“Mr. Big Stuff” (PDF) from the Kermit Ruffins with Rebirth Brass Band album, Throwback

In May 1970, at Malaco Studios in Jackson, Mississippi, halfway between New Orleans and Memphis, record producer and New Orleans native Wardell Quezergue led a recording session for two up-and-coming soul singers from the Crescent City. On the same day, Quezergue recorded King Floyd’s “Groove Me” and Jean Knight’s “Mr. Big Stuff,” with the latter becoming a hit for Stax Records after the initial success of the former in large part due to Quezergue’s arrangement of syncopated New Orleans funk. Despite Jean Knight’s one-hit-wonder legacy, she continued to record and perform into the 2000’s and was inducted into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame, with “Mr. Big Stuff” having been sampled by numerous mainstream recording artists.

Rebirth Brass Band’s adaptation of the local anthem for street parades re-purposes the music as a declaration of arrival through its driving rhythm and turnaround phrasing, rather than the dismissive, emperor-has-no-clothes quality of Knight’s original soul classic. I assume that this solo is performed by trombonist Corey Henry because of its bluesy funk, rather than the technical dexterity of Stafford Agee, but I could be wrong. Its syncopated patterns create a frenzy over the steady march of the Frazier Brothers rhythm section.

Here’s a YouTube video of the Hustlers Brass Band’s version of “Mr. Big Stuff” with Paul Robertson on trombone:

Recommended viewing: Never A Dull Moment: 20 Years of Rebirth Brass Band, music documentary.