Brought to you by the Ulster Publishing

by Bob Margolis

I recently spoke with a New Orleans evacuee who plays tuba. Kerwin "Fat" James is in the New Birth Brass Band, whose members are from the New Orleans neighborhood Treme. "Brass band" may sound tame, but their sound is as calming as a stampede of elephants. There is also nothing bland about Treme.

Over the years and the more recent troubling times, the more I got to know these musicians, the more I was amazed. Generous and community-minded, the folks from Treme are brilliant musicians with coolness to spare, high spirits and no airs. I expected them to be down, given what they've been through, but they are remarkably upbeat.

The same day that Kerwin arrived at my buddy's place in Houston, his New Birth Brass Band played a gig at Sammy's. The group made quite a first impression, parading from the street, second-line-style, with an entourage of other musicians including Pappa Poree, who resembles a beaming black Buddha. Wearing a periwinkle suit, Poree played washboard.

New Birth mixes traditional brass band, calypso, rhythm and blues, funk, jazz and hip-hop, and it's impossible not to be drawn into its delirium. "Some-BOD-ee scream!" their singers yelled, and the crowd roared. Every song they played, with their assortment of horns and drums, thrilled. They took "Lil' Liza Jane," which in my elementary school class sounded cornball, and made it mesmerizing.

Also performing that night was the jazz band Kermit Ruffins and the Barbecue Swingers. A Treme resident, Ruffins is one of New Orleans' better-known jazz artists. A trumpeter and vocalist, he usually sports a scarf around his head with a fedora on top of it: part gypsy, part Sinatra. His voice evokes Louis Prima and Armstrong, and like Satchmo, he makes people happy. He winks at the crowd with a boyish glow. A big name in jazz, Ruffins could live in New York or Paris, but he's stayed in Treme. When he performs at his neighborhood clubs, he cooks up barbecue and serves it up free. The uniqueness of Treme musicians has a lot to do with their neighborhood - which, from the way they describe it, is in a time and place all its own.

I guess one can leave Nawlins, but the city sure doesn't leave you. By way of Tivoli's Tom Thayer - who owns DBA, a club in the Big Easy - and Bard alumna Raissa St. Pierre, a slew of New Orleans musicians will join Jazz at Bard for a benefit gig, helping those on the receiving end of Hurricane Katrina Friday, October 14. The show, which features the Tin Men, Coco Robicheaux and other special guests, will be held at 8 p.m. in Bard's Olin Hall. "New Orleans needs our help, and we want to give whatever we can and keep on doing so until the city and its people are back in their homes and on their feet," says St. Pierre.

The Tin Men, who have been the recipients of a serious jazz beau buzz, feature Alex McMurray on guitar and vocals, "Washboard" Chaz Leary on percussion and Matt Perrine on the sousaphone, a close relative of the tuba. An only-in-New Orleans amalgamation, the Tin Men last year released their debut CD, Super Great Music for Modern Lovers! The 17 tracks are a woozy, bluesy and charming carnival romp drawn from the more whimsical songs in McMurray's often gloomy catalog, supplemented by selections from Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart - "Hallelujah, I'm a Bum" - Fats Waller, Irving Berlin and Bob Dylan. All are rendered with the unconventional combination of washboard, guitar and sousaphone.

The suggested donation/ticket price is $20. For further information, to purchase tickets or for reservations, call (845) 758-7456, e-mail jazzatbard@bard.edu or visit www.bard.edu/jazzatbard. Reservations and advance ticket purchase are recommended.