The Young Tuxedo Brass Band is a
brass band from
that was active after
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
.
The Young Tuxedo Brass Band was founded in 1938 by
John Casimir. Its name is a nod to the
Tuxedo Brass Band The Tuxedo Brass Band, sometimes called the Original Tuxedo Brass Band, was one of the most highly regarded brass bands of New Orleans, Louisiana in the 1910s and 1920s.
It was led by Papa Celestin starting about 1910. Many noted jazz greats play ...
of
Papa Celestin
Oscar Phillip Celestin (January 1, 1884 – December 15, 1954) better known by stage name Papa Celestin was an American jazz trumpeter and bandleader.
Life and career
Celestin was born in Napoleonville, Louisiana, to a Creole family, son of a s ...
, an ensemble in New Orleans in the 1910s and 1920s. The ensemble generally held between nine and eleven players, with two trumpets, two trombones, two reeds, a
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 ...
or tuba, a snare drum, and a bass drum. Their first record was issued in 1958 on
Atlantic Records
Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over its first 20 years of operation, Atlantic earned a reputation as one of the most i ...
, and featured
Paul Barbarin
Adolphe Paul Barbarin (May 5, 1899 – February 17, 1969) was an American jazz drummer from New Orleans.
Career
Barbarin grew up in New Orleans in a family of musicians, including his father, three of his brothers, and his nephew (Danny Barker) ...
on drums; other personnel included Andy Anderson and
John Brunious
John Brunious Jr. (October 12, 1940 – February 12, 2008) was a jazz trumpeter and a bandleader for the Preservation Hall Jazz Band in New Orleans.
Biography
The family lived in the Seventh Ward neighborhood of New Orleans. His father, John Bru ...
on trumpet, Clement Tervalon, Eddie Pierson, and
Jim Robinson on trombone, reedists
Herman Sherman and
Andrew Morgan, Wilbert "Bird" Tillman, sousaphone, and drummer Emile Knox.
In 1963 Wilbert Tilman, the group's founding sousaphonist and Casimir's cousin, took control of the group, but retired later that year due to poor health; Andrew Morgan took over until his death in 1972. Following this Herman Sherman became the group's leader until his death in 1984. During Sherman's tenure, they appeared at the 1976
Smithsonian Folklife Festival
The Smithsonian Folklife Festival, launched in 1967, is an international exhibition of living cultural heritage presented annually in the summer in Washington, D.C. in the United States. It is held on the National Mall for two weeks around the Fo ...
to celebrate the bicentennial of the United States in Washington D. C. and again in 1985 when the Festival featured a program on Louisiana. They appeared at the White House on Father's Day, 1978 for the 25th Anniversary Celebration of the
Newport Jazz Festival
The Newport Jazz Festival is an annual American multi-day jazz music festival held every summer in Newport, Rhode Island. Elaine Lorillard established the festival in 1954, and she and husband Louis Lorillard financed it for many years. They hire ...
.
The band recorded with former Beatle
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...
in New Orleans in 1975. In 1983, they recorded ''Jazz Continues'' on
504 Records
504 Records is a record label founded by Mike Dine in 1979 that specializes in New Orleans jazz. The name comes from an area code in New Orleans.
History
Mike Dine was a British draughtsman and jazz fan living in England when he met Tom Stagg, ...
of England which was a sequel to the Atlantic recording ''Jazz Begins''. This featured Herman Sherman, alto sax, Joseph Torregano, tenor sax, Michael White, clarinet, John Simmons ,trumpet, Joshua "Jack" Willis, cornet and mellophone; Gregory Stafford, clarinet, Lawrence Trotter, snare drum, Charles Barbarin (nephew of the great Paul Barbarin) bass drum; Walter Payton, sousaphone, Lester Caliste and Clement Tervalon, trombones. Herman Sherman and Clement Tervalon were both on the original 1958 recording.
The band has been under the leadership of
Gregg Stafford
Gregory Vaughan "Gregg" Stafford (born July 6, 1953, New Orleans) is an American jazz cornetist and trumpeter. He has been a jazz music educator in New Orleans since the 1980s and has led the Young Tuxedo Brass Band for more than thirty years.
...
since Sherman's death in 1984 and is one of the last traditional New Orleans Brass Band playing the hymns, dirges, and songs of the brass repertoire.
Discography
* ''New Orleans Joys'' (
Atlantic
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...
, 1958)
* ''Jazz Continues'' (
504
__NOTOC__
Year 504 (DIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Nicomachus without colleague (or, less frequently, year 1257 ...
, 1983)
References
*
Young Tuxedo Brass Bandat
Allmusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
*Shafer/Kernfeld, "Young Tuxedo Brass Band". ''
Grove Jazz'' online.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Young Tuxedo Brass Band
American jazz ensembles from New Orleans
Brass bands from New Orleans