To Be Continued Brass Band, or TBC Brass Band, the subject of a documentary titled From the Mouthpiece on Back, is a jazz band formed in 2002 by young men who grew up in the 7th and 9th Wards in New Orleans, Louisiana. They sought to avoid the life that befell many of their friends and classmates involving drugs and violence by creating a jazz and brass band. The band started at Carver Senior High School in New Orleans where the band's eventual leader and tuba player, Jason Slack, borrowed instruments from Carver's band director. Some of the instruments were taped together. For example, the tuba was taped with duct tape to patch a hole in the horn. The band received permission from Carver's principal to play a set on the school grounds. The school's reaction simply was "wow," and the TBC Brass Band was on its way.
TBC started with no manager and no guaranteed gigs so the band played on the streets of New Orleans, establishing a presence on the corner of the legendary Bourbon and Canal Streets in the French Quarter. The band quickly became popular, and hordes of fans spontaneously surrounded the band and danced around the band's regular street corner. As explanation for the band members' support and love for another, the band's trumpet player succinctly states "We sometimes say, we're all we got. Well, we're all we got."
In addition, TBC continued the time-honored New Orleans tradition of leading "second line" parades at funerals of members of their community. Second line is a unique New Orleans parade where a jazz band accompanies the family of the deceased at the grave site with somber tunes. But once outside the cemetery, as the procession hits the streets, the band erupts into celebratory life-affirming music as the bereaved dance in celebration of the life of the deceased.
Read more about To Be Continued Brass Band: The Roots and TBC Brass Band, Movie About The TBC Brass Band, Membership, Discography
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