A Little Taste of Mardi Gras… in Columbus

By Professor Cory Tressler

Wednesday February 6, 2002
Little Brother's - Columbus, OH
Dirty Dozen Brass Band - Spookie Daly Pride

New Orleans is a sweaty city known for its many exciting and eccentric elements. Some call it the sewer of the states, some call it plain evil, but the Dirty Dozen Brass Band calls it home and it shows. The raucous six-piece jazz/funk outfit brought a little taste of jambalaya with them into Little Brother's. From the minute they hit the stage their "raved" up version of jazz electrified the stale bar air. Dirty Dozen's approach to jazz is much like a Creole chefs approach to cooking… spicy and hot.

The band consists of a unique rhythm section that included a solid drummer and an excellent sousaphone player. This combination was very interesting considering it did not consist of a bass player like the "standard" band setup. Julius 'Jazz' McKee's sous-playin' was deep and heavy, relying on long notes to reverberate throughout the bar and hold the low end down. (Julius plays a sweet sousaphone, but after talking to him I found that he had a rather skewed perspective on college football. For some strange reason he did not understand that the Big Ten and the Buckeyes are the toughest and therefore the best footballers in all the lands. He kept talking about some unknown league he called the S.E.C.? Never heard of it.) The "spiciness" of dirty dozen came from a fine trumpeter, a gritty saxophonist, an excited tromboner, and a smooth guitarist. Each of these 4 musicians took turns throughout the night pumping fuel to the jazz.

Dirty Dozen's set began with some vamped up jazz numbers including; Lickidy Split, Voodoo and Jungle Blues. These first three numbers were well received by all that were in attendance, but it was around the fourth song, Pet the Cat, that the audience really began to appreciate and feel the "happy" New Orleans jazz flavor. During Pet the Cat the trombone played a funky wah-trombone solo. A crybaby wah-wah pedal and a trombone added an extra layer of groove over Dirty Dozen's jazz odyssey. The sousaphone player also took an extended solo during Pet the Cat. It was really amazing to hear the low range sounds that he could obtain.

The last hour of the concert consisted of some excellent covers. It all started with Hey Pocky A-Way, which was originally composed by New Orleans' greatest funk band, (and perhaps the greatest funk band of all time) The Meters. Dirty Dozen's arrangement of Hey Pocky A-Way was more uptempo than the Meters laid back funk. The added tempo made the song into a rowdy wave of dancin' and shakin'. The band could feel the good vibes coming from the first Meters cover, so they followed it up with another, the instrumental funk classic Cissy Strut. The small Little Brother's crowd really enjoyed this Meters tribute, a whole bunch of humans letting it all hang out. After Cissy Strut they laid into Stevie Wonder's immortal Superstition. Dirty Dozen's often overshadowed guitarist really cut into this number. Not only did he bring the funk, but he also performed a solid lead vocal. Very long and extended soloing led the band right into the New Orleans anthem, "When the Saints Come Marching In". The crowd was led in the singing of this jazz standard. Each member of Dirty Dozen took one last solo and gave one last blast of Mardi Gras to the girrating Columbus crowd.

A Note about the Opener:
Spookie Daly Pride
From Boston
5-Piece: Keyboarding Lead Singer, Bass, Guitar, Drums, and a Percussionist/Horn Player

A young version of a Yankee Dr. John, with a backup band based in energy and a Philadelphia styled rhythm section. An hour full of drunken slurs and happy circumstantial lyrics. There is nothing more you could ask for than a positive attitude from a ragtag Boston band in the middle of a Midwest winter. Swamp Bass and high spirits. If you come across this promisingly obscure band, check them out.