Tagged with: New Orleans Jazz
Cranston Clements
Phil DeGruy
… a rambling conversation with two killer guitar players and subversive musical comedians from New Orleans, Phil DeGruy, and Cranston Clements. They often perform together as The Self-Righteous Brothers. In this episode we eventually meander through their musical origin stories. Light listening on heavy topics…or is it the other way around?
After a very long pause I am posting the conclusion to the interview segment of my conversation with Trumpeter/ Bandleader/ Educator, Brice Miller from the Summer of 2013.
Brice is finishing up a degree, dissertation is complete- so partially I'd like to use this as a congratulatory gesture for his landmark accomplishment.
(In fact, I also just completed a degree myself so I can get back to these interviews.)
There are two other, highly recommendable, earlier segments to this interview, of course.
In Part 3 of this interview Brice touches on the following...
Brass bands in other parts of the United States; the "mythical" Congo Square; the role of formal musical education in the development early jazz artists- Buddy Bolden; brass bands around the world; jazz funerals, 2nd lines, benevolent societies and their roles in solidifying the place of people of color in the city- the taking of it; why brass bands in New Orleans have outlived the traditions in other cities; political needs for brass bands; more on cultural mentorship, cultural capital, social capital; the relation of brass band music to other musics in the city; Wynton and Branford Marsalis, Nicholas Payton- their start associated with the brass band tradition; being able to speak collectively; Trombone Shorty; the difficulties of talking to music press and their false ideas of what audiences will find interesting; the maligning or ignoring of intellectual sides to musicians in the press; coming out of depression after Katrina; the way that Brice's identity was used and became a caricature after the storm; going to the University of Alabama; telling the story of real New Orleans music, and the 200 year history of brass bands, honestly; the indignity of the reduction of all narratives of people of color to slavery; the influence of personal understanding of history on personal identity development; final comments- retelling your own stories.
Believe it or not, there is a whole other more conversational and, perhaps more evocative section to this that I will post soon.
The interview is on the interviews page...
For more on the fascinating Brice miller, bandleader, scholar, trumpet player see the entry further down on this blog about part 1.
...amongst many other things. This interview will be of great interest for anyone with an eye and ear toward New Orleans musical traditions and culture. That doesn't cover all that is opened up here, however. Much is also explored on the relation of the music to the history of the city, and the many unfortunate changes of late. It speaks a lot to musical meaning in general- something important to everyone- so worth every bit of attention.
Brice's picture of these things is heightened by the authority of his experiences as brass band leader, and by the fact that his Father came from the same tradition. He grew up in the stories and transmissions of a previous generation of New Orleans musician and has an intimate experience of that life. He is old enough to chronicle some change himself. He has traveled the world as a representative of this tradition with its cornucopia of beautiful, rhythmic music.
His interests and inquiry do not stop there...
Brice is also currently a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Alabama for an interdisciplinary degree with an emphasis on New Orleans brass bands after Hurricane Katrina. There is much discussion of his academic focus in the interview, and this ends up speaking of the horrors of intentional community displacement, and the results of that in New Orleans's ongoing identity and survival struggles.
And then there is talk of the fascinating tales of Ecirb Müller: revelations and perspective coming to light at a club near you.
It has been quite some time since the last audio interview was posted. This is a long and complete one on important musical subjects thanks to Brice's generosity. It will be posted in digest-able segments over the next short while. There was a final hour that became more conversational. Perhaps that segment will also be posted, as much was uncovered there as well.
The Interview is now up on the interviews page
Part 2 of the audio interview with Jimmy Horn is up. To go directly to the interview click here...
To hear part 1 start here...
The breakdown of who Jimmy is and what he is up to starts there. Check it out if you are in anyway interested in the goings on in the New Orleans music scene.