All Photos by Laura Cayouette

By Laura Cayouette

Dr. John will be playing this week's Harvest the Music benefitting Second Harvest, Wednesday the 6th at 5pm at Lafayette Square. Last week's concert featured Rebirth Brass Band. The huge crowd was packed Jazz Fest-style into the small urban park on one of the most wonderful weather days of the year. 

Rebirth played several songs from their upcoming CD and each had their terrific blend of familiar beats with new funky twists. Several of the new tunes got the crowd dancing as enthusiastically as old hits, they're like old favorite songs you've never heard before. The most fun of these is certainly the ode to the Saints' Super Bowl victory. Don't know what it's called yet, only that I can't wait to hear it again. Though we'd never heard it before, the crowd was singing along by the second chorus, "We used to say, 'who dat,' now we say 'we dat'...(wish I could remember the rest, but I know it was about winning the Super Bowl again). The sure-to-be-a-hit song will be available for downloading after the band goes into the studio in November.

All of the musicians in Rebirth are top notch but Derrick Tabb had a rare moment. Armed with little more than a snare, he banged out one of the greatest drum solos I've heard in some time, pulling sounds out of that snare that I'd never heard. It was as if he were reinventing the instrument like Hendrix did with his guitar. The crowd went absolutely wild.

Rebirth is not just incredibly talented and fun as heck, they are also hit-makers who've churned out a number of songs that have become local anthems. "Do Watcha Wanna" is a city classic (and a way of life). They closed the show with that familiar favorite as well as other classics, including "Casanova" and "Fire." The new CD is set for a February release from Basin Street Records. 

As always, all food and beverage proceeds go to feed the people of our region, including those affected by the BP gusher. 

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