The Soul Rebels play 9:30 Club tomorrow night with rapper Talib Kweli as a featured guest.
The ethnic melange that formed in New Orleans over the past few centuries makes it like no other, and it has served as a wellspring for American culture as whole, whether it be for music, food, or any other creative endeavor. From a musical standpoint, it’s rightfully recognized as the birthplace of jazz, with the brass band being the vehicle most often associated with the Crescent City’s music.
Though brass bands are often associated with “trad” jazz, this genre and the musicians that play it are anything but static.
“We want to stretch the realm. We don’t see ourselves as the typical quote-unquote brass band,” said trumpeter Julian Gosin. “When people see ‘brass band,’ there’s only so much they’re expecting. We just want to break that boundary.”
Gosin plays with The Soul Rebels, who will be performing tomorrow night at 9:30 Club. This band that has existed in various forms since 1991, with only two remaining founders in the lineup. The ensemble was originally conceived with a more strict interpretation of the brass band repertoire, but The Soul Rebels’ recent incarnations have been open to a wide variety of influences.
“Since I’ve been in this band we’ve brought in pretty much every style of music except maybe classical,” Gosin explained.
Hip-hop is among the obvious means for such an ensemble to take in an effort to bridge the contemporary with the traditional. Hip-hop artists have long been sampling past music, and any collaboration between hip-hop and a brass band takes America’s biggest cultural export of the past thirty years and connects it straight to the roots of African American music. To that end, The Soul Rebels have joined forces with the likes of Ice Cube, Black Thought, and on this current tour, Talib Kweli.
Kweli first rose to prominence in the late ’90s as a member of Black Star, partnering with Yasiin Bey (then known as Mos Def). He has released about a number efforts in the past fifteen years, and while Kweli has never achieved the album sales of a Jay-Z or Kanye West, he is among the most respected MCs in hip-hop.
Kweli and The Soul Rebels are only performing together in a handful of cities, but it’s a collaboration that’s been in the works for months. The setlist will include some of Kweli’s tunes as well as him lending his voice to the band’s material.
For Gosin, partnerships like this offer a chance to mix things up, something that is valued in a constantly touring band. The group must also approach music differently, emphasizing beats over melody and using live instruments to mimic sounds created digitally. Similarly, any rapper that sits in with The Soul Rebels must adjust to a more organic vibe.
“It’s a different feel,” explained Gosin. “The artists are used to performing with a DJ or a normal stage band, but it’s a different with all horns and two drummers.”
The Soul Rebels perform a late show with Talib Kweli on Thursday at 9:30 Club. 10 p.m. doors. Tickets $25.
