The Hot 8 Brass Band, called “one of New Orleans’ hottest young street bands” by the San Francisco Chronicle, will perform in the annual Homecoming Concert at ETSU tonight at 7:30 p.m. in the D.P. Culp University Center’s Martha Street Culp Auditorium.The concert is sponsored by the Mary B. Martin School of the Arts at ETSU. Admission is $18 for adults and $13 for students with ID and seniors.

The Hot 8 Brass Band has epitomized New Orleans street music for over a decade and “infuses its performances with the funk and energy that makes New Orleans music loved around the world.”

Members of the band were born and raised in New Orleans, and many began playing together in high school. They perform annually at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival and at world and jazz festivals across the United States and Europe, and they have also toured Japan, Italy, France, Spain, Finland, England and Sardinia.

They have released three critically acclaimed recordings and are featured on the latest Blind Boys of Alabama recording on Time-Life Records. In addition, they have been featured in two Spike Lee documentaries, “When the Levees Broke” and the forthcoming “If God is Willing and Da Creek Don’t Rise.”

The Hot 8 Brass Band has been part of an important relief project following Hurricane Katrina. “SAVE OUR BRASS!” is a local, grass-roots effort that has brought music and instruments to shelters, temporary trailer parks and communities across the Gulf Coast.

The band plays the traditional Second Line parades, hosted each Sunday afternoon by Social Aid and Pleasure Clubs.

These parades trace back to the 19th century and the fraternal societies and neighborhood organizations that collectively provided insurance and burial services for members, especially among the African-American community.

Individuals joining the parade traditionally sported umbrellas and handkerchiefs. Apart from a casket, mourners and a cemetery visit, today’s Second Line parades carry many of the same traditions as the band marches down the street. Presently, the parades are not tied to any particular event, holiday or commemoration; rather, they are generally held for their own sake and to “let the good times roll.”

Members of the band will deliver a free public lecture entitled “Hot 8 Gumbo – Rap, Jazz, Rock and Myth: Tradition and Transformation in Contemporary New Orleans Brass Bands” today at 2:15 p.m. in the Culp Auditorium.

This lecture, which developed out of the band’s “Finding Our Folk” touring program, is designed to connect the audience to the people, music and traditions that have emerged from the streets of New Orleans. It combines live performance with band members’ personal stories, and covers techniques and ideas from New Orleans’ musical heritage, its origins, how it is carried on, and threats posed to its continuation in the aftermath of Katrina.

For advance tickets, more information, or special assistance for those with disabilities, contact the Martin School of the Arts at (423) 439-TKTS (8587) or artsinfo@etsu.edu.

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