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The Dirty Dozen Brass Band: Twenty Dozen

Savoy Jazz

The Dirty Dozen Brass Band celebrates their 35th anniversary with seven originals followed by a New Orleans medley and novelty tune. Terence Higgins, who has quietly become their most youthful driving force, contributes one of three straight-forward funk compositions: tuba guru Kirk Joseph’s “Jook,” trumpeter Gregory Davis’ subtle and upbeat “Git Up” and Higgins’ powerful “We Gon’ Roll (Down in New Orleans).” These are interlaced with compositions bearing witness to a strong Afro-Caribbean influence: trumpeter Efrem Towns’ reggae opener “Tomorrow,” saxophonist Kevin Harris’ Calypso-flavored “Best of All,” Roger Lewis’ masterful, stoptime punctuated “Trippin’ Inside a Bubble,” and Higgins’ complete overhaul of the Rihanna hit, “Don’t Stop the Music,” remade as an Afropop, soul makossa extravaganza. While the medley and novelty tune that follow detract from the overall proceedings, the opening 40 minutes of Twenty Dozen constitute some of the most-fully realized and most masterfully played original funk/blues/R&B/jazz ever to emerge from the city where each of those genres were at least lovingly nurtured if not born.