Artsedge: The Kitchen Sink

Follow behind a parade in New Orleans and you'll still be a part of the show. Whether a parade was organized for a celebration or funeral, honorees and others in the main procession would be followed by a "second line" of participants hoping to get closer to the rhythms of the brass bands. The term "second line" would come to be associated with brass band music and the fancy footwork that accompanies it. New Orleans has a long tradition of brass bands, dating back to the early 20th century. Consisting mostly of brass instruments like trumpets and trombones and percussion, brass bands played a blend of European military band music, African folk music, and jazz. The brass band tradition experienced a revival in the 1970s and 1980s when bands like the Rebirth Brass Band and the Dirty Dozen Brass Band laced traditional sounds with funk, hip hop, bebop, and R and B.