Whenever I tell folks I like New Orleans brass bands, I gotta convince them that the groups are funky like old-school DC go-go combos, not sedate like old-fashioned Dixieland troupes.  That is the case with Mama Digdown’s Brass Band, who are appearing at the Surf Club Thursday night (conflict of interest note—I told them about area clubs when they were booking the tour).  Except Digdown is from Wisconsin not the 9th Ward.

Fascinated with the second line parade percussion and the booming horns of the Crescent City, Digdown has spent over a decade traveling down there as often as possible to soak up the approach and then add a little something of their own to it.  Covering standards like “I’ll Fly Away,” and adding in some originals, this horn (sousaphone, 2 trumpets, 2 trombones, and sax) and percussion (bass and snare drums) unit has toured Europe and played in New Orleans.

These guys are serious about their craft.  A few years back, I discovered an I Love Music chatboard thread called “New Orleans Brass Bands S/D” that featured extensive posting from Mama Digdown’s bass drum player, Jordan Cohen.  Only occasionally talking about his own group, Cohen has highlighted  vets like Dirty Dozen as well as the Rebirth Brass Band, New Birth Brass Band, Hot 8 Brass Band, Lil’ Rascals Brass Band, Treme Brass Band, Soul Rebels Brass Band, and more. With Dirty Dozen and Rebirth having made recent local appearances, tonight’s gig offers locals another current opportunity to shake their thangs to this still vital street marching jazzy sound.

Thursday June 18, 2009-Mama Digdown’s Brass Band with local zydeco and New Orleans r’n’b band Little Red & the Renegades from 8 to 12 midnight at the Surf Club, 4711 Kenilworth Avenue, Hyattsville MD.  301-927-6310

As previously announced, the theme for this year is “The Musical Heritage of New Orleans,” and the headliner as such is trumpeter Terence Blanchard — who will be performing his 2007 piece A Tale of God’s Will: Requiem for Katrina in its entirety on June 12, in a free concert at the National Mall.

Another highlight is a closing concert tribute to New Orleans pianist Ellis Marsalis, which will feature his sons Branford, Jason, and Delfeayo, along with Harry Connick Jr., a 15-piece big band, and some surprises.

The list of featured artists after the jump.

Paquito D’Rivera (DEJF Artistic Director)
Terence Blanchard & Orchestra
Harry Connick, Jr
Davell Crawford
Duke Ellington Orchestra
Little Freddie King
Branford Marsalis
Delfeayo Marsalis
Ellis Marsalis
Jason Marsalis
Nicholas Payton
Rebirth Brass Band
Irma Thomas
Buckwheat Zydeco

Precise schedule TBD, and will be posted at the festival’s website when finalized.

Also note that this year the festival has been moved from fall to summer, scheduled for June 5-15. The city has arranged for DEJF to have a permanent spot on its events schedule in the second week of June. In addition, the “Jazz on the National Mall” event, previously the final day of the festival, will now expand to three days, June 12-14.

The question of how to dispose of my mortal remains has weighed on me of late. Raised Baptist and Episcopalian by turns—with a meager annuity of Judaism courtesy of certain paternal relatives—I’ve since strayed from the path of righteousness into the turpid thickets of cohabitation and Crescent City blues. Which means, of course, that for this agno-mystic, ruminations on divine judgment and soul-transposition present thickets of their own—as does the cadaverous question that opens this paragraph.

Old-fashioned interment calls for expensive cedar and the chance of an open casket situation—neither of which I can abide. Cremation, on the other hand, has clear advantages: quick, clean, and a fine consummation of the “ashes to ashes” rap they’ve been laying on us all these years. (A Viking cremation would be especially nice.) In any scenario, I expect to be gutted of all worthwhile and potentially worthwhile organs—as I have testified on the back of my driver’s license, in various legal documents, and to many of the kind folk who wait in line with me at Safeway.

A curious “third path” is that of the New Orléans-style “jazz funeral,” which legitimizes through sheer panache the otherwise unappealing coffin-based approach. I have long been an advocate for this practice, and my enthusiasm for it was affirmed last night at the Black Cat, where the Portland-based MarchFourth Marching Band opened for Antibalas. MarchFourth is a feast for the eyes as much as for the ears—a seething mass of top-hats, trombones, men and women on stilts, and drum harnesses jerry-rigged from old bicycle parts. Sporting a weatherbeaten, kaleidoscopic caricature of marching band uniforms, the troupe plays jazz, funk, and African inflections with grit while swaying in unison, dropping wisecracks, conducting mass singalongs, and generally mugging (in the undead-and-loving-it vein) for the benefit of a transported audience. Bluesy voodoo ambient grotesqueries—a fitting dirge for the unrepentant.

As I watched these guys do their thing, I was reminded of the lyrics to “The St. James Infirmary Blues” (which receives admirable renditions from Louie Armstrong and from these fellas). “If horn licks like that can’t sanctify vice,” I thought, “they can at least send it out on a high note.”

Check out the video below for some interesting shots of the group in Hamburg. Meanwhile, I’m off to points north for a weekend of godless debauchery and fine music.

Photograph courtesy of MarchFourth