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FUNERAL FOR A FRIEND
(ropeadope)
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It’s hard not to like the Dirty Dozen Brass Band. Twenty-seven years ago, this group of New Orleanians began a revival of that city’s street-parade sounds that continues today. Live, they’ve always been a blast, with their dance-ready second-line rhythms. But on CD recently, they’ve flagged, trying too hard to keep up with trends in R&B or jam-band-style funk. Funeral for a Friend marks a return to their idiom’s origins, with music that re-creates a Crescent City funeral procession, following a selection of primarily gospel traditionals from mourning through celebration, rejoicing in the life well lived. Opening with a dirge-like take on "Just a Closer Walk with Thee" and moving into syncopated polyphony through a wildly exuberant "Jesus on the Mainline" (in which the band’s soaring horns compete with the guesting Davell Crawford Singers in their energetic praise efforts) and onto the final resolution of "Amazing Grace," Funeral for a Friend showcases the roots of brass-band music, an African, Caribbean, and very American mix of the sacred and the secular. The CD puts the brass up front parade-style, with great ensemble playing by the 10-man troupe. Star turns — like gospel singer Melody Palmer’s guest vocal on "I’ll Fly Away" or Efrem Town’s sassy trumpet on "John the Revelator" — sound as spontaneous as shouts of joy, but this is a group effort, and a great one. Dedicated to Dirty Dozen founding member Anthony "Tuba Fats" Lacen, who died on January 11, just after the recording was finished, this album wasn’t made for him, but it’s the most fitting tribute possible.
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