Climax Rag

[Niner]

Tuba Skinny isn't the greatest New Orleans style jazz band that ever was.....or maybe is...but whatever group is or was the best it isn't any more talented. The thing about this video that keeps me watching is the way Shaye Cohn, the cornet player, leads the whole band with various gestures... head nods, head touching, foot pointing. She does all this and plays her feature parts and pats her foot at the same time. And when it's her time to lay out she grabs a glass for a drink and then puts the glass down and grabs a thermos for a swig out it too. And it seems everyone in the band plays, more or less, by ear with no written music to any of the tunes they ever play.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kiw_RqVVh6M

[DuncaninFrance]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1flzcz ... Foundation

That's great jazz!

[Niner]

I had no idea what the Arhoolie award was until I did a google. Seems the band gets to split $10k. Hardly big money considering the college football draft yesterday paid guys millions before ever playing a professional down or knowing if they will even make the second or third string of the regular team. Guys not good enough to draft in the five rounds of the college player group draft got a lot more than $10k just as long shot possible replacement third string guys. Meanwhile Tuba Skinny still plays in bars and on the street in New Orleans for tips and probably small money. And... people take phone movies of them playing and show them on facebook in pages dedicated to the band nearly every day. The youtube postings do add a line about if you want to "tip the band" you can do so by whatever means. Hardly an act that has it made in the music world. However..... they are something special in a world full of well paid acts with nothing to say musically.

The award has a page showing how it looks for folk talent that isn't mainstream.

https://arhoolie.org/arhoolie-awards-honorees-2022/