The Onward Brass Band was the name of two brass band

Brass band

A brass band is a musical ensemble generally consisting entirely of brass instruments, most often with a percussion section. Ensembles that include brass and woodwind instruments can in certain traditions also be termed brass bands , but are usually more correctly termed military bands, concert...

s active in New Orleans for extended periods of time.

Onward Brass Band (c. 1886 – 1930)

This incarnation of the Onward Brass Band played often in its early history at picnic

Picnic

In contemporary usage, a picnic can be defined simply as a pleasure excursion at which a meal is eaten outdoors , ideally taking place in a beautiful landscape such as a park, beside a lake or with an interesting view and possibly at a public event such as before an open air theatre performance,...

s, festivals, parade

Parade

A parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, floats or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually celebrations of some kind...

s, and baseball

Baseball

Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...

 games. It was under the leadership of Joseph Othello Lainez, a cornetist, by 1887, and quickly became as popular as the longstanding Excelsior Brass Band

Excelsior Brass Band

The Excelsior Brass Band was a brass band from New Orleans. It was one of the earliest recognized brass bands on the New Orleans jazz scene.The Excelsior was founded in 1879 by Théogène Baquet, who led it until 1904; following this it was led by George Moret and then Peter Bocage, who led it from...

 and Pickwick Brass Band. After 1903, Manuel Perez

Manuel Perez (musician)

Emanuel Perez – also known as Manuel - was an early New Orleans jazz cornetist and bandleader. Being a contemporary of Buddy Bolden, Perez is considered one of the originators, and was influential in crafting the early jazz and ragtime sound.-Life:Some details of his early life remain obscure...

 led the ensemble. The group typically held between 10 and 12 players, with three cornet

Cornet

The cornet is a brass instrument very similar to the trumpet, distinguished by its conical bore, compact shape, and mellower tone quality. The most common cornet is a transposing instrument in B. It is not related to the renaissance and early baroque cornett or cornetto.-History:The cornet was...

s or trumpets, two trombones, two clarinets, an alto horn

Alto horn

The alto horn is a brass instrument pitched in E...

, a baritone horn

Baritone horn

The baritone horn is a member of the brass instrument family. The baritone horn has a predominantly cylindrical bore as do the trumpet and trombone. A baritone horn uses a large mouthpiece much like those of a trombone or euphonium, although it is a bit smaller. Some baritone mouthpieces will sink...

, a tuba, a snare drum, and a bass drum. Perez changed the group's name to the Imperial Brass Band in the middle of the 1920s; it disbanded in 1930. Among the group's members were Isidore Barbarin

Isidore Barbarin

Isidore John Barbarin was an American jazz cornet and alto horn player. He was a mainstay of the New Orleans jazz scene in the decades around the turn of the 20th century....

, George Filhe, Lorenzo Tio

Lorenzo Tio

Lorenzo Tio Jr. was a master clarinetist from New Orleans, as were his father Lorenzo Tio Sr. and uncle Louis "Papa" Tio...

, Peter Bocage

Peter Bocage

Peter Edwin Bocage was a New Orleans jazz musician.Best known as a cornet player, he also played violin professionally, as well as sometimes trombone, banjo, and xylophone...

, George Baquet

George Baquet

George Baquet was an American jazz clarinetist, known for his contributions to early jazz in New Orleans.His father, Theogene Baquet, was also a clarinetist, as were his brothers, Achille and Harold...

, and King Oliver.

Onward Brass Band (1960 – 2011)

In 1960, Paul Barbarin

Paul Barbarin

Adolphe Paul Barbarin was a New Orleans jazz drummer, usually regarded as one of the very best of the pre-Big Band era jazz drummers...

 and Louis Cottrell, Jr.

Louis Cottrell, Jr.

Louis Albert Cottrell, Jr. was a Louisiana Creole jazz clarinetist and tenor saxophonist. He was the son of the influential drummer Louis Cottrell, Sr., and grandfather of New Orleans jazz drummer Louis Cottrell...

 revived the name Onward Brass Band for a new ensemble patterned after the old group. Barbarin led the group until 1969, after which time Louis Cottrell, Jr.

Louis Cottrell, Jr.

Louis Albert Cottrell, Jr. was a Louisiana Creole jazz clarinetist and tenor saxophonist. He was the son of the influential drummer Louis Cottrell, Sr., and grandfather of New Orleans jazz drummer Louis Cottrell...

 took over. Placide Adams took over the band after the death of Louis Cottrell. Jr. in 1978 and was the leader until his death in 2003. The band reorganized in 2005. This band recorded albums in 1965 and 1974 and recently in 2009, and consists of eight to ten players, hewing strictly to traditional brass band music. Its members included Cag Cagnolatti

Cag Cagnolatti

Ernie Joseph "Cag" Cagnolatti was an American jazz trumpeter.Cagnolatti began on trumpet around 1929 and played with Herbert Leary from 1933 to 1942, as well as off and on with Sidney Desvigne and Papa Celestin...

, Kid Howard

Kid Howard

Avery "Kid" Howard was an American jazz trumpeter associated with the New Orleans jazz scene....

, Andrew Morgan

Andrew Morgan

Andrew Morgan was an American jazz clarinetist and saxophonist....

, Joe Thomas

Joe Thomas

-Cleveland Browns:Thomas signed a 6-year contract worth $43 million, $23 million guaranteed, including a voidable year, with the Browns. Thomas won the starting left tackle job, with previous Browns left tackle Kevin Shaffer moving to right tackle. He made his NFL debut versus the Pittsburgh...

, Louis Barbarin

Louis Barbarin

Louis Barbarin was a New Orleans jazz drummer. He studied under the famed drummer, Louis Cottrell, Sr.Louis was the younger brother of Paul Barbarin...

, Alvin Alcorn

Alvin Alcorn

Alvin Alcorn was an American New Orleans jazz trumpeter.Alcorn was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. He learned music from his brother, though not much is known about his youth. He played freelance in New Orleans in the late 1920s and early 1930s; he appears with Armand J. Piron's Sunny South...

, Danny Barker

Danny Barker

Danny Barker , born Daniel Moses Barker, was a jazz banjoist, singer, guitarist, songwriter, ukelele player and author from New Orleans, founder of the locally famous Fairview Baptist Church Marching Band...

, and Freddie Kohlman

Freddie Kohlman

Freddie Kohlman was an American jazz drummer, vocalist, and bandleader. He studied under the famed drummer, Louis Cottrell, Sr. and Manuel Manetta....

.
Some of the active N.O. musicians who have appeared with Onward include Gerald French, Freddie Lonzo, Marc Braud, Leon,"Kid Chocolate" Brown, Tom Fischer, Dwayne Paulin, Shannon Powell, Kirk Joseph, Ernie Elie, Dimitri Smith, Louis Ford, and Christian Winther.

Short history

The earliest known written references to the band performing can be found in The Weekly Pelican, the weekly newspaper that published African-American news. On Saturday, February 19, 1887, it noted the Onward Brass Band furnished the music at a banquet held for the L’Avenir Juvenile B.A. The Onward Brass Band gained considerable popularity during the 1880s. By the time of the Spanish-American War in the late 19th century, the ensemble had achieved a reputation as the number one marching band in New Orleans. About 1898 while under the direction of James McNeil, members of the Onward Brass Band enlisted in the Spanish American War in the “Ninth Immunes Regimental Band”, serving in Cuba. Upon returning to the U.S. in 1899, those members played in the Victory Parade down Fifth Avenue in New York City.

Following the war, cornetist Manuel Perez (a student of Onward founder Sylvester Coustaut) assumed leadership of the band. Onward Brass Band soon came to be regarded in the local music community as the most exciting of the city’s early brass bands. Its membership included many New Orleans music legends: in addition to Perez himself, names such as Peter Bocage, Lorenzo Tio Jr., George Baquet, Isidore Barbarin, and even, for a brief time, King Oliver. Unfortunately, this band never recorded. Perez was Onward’s leader (on and off) from 1903 until the unit disbanded about 1930. The band seems to have fallen into decline during the Great Depression, and its history for the next three decades is obscure.
Around 1960, famed drummer Paul Barbarin, the son of Isidore, decided to reform the band, and pattern it after its great predecessors. Under Paul’s leadership, the Onward received new life, and included his younger brother Louis, nephew Danny Barker, Louis Cottrell Jr., Placide Adams and many other top New Orleans jazz musicians. They made two recordings (in 1965 and 1968).

When Barbarin died in 1969, his long-time sidekick, clarinetist Louis Cottrell, Jr. (godson of Manny Perez), took over the band’s leadership. This group included several members from the preceding band as well as other fine jazz players such as Freddie Kohlman, Teddy Riley, Jack Willis and Waldren “Frog” Joseph. They are heard on two additional recordings (1974 and 1978). Cottrell died in 1978. With that, leadership of the Onward Brass Band passed to snare-drummer Placide Adams who headed the band for the following quarter century, taking over the leadership designated to him by Louis. During that time, the band continued to make yearly appearances at the annual New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival (It was pictured on the Miller Beer Jazzfest program in 2001.) Appearances waned due to Placide’s ailing health, but occasional private performances continued. At the time of Adams’ death in 2003, plans were being made for the Onward’s first recording session in 25 years. Those plans have now come to fruition as a result of the efforts of snare-drummer Kurt Nicewander, a member of the Onward Brass Band for 14 years and entrusted by Adams with the responsibility of ensuring that the Onward’s rich heritage be kept alive. Accordingly, he assembled a stellar group of musicians, a few of whom had prior experience with the band, to make this recording.

Nicewander has definite plans for the band. “My intentions,” he says, “are not to start something new, but to just insure that Onward and it’s tradition continues into the twenty-first century, a new era, preserving the spirit of this historic New Orleans band. The band appeared at the 2010 French Quarter Festival, and the 2010 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival.

Discography

• 2009, The Tradition Continues, Onward Brass Band
• 2004, Last Journey Of A Jazzman: Funeral of Lester Santiago, Paul Barbarin and the Onward Brass Band, Nobility, recorded 1965