COMPOSERS: Rebirth Brass Band
LABELS: Basin Street Records
ALBUM TITLE: Rebirth Brass Band: Move Your Body
WORKS: Move Your Body
PERFORMER: Rebirth Brass Band
CATALOGUE NO: BSR 1204-2
Formed in 1983 the Rebirth Brass Band (RBB) is a mainstay of New Orleans’s vibrant jazz scene, rising to fame thanks, notably, to its appearance on Treme, the TV series set in Hurricane Katrina’s aftermath. Brothers and long-standing members, tuba player Philip and bass drummer Keith Frazier, anchor the band’s infectious swaggering rhythmic style. And, while rooted firmly in the jazz marching band tradition, they blend a mix of jazz and funk, they call ‘junk’.
With over 15 albums to their name, this new disc aptly kicks off with a jazz version of gospel classic ‘Lord, you’ve been good to me’, which is followed by a set-list that is filled with trademark chants, whoops, claps, soaring vocals and belting trumpet solos. ‘What Are We Gonna Do? questions the uproarious final track. The listener is clearly being invited,
as the album title suggests, to move their body…
Neil McKim