The Secret Six Jazz Band took shape during the pandemic, when, with clubs shut down,  a core group of six musicians (members of the Smoking Time Jazz Band) took their instruments to parks, parking lots, on porches – anywhere to keep the music playing and keep up the spirits... Read more

The Rebirth Brass Band is aptly named: the Grammy-winning group has led the New Orleans brass band revival over the past 30-plus years, and has become one of the city’s most treasured institutions along the way. With hits like “Feel Like Funkin’ It Up” and “Do Whatcha Wanna... Read more

Preservation Brass is the resident brass band affiliated with the venerable Preservation Hall. While Preservation Hall’s mainstay jazz band focuses on traditional New Orleans jazz (and accompanying instrumentation, including banjo, piano, etc.) the Preservation Brass ensemb... Read more

The Original Pinettes Brass Band are perhaps the world’s only all-female brass band. Founded in 1991 at a local all-girls Catholic high school, The Original Pinettes have performed at venues and festivals around the city and, eventually, around the world. Christy Jourdain l... Read more

The New Breed Brass Band comes by their expertise genetically: Leader Jenard Andrews is the son of trumpeter James “Twelve” Andrews and his uncle is world-wide phenom Trombone Shorty. Indeed, it took some coaching from Shorty to goad the New Breed into finding their own sou... Read more

Trumpeter Leroy Jones has embodied the spirit of New Orleans traditional jazz for over fifty years. His musicianship and dedication to forwarding the traditional jazz genre has won him an enthusiastic following around the world and induction into the New Orleans Jazz Hall o... Read more

Kid Merv is New Orleans music to the bone: as a youngster he played trumpet in the vaunted St. Augustine Marching 100 and the venerable Olympia Brass Band, moved on to form his own Young Olympians, which morphed into the funky Soul Rebels Brass Band. Born Mervin Campbell, K... Read more

Trumpeter Kermit Ruffins embodies the exuberant spirit of Louis Armstrong and the New Orleans entertainment culture. He co-founded the Rebirth Brass Band and is perhaps best known for performing with his longtime group, The Barbecue Swingers. Born in 1964, Ruffins took up ... Read more

Jon Gross powers his tuba and sousaphone sounds with New Orleans-inflected energy and passion. Gross can be found with more traditional Crescent City jazz bands such as the Treme Brass Band, Loose Marbles and the Panorama Jazz Band, or exploring the outer edges of jazz in p... Read more