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The original Tuxedo Brass Band
performed from about 1917
8-28
until 1938.
The Young Tuxedo Brass Band functioning from 1938
until today.
The band was the house band and named after de Tuxedo Dance Hall
(North Franklin Street) in New Orleans. In 1913 the dance hall closed after a
gunfight, killing the owner of the hall Billy Phillips.
The Original Tuxedo Brass Band played in
uniforms resembling those of the Prussin military.
8,p175
From this musicians it's known that they played in the
Original Tuxedo Brass Band:
Cornet/trumpet
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Trombone
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Clarinet
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Bariton horn
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Alto horn
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Bass horn
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Tuba
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Snare drum
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Bass drum
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Ernest Trepagnier (from the start
- 192816),
"Black Benny"
Williams (occasionally replacing Trapagnier in the early 1920s -), Jim Mukes
(1921/1922 replaced Trapagnier - ), Edgar Moseley (late 1920s/early 1930s - ).
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Leader
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Oscar "Papa" Celestin (former - 1925)
and William Bebé Ridgley co former 8,p28, Amos White (when
Celestin couldn't make the job), Louis Dumaine (1925 - late 1920s musical), Eddie
Jackson (late 1920s - 1938 manager)
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Manuel Manetta
has played with them, but on which instrument?
The Tuxedo Brass Band dominated the brass band scene in New
Orleans from about the end of WW I. They mixed the music of the early heavy
music (arranged marches and played as written dirges) and more improvised music,
played by ear.
The Tuxedo Brass Band started playing popular tunes on the street. According to
Louis Dumaine the Tuxedo was the first band on the street to play "sacred
songs".
Alphonse Picou´s piccolo solo on "High Society" was first devised while with the Tuxedo Brass Band and
is possibly based a bit on a George Baquet idea.1
1917:
William "Bebé" Ridgley said the Tuxedo Brass Band started in this
year, at the time Manuel Perez temporarily disbanded the Onward. They
(Celestin and Ridgley) hired a number of musicians from the Onward.
1917:
William Ridgley said the Tuxedo played on Henry Zeno's funeral.
1919:
Courtesy of
Harrison Barnes
The Tuxedo Brass Band playing for a Masonic Lodge cornerstone laying, about
1919
Ca 1920:

Standing second and third from left are cornetitst Manuel Perez and
Oscar "Papa" Celestin.
1921: Autumn
Louis Armstrong played as a member of the Tuxedo, 8,p29
1922, August 8:i2
Playing
with the Tuxedo Brass Band at a funeral in New Orleans, Louis
Armstrong got Joe Oliver’s telegram. He had a little band at the Lincoln
Gardens, and he told him to come at once.
1926:
The band played at the funeral of Dave Perkins.
YOUNG TUXEDO BRASS BAND
Performed from 1938
until know.
John Casimir started his brass band, under the name Young Tuxedo Brass Band,
after he left the W.P.A. Band in about 1938.
From this musicians it's known that they played in the
Young Tuxedo Brass Band:
Cornet/trumpet
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Trombone
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Joe "Kid" Avery (1938 - 1955),
Albert "Loochie" Jackson (1938 -
1953), Bob Thomas (1938 - ), Charles "Sunny"
Henry, Albert Warner ( - 1937), Earl Humphrey (1937
- replaced Warner after he
died), Clement Tervalon, Wendell Eugene,
Clement Tervalon (mid 1950s - ), Eddie Pierson (mid 1950s - ), Jim Robinson (mid
1950s - )7,p64, Bill Mathews (late 1950s - 1960s), Louis Nelson (1960s
- ), Frank Naundorf, Maynard Chatters,
Freddie Lonzo, Eddie Summers
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Clarinet
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John Casimir (Eb 1938 - 1963), Albert Burbank,
Steve Angrum16 (1940's/1950's), Lars Edegran (1966 - ),
Willie James
Humphrey 16, Joseph "Joe" Torregano (1972 - under Sherman
and Stafford), Michael White
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Alto sax
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Adolphe Alexander jr., Wilbert Tillman (1938 - 1964), Eddie "Big head" Johnson (1945/46 - ), Manny Gabriel
( - ), John Handy (mid
1950s - )7,p69, Herman Sherman (mid 1950s - ), Harold Dejan (1960s), Darryl Adams,
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Tenor sax
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Adolphe Alexander jr., Harold Christophe,
Andrew Morgan
(mid 1950s - ), Jessie Charles (mid 1950s - ),
Emanuel Paul (1960s)
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Alto horn
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Bariton horn
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Peter White
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Tuba
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Snare drum
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August "Shot" Cato (1938 - ),
Ernest Rogers (1945/46
after Tulane BB disbanded - mid 1950s),
Remus "Brown Happy" Mathews ( - 1953),
Alfred Williams
(mid 1950s, regular from 1958 - ), Rudolph "Big Rudolph" Beaulieu (mid 1950s - ),
Lawrence Trotter (1966 - ), Freddie
Kohlman ( - )
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Bass drum
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Drums
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Leader
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John Casimir (1938-1963)
- Wilbert Tillman (1963 after Casimir's died - 1966) - Andrew Morgan (1966 - ) - (Herman Sherman ( leader on
record date in 1983) - Gregg Stafford (? - now)
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Grand Marshall
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Anderson Minor,
Ernest Skipper
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1946:
Bob Thomas (tb), John Casimir (cl), "Big Head" Eddie Johnson (as),
Happy Goldston (bsdm)
1951:
John Casimir (cl), Joe Avery (tb), Harold Christophe (ts), Albert "Loochie"
Jackson (tb), Wilbert Tillman (sous), Ernest Rogers (sndm), Reginald Koeller (tp),
Albert Walters (tp).
1953: appeared in a mock funeral sequence in the film
"Cinerama Holiday" (They played Abide with me and When the saints go
marching in)
Percy Humphrey (tp), John Casimir (cl), Ernest Rogers (sndm)
1954: Funeral of Papa Celestin
1957: (Labor day parade):
Rudolph Beaulieu (sndm), Vernon Gilbert (tp), John Handy (as), John Casimir
(cl), Eddie Pierson (tb), Wilbert Tillman (sous), Jim Robinson (tb).
1958, October 31 and November 2: the band recorded for Atlantic
records
John Casimir (Ebcl), Andrew Anderson (tp), John "Pickey" Burnious (tp), Albert "Fernandez"
Walters (tp), Clement Tervalon (tb), Eddie Pierson (tb), Jim Robinson (tb),
Hermen Sherman (as), Andrew Morgan (ts), Wilbert Tillman (sous), Emile Knox (bsdm),
Paul Barbarin (sndm).
Wendell Brunious remembered this recording session:
"One of my first memories of hearing music live was when
my dad recorded with the Tuxedo Brass Band in our
backyard around 1958. I was four years old. I still remember the band and all
the people walking up and down our driveway. Each time
John Casimer, the clarinet player, would take a step he’d make a note. It was
really a great day of New Orleans Brass Band music.. It
was so exciting, so authentically New Orleans music – music that made
you happy – a bass drum hitting a beat … ‘boom, boom, boom,
ba-boomboomBOOM!’ It meant something was going to happen
and it did! The trombone players, by being three, were playing nice three
part harmony. And the trumpets… as one guy would
solo, the other two would play a little background to help him out
and encourage him to play better. And the E-flat clarinet
was always hitting high, ‘shrilly’ notes. The tuba was playing the low
notes, which is his job".
1958:

1959:
(Lee
Friedlander)
1959:

Young Tuxedo Brass Band (1959) - Clem Tervalon - Wilbert
Tillman - Alfred Williams - Edgar 'Sambo' Joseph - Harold Dejan - Andy Anderson
- Andrew Morgan (Courtesy of Hogan Jazz Archive, Tulane University)
1959:

A parade with the Young Tuxedo Brass Band in Algiers. (Photo
by Ralston Crawford. Courtesy William Ransom Hogan Archive of New Orleans Jazz,
Tulane University.)
1960, February and March:
Three session were made, but remain unissued.
Alfred Williams (sndm) played all these sessions.
1961, February: Funeral Alphonse Picou
Wilbert Tillman (sous), John Casimir (Ebcl), Andy Anderson (tp), Jack Willis (tp),
1962:
Bill Mathews (tb), Andrew Morgan (ts), Louis Nelson (tb), Andy Anderson (tp),
Wilbert Tillman (sous), John Handy (as), Henry "Booker T" Glass (bsdm), Jack
Willis (tp).
1962, September 8: (a photo taken by Jim Holmes)
Playing a parade with Ernie Cagnolatti (tp), John Casimir (cl), Bill Mathews
(tb), Alfred Williams (sndm), Henry "Booker T" Glass (bsdm), Wilbert Tillman
(sous).
1962, September 22: parading at La Salle and Washington 8.30 AM
Jack Willis, Andy Anderson (tp),
John Casimir (Eb cl), Andrew Morgan (ts), John Handy (as),
Bill Mathews, Louis Nelson (tb), Wilbert Tillman (sous), Henry "Booker T" Glass (bsdm),
Alfred Williams (sndm)
1962, September 22: a French Quarter Parade at 1.30 PM
Jack Willis, Andy Anderson and Kid Thomas (tp),
John Casimir (Eb cl), Andrew Morgan (ts), John Handy (as),
Bill Mathews, Louis Nelson (tb), Wilbert Tillman (sous), Henry "Booker T" Glass (bsdm),
Alfred Williams (sndm)
1970:
Leon "Nooney-Boy" Shelly's Jazz
Funeral, he was a member of one of the many
second-line and social clubs of New Orleans
1973:
De De Pierce (trp) died on November 26. At his
funeral the Young Tuxedo Brass Band played together with the Olympia and the
Eureka Brassband.
1983, August 13: record by 504 records
Herman Sherman (as), Michael White (cl), Joseph Torregano (ts), Joshua "Little
Jack" Willis (cnt-mellophone), John "Kid" Simmons (tp), Gregory Stafford (cnt),
Lester Caliste jr (tb), Clement Tervalon (tb), Walter Payton jr (sous), Lawrence
Trotter (sndm), Charles Barbarin (bsdm)
2001, July
13: Photos from Ernie K-Doe's Second Line
after his funeral.
The Young Tuxedo Brass Band leads the procession past the old Krauss
department store on Canal Street.

Grand Marshal Ernest Skipper leads
Gregg Stafford's Young Tuxedo Brass Band from Gallier Hall
i3
Armand Sheik Richardson (trp); Gregg Stafford (trp)
One of two brass bands who played in K-Doe's jazz funeral, the Tuxedo Brass Band
marched ahead of the hearse, leading the procession with more traditional tunes.
2005, October 25: Jazz funeral

A Jazz funeral, starting in Algiers, then coming across the bridge to the French
Quarter. The Tuxedo Brass Band was the band. The funeral was a signal to the
people and the world that New Orleans was open for business again, after the
catastrophe of hurricane Katrina.
Gregg Stafford (tp and leader), Leroy Jones (tp), Joe Torregano (cl), Michael
White (cl), Freddie Lonzo (tb), Woody Penouilh (tuba), Shannon Powell (sn dm), Frank
Oxley (bas dm), Grand marshalls of the Black Men of Labor and Jolly Bunch.
Date ?
Young Tuxedo Drummer &
Big Chief Tootie Montana (†
2005)
Date
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Maynard Chatters (trb),Scotty Hill
(trb), Grand Marshall Oliver Pork Chop Anderson,
and Edward Paris (trb). A very rare shot of Teddy Riley
on sousaphone, Charles Barbarin on bass drum. (Thanks to mr.
Gregg Stafford).
If you have supplementary information about
this song, please let us know.
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