2. Eureka Brass Band, “Just a Little While to Stay Here” (E. M. Bartlett)

For use in lesson #3.

 

Style: New Orleans Brass Band

Personnel: Percy Humphrey trumpet, George “Kid Sheik” Colar trumpet, Peter Bocage trumpet, Willie Humphrey clarinet, Emmanuel Paul tenor saxophone, Albert Warner trombone, Oscar “Chicken” Henry trombone, Wilbert “Bird” Tillman sousaphone, Josiah “Cie” Frazier snare drum, Robert “Son Fewclothes” Lewis bass drum. Recorded in 1962.

Issued on Atlantic SD 1408.

Reissued on Collectables COL-CD-6627 and Mosaic MD4-179 Disc I.

This is a spirited performance of one of the standard hymns in the New Orleans jazz repertoire, rendered by one of the city’s top brass bands. This track is a great example of the emotional catharsis that such bands are capable of creating in the streets during a jazz funeral, celebrating the passage of the deceased to his great reward. The trumpet’s call at 0:05 is the traditional signal for the drums to go into their rolloff. The “woody” New Orleans clarinet sound is evident in Willie Humphrey’s solo at 2:53, and Emmanuel Paul’s tenor sax solo at 3:31 employs characteristic heavy vibrato.

Sequence for this track

0:00 Drum cadence, trumpet call, rolloff

0:18 First ensemble chorus

0:56 Second ensemble chorus

1:35 Trumpet solo (P. Humphrey) over ensemble

2:14 Ensemble chorus (trumpets switch the lead)

2:53 Clarinet solo over ensemble (minus ­trumpets)

3:31 Tenor sax solo over ensemble (minus ­trumpets)

4:10 Ensemble outchorus

4:49 Drum cadence continues

Eureka Brass Band