Arts & Culture

Brass Band Tradition Passes On 'Leadership They're Not Getting Elsewhere'

WWNO - New Orleans Public Radio | By Thomas Walsh

Published June 8, 2015 at 9:05 AM CDT

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Email

Inside soundproof booths across the country, friends and loved ones are interviewing each other about their lives. The booths belong to StoryCorps, a project that collects the stories of everyday people in order to create an oral history of America.

Here, Aurelien Barnes interviews his jazz teacher, Oscar Washington. The two met at Music for All Ages: a Saturday morning kid’s workshop taught by musicians in the community.

Oscar Washington still jams around town with the New Wave Brass Band, which he established in 1994; you can also hear Aurelien Barnes on trumpet in The New Breed Brass Band.

Aurelien Barnes, third from left, says "about 10 professional musicians came out of that program. To think of where we came from and where we're going next is very exciting to me."

This interview was recorded at StoryCorps, a national initiative to record and collect stories of everyday people.

Brass Band Tradition Passes On 'Leadership They're Not Getting Elsewhere'

👋 Looks like you could use more news. Sign up for our newsletters.