ROUSES_JanFeb2021_Magazine_Pages

Nocentelli on guitar, George Porter Jr. on bass and Joe Modeliste on drums. With Jolly’s bravura vocals, backed by Wild Tchoupitoulas members, the eight songs set a standard that Indian groups have been riffing on ever since. Art’s vocals on “Hey Pocky A-Way” use an old Indian chant as chorus for these song lines that became a classic:

section-riffing horns and Kermit Ruffins’ lyrics — “Do whatcha wanna, Mardi Gras morning” — lays out a verbal groove that, in one of those ironies of the music, slows down the tempo of Mardi Gras. If you’re jumping up and down to Al Johnson’s pipes on “Carnival Time,” the Rebirth message on “Do Whatcha Wanna” is hey, let’s amble, enjoy the walking, costumes, drinking, cooking, eating, and all that comes with the suspension of time on Carnival day.

Little bitty boy, with a heart of steel You can’t boogie now but your sister sure will Feel good music, I’ve been told Good for your body and it’s good for your soul

Gonna do it now… Hey, hey, hey, hey Hey, pocky a-way Then, the image of a little boy with a heart of steel segues nicely into child-becomes-man:

Top left: Neville Brothers and Wild Tchoupitoulas; top right: Rebirth Brass Band; bottom from left: Professor Longhair; The Meters; (photographs by Michael P. Smith © The Historic New Orleans Collection)

Big chief Keep on grooving Keep on getting

By the 1990s, brass bands began adapting Carnival songs for marching arrangements in parades. Even melodies from The Wild Tchoupitoulas were fashioned by big bands for high-end Mardi Gras balls. Rebirth Brass Band, founded by tuba player Phil Frazier and his brother, bass drummer Keith Frazier, in 1983, scored a big one in 1991 with “Do Watcha Wanna.” The easy-rolling circular rhythm with

23 WWW.ROUSES.COM