The Dirty Dozen Brass Band: Funeral For A Friend : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

New Orleans' the Dirty Dozen Brass Band is the rotating roster of brass players created twenty-seven years ago to lead jazz funerals. In a twist of fate, the band has returned to its roots after one of its own, co-founder Anthony "Tuba Fats" Lacen, died of a heart attack. Funeral for a Friend opens with the dirge "Just a Closer Walk With Thee," appropriate for the steps of the church, but soon moves into the melancholic yet ultimately uplifting "I Shall Not Be Moved," before hitting its revelatory stride with "Jesus on the Mainline," featuring the Davell Crawford Singers. It is hard not to feel transported to a cobbled New Orleans street off Jackson Square -- the production is crisp, the players' energy erupts through the speakers and the spiritual power of the music infuses every one of the ten tracks, winding up with a raucous rendition of "Down by the Riverside" and a heartfelt "Amazing Grace." The Dirty Dozen have come home with Funeral for a Friend and bring everyone with them.