"Here We Go" - New Birth Brass Band

“Here We Go” (PDF) from the New Birth Brass Band album, New Orleans Second Line!

Only after transcribing the last tune do I stumble across this brief album review from Offbeat Magazine that confirms some of suspicions throughout the process, such as previously released material (“Joe Camel / Get The Hump Out Yo Back”), the album’s lackluster production notes, and how the original tunes were already New Orleans standards in the streets before appearing on any album.

Another lesson to consider from “Here We Go” is how to arrange music for brass band. Building upon brass band riffs, this tune utilizes rhythm as a melody in Zappa-esque fashion, beginning with a trombone line that counters the tacet tuba and the call-and-response trumpets later. In what eventually becomes the A-section, the trumpets primarily sustain notes to suggest a harmony more so than a melody while the low brass improvise a rhythmic accompaniment. The aforementioned B-section trades a riff between the two trumpets, essentially cutting their work in half during those 4-hour parades, as the trombones return to their opening melody.

The uncredited trombone solo doesn’t stray far from the blues-scale pentatonics, yet you’ll be pressed to find a strong downbeat on which the syncopated trombone is present. This musician may not be identified in the album liner notes, but the patterns, rhythms, and techniques used in this solo help craft a signature sound.

Here’s a YouTube video of the Young Fellaz All-Starz trombones performing this tune on their corner of Frenchmen Street.

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