Tuesday 11 November 2008

New Orleans again,

we went back to the New Orleans as the Filipino food was so good last time,
Mad Mick, Mas and Diana,
we arrive safe and sound,
the restaurant is about half way down Soi Pattayaland 2 on the corner of Boys Town,
and meet up with Glen, Mae and baby Casey,

outside the restaurant,

at the side of New Orleans is the entrance to Boys Town,

prawn cocktail starter for me,
Diana and Mae had a selection of Filipino food,
bacon wrapped fillet for Mas, Mick and myself,
but mine was with a baked potato,
Glen had salmon and orange,
everyone smile!
a look at the inside of the restaurant,
also inside is this picture Dejan's Olympia band,

The band had a notable part in the 1973 James Bond movie "Live and Let Die" where they lead a funeral march for a freshly assassinated victim. Trumpeter Alvin Alcorn plays the knife wielding "baby faced killer".

The Olympia Brass Band was a training ground for a whole new generation of jazz musicians including clarinetist Joseph Torregano, saxophonist Byron "Flea" Bernard; drummers Tanio Hingle and Kerry Hunter; and trumpeters Kenneth Terry and "Kid" Mervin Campbell. Notable members of the band over the years were: Harold "Duke" Dejan, leader and alto saxophone; Emanuel "Pappy" Paul & Ernest Watson tenor saxophone; clarinetists Willie Humphrey, Joseph Torregano and David Grillier; trumpeters Milton Batiste (Asst. leader), Edmond Foucher, George "Kid Sheik" Colar, Reginald Koeller, Kenneth Terry, & Mervin Campbell. Trombonists Paul Crawford, Wendell Eugene, Eddie King, Gerald Joseph, and Lester Caliste; Sousaphonists Allan Jaffe, William "Coby" Brown, Anthony "Tuba Fats" Lacen, Edgar Smith, and Jeffrey Hills. Snare drummers Andrew Jefferson, Leroy "Boogie" Breaux, Kerry "Fatman" Hunter: Bass Drummers, Henry "Booker T." Glass, Nowell "Papa" Glass, and Cayetano "Tanio" Hingle. Grand Marshalls for the band were the immortal Matthew "Fats" Houston, Anderson Minor, Anderson Stewart and Richard "King" Matthews. Although the band left numerous recordings, none is more prevalent then their recording of "The Westlawn Funeral Dirge" which featured Emanuel Paul on the tenor saxophone.

The Olympia Brass Band is profiled in the book, The Great Olympia Band by the late English writer Mick Burns,

and Keeping the Beat on the Street: The New Orleans Brass Band Renaissance also by Mick Burns.

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