New Orleans: The Treme Brass Band Lights Up The Candlelight Lounge

Treme Brass Band
Candlelight Lounge
925 North Robertson
New Orleans, LA
Wednesday, August 4, 2010

I hand my $5.00 cover charge to the woman planted comfortably on a chair at the door.

“How can I find out the names of the men in the band?” I ask her.

“See that man at the end of those tables. He’s the leader.  He can tell you,” she says, tilting her head toward a big man wearing a white cap.

8:45 PM. The Candlelight Lounge is slowly filling with patrons. The Treme Brass Band is scheduled to play at 9 pm. The starting time is a point of reference.

New Orleans might be the land of dreams but it is not the land where the clock on the wall means a damn thing. We are on musician time. Some of them have been playing gigs elsewhere in town earlier in the evening. The band will begin the first set when the members show up.  

An armoire-sized Technicolor jukebox is pumping seriously loud blues.

“Sir, good evening, how you doing? I wonder if you can tell me the names of the men playing in the band tonight.”

“Come back after I finish my supper,” he nods agreeably, pointing to the ham, red beans and rice on his plate.

I try not to stare at the man sitting next to him. Good heavens, that’s the 79 year-old legend Lionel Batiste, last seen by America in the first episode of Treme, the HBO series that debuted early this year.

Half hour later, I return to their table. The man’s plate is empty. The jukebox has been turned up a notch.

“I don’t think I can do it now, it’s too loud,” he shouts over the juke. He pauses. “Where you from?”

“Sir, I’m a retired teacher from Boston. I was born with this pen and paper in my hand. I’ve come to hear the music I love and just wanted to write down the names of the people who are playing it.”

A moment goes by. The man reaches out for my pen and pad. “Wait here.”

He slowly stands, moves to an empty table, hunches over and begins to write. There I am at 9:15 pm chatting with "Uncle" Lionel Batiste, and his “brother Norman’s baby girl” Norma Batiste, and a man I’m told later is acclaimed poet Chuck Perkins. Five minutes later,  the man with the big arms returns to the table.

“Here you go,” he says. He grins when he sees my eyes widen. He’s carefully printed the names of the nine musicians he knows are going to show up tonight. I stare at the list.

Poet Chuck Perkins, "Uncle" Lionel Batiste, Benny Jones, Sr., and pt at large.

The man is Benny Jones, Sr., the leader of the band. He founded the Treme Brass Band in the  mid 1990s after playing with some of the best brass bands in town. The Candlelight Lounge has been their home for about seven years. The place is packed with college kids, neighbors, doctors, lawyers, and an occasional (Mardi Gras) Indian chief every Wednesday night.

This is New Orleans. Which means it is dead certain that other musicians will show up sometime during the night and sit in to play with the band. Mr. Jones excuses himself. A bunch of his friends are waiting to talk to him. “You can stay right here,” he says, as I get up to find another seat.

“Uncle” Lionel Batiste crooks the pointer finger of his huge hand toward me, inviting me closer to his chair. Next thing I know, he’s telling me the history of this neighborhood on North Robertson, how the road used to be gravel with ditches running on each side for rain and waste water, and a derogatory name this part of town used to be known as. He tells me he remembers the days when the street cars traveled down the neutral ground on Claiborne. I can’t hear some of the details over the jukebox but I'm captivated by the man’s friendly nature.

A young man walks over to introduce himself and ask Lionel’s secret for keeping such steady time on his drum. Two big gold rings on the long fingers of his right hand and the gold watch band he wears over the back of his left hand flash in the dim light as Lionel tells us how he made his first drum from his mother’s washboards.

I’m on my own little cloud in New Orleans heaven. I've  just had quality face time with Benny Jones, Sr. and Lionel Batiste, the assistant leader of this band according to the list on my pad, two of the most highly regarded musicians in New Orleans, elders who serve as inspirations and role models for the generation coming up.

Lionel Batiste has his own wikipedia page, for god sakes, and The New Orleans International Music Colloquium honored Benny Jones, Sr. with a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2004. I feel like I’m visiting Mount Olympus and being greeted by Zeus and his pals, and invited to sit around and enjoy the view.

The Candlelight Lounge, Olympian in spirit, is a long, smoke-filled, rectangular box, with worn tile floors, a solid mahogany stained bar on the left and  a bunch of small tables on the right, with a tiny band stand in the front corner from which awesome music will be played tonight.

If you’re adventurous, you can find welcoming bars like this all over New Orleans.  Many offer food along with the live music. Leona Grandison, the proprietor sitting at the door, makes the food, to which you can help yourself and put some dough in the tip jar. “I’ve been running this place going on 28 years now,” Leona says. “Tell people about us.”

Bud Light is three bucks a pop. The waitress is friendly. You can strike up a conversation with a band leader or a banker or a college sophomore. The music tonight will propel you out of your seat. This is vintage New Orleans. And Leona Grandison told me to tell you so.

Photos by Paul A. Tamburello, Jr.

 "Uncle" Lionel Batiste (assistant band leader) and Benny Jones, Sr.(leader) play here every Wednesday night.

 

The place will be packed to the gills in another hour.

"Uncle" Lionel shares a moment with his grand niece.

The band starts playing...

and before the third song is over, everyone is dancing, cheering, and feelin' good...

including "Uncle" Lionel, who has some very cool moves on the dance floor.

 

Powerful trumpeter Kenneth Terry and guest percussionists.
 
 

Tips make up a good chunk of what the band earns...
 

and when "Uncle" Lionel stands in front of you with that tip jar and peers over those shades...well...guess what?

Proprietor Leona Grandison presides at the door.

Amazing...

Comments

[Bernard U.]

this is truly great stuff .... you need to make sure you get this onto Facebook ........

do you have a FB account ?

[Paul]

Thank you, Bernard! I can hardly keep up with my email and blog writing - don't have a FaceBook account. I wonder if it's possible for someone on FB to post a link to my blog or whether I need a FB account in order to be linked? Will investigate.

[Susaan]

Absolutely one of your best. Your use of the present tense draws the reader right along as the story unfolds. Revealing who they are little by little is like watching you unwrap a present. Irresistable.

[Joanne Y]

WOW!!! I love this article. These guys have it all and they are so darn down to earth and unassuming about their accomplishments. Doesn't sound like there's a big head in the bunch!!! That Candlelight Lounge is something else, though. You never know who you will run into in those cozy little dives, I guess.... Treme has not changed them at all it seems even though the show emphasizes the unique N'Orleans sound that they play and showcases their talent. Guess it isn't Hollywood, huh!!!!!

[Paul]

Thanks, Joanne.
These people are unassuming, accessible, and down to earth. If they sense your interest is real, not on their fame but on their accomplishments or talents, they connect with you in a way I haven't experienced anywhere else on the planet. You're right, no big egos that fence them off from people like me.
The music on Treme is a unifying force that holds together all the separate and distinct characters and their stories.

Nope, this aint Hollywood. As a cab driver said to me one night, "You're not in Ameica, you're not in Louisiana, you're in NEW ORLEANS!"

[Neal]

Paul,

This is one of your best entries. I felt like I was there. I'm going to look for some of Benny's/Treme's music. Love it, love it, love it!

[Paul]

Wow, Neal, a writer loves a response like that. Other music to look for might be from Kermit Ruffins, I've heard that his Live at Vaughn's CD is good, Rebirth Jazz Band, which Kermit co-founded in 1983, and of course Treme Brass Band.
You can get a good sense of the whole quilt of New Orleans music by tuning in to WWOZ online (explore their web site while you're there). Have fun. Let me know what you discover and like.
PS
Click http://www.fqfi.org/satchmosummerfest/satchmo2010print_info.pdf.
Check out these artists who played during the weekend - all of 'em were in top form.

[Emmy]

Uncle Lionel is the coolest! Great article! Was just telling a friend who loves TREME that all the musicians I've met in NO are Real People who are sweet and friendly. Makes you feel so lucky to get to converse and hang out with such talent. Keep up the GREAT coverage ;)