Beginnings

The Dirty Dozen Brass Band ultimately grew out of the youth music program established by Danny Barker at New Orleans' Fairview Baptist Church. In 1972 Barker started the Fairview Baptist Church Marching Band, with the goal of providing young people with a positive outlet for their energies; the band achieved considereable local popularity and transformed itself a professional outfit led by trumpeter Leroy Jones and known as the Hurricane Brass Band. By 1976, however, opportunities for brass bands were drying up; Jones left the group to play mainstream jazz and, after a brief period as the Tornado Brass Band, the group fell apart.

Popularity

In 1980, Jerry Brock made the first professional recording of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, which he played "constantly" on WWOZ. He also prepared a press kit for the group and, in his words, "helped them to present themselves professionally". In 1982 he arranged a concert for them at a club called Tipitina's, which was the first time they had played at a "white club" in New Orleans. 1982 also saw the band's first international appearance, when Kidd Jordan recommended the band to the organizers of the Groningen Festival in Holland.

Influence

From the beginning, the music of the Dirty Dozen was a departure from the traditional New Orleans brass band sound, and as the band's popularity increased the distance between them and more traditional groups only grew. When Kirk and Charles Joseph left the band suddenly in 1991, citing the pressures of the group's demanding touring schedule, Davis was forced to replace Kirk Joseph not with another sousaphonist but with an electric bass player. Similarly, in 1994 drummers Lionel Batiste (who had replaced Benny Jones on bass drum some years earlier) and Jenell Marshall left the group; Davis was unable to find a pair of drummers who met his expectations, and instead hired a single musician to play drum kit. The subsequent addition of a keyboard player and guitarist removed the band still further from its street band roots. Finally, throughout the band's history they relied on written arrangements to a far greater extent than do most other New Orleans brass bands.

• Burns, Mick. Keeping the Beat On the Street: The New Orleans Brass Band Renaissance. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2006. ISBN 0-8071-3048-6
• Press Kit from Ropeadope Records
• MusicWeb Encyclopedia of Popular Music
• Interview with Efrem Towns at About.com

Triva

In Postcards From Buster this show is called "Music Mystery". Buster thought he heard a tuba.