00:25This is Tim Wassberg from FastTrack on Surf TV.
00:28I'm here in New Orleans for the New Orleans Film Festival.
00:31Could you talk about that in terms of your instinct?
00:34Because obviously you have all this footage.
00:36I mean, even the stuff by the pool,
00:38doing some of the photo stuff with Irma.
00:40When she starts singing, you see her literally come alive
00:43when she was just there talking, being a regular person.
00:45You see the performer just emerge.
00:48Yeah, I love that moment.
00:50Yeah, well, yeah, you just, after you've done it enough,
00:54after you've edited enough, you know not to mess around.
00:58Just get to the good stuff quickly.
01:00You know, like, and you want to set it up.
01:02You've got to set it up.
01:03You've got to establish certain facts and so forth.
01:05But you really want to get to the good stuff
01:07and you want to keep it moving.
01:08And, you know, since I produced the music as well as the film,
01:14I was looking at the recordings
01:16and, you know, helping choose the songs on the recordings
01:19based on their back catalog.
01:22It was very hard for people to support their family.
01:26Like a family with five or six, seven kids
01:28was scuffling and trying to make ends meet.
01:34The brass band music would always come to the neighborhood.
01:38Sometimes, once or twice a week, we'd be in school,
01:41they might have a jazz feeling passed by our schools.
01:43The teacher had to go to the window
01:44and check the jazz feeling around.
01:47That neighborhood where I was born in,
01:49at that time, it was called a six ward.
01:51Now they changed the neighborhood to the trimmie.
01:52The whole thing was trying to help them
01:55in a way tell their story.
01:58On the records, I wanted them to,
01:59I wanted the song choices to also kind of
02:03be telling their backstory too.
02:06So then I knew, like, okay,
02:08then I'm going to go ask her these questions
02:10and, or Freddie or whoever, you know,
02:12all the different subjects.
02:14And we're going to, and I want to know,
02:16you know, I'd already kind of knew their stories,
02:18but I always was thinking, okay, well, for this,
02:20you know, we might use, give me a second chance,
02:23you know, one more time.
02:25Are they open to that experience?
02:26Because this is their lives, you know.
02:28Some people want to keep a little bit for themselves.
02:30Where's the balance of that?
02:32I mean, the main thing is earning their trust, you know.
02:34Once they trust you, then you're going to,
02:36then they'll feel more comfortable telling you something.
02:39Some of them are easier to earn their trust than others,
02:42you know, just based on their personality.
02:43Did you record the music first
02:44or did you do a lot of the backstory stuff?
02:47No, we did the music first
02:48because then they knew that I,
02:50then they knew that I knew their music.
02:52They knew that I could help them sound as good as possible
02:56because they were saying, okay, this is,
02:57this is coming out well, you know.
02:59And then you can, then they start saying,
03:02okay, yeah, what do you want to know, you know?
03:04A bunch of musicians live in that neighborhood.
03:06Not only that, my father, my brother, uncle,
03:09they were all musicians.
03:11I always want to be a part of the brass band music.
03:33It seems like you were using different recording elements too.
03:37I mean, did you record in that church?
03:41Yeah, yeah, we did.
03:42That church, that footage from that church comes from,
03:46so that was, we recorded,
03:48the sessions happened just before COVID hit.
03:51Got it.
03:52And what'd you do that, here?
03:53Yeah, yeah, it was at Esplanade Studios.
03:55Okay, good.
03:56And then, and then, so, they also,
04:01those records came out on record
04:03and they were going to release it in November.
04:05At that time, there was still no vaccine
04:07and, like, everyone was still,
04:10there was a lot of fear, you know,
04:11and so we couldn't, there were no music venues open,
04:15we couldn't do a release show or anything.
04:17And the thing everyone was doing
04:19and what we came up with was, like,
04:20we'll do a really socially distanced live stream
04:24with, like, not, with very stripped-down performances
04:27and that will be what is the release party
04:30for the records.
04:32Was that at the Snug Harbor or was that?
04:33No, no, that was, it was at the, uh,
04:35it's actually, it's the church
04:37at the Hotel Peter and Paul in the marriage.
04:38Well, the Snug Harbor performance,
04:40that was, that was the, his last performance
04:43and it was, that was on Friday night.
04:48Maybe it was a week later, yeah.
04:50That was on March 6th, on March 13th,
04:53we were in lockdown.
04:53So it was, you know, and then he died,
04:56he died three weeks later.
04:57Yeah.
04:58Um, or two weeks later,
04:59he died on the 1st of April.
05:01So, looking back on it,
05:03it's so surreal and, uh, you know, it's sad,
05:08but he had a great run
05:08and he was, he was already,
05:09he was already 85,
05:10so it's not like...
05:13onward brass band,
05:14the Eureka brass band,
05:16the Olympia brass band,
05:18the Tuxedo brass band,
05:19majestic brass band.
05:20They were the oldest bands
05:21providing traditional music
05:23on the street during their time.
05:25The Olympia brass band
05:27was one of the first brass bands
05:28that started playing.
05:35My uncle, Uncle Lionel,
05:36the Baptiste band,
05:37they had a band called
05:38the Dirties,
05:39the Cazoo band.
05:40They would go to the neighborhood
05:41playing Cazoo,
05:42the ukulele,
05:43the banjo,
05:44and all that.
05:44I mean,
05:45the city was chomping
05:46at the bit to come alive,
05:48you know,
05:48and we filmed
05:50the celebration of life
05:51for Alfred Roberts,
05:53the conga player
05:53in the Irma session,
05:54you know,
05:55he died in May of that year,
06:00or maybe it was April or May
06:02of 2020,
06:04and, uh,
06:06they had not allowed
06:07any second lines
06:08in New Orleans
06:08and people were going crazy,
06:10you know,
06:10because that's what they,
06:10like,
06:11and a lot of people were dying
06:12and they needed to celebrate it
06:13and this is what they do
06:14and, like,
06:14you can't do that.
06:15It's like,
06:16that was painful
06:17for a lot of people
06:18and, um,
06:19and then,
06:20I don't even think,
06:22that wasn't even fully permitted
06:24because it was in Congo Square
06:26so they weren't on the street.
06:28Yeah.
06:28But it was like,
06:29being at that,
06:31people were like,
06:32yes, finally,
06:33you know,
06:33and the vaccine
06:34had already arrived
06:35by that point
06:35so it was, like,
06:36not quite as scary
06:37but people were like,
06:38finally,
06:39we can do
06:40what we're supposed to do.
06:42I married into the family.
06:43I married Uncle Lionel's niece
06:45and so many years
06:46I played with that band
06:47and I said,
06:47well,
06:48they need a brass band
06:49so I got with
06:49Charles Joseph
06:50and Craig Joseph,
06:51Surreal South
06:52and Andrew Green
06:53and a couple of other guys
06:55we formed a band
06:56called Dirty Dutters
06:57and a brass band.
07:05to me, it's like,
07:07it's the most important
07:10screening we have.
07:12I don't care if we were
07:13invited to Cannes
07:14or whatever
07:16because,
07:19you know,
07:19it's,
07:20I don't know,
07:21it was a community project,
07:24you know,
07:24and
07:27I arrived here
07:30and then started working
07:31on it almost immediately
07:32and it took me
07:33three years
07:34and then sadly
07:35I left
07:35because,
07:36you know,
07:36my wife got freaked out
07:37about a hurricane
07:38and wanted to move
07:39back to France
07:40so that was part of it
07:41but I still
07:43deeply love this place
07:44and,
07:46you know,
07:47I just showed up
07:48and like started
07:49knocking on doors
07:50and people were so
07:53willing to
07:54hear me out
07:55and then
07:56work with me
07:57and make this happen
07:58so
08:00you have to come
08:02and involve them
08:04in the release
08:05and say like,
08:06please
08:06like,
08:07look at it
08:08and I hope you like it
08:10you know,
08:10it's for them as well.
08:12And for Alam,
08:12it's going to be
08:13the first time
08:13they see her, right?
08:14Yeah, yeah,
08:14Irma and Freddie
08:16and
08:18the Marsalis'
08:19some of them
08:21saw it
08:21at Tribeca
08:24but
08:24they'll have
08:25their families
08:25with them now
08:40and she'll have
08:42and
08:42and
08:45now
08:46and
08:51see you
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