Rebirth Brass Band - Rebirth Of New Orleans

This is a CD review that I wrote for Crawdaddy earlier this year. I recommend this disc for anyone who is a fan of New Orleans music, as I would just about any record by the Rebirth Brass Band. Mood elevating, uplifting stuff that’s bound to raise your spirits and get you bouncing. -rh


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A natural extension and continuation of one of the longest-running musical traditions in America, the Rebirth Brass Band’s infectious brand of New Orleans second line Jazz blazes ever onward into the 21st century with boundless energy, gutbucket funk and raucous humor. The group has been a French Quarter fixture since the early 80s and their non-stop party rages on with the release of a brand-new disc on Basin Street Records called Rebirth Of New Orleans.

A new slew of shout-along party chants join the Rebirth canon here including the loopy and lascivious “I Like It Like That”, a rousing romp that builds to such a frenzied cadenza that the tune eventually collapses in a riotous tumble of laughter. Rebirth toasts the New Orleans Saints with “Do It Again”, updating and re-working the teams’ ‘Who Dat’ boast as a Jazz party chant. And even old-fashioned romance gets the jubilant brass band treatment with the album opener “Exactly Like You”. Selecting just the right track to put at the end of a record that will make the listener want to start the whole thing over again from the beginning is an elusive art form. The trick is perfectly executed on Rebirth Of New Orleans, a playful and mischievous record that’s brilliantly capped off by the Rebirth krewe’s closing battle cry “Let’s Go Get ‘Em”.

There is a buoyant, roaring solidarity to Rebirth in full flight. No one player or personality ever takes center stage. Tuba and drums form a foundation that is both solid and bouncy, while the horns largely stick to the melody and howling harmonies. Yet they all unfailingly serve the almighty groove. No one came to hog the spotlight. All involved are steadfastly dedicated to their mission to keep the party rockin’. If this music doesn’t sound and feel like springtime then I don’t know what does.

Fans and historians alike know that New Orleans Jazz can trace its origins back to Congo Square. An expansive French Quarter greenspace re-christened not long ago as Armstrong Park in honor of the Crescent City’s most famous son, it’s where slaves once gathered to sing and socialize every Sunday. Jazz was borne of tremendous suffering, unimaginable poverty, and decades of soul-crushing injustice. How it has evolved over the years yet still maintains that Storyville red light district street corner brass band vibe and came to rise like a dancing Phoenix and manifest itself among the ranks of the most joyous musical expressions ever known to man is nothing short of a living miracle. Of course every Rebirth song is like a party. What’s not to celebrate about that?