NEW ORLEANS FESTIVALS - Jazz Fest Features

NEW ORLEANS BEATS - NewBirth Brass Band

Drummer Cayetano "Tanio" Hingle had the same reaction to the new sounds of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band as visitors do to the traditional music of his NewBirth Brass Band when they play Convention events.

He cocks his head to one side, scrunches his broad smile and mocks a nasal-voiced confusion, "What all's that?" But it doesn't take long for even the most unfamiliar audiences to find the dancing steps to When the Saints Go Marching In.

Hingle learned classic hymns and dirges from the legendary Olympia Brass Band. He also got hooked on the new sounds of a new wave of brass bands when funk and R&B were added in the mid-'70s. "I looked at that and I said, 'I'm in,'" he laughs. "I thought we were going to have to walk our whole lives."

The life of a brass band was marching. The groups played jazz funerals and the celebratory Social Aid & Pleasure Club parades. Though the new bands had learned from staunch traditionalists, they wanted to try new styles.

The NewBirth came together in 1988. The line-up has changed over the years, but the current group has been together for five years. They play a weekly mix of Sunday parades, nightclub gigs, convention or public events and weddings. The NewBirth has incorporated rap, hip hop, funk and soul. They also stick up for the tradition.

"The younger generation is going straight into the new sound." Hingel says. "For some gigs, you can't call a guy if he doesn't know Sunny Side of the Street."