Rebirth Brass Band: The Band That Rebuilt the Tradition

The Brass Band That Rebuilt the Tradition

Rebirth Brass Band was formed in 1983 by Philip and Keith Frazier at Joseph S. Clark High School in the Treme neighborhood of New Orleans. They were teenagers who had grown up on the music of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band and the traditional brass bands that played funerals, second lines, and Mardi Gras parades. But Rebirth didn't just continue the tradition — they electrified it.

The Frazier brothers and their bandmates fused traditional New Orleans brass band music with funk, hip-hop, and R&B, creating a sound that was simultaneously rooted in the nineteenth century and pointed toward the twenty-first. Their version of "Do Whatcha Wanna" became an anthem — a song that every person who has ever attended a second line, a Saints game, or a Tuesday night at the Maple Leaf Bar knows by heart.

Tuesday Nights at the Maple Leaf

For decades, Rebirth Brass Band has held down a weekly Tuesday night residency at the Maple Leaf Bar on Oak Street. It is, by common consensus, one of the greatest recurring live music events in America. The room is packed, the band is loud, and the crowd dances in a way that blurs the line between audience and performer. If you've never been to a Rebirth show at the Maple Leaf, you haven't fully experienced New Orleans.

Rebirth won the Grammy Award for Best Regional Roots Music Album in 2012 for Rebirth of New Orleans, validating what the city already knew: this band is the living embodiment of New Orleans brass band culture. They've played Jazz Fest more times than anyone can count, toured the world, and introduced the brass band tradition to audiences who had never heard a sousaphone in their lives.

The Sound of the City

Rebirth Brass Band is what New Orleans sounds like when it's being itself — loud, joyful, funky, and impossible to resist. They took a tradition that stretches back to the Civil War era and made it relevant to every generation that came after. When the city needs music — for a funeral, a celebration, a protest, or just a Tuesday — Rebirth is there.