop,
the resurgence of New Orleans social and pleasure clubs and
second lines, traditional versus funk style, recording deals,
and touring. For anyone who loves jazz and the city where
it was born, Keeping the Beat on the Street is a book
to savor.
"We should be grateful to Mick Burns for undertaking the
task of producing . . . the only book to cover the subject
of what he rightly calls the brass band renaissance."—New
Orleans Music
"A welcome look at the history of brass bands. These oral
histories provide a valuable contribution to new Orleans musical
history. . . . What shines through the musicians' words is
love of craft, love of culture."—New Orleans Times-Picayune
"A seminal work about the Brass Bands of New Orleans."—Louisiana
Libraries
Mick Burns (1942–2007) was the author of
The Great Olympia Band and Walking with Legends:
Barry Martyn's New Orleans Jazz Odyssey and played jazz
professionally in Europe and the United States for forty years.
He lived in Spilsby, Lincolnshire, in England. |
