FFWD Weekly - July 1, 2004

As long as The Dirty Dozen Brass Band keeps its key elements in place – hammering the upper registers of their horns while locked in a solid funk groove – you’d never know they started out playing jazz funerals back in the 1970s.

Still, The Big Easy’s celebrated nonet is more than capable of packing a dancefloor by playing nothing but dirges, and they do exactly that on their latest studio recording, Funeral For a Friend, dedicated to fallen New Orleans sousaphonist Anthony "Tuba Fats" Lacen, who died last January. Honouring their longtime colleague, the group blasts through gospel traditionals such as "What a Friend We Have in Jesus," "Amazing Grace" and "John the Revelator," among others, but the tenor of the record is celebratory, not maudlin. Hell, if you have to leave this world, and we all will at some point, you couldn’t ask for a better send-off.

Meanwhile, those of us still alive and kicking out the jams have no reason to deprive ourselves of The Dirty Dozen’s secular pleasures. We Got Robbed! – Live in New Orleans offers a selection of nine booty-jiggling favourites from the Dirty Dozen’s storied 29-year history, including two elaborations on tracks from their 1999 magnum opus Buck Jump. Speaking from experience, I can tell you that the group is best enjoyed in concert, but We Got Robbed! is the next best thing for fans in need of a little hip-to-hip resuscitation.

On the other hand, it is detestable to hear the Dirty Dozen buried beneath the sludgy sounds of Athens, Georgia jam band Widespread Panic on their live recording Night of Joy. A real head-scratcher, this, as one must wade through nearly an hour of slap bass and wah-wah guitar licks before the no horn-blowers are brought forward in the mix. The final track, the 17-minute "Rebirtha," almost makes up for the din of inequity that precedes it, but not quite. Recommended only for dirty hippies and others with questionable musical taste.

FUNERAL FOR A FRIEND 5/5

WE GOT ROBBED! 4/5

NIGHT OF JOY 2/5

JAIME FREDERICK