JAZZ FEST 2013, Day 8: Willie reviews Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Dwayne Dopsie and the Zydeco Hellraisers

Thanks to the luck of the spirit of jazz, my two top acts
for the week both fell on the same night. Join me on my highlight night of the 2013
Jazz Fest.

First up was New Orleans-based The Dirty Dozen Brass Band under the Big Tent. I’ve been wanting to see this group for a while now, as it is one
of the few jazz groups that is actually on my iPod, and which I listen to
outside of the Jazz Fest every year.

The brass-heavy band has been playing since the 70’s, so I
was a little surprised when the group played songs from its back catalog that I
actually knew. Aside from hitting my tuba quota for the fest (represent!), the
group included trumpet, bari
and tenor saxes, drums, guitar, trumpet, and flugelhorn. It was tight, and a
whole lot of fun — a real brassy and reedy onslaught. Where else are you going
to get a solo with somebody playing a trumpet and a flugelhorn at the same
time?

Sadly, the group did seem to be battling sound problems. Both
the sousaphone player and the drummer kept motioning to try to fix sound issues
or switch mics, and not all the instruments were
clearly audible at all times. And as fun as the group was, I’m not sure if it
completely met all my expectations. But still, the group knew how to keep and
rock out on a groove, and it was easy to get lost in it.

The night only continued to heat up from there. Next up was my
highlight of last year’s festival, Dwayne
Dopsie and the ZydecoHellraisers, playing at Montage.
I gushed over the group upon discovering it last year, and it was great to see
the fiery zydeco unit back in full form. Electric guitars,
sax, bass, and yes, washboard, formed the powerful backing band behind
accordion master Dopsie himself. His sweat-soaked
fingers were flying so fast that it nearly made my head spin, and he created a
loud and powerful blend of explosive Cajun music. The band calls him the best
accordion player in the world, and after sitting through a set, one would be
hard pressed to disagree.

Last year I was completely caught off guard by the group. This
time I knew what to expect, and the nearly two-hour set did not disappoint. This
is how you play with energy, this is how you perform on stage, and this is how
you should do it at the Jazz Fest. Solos passed between players, each one as in-your-face as the last. Having seen the group before, it
does rely on a few of its same tricks. Dopsie always
takes the stage after a warm-up song or two, band
members will form dancing lines through the audience, so on and so forth. But
boy, can Dopsie squeeze that squeezebox. Mercy.

And yet, words still seem to fall short of the enjoyable
musical chaos. The Hellraisers will be back on the
Jazz Street Stage at 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. Saturday night, so if you see one act
this week at the Jazz Fest, make it this one. You won’t be disappointed.

This article appears in Jun 26 – Jul 2, 2013.