Funeral for a Friend

Since 1977, the Dirty Dozen has extended the New Orleans brass band tradition, adding a funk rhythm section and recording with alt-rockers from Elvis Costello to Modest Mouse. But the band has deep roots, and they've never been more apparent than on Funeral for a Friend, a performance that goes to the very core of jazz and New Orleans musical life. Dedicated to one of the band's founders, the late Anthony "Tuba Fats" Lacen, it's a jazz funeral with hymns played at stately dirge tempo en route to the cemetery, then pressed to festive up-tempo counterpoint on the return. The music here pulses with life--and with afterlife too--as the raw R&B force of tenor saxophonist Kevin Harris and baritone saxophonist Roger Lewis energizes traditional tunes like "Just a Closer Walk with Thee" and Blind Willie Johnson's "John the Revelator." On "I Shall Not Be Moved" and "Jesus on the Mainline," the band pushes outward to hypnotic, dense, incantatory jams. Funeral for a Friend is a summary of the Dirty Dozen's greatest strengths, a memorable CD filled with joy and sorrow and real emotional power. --Stuart Broomer