Nightcrawlers win Grammy for jazz ‘roots music’

By Christine Bordelon
Clarion Herald

   While the COVID-19 pandemic has cast a pall on the livelihood of musicians everywhere, it opened a window for the New Orleans Nightcrawlers brass band.

   “That silver lining brought us all together to do what we haven’t done in 20 years,” said Jason Mingledorff, a Loyola University New Orleans professor and the band’s saxophonist/clarinetist, noting that the pandemic afforded them more time to connect with each other.

   Their album “Atmosphere,” produced by Nightcrawlers’ Matt Perrin, won a Grammy March 14 for “Best Regional Roots Album.” Mingledorff said it was the second time in Grammy history that a brass band had won –  the New Orleans-based Rebirth Brass band won approximately nine years ago. St. Augustine High 1999 graduate P.J. Morton also won a Grammy for Gospel music. (Read Keith Spera’s nola.com story on Morton here: bit.ly/3tXY8KE)

   “Personally, I was really shocked,” Mingledorff said. “We hadn’t even had a review in a magazine, not even in Offbeat. We were planning on doing a show but, with COVID, we hadn’t done anything. So, just the fact that we got a nomination was amazing to us.

   “But, we have fans from all over. This win was huge for us. We called everybody we knew and said, ‘Please vote for us.’ None of us thought we were going to win.”

   The Nightcrawlers and local Grammy nominees Cameron Dupuy and the Cajun Troubadours teamed up for a pre-telecast Grammy awards announcement that afternoon.

“It was a very joyous show … we had just found out we won,” Mingledorff said. “We had our family, our wives, our biggest fans there. It was a wonderful night.”

Photos | COURTESY CHASE THIS LIGHT PHOTOGRAPHY

Took a long time
   Mingledorff said many wonder what “roots” music is.

   “I think (the Grammys) are trying to have a category that describes music that is indigenous in certain regions without national popularity,” he said. “Lots of areas have their own music, like Cajun music (or brass bands). In Louisiana, we’re lucky to have music that is really ours. People outside of Louisiana love this music, but they have to come here to get it.”

   Roots music has a sense of tradition that has been passed down. The Grammy roots category nominations also included Native American women and a Hawaiian group, Mingledorff noted.

   “We’re inspired by the tradition of brass band music from over 100 years in New Orleans. “We’re inspired to carry on the tradition.”

   Mingledorff said the Nightcrawlers – composed of an equal mix of New Orleanians and musical transplants – have definitely evolved over the years.

   “The first couple of albums pushed a lot of boundaries,” Mingledorff said. “We spent a lot of time in the studio. We were inspired by brass bands – the Dirty Dozen and Rebirth brass bands – but we wanted to try our own music.”

   The Nightcrawlers recorded the first two of their five albums on Rounder Records and were playing throughout Europe, Japan and across America. They were regulars at Jazz Fest, the French Quarter Fest and Satchmo Fest. The local opportunities before an international audience, and their respect and love for each other, kept them together.

   “For the Nightcrawlers, Jazz Fest really helped us survive for a few years,” Mingledorff said, because those featured performances required them to rehearse and create fresh sets. The band has been featured in the TV series “Treme” and, three years ago, in an episode of “The Simpsons.”

   Individually part of other bands since The Nightcrawlers formed in 1994, members found difficulty regularly rehearsing and playing gigs, especially after Hurricane Katrina. Originally from Alabama with a master’s degree in jazz from the University of New Orleans, Mingledorff joined the band before its first album.

   The band now has nine members – two trombonists, two saxophonists, two trumpeters, a sousaphone player and two drummers – who create original, instrumental “roots” sound with horns, like a marching band, but occasionally with vocals.

   “Most brass bands were playing (more loosely and improvising) on the street,” he said. “We changed our writing styles to make it more flexible and got rid of stands on stage.”

   The stars aligned during COVID so that the Nightcrawlers could be Nightcrawlers and rehearse and perform together.

   “We’ve been playing music on porches (during COVID),” and several members did music on their own porches, he said. “When we got the Grammy nomination, that took it to a whole new level to meet regularly on Zoom to talk about what we’re going to do. We want to do a new album. We’re excited. We’re trying to take advantage of this terrible situation we’re in.”

Love transcends music
   The Grammy-winning album has precisely arranged music, but with a mix of loose arrangements. It’s mostly original songs with covers from Mingledorff’s mentor and original Nightcrawler Eric Traub’s “Glass House”; Lee Dorsey’s “Great Googa Mooga” and a version of Spinal Tap’s “Big Bottom” written for three tubas, Mingledorff said. Nightcrawler alum, pianist Tom McDermott, illustrated the album cover with dedication nods to recently deceased local musicians Fats Domino, Dr. John, Allen Toussaint, Eric Traub, Danny Barker and even Little Queenie.

   Mingledorff teaches saxophone, two jazz bands and has a sax ensemble at Loyola, and he has played with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, among others.

   Having respect and love for fellow musicians is what he imparts to Loyola students. He said “Atmosphere” has a real sense of joy that comes across.

  Group sousaphonist Matt Perrine produced “Atmosphere” and spearheaded its “family reunion type of feel and atmosphere,” Mingledorff said.

   “When we rehearsed, it was important that everyone was there – there were no substitutes, and we had time to hang out,” Mingledorff said. He wanted to have that atmosphere of fellowship and friends catching up.”

   “If we did not love each other as people, as a band, this would have never happened,” he said. “I’ve always felt that if people would just get a chance to listen to us, they would love it. The joy in the music is an essential ingredient.”

   Hear Nightcrawlers music at: bit.ly/3tJEvpt or bit.ly/3lE1CyM

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