The Treme Brass Band is a marching brass band from New Orleans, Louisiana led by snare drummer Benny Jones, Sr. The band, which plays traditional New Orleans brass band music, features a shifting lineup that has included trumpeters Kermit Ruffins and James Andrews, tenor saxophonists Elliot Callier and Frederick Sheppard, trombonist Corey Henry, and sousaphonist Kirk Joseph.
Lionel Batiste appears consistently on the bass drum. They have released two albums, Gimme My Money Back on Arhoolie Records and I Got a Big, Fat Woman on the Sounds of New Orleans label. The band takes its name from New Orleans' Treme neighborhood, on the outskirts of the French Quarter, was the
birthplace and home of many generations of New Orleans's finest jazz
musicians. Central to that tradition are the parade bands that play for
traditional funerals, street parades, and family celebrations.
Benny
Jones, Sr., a brass band veteran and son of noted musician Chester
Jones, founded the Treme Brass Band over 15 years ago, following his
role as a drummer with the Olympia Brass Band and a leader of the Dirty
Dozen and Chosen Few Brass Bands. Although they are known
internationally through their recordings and tours, the Treme Brass
Band is still firmly rooted in the New Orleans street band tradition.
Many veterans of Treme have gone on to found other bands, including the
Rebirth, New Birth, and Little Rascal Bands.
The Trem Brass Band plays the music of a people. The people in New
Orleans who know how to celebrate life with a second line parade or
mourn a person's death with a jazz funeral. The Trem Brass Band
represents the future of the New Orleans Brass Band Tradition. Although
their music is steeped in the deep roots of New Orleans Jazz, this
ensemble of young and old bring to it a fresh, exuberance which mixes
elements of funk, soul, and modern jazz to the delight of all listeners.
