Countless lives were impacted by Hurricane Katrina's attack on New Orleans, and while the stories of many individuals have been told, some of the city's musicians have felt moved to uniquely articulate their feelings through their craft. For the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, they found their voice through another artist's decades-old creative outcry.
Dirty Dozen sax player Roger Lewis is among those who gravitated back to New Orleans and eventually resettled. "I've been back in the city about two years now," said Lewis, speaking from New Orleans. "I had nine feet of water in my house but we had insurance and was able to put our house back together. We raised it up another five feet, so we're six feet off the ground now."
After the hurricane, the band was considering their next creative step when someone at their label suggested that they cover Marvin Gaye's classic 1971 album "What's Going On" in its entirety. Having previously recorded some of Gaye's music, it didn't take much for the Dozen to warm up to the idea.
"We recorded one of Marvin Gaye's songs on our album 'Medicated Magic', ‘Inner City Blues.' We always wanted to do Marvin Gaye's music, and it was coming on this anniversary of 'What's Going On'."
As a group that infuses the traditional brass band sound with elements of jazz, funk, soul and gospel, the Dirty Dozen worked to make the songs their own, with band members encouraging each other to bring new ideas to the studio. While the concept recalls Booker T. & The MGs taking on the Beatles' "Abbey Road" album under the title of 1970's "McLemore Avenue", the updated "What's Going On" featured guest vocalists such as Chuck D, Bettye LaVette, Ivan Neville and G. Love that added to the picture.
Back in 1972, the Fairview Baptist Church Marching Band was formed to provide a positive creative vehicle for young people. The unit eventually went professional as the Hurricane Brass Band, then the Tornado Brass Band, before finally splintering. A few of the members continued to rehearse together into the late ‘70s, going on to play shows as the Original Sixth Ward Dirty Dozen, and ultimately recording for the first time as the Dirty Dozen Brass Band in 1980. "Dirty Dozen" refers to their neighborhood's Dirty Dozen Social and Pleasure Club, by the way; as of this writing, they actually number a clean eight players.
Touring and festival appearances through the Eighties drew considerable attention from new fans and fellow musicians, including Elvis Costello, who invited the band to play on his 1989 album "Spike". "We were playing in New York at a club and Elvis Costello brought his mother. I think it was his mother's birthday, and he came over to see the band. He liked what he heard and he asked if we would be interested in doing a record with him.
"Some of the stuff he was supposed to sing on, but it sounded so good like it was he kept a lot of those cuts as instrumentals: 'I'm not going to mess with this. I'm just going to leave this like it it,' because he liked what it was. And then we invited him to play on our (1991 album) 'Open Up.' Most of the time we record with different people it's because they like the band and they like what we do."
As they continued to draw the respect and appreciation of other musicians over the years, some of their younger peers enabled the band to reach out to new listeners that might have otherwise been unaware of their work. "I think when we did a tour with the Black Crowes, that introduced the band to a different audience," said Lewis. "Then we did a tour with Widespread Panic and that really exposed a lot of young people to our music, a younger audience. That was a major turning point as far as bringing people into our music and what we do."
More than a dozen Dirty Dozen albums have been released over the past twenty-plus years, including live sets and compilations, and at present the group is on the road as usual. While the Dirty Dozen Brass Band may not have seen a real major commercial breakthrough during their many years together, Lewis readily names the one thing that keeps him happy on the road and makes the experience new for him daily.
"The music! We could play the same song every night but it's always different. The audience keeps it fresh because it's a different audience every night.
"You're always trying to do better than you did the night before. That keeps it pretty fresh. Got to keep an open mind."
Dirty Dozen Brass Band with Southside Funk
When: Friday, 6/13, 6:30
Where: Brown's Island; main entrance at 7th and Tredegar Streets
Cost: Free
Details: www.venturerichmond.com or (804) 788-6466