New Breed Brass Band with Trombone Shorty
Live at the 2024 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival
**** out of *****
The 2024 edition of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival hosted a special day this year where the Festival showcased the main stage and hosted The Rolling Stones. Acts like Dumpstaphunk and Samantha Fish both gave dynamite performances before the Stones, but the band that opened up the stage in the AM hours lit a fire under everyone in attendance. Asses shook for the New Breed Brass Band with special guest Trombone Shorty as they started Thursday May 2nd off proper.
The New Breed Brass Band are fairly new to the New Orleans scene but have made quite an impact already. The players, Jenard Andrews (bandleader and snare-drummer), Revon Andrews and George Brown (trombone), Mike Brooks (sousaphone), Yirma Yisrael and Orlando Gilbert (saxophone), Emanuel Mitchell and Chris Cotton (trumpet), Henry Green (guitar) and Tyreek Andrews (bass drum) have found their voice and this capturing of them at JazzFest if excellent.
Opening with "Tender Fender - St.Phillip St" the collection immediately kick their set off with huge energy, shaking out any cobwebs or jetlag festival goers may have had form the previous night. The interweaving horn runs are intoxicating as the band has no need for a warm up. The group then welcomes their special guest Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews to the stage for the aptly titled "Number 2" which walks a smoother path while still maintaining an upbeat feel as the band shouts "Gotta Keep That Dream Alive".
Drums, handclaps, and percussion start "That Funk" as a smoking saxophone solo snakes in and out. The popping "Treme Island" finds each of the brass blowers taking a solo and when the tune ends, it is the first real break of the killer set. A screeching guitar solo starts out "Risky Bidness" as Green adds a heavy metal like vibe throughout the song. The head banging motif matches the hard drumming and syncopated brass lines, a heavy highlight in a set full of them.
The band gets loose with 'ooh-aah' vocals during "Blackbird Special" before the blasting brass rolls out with musical nods to Parliament-Funkadelic along the way on an exhilarating live number. The band flows seamlessly into the grooving "Oops" which is lead by the bopping sousaphone while the bright and sunshine filled notes of "Move Something" wrap up the bands opening day set.
Having experienced this full set live at the Festival, I knew it was a burner and thankfully this live recording keeps that vibe alive. New Breed Brass Band with Trombone Shorty Live at the 2024 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival cooks from the first notes to the last making it a must own for fans of brass band music and beyond.
__________
Support the artists, by the album, peep some video below:
No comments:
Post a Comment