“New Orleans (After the City)” (PDF) from the Hot 8 Brass Band album, The Life & Times Of...

This is not the same version as the Vicennial album, or as the soundtrack to Treme, or as part of the Smithsonian’s African American Legacy series, New Orleans Brass Bands: Through the Streets of the City, but rather the version that features a trombone solo.  Just to be clear.

It appears to be a live recording based on the somewhat audible crowd noise in the background, similar to other tracks on the album despite no mention of the performance date in the album credits.  Also unclear is whether there are one or two trombones playing this solo, Gregory Veals and/or Corey Henry, because at times it sounds like two voices playing over each other.  If so, then the trading-off between phrases is not done in the traditional manner of four-bar phrases.  Perhaps it is definitive proof of the live nature of the recording as well as a testament to the incredible sound of the Hot 8 in performance, blending bebop, hip hop, and R&B influences, both of which I have no idea how they do it.

But there’s one thing that I do know (there’s a lot of ruins in Mesopotamia): the solo(s) rely heavily on the blues scale, syncopated rhythms, and growling high notes, the three most effective techniques for generating excitement in the audience.

Here’s a YouTube video of the Hot 8 doing a straight-ahead performance of this tune:

Recommended reading: Roll With It: Brass Bands in the Streets of New Orleans by Matt Sakakeeny.  Published by Duke University Press.