New Orleans’ Dirty Dozen Brass band is nationally known for blending traditions of second line jazz with influences of bebop, funk, and R&B. The eight-man big band has been spreading dance-happy Big Easy vibes for more than two decades. But distress and displacement in post-Katrina life has caused the band to bear an obviously angry political side. Their latest album is a cover of Marvin Gaye’s famous protest statement, “What’s Going On?”
The dark and funky reinvention comes 35 years after the original release, but the band saw obvious similarities in its present situation. While the Gaye masterpiece was lamenting the Vietnam War and violence in black communities, it’s not difficult to see the parallels now. From the album cover that depicts a heartbreaking image of a shirtless man pulling a canoe through the flooded streets to the dubbed in pleas of help from Mayor Ray Naigin, it’s apparent from the beginning that the band has a message to deliver.
Although the point gets across, the arrangements are optimistically upbeat, filled with the band’s usual blazing brass, marching beats, and gritty guitar fills. The group gets some help from hometown friend Ivan Neville (“God is Love”), and rappers Guru (“Inner City Blues”) and Chuck D. of Public Enemy, who rhymes sparsely on the title track. G. Love puts a twist of his acoustic licks and Northern urban soul into “Mercy, Mercy, Me, ” while other cuts, like the elegaic “Flyin’ High” are left perfectly wordless.
—Jedd Ferris