Rockin' With the Hot 8 Brass Band

If you are feeling a bit adventurous and fancy trying something a little different then give this lot ago. I must say when I saw "Brass Band" in the name I was a bit sceptical of what I was going to find, but what I did find was pure joy. The Hot 8 hail from New Orleans and are an energetic, soulful, bouncin jazzy brass band, with not a "Hovis" tune in ear shot!
All of the songs are mainly instrumental and have a different feel from the jazzy swing of 'E Flat Blues' to the joyous nod of 'Rastafunk'. There are a fair few covers on here, and I can guarantee you'll have never heard any versions like these before. Rose Royce's 'Love Don't Live Here' is virtually unrecognisable with it's Tuba pumpin' bass line while Snoop Dog's "What's My Name" becomes a hand clapping funky, jazzy carnival piece. Even Marvin Gaye's 'Sexual Healing' is given a make over and lifted up to become a bright and breezy affair that makes you wanna move your feet rather than snuggle up with your woman, sublime as it is mad, with screaming horn solos and banging drums.
My highlight of the LP though is 'We Are One', which somehow manages to maintain a real soulful groove as all the instruments vie for the best solo. There is so much going on in there at times, how they get away with it beggars belief, but they do, and do it with absolute style.
As I said at the beginning if you are feeling a bit adventurous and fancy trying something a little different then give this ago. I found it as just about the most original and really refreshing thing I've heard in years.
Find out more at http://www.hot8brassband.com/



Tracklist
What's My Name (Rock with the Hot 8)
It's Real
Fly Away
I Got You
Sexual Healing
Listen to Me
We Are One
Skeet Skeet
Rastafunk
E Flat Blues
Skit #1
Love Don't Live Here
Get Up

-

New Orleans’ own Hot 8 Brass Band have epitomized New Orleans street music for over a decade. The band plays the traditional Second Line parades, hosted each Sunday afternoon by Social Aid and Pleasure Clubs, infusing their performances with the funk and energy that makes New Orleans music loved around the world. The members of the Hot 8 Brass Band were born and raised in New Orleans and many began playing together in high school. What makes the Hot 8 so special are the sounds they coax from their well-loved, well-worn horns. An evening with the Hot 8 is like no other...
Members of the Hot 8 Brass Band have toured in Japan, Italy, France, Spain, Finland, England and Sardinia. The Band performs annually at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, world and jazz festivals across the US and Europe, and were featured in the Spike Lee documentary When the Levees Broke. The Hot 8 has released three critically acclaimed recordings and is featured on the latest Blind Boys of Alabama recording on Time-Life Records.
The Hot 8 Brass Band has been part of an important relief project following Hurricane Katrina SAVE OUR BRASS! is a local grass-roots project that has brought music and instruments to shelters, temporary trailer parks, and communities across the Gulf Coast.

The History of the “Second Line”

Second line parades are the descendants of the city’s famous jazz funerals and, apart from a casket, mourners and a cemetery visit, they carry many of the same traditions with them as they march down the streets. Today, the parades are not tied to any particular event, holiday or commemoration; rather, they are generally held for their own sake and to let the good times roll.
Second lines trace their roots back to the 19th century and the fraternal societies and neighbourhood organizations that collectively provided insurance and burial services to members, especially among the African American community. The "first line" of a funeral consisted of the people who were an integral part of the ceremony, such as the members of the club or krewe, or family and friends of the deceased. The "second line" originally referred to people who were attracted to the music. Led by a "Grand Marshal", the band and mourners would move to the burial site, with the band playing a dirge to signal the struggles, the hardships, the ups and downs of life. On the way back, the music became more joyful. Relatives, friends, and acquaintances would become the second line and dance with wild abandon. The second line, usually sporting umbrellas and handkerchiefs, became traditional at these jazz funerals.The noun second line, is also the name of a "unique dance", performed to the beat of New Orleans’ traditional jazz. The dance is an evolved version of an old African dance known as the, "Bambula".