The Jambalaya Brass Band is paradoxically a lot more modern than its name might suggest.  The word “jambalaya” isn’t used as shorthand to indicate a straight New Orleans knock off band but is used rather as a New Orleans concept that mixes flavors from disparate cultures.  This is a New Orleans-style brass band, a band fully capable of marching in parades – and indeed has done so – while also mixing New Orleans brass standards with salsa and modern New York bop and post-bop. And the all-brass instrumentation keeps the entire mix funky. 

Jambalaya Brass Band is tenor saxophonist Ric Frank’s project, and he either writes original songs or arranges the covers of almost all the music they play.  Originally put together in 1998 as a one-off band for the 100^th anniversary of the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music, for the past ten years Frank has cultivated an ongoing musical collaboration amongst a group of New York jazz players including his core trumpet player, Walt Szymanski. 

8MS:  I’m a huge fan of New Orleans brass bands and music.  You don’t see too much of this kind of music in New York.  How did the Jambalaya Brass Band come about originally?

Ric Frank:  I was involved with the 100^th Anniversary for the Brooklyn Conservatory and the organizers wanted a parade coming down the street.  They originally wanted to book a Dixieland band that would ride a float in the parade.  I took and said, “I’ll do you one better”.  I had wanted to do this for ten years.  I started writing the charts specifically for a band for this event.

            Everyone who heard us that day loved us.  I personally had a blast and said, “Let’s keep doing this!” 

8MS:  When you say you did the charts, were you just doing covers or were you also writing songs for it?

Ric Frank:  We were doing all covers that point.  We did “Hip Hug-Her “ by Booker T.  In the ‘80’s I had a large R&B band with a 5-6 piece horn section.  Like a Blues Brothers type of band – ‘60’s and ‘70’s, Memphis, soul.  The charts were similar.  For that first parade we did “Night Train”, “Theme from Peter Gunn”, one or two Scott Joplin tunes…including Maple Leaf Rag.  We did “Blackbird Special” by the Dirty Dozen Brass Band.

8MS:  Where did you go there from there?

Ric Frank:  I started transcribing Dirty Dozen songs, New Birth songs.  From there I found Rebirth Brass Band.  I caught them for the first time here in New York, first at Central Park Summerstage and then at the Knitting Factory.  It was during the process of transcribing all this music that I realized how much it had in common with Salsa.  It took me a while before I found out why, but it turns out that the Mardi Gras Indians beat, which heavily informs the modern brass band sound, is half of the clave.  There is an intense connection between New Orleans and Cuba that goes back to the 1800’s… or even before then.  It goes back to the slave trade and Spain’s control of New Orleans.

8MS:  How’d you get into this music to begin with?

Ric Frank:  WRVR was one of the last jazz stations in New York City.  They went off air in the mid-‘80’s.  Turned into a Country/Western station literally overnight one day.  But they were a twenty-four hour jazz station before that happened and they played the first Dirty Dozen album on that station.

8MS:  I can’t believe that any station, jazz or otherwise, would play brass band music on the air.

Ric Frank:  Back in the ‘80s you could play all kinds of music. But this was so new, so innovative.  Dirty Dozen were the ones who really changed the music.  They introduced bebop and funk into this traditional style.  And the virtuosic sousaphone playing of Kirk Joseph put it into a whole different realm.

            I’ve since gotten to know Kirk Joseph and he told me that when they first started playing, people used to badmouth them.  His dad was a famous musician, Frog Joseph, and he reminded his son that they were taking the music of their day and making it their own, which is what jazz musicians have always done. 

8MS:  I imagine it’s tough to find sousaphone players in New York.

Ric Frank:  (laughs) Yeah.  Although actually the hardest position to find in New York is the drummer.

8MS:  Really?  There are tons of drummers in New York.

Ric Frank:  That ‘2^nd Line’ style of drumming is very unique.  Not a lot of guys have real experience with that.  Most of the guys that have played with us are either originally from New Orleans or have spent some good time down there. 

Two guys on What You Lookin’ At are from there.  And I’ve got a bunch of musicians from New Orleans on tracks I’ve already cut for the next CD.  Unfortunately I recorded two of those tunes in August, right before Katrina.  I’ve got some other tracks since then.  But it’s been tough to put it all together.  One of my main New York guys, Chris Lacinak [bass drum/cymbal], is originally from New Orleans.  He’s been trying to move back down there since the storm.  But he also spends a lot of time on the road with Henry Butler.

8MS:  When can we look forward to this next one?

Ric Frank:  I’ve got about half of it recorded.

Jambalaya Brass Band plays this Friday, August 29, 2008 at Dinosaur Barbeque in Harlem.

You can check out their music and dates on their website and their myspace page, and their video on you tube.