Post 567: THE GENEROUS MAKERS OF GREAT VIDEOS

If, like me, you spend many hours watching YouTube videos of traditional jazz bands playing in the USA - and particularly in New Orleans, you must have noticed that dozens of the videos have been put up by two video-making enthusiasts who use the code-names digitalalexa and RaoulDuke504. And more recently James Sterling has also come on to the scene. And there others - such as Wild Bill and jazzbo43, who have captured many good New Orleans performances for us. We owe them a huge debt of gratitude; and I think the bands too must be grateful to these people for spreading their fame to many thousands throughout the world. 

A great experience I had in New Orleans during April 2015 was meeting two of these video-makers. They were enthusiastically filming at the French Quarter Festival.

RaoulDuke504 has the advantage of living near New Orleans. I met him while he was filming the Tuba Skinny performance at the Festival. Here he is:

I had the great privilege of shaking his hand and thanking him for the pleasure he has given me (and so many thousands of people) with his wonderful videos.

Digitalalexa is actually two people - husband Al and his wife Judy from New Jersey. They travelled down frequently to New Orleans and had a grand time filming their favourite bands. Al and Judy film the same performance from different angles and when they return home Al edits the two videos into one, trying to make the most of the best shots they have obtained between them. It was a great honour to meet Al and Judy several times at various events. Al told me his videos by 2015 had over three million 'hits'. It was through their videos that I (and hundreds of other fans) first discovered Tuba Skinny and some of the other great bands. So I am deeply grateful.

Here is Judy at The Louisiana Music Factory, where they were about to film a Tuba Skinny Concert.

And here at the same event is Al.

These wonderful modest people enjoy their relative anonymity. But I hope they won't mind my featuring them on this Blog and saying a Big Thank You to them on behalf of us all for bringing us such pleasure.

Good news is that Al and Judy produced the first video of Tuba Skinny to be viewed more than a million times: THIS ONE - CLICK ON TO WATCH IT.

By the way, Al and Judy also founded The 2015 French Quarter Festival and Tuba Skinny Appreciation Society. Al and Judy designed and then Judy embroidered a batch of these lovely souvenir bannerettes. They distributed them to several fans to wave during the Parade and they also gave some to the members of Tuba Skinny.

What terrific souvenirs. I treasure mine!

James Sterling lives in Florida and can get to New Orleans in five hours by car. In January 2015, he came upon a YouTube video of Tuba Skinny (probably one of digitalalexa's). He told me it changed his life for ever. (Exactly the same experience had happened to me a year or two earlier.) He said: 'I watched Tuba Skinny videos for 6 hours straight, finally stopping at 1am'. Since then, James has made the journey three or four times each year. In 2016, I had the pleasure of meeting James and his wife, too. Here he is in Frenchmen Street. Thank you, too, for all the good work, James!

Post 525: VISITORS TO NEW ORLEANS

In the last few months, I have received about a dozen emails from readers who had recently spent a week or two in New Orleans. For some of them, it was their first visit. Some were there for the French Quarter Festival; but others had opted for the quieter and less crowded weeks after the Festival.

Let me say straight away that they all reported having a great time and returned home exhilarated. Several had set out with the aim of catching favourite bands. They generally succeeded, and assured me that seeing the bands in person (and sometimes managing a chat with them) was even better than watching great YouTube videos.

Yet there were just a few grumbles too. These included complaints about time-keeping and punctuality. These points were made: sometimes a band is advertised to start playing at a certain time; but they spend so long chatting and setting up, that the concert actually begins almost half an hour late. Similarly, a band told a tourist it would be busking in a certain spot until 1pm, but when he turned up to hear them at 12.30pm, he found they were already packing up and leaving.

I fear such things are bound to happen. In New Orleans, as in many countries of my experience, people have a relaxed attitude to matters of time-keeping and punctuality.

However, the point was made that Tuba Skinny always started right on time (for example, at their dba concerts). There was always high praise for that particular band. Most people managed to catch them at least once busking in Royal Street.

Some of the lesser bands were criticised for poor discipline and a somewhat cavalier attitude to their audiences. Here's an extract from one correspondent:

Arriving at 7pm, I asked where the band was. I was told they were delayed by the non-arrival of one of their number. I chatted to a couple at the bar (2 of the only 3 attendees apart from myself). After that the sequence of events was as follows:

7.30 Band (less the missing one) started playing to about 5 spectators.

7.40-7.45 Trombonist arrived, placing his instrument by his seat on the stage, went to the bar, ordered a 'shot', downed it, ordered a pint and went outside to drink it with a cigarette.

7.55 Trombonist joined the band. Turned out he was also the vocalist.

8.15 1st set finished, the couple having left earlier. I left, leaving about 3 people in the audience.

I must admit having had a couple of similar experiences myself in the bars of Frenchmen Street. But I think such performers are their own worst enemies. They will not make a living and will be soon rejected.

But let us end positively: for an example of the sort of music recent visitors have enjoyed:

CLICK HERE.

Post 505: 'MOTHER'S SON-IN-LAW'

I put up on YouTube a video of Tuba Skinny playing Mother's Son-in-Law at the 2015 French Quarter Festival. To watch it:
CLICK HERE.

You don't have to have a hanker
To be a broker or a banker.
No sir-ee, just simply be
My mother's son-in-law.
Needn't even think of trying
To be a mighty social lion
Sipping tea, if you will be
My mother's son-in-law.
Not got the least desire
To set the world on fire.
Just wish you'd make it proper
To call my old man 'poppa'.
You don't have to sing like Bledsoe*
And you can tell the world I said so.
Can't you see you've got to be
My mother's son-in-law?

(* Jules Bledsoe - a famous Afro-American singer and the original performer of Ol' Man River - was 36 years old at the time when My Mother's Son-in-Law was written.)

The song was composed by Alberta Nichols, who had studied piano at the Louisville Conservatory. The lyrics were written by her husband, Mann Holiner. As a partnership, they wrote over 100 songs, mainly for Broadway shows. Alberta died in 1957.

The song can be performed either as My Mother's Son-in-Law or Your Mother's Son-in-Law - according to the gender of the singer.

When they recorded it for their Garbage Man CD in 2011, Tuba Skinny played a vigorous version in which Kiowa Wells, their guitarist at the time, featured prominently. They played the song in keys that some Bb instrument players would consider tricky, starting with several choruses (including one vocal from Erika) in E minor and then switching to A minor for the finish - with Erika singing the words for the final part of the Chorus.

Watching again my video of Tuba Skinny playing the song at the French Quarter Festival in April 2015, I was struck first by the amazing energy and drive of the performance. But I then noticed it had moved on a bit since the 2011 recording. Obviously Kiowa was no longer with the band and greater prominence was given to all the other instruments, Shaye being especially busy. But more than that: I noticed that we now had not one key change, but TWO, each preceded by a 4-bar Bridge. The band started in G minor and then followed the 2011 structure by going into E minor (including a vocal) and ending (after Robin's solo) in A minor (with Erika singing in that key too). It's a truly invigorating performance.

I then checked out Billie Holiday's recording from 1933 (available on YouTube). Sure enough, her performance also went through the keys G minor, E minor and A minor - in that order. So I guess Tuba Skinny took their inspiration from that recording.

Also, although I have not been able to find the sheet music anywhere, I tried to pick the tune out by ear and put it in my little notebook. I chose a key (A minor) to suit myself.

By the way, my friend Tony Harris (guitarist) has introduced me to another song that has a similar mood and theme. It is called It's All Your Fault and was composed by Cindy Walker in 1941. Cindy was a good composer and deserves to be better known. This (click on) is a version worth listening to.

Post 471: ADVICE FOR VISITORS TO NEW ORLEANS

You're planning a holiday in New Orleans? It will be your first time there? Great. You will love it.

The best way to get around in the French Quarter, where most of the jazz is to be heard, is on foot. The entire French Quarter is small - only about half a square mile in total. However, until you get used to it, be careful how you tread on those pavements (sidewalks), because - as at 2017 - there were still thousands of fractures and fragmentations awaiting repair.

My friend and keen video-maker James Sterling from Florida has visited New Orleans much more often than I have; and he has asked me to pass on his own recommendations. He says you should get out of the French Quarter occasionally, particularly by using the St. Charles Streetcar which will quickly take you to the Garden District, with its stately mansions, hotels and restaurants, as well as the fine Audubon Park and Zoo. Then there is Magazine Street. You can visit it while in the Garden District. It is lined with quirky shops, pubs and eateries and is just a five-block walk from the streetcar line. That is a very good tip - not one that many people would think of.

And James enjoyed the World War II Museum in the Warehouse District, just up-river from the French Quarter. In addition to the displays, it has a theatre with live revues of music from the WWII era.

James says he goes to New Orleans for the food as much as for the music. He says: 'There are too many excellent restaurants in NOLA to list but my favourite is Coquette on the corner of Magazine and Washington in the Garden District.' He also mentions Brennans for a great brunch, and Coop's Place, Johnny's Po-Boys, The Gumbo Shop, and The Central Grocery for excellent reasonably-priced food. Café Envie in Decatur Street is good for pastries, coffee and breakfasts.

For a place to stay, James likes the many bed-and-breakfast inns. He says: 'You will get a private room usually in an old mansion with personal service from the inn-keeper and will meet new friends around the breakfast table. For rooms at reasonable prices (for NOLA) I recommend The Richelieu, Hotel Provincial, LaMothe House, and The Frenchmen Hotel (get a room in the back away from the street noise).'

There are indeed plenty of hotels and other forms of accommodation. Imagine you stay at a hotel in Burgundy Street, somewhere near the junction with St. Ann Street. It will be a mere 5-minute walk to Preservation Hall, or 12 minutes to the Palm Court Jazz Café.

It will take you only a quarter hour to walk to Frenchmen Street, which is just beyond the French Quarter at its north-eastern edge; and there in the evenings (and some afternoons) you will find such great bars and clubs as the dba, The Maison and The Spotted Cat, where some wonderful bands regularly play.

From 11 a.m. daily, you will be able to hear great busking groups if you head to Royal Street (five minutes on foot from your hotel).

Buskers in Royal Street

You will of course enjoy sampling all the other amazing things the French Quarter has to offer, including, as Jim says, plenty of fine eating places. You must have a stroll by the Mississippi – maybe heading down to the Riverwalk Shopping Mall, which I like very much. On the way to it, you could visit the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas. On another day, head left alongside the river to a different kind of shopping experience – the famous and massive French Market.

The French Market

Of course you will dawdle among the artists in Jackson Square (where there is usually also some lively jazz busking).

And you may visit special events at The Mint, or take rides on the streetcars to the Garden District .

Or go to the huge City Park, or have a river trip on the Natchez. Or you might care to cross the River on the ferry to Algiers.

The Mississippi and New Orleans

Maybe you will go on one of those 'Bayou' tours or a 'Cemetery' tour (easily bookable - you will see them widely advertised. James particularly recommends the Lafayette Cemetery just one block south of St. Charles Avenue). This is well worth doing on your first visit.

My advice would be to give the garish and vulgar Bourbon Street only a few minutes of your time. I suppose it's worth seeing, if only to convince yourself that such a street really exists. And you will hardly be able to avoid it, as it's right there in the centre of the French Quarter. But if you are a serious traditional jazz fan, there are far better places to be.

But please don't take me as authoritative. I live 4500 miles from New Orleans and have been to the City only seven times during the last 30 years, so (even with help from James) I don't claim to be an expert. I am simply giving you a few personal impressions that may be of some use.

On my first visit, when I was about 50 years old, I spent most evenings at Preservation Hall. I heard such players as Harold Dejan, Milton Batiste, Narvin Kimball, Percy Humphrey, Willie Humphrey, Danny Barker, Frank Demond, Kid Sheik Colar and the very young Greg Stafford. But in recent years I have spent my evenings in the bars and clubs of Frenchmen Street to catch the exciting new generation of great bands that have evolved in New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina.

A couple of further points:

1. Transport between the aerodrome and the City Centre (about 15 miles) is easy. There are plenty of taxis. And some hotels run shuttle services. Recently a taxi cost 40 dollars (including tip) for a single trip. But there is also a regular bus service (the Jefferson E.2 Transit) which is efficient and remarkably cheap (about a couple of dollars), which I have also used. Obviously get up-to-date timetables from the internet.

2. When is the best time to go? All the year round there is good jazz. However, bear this point in mind: in June, July and August it can be extremely hot – maybe too hot for comfort. Even some of the musicians make this the time of year when they head north and tour in cooler States, or fly to other continents to play at festivals. The French Quarter Festival (in April) is recommended as there is an organised programme with dozens of bands giving free concerts on temporary stages in many of the streets. However, bear in mind that the crowds can be huge and you may have the disappointment of not being able hear your favourite bands in the best possible conditions.

Jackson Square during the French Quarter Festival

Also, unsurprisingly, hotel prices tend to be quite a bit higher during festivals. So you may prefer to go at a 'quieter' time when you will be able to spend your evenings in the clubs, hearing your favourite bands in conditions that are acoustically better and less crowded.

Post 396: THE PALMETTO BUG STOMPERS

One of the best bands I heard at The French Quarter Festival in New Orleans during April 2016 was The Palmetto Bug Stompers. I caught their performance on the French Market Stage on April 10th.

I had never seen the band in person before, even though I was aware that they had been in existence for at least fifteen years and that there are many good videos of them on YouTube.

Why did I think they were so good? Well, it begins with their rhythm section, which pulsates and drives in the best New Orleans tradition, without ever being too loud. They do not use a drum kit: instead, a washboard, guitar and bass work together as one man. And there is equally good taste in the 'front line' where the musicians listen well to each other, and interweave their patterns with beauty and subtlety. The tone is set by Will Smith on trumpet, who is not one of those exhibitionist trumpet-players who scream around the high notes just for the sake of it. Instead, he shows respect for the melodies and the soul of the music. So the band plays with good taste, and yet builds up excitement in a controlled way.

Where I stood, at the side of the band and in the middle of a large, noisy, jostling crowd, it was very difficult to take a video. I tried; and the result may be seen if you CLICK HERE. (One of the problems with the crowded Festival events is that it is sometimes more difficult to enjoy the bands than when they are playing in smaller, more intimate venues, where audience comfort and acoustics are better.)

May I recommend this band to you? Watch some more of their YouTube videos. And, if you ever get the chance, aim to see them.

Post 215: THE FRENCH QUARTER IN NEW ORLEANS

For the benefit of readers who have never been to the French Quarter of New Orleans, here are a few pictures I took during my visit in April 2015.

George Lewis's House
- in which some legendary recordings were made.

Such famous roads as Decatur, Chartres, Royal, Burgundy and Dauphine run south-east to north-west and are criss-crossed by Iberville, Bienville, Conti, St. Louis, Toulouse, St. Peter's, Ursuline, and so on. The whole area is compact (well under a square mile) and very easy and pleasant to explore on foot. I guess that in total The French Quarter represents only about 2% of the entire City of New Orleans; but what a special area it is!

It is believed that about 4000 people actually live within the French Quarter.

Strolling round the quieter streets (no need to mention the noisy, brash Bourbon Street, which you can't avoid once in a while), you can admire the historic and very pretty colourful domestic architecture, including shotgun houses, classic nineteenth-century creole cottages and double-gallery houses. In case you are puzzled by the expression 'shotgun houses', I can tell you these are very simple homes, narrow and rectangular, with no hallway. The rooms are one behind the other. If all the doors of the house were open, it would be possible to fire a shotgun straight through the house - in at one end and out at the other - passing through all the rooms. Hence the name. There are also 'double shotgun houses', with two entrance doors and a central wall dividing the two homes, as in the first picture below.

Characteristic local transport
- passing Preservation Hall.

This next one is a bonus photo - sent to me by my friend Barrie Marshall. He took it when visiting the French Quarter in 1996.

When you are ready to hear some outdoor jazz in the French Quarter, you can head for Jackson Square:

or Royal Street:

At the north-eastern edge of the French Quarter, close to the Mississippi, is the wonderful and extensive French Market, where you can buy your souvenirs and take a break for refreshments.

Here's the French Market as it was in 1920:

Finally, you could head right out of the French Quarter and look back along the Mississippi at the City - including the more modern business district with its taller buildings. The French Quarter is the low-level area to the right of them:

Post 209: THE FRENCH QUARTER FESTIVAL

The French Quarter Festival in New Orleans is held annually in April. I attended the 2015 Festival and here's what I can report.

One of the best:
The Smoking Time Jazz Club Band.

The Festival runs for four full days. Twenty-three stages are erected, some by the River, some near the French Market, some on Jackson Square, some in Royal Street and Bourbon Street ......  and so on. Typically, there are six performances a day on each stage, the first starting at 11am and the last at about 7pm. The performers range from solo artists to big bands. So the total number of musicians taking part is huge. There are many 'big name' artists and a few bands that have travelled from as far away as Canada, Japan, Australia, Sweden and Germany.

Jackson Square during the Festival.

The entire Festival is free to attend. It is the largest free music event in the United States. You mark your card and spend the day hopping from venue to venue to hear the performers of your choice.

If - like me - you are most keen on the 'purer' kind of traditional jazz, you will find that about 15% of the performances are for you. There is also plenty of other music - rock, gospel, funk, classical, rhythm and blues, cajun, zydeco, klezmer and so on. A wide range of musical cultures is represented. There are about 300 concerts in total over the four days (though in 2015 a few of them had to be cancelled because of heavy rain).

The Festival begins with a Parade to Jackson Square. There are marching bands in the Parade and hundreds of enthusiastic 'second-liners' with their colourful umbrellas and bannerettes.

The City does an amazing job in putting on such a Festival at no cost to the audiences. Yes, there are over 100 sponsors, mainly businesses; but goodness knows what it costs to set up (and later dismantle) all the stages, barriers, portaloos, and to provide publicity and so on, and employ dozens of technicians and marshalls (and presumably give some payment to the musicians). The Festival is run by French Quarter Festivals Inc. - a non-profit organisation with a staff of just seven people and nearly 2000 volunteers.

The stages are equipped with powerful PA systems and well-tuned pianos.

Thousands of tourists come from all over the world for this special event, so hotel rooms are at a premium. There are large audiences for the most popular concerts.

I personally picked out concerts by the traditional jazz bands and these were very good indeed. But on just a few occasions, especially when the sun was blazing, it was uncomfortable being wedged in a large crowd, barely able to see the band. Old hands - you discover - get there early and bring collapsible chairs.

Many of the jazz musicians performed in more than one band, so you would see them (Aurora Nealand and Charlie Halloran, for example) dashing from stage to stage, sometimes playing in strikingly contrasting styles with various bands.

Throughout the Festival, the regular evening gigs by trad jazz bands (not officially part of the Festival) at such places as The Spotted Cat, The Maison, Preservation Hall and DBA went on as usual, so it was possible to attend these as well, at the end of a day spent at Festival events. Here, you could appreciate the music in a more intimate setting where the bands mostly played acoustically and all instruments could be seen and heard. And of course, the many regular street performers, ranging from solo artists to bands, are always available to entertain, even though they too are not part of the official Festival. Believe me, the musical standards of those street musicians in New Orleans are extremely high.

What is quite certain is that the Festival gave thousands of people a huge amount of pleasure and fun.

Future dates for the Festival are:
2018 : April 12 - 15
2019 : April 11 - 14
Finally, a look back at New Orleans in 1923:

Post 103: TALKING WITH TUBA SKINNY

During my visit to New Orleans in April 2015, I had the pleasure at last of hearing in person the wonderful young band Tuba Skinny, which I have been praising in my writings for many months. My main article about them (CLICK HERE TO READ IT) had been viewed by 20,000 people by the time of my visit. I attended three of their performances.

The picture above shows the band as I saw them on April 14th. Left to right are: Craig Flory, Shaye Cohn, Barnabus Jones, Erika Lewis, Todd Burdick, Jason Lawrence, Max Bien-Kahn and Robin Rapuzzi. At other performances they had Charlie Halloran on trombone and Jonathan Doyle on reeds.

Tuba Skinny playing at
The French Quarter Festival
in New Orleans, April 2015.

I was specially pleased to see Max Bien-Kahn playing regularly with the band (Greg Sherman had departed to the north) as I have always admired Max's strong, solid, concentrated performances with the band on YouTube, and I don't think he has had the recognition he deserves.

A bonus was that I was able to have a chat with some of the players.

I had the great privilege of a long chat with
Todd Burdick, 'Mr. Tuba Skinny' in person.

Todd Burdick is best known as the Bb tuba player and founder member of Tuba Skinny.

After Hurricane Katrina, many young musicians migrated to New Orleans. Todd moved there from Chicago and he told me that at the time you could find a pal and jointly rent a shotgun house near the French Quarter for just 400 dollars a month. (The price by 2015 had risen to 900 dollars a month.)

It was a hard life and I guess some of them soon gave up. But many settled. They made just enough money to survive by playing for tips on the streets. They started to find like-minded musicians who became their friends and formed themselves into bands. A good example was Loose Marbles - a band in which founder members were Ben Polcer and Michael Magro, who encouraged promising newcomers to pass through the band's ranks and hone their skills. Many of the musicians who developed their talents in Loose Marbles have gone on to form bands of their own. Tuba Skinny is one of those bands.

From Todd Burdick and Robin Rapuzzi (washboard), I learned a good deal about Tuba Skinny. By the way, Robin told me that as an infant he had occasionally visited Nottingham to stay with his grandmother. This appealed to me as Nottingham is where I live and am writing right now.

Robin tapes his fingers and prepares his thimbles
before performing at The French Quarter Festival.

I had often wondered how Tuba Skinny go about unearthing the obscure tunes from the 1920s and 1930s that now form a substantial part of their repertoire. Todd pointed out that it's no longer necessary for someone to have a vintage 78rpm recording. Today there is so much available, not only on re-issued CDs but even on the internet - especially YouTube. For example, the band introduced Dear Almanzoer into its repertoire in 2014. This is a lively composition by Oscar 'Papa' Celestin and was recorded in 1927 by his band. Thanks to the kindness of various YouTube uploaders, Todd said, you can freely listen to - and learn from - the Celestin original.

I had wondered whether the members of Tuba Skinny get together for private rehearsals occasionally. After all, some of their music is tricky, with complicated arrangements. Think of Cannonball Blues as a typical example: with so many surprising key changes and various ensemble phrasing patterns to remember, you can't just turn up and play such a tune. Everybody needs to have learned exactly what their rôle is at any given point. Robin told me much of the experimenting and 'rehearsing' takes place on the street. They like to play in Royal Street twice a week if possible. But they do also have an occasional private rehearsal in one of their houses, perhaps once a month. They had recently been rehearsing once a week - but this was in the lead-up to the recording of their seventh CD - Blue Chime Stomp. The recording took place over two days in early April 2015.

They told me they guessed The Smoking Time Jazz Club Band - similar in some ways to themselves, but continually playing even more complicated arrangements - surely gets together to rehearse more frequently.

I asked about the 'arranging' of the more complex of Tuba Skinny's tunes. It seems obvious that Shaye Cohn is the expert in this matter and has a big say (though she modestly claimed she does not need to do much other than 'direct the traffic' in performance). I was assured that the band's decisions are acephalous and that all contribute ideas, though it's a fact that Shaye will sometimes supply a 'chart', especially for banjo and guitar players.

I mentioned Maple Leaf Rag as an example. It had been recently introduced into Tuba Skinny's repertoire and obviously they had to decide in which key to play it (some bands go for Eb moving into Ab; but Tuba Skinny chose F going into Bb). They also had to make up their minds about which of the tune's four possible melodic themes they should play and in which order, and whether with any distinctive treatments. And they had to decide whether to include an introduction, bridges and a coda. If you watch THIS VIDEO (CLICK ON TO VIEW)  you will see what they came up with. Enjoy especially the use of those long harmonising notes in the final choruses preceding the out-chorus. When they played Maple Leaf Rag at The French Quarter Festival a few weeks later, with slightly different personnel, the arrangement was essentially the same, though with two fewer of the 16-bar final choruses, and also this time there was a two-bar coda - I guess a spur-of-the-moment Shaye-ism that took nobody by surprise! Enjoy it in THIS VIDEO (CLICK ON).

Todd told me he had recently deputised in another band which had also played Maple Leaf Rag. But their version turned out to be quite different from Tuba Skinny's. Did this cause him any difficulty? Not really. He easily picked up what was going on.

I was gratified when Erika Lewis told me she was aware of these writings of mine. She said that when they were planning a play-list they would sometimes consult my list of their tunes to remind themselves of titles they hadn't performed recently and that perhaps ought to be revived. So I have become the honorary archivist to the band! CLICK HERE to see my list.

The first time I saw Tuba Skinny in person was when they were playing in a very crowded bar. I assumed the great number of people had all gone there specially to hear the band. I was wrong. I was trapped in the middle of the crowd near the bar, unable to move and quite a few yards from the stage. But when the band started to play, I found the din  of conversation around me was so loud that I could hardly hear the music. And so it continued. I felt so disappointed for the musicians, even more than for myself: they were producing such wonderful music and yet only a few people near the stage could hear them clearly.

When I eventually met Shaye, I told her how sorry I was that the band had been treated in this way. She shrugged her shoulders philosophically and said, 'Well, it's a bar....'.

If you have a conversation with Shaye, you find she has a sharp intelligence, good humour, charm, and wisdom beyond her years. She is articulate; and yet she values her privacy: she is sweetly and admirably inscrutable.

No wonder the band still so much enjoys playing in the street, where they can be clearly heard and be given respect by people who love their music. 

I had constantly wondered how Shaye manages to create all those wonderful phrases she plays (often with a mute) as a backing to Erika's vocals and also in support when the trombone or clarinet takes the melody. I asked her whether, while playing, she was thinking her way through the chords. She paused to consider my question for a moment, as if she had never thought about the process before. Yes, she knew the chords all right; but she felt that her inventions had become 'intuitive'.

In chatting with Barnabus, I got on to the unlikely topic of diminished chords. When I hummed a particularly enjoyable phrase he had played over a diminished chord in a YouTube video some years ago, he remembered exactly the one I meant and said he had picked the phrase up from Ewan Bleach! Barnabus also told me that Shaye is particularly fond of diminished chords.

One evening I bumped into that brilliant and ubiquitous trombonist Charlie Halloran. When he told me he would be playing with Tuba Skinny the following night (deputising during a very rare absence of Barnabus Jones), I asked him how he would cope with Tuba Skinny's often complex head arrangements. What if they played Deep Henderson, for example? He said Deep Henderson would be no trouble, as he knew their arrangement well. However, he told me 'I expect they will dumb down the programme a bit to make allowances for me.'

Well, I went to the concert. And I can tell you this: Tuba Skinny did not 'dumb down' at all. They played a typical programme, complex arrangements included. And how did Charlie cope? Brilliantly. He played some wonderful stuff and, as far as I could tell, never put a foot wrong.

I enjoyed observing how Shaye prepares a playlist. At The French Quarter Festival, for a quarter hour before the performance started, she sat in her place looking at her notebooks and working out a programme. She wrote the tune titles in large lettering on a sheet of paper which she then placed on the floor in the centre of the band, so that all members could know what was coming next. I noticed how skilfully she made the programme entertaining by alternating slower and quicker tunes, and mixing instrumental with vocal numbers, and even ensuring a variety of keys.

There are many people in the UK who wish Tuba Skinny would tour here. I raised this matter with some of them. I found they would like to visit the UK, but they have looked into the matter thoroughly and discovered so many obstacles (particularly financial and bureaucratic). I'm sorry to have to say this but I can't at present see how a tour in the UK will be viable in the foreseeable future. We can't expect the band to undertake it at a considerable cost to themselves.

Having admired his work through YouTube
for some years, it was a great pleasure
for me to meet Robin Rapuzzi.

Watching Tuba Skinny perform their specials - such as Freight Train Blues and the new ones by Shaye - Tangled Blues and Blue Chime Stomp - it was such a joy to observe at close quarters how brilliant they all are, and such perfectionists.