Krewe Du Nord: A Festival of New Orleans Food & Live Music

Big 6 Brass Band – 

On the streets of New Orleans, where brass bands play every Sunday for weekly second line parades, it’s not unusual for one brass band to catch the ear of the streets and dominate the second line season. Not long after their founding in 2017, the Big 6 Brass Band had the streets on lock. Their mixtape, which has made the rounds in the second line community, features covers of songs by Michael Jackson, Fantasia, and SZA, among others. Unsatisfied with playing only “radio tunes,” their song catalog runs deep into brass band history as they breathe new life into time-honored traditional tunes like “Red Dress” and “Lilly of the Valley.” Their debut album, Big Six, was released on June 24, 2019 on all streaming platforms. A thirteen-song tour through their original music, it’s an instant classic including hits like “Go Down,” and “On the Run.”

 

The band’s all-star lineup is comprised of some of the most talented young brass band musicians in the city. Though the band is relatively young, their pedigree reveals a wealth of experience as their roster includes current and former members of the Rebirth, Stooges, Hot 8, TBC, and Da Truth brass bands. Though their music maintains ties to the tradition from which they come, they are very much the vanguard of the brass band scene. Their sound, which combines smooth R&B with the rough and ready sound of the streets, is, more than any other band, representative of the sound of contemporary New Orleans brass band music.

Davina & The Vagabonds – 

“Davina Sowers creates her own Americana mishmash — a little Amy Winehouse-worthy neo-soul here, a little Great American Songbook-influenced songcraft there.” ~ Rolling Stone Magazine

 

New spin on an old sound, Davina and The Vagabonds have created a stir on the international music scene with their high-energy live shows and commanding stage presence. Davina Sowers has been compared to Etta James, Amy Winehouse, Janis Joplin, Billie Holiday and Betty Boop, but comparisons don’t suffice: she is a true original. Bringing you 100 years of American music and Davina’s originals, which lend themselves to the American Songbook, the band brings edgy nostalgia to older generations and fresh new music to younger ears. This rollicking quintet is held together by Sowers’ keyboard playing, with acoustic bass, drums, and a spicy trumpet and trombone horn section. The group’s focused, clean sound and emphasis on acoustic instruments is novel to both blues and jazz worlds, and sets the show closer to New Orleans than to Chicago.

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Brass Solidarity – 

Brass Solidarity is a band founded in 2021 in response to the murder of George Floyd and the ongoing fight in the movement for Black lives. The members of Brass Solidarity come from a variety of musical backgrounds and are united in their dedication to using their talents to promote social justice and bring people together. They engage with social justice leadership to contribute to Actions for Justice. These musicians work for justice, not money. Stipends and donations they receive go directly into their work