Kirk Joseph (born 1961) is a
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
sousaphone
The sousaphone ( ) is a brass instrument in the tuba family. Created around 1893 by J. W. Pepper at the direction of American bandleader John Philip Sousa (after whom the instrument was then named), it was designed to be easier to play than ...
player from
. The son of
trombonist
The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate ...
Waldren "Frog" Joseph, Kirk Joseph began playing the sousaphone while a student at Andrew Bell Middle School, and took part in his first professional gig at the age of fifteen when his brother
Charles
Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English language, English and French language, French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic, Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*k ...
invited him to play a funeral with the
Majestic Band.
In 1977 he became one of the founding members of the
Dirty Dozen Brass Band
The Dirty Dozen Brass Band is a brass band based in New Orleans, Louisiana. The ensemble was established in 1977, by Benny Jones and members of the Tornado Brass Band. The Dirty Dozen revolutionized the New Orleans brass band style by incorpo ...
, a group which is credited with reviving the
brass band tradition in New Orleans. He has played with the
Treme Brass Band
The Treme Brass Band is a marching brass band from New Orleans, Louisiana led by snare drummer Benny Jones Sr. The band, which plays traditional New Orleans-style brass band music, features a shifting lineup that has included trumpeters Kermit ...
and Forgotten Souls Brass Band, and currently leads his own group called
Kirk Joseph's Backyard Groove.
Described as a "modern sousaphone pioneer", Joseph claims inspiration from renowned New Orleans
tuba
The tuba (; ) is the lowest-pitched musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, the sound is produced by lip vibrationa buzzinto a mouthpiece. It first appeared in the mid-19th century, making it one of the ne ...
player
Anthony "Tuba Fats" Lacen
Anthony "Tuba Fats" Lacen (September 15, 1950 – January 11, 2004) was a jazz tubist and band leader. Tuba Fats was New Orleans' most famous tuba player and played traditional New Orleans jazz and blues for over 40 years.
He was born, spent most ...
. In an interview with ''The Times-Picayune'' Joseph described the effect Lacen's playing had on his own: "He was the first person I ever heard walking the sousaphone, making it sound like bass.... I took it from there."
"Sousafunk Synergy". ''The Times-Picayune'', April 29, 2005
The style of playing created by Lacen and Joseph was instrumental in establishing the modern New Orleans brass band sound, which combines traditional marching band and Dixieland
Dixieland jazz, also referred to as traditional jazz, hot jazz, or simply Dixieland, is a style of jazz based on the music that developed in New Orleans at the start of the 20th century. The 1917 recordings by the Original Dixieland Jass Band ( ...
traditions with strong jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
and funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...
influences.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Joseph, Kirk
1961 births
Living people
Jazz musicians from New Orleans
American jazz tubists
American male jazz musicians
Rhythm and blues musicians from New Orleans
Dirty Dozen Brass Band members
21st-century tubists
21st-century American male musicians
Treme Brass Band members
21st-century African-American musicians
20th-century African-American people