Hot 8 Brass Band don’t so much take the stage at Newport’s Corn Exchange as seize it. Opening with their brass-heavy version of Snoop Dogg’s What’s My Name?, they substitute their own name into its familiar refrain – an introduction and a statement of intent rolled into one.
For three decades, this New Orleans collective have combined traditional brass band music with jazz, funk, hip-hop and the city’s distinctive bounce sound. The formula may look straightforward on paper, but making it work live requires the formidable playing, stamina and personality this group possess.
Songs flow into one another with barely a pause, giving the set the continuous momentum of a New Orleans second-line parade. Trumpets, trombones and saxophone punch out the melodies; a tuba supplies basslines that rattle the room and percussion keeps everything moving with call-and-response exhortations woven throughout.
The band’s particular gift is taking songs that appear resistant to brass-band treatment and making the transformation sound right. Joy Division’s Love Will Tear Us Apart exchanged its familiar chill for warmth and swagger; Papa Was A Rollin’ Stone is rendered darker, driven by a rolling brass groove as instruments move in and out of the spotlight.
Big Tuba provided the emotional centre. The title track of Hot 8’s latest album, it’s dedicated to Bennie Pete – their co-founder, leader and sousaphone player, who died aged 45 in 2021. It was an affectionate tribute, keeping his memory alive through the sound he helped create.
A cry of “New Orleans, 504!” brought their home city directly into the room, capturing how deeply the band’s identity remains rooted there, however far they travel. Their much-loved reworking of Marvin Gaye’s Sexual Healing closed the main set, its slow-burning soul transformed into a suitably communal release.
The encore included a version of Happy Birthday for the drummer, before Get Up supplied one final burst of funk and another opportunity for the crowd to respond. By then, Hot 8 had completely erased the distance between south Wales and Louisiana. The Corn Exchange still stood on Newport’s High Street, but inside it felt more like a joint on Bourbon Street – humid, noisy and far too lively for anyone to contemplate standing still.
Hot 8 Brass Band, Corn Exchange, Newport, Wed 5 Aug
words KARL ELLIS & ALI ELLIS photos KARL ELLIS
