"Tuba Fats" in New Orleans


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Posted by AW on November 12, 2002 at 22:41:37:

I just returned from a delightful trip to New Orleans. The jazz music was wonderful. And, the food was both too good and too plentiful. I particularly enjoyed listening to New Orleans' most famous tubist, known as "Tuba Fats" (real name: Anthony Lacen). He plays Dixieland, traditional jazz, second line music (New Orleans marching band music), and a number of other styles. He can be heard playing either tuba and sousaphone. In any case, the instruments are BBb three-valvers, and show a lot of use and wear.

He plays with larger bands, small groups, or even with just one other musician. I heard him once as part of a duo with a soprano saxophone player. He has regular gigs at Preservation Hall and Donna's, as well as the cafes in the vicinity of Jackson Square (all in the French Quarter). He also plays in the street, in Jackson Square. It seems that everyone knows and loves him. He told me that he has been playing tuba for 41 years.

He makes his playing look easy. His bass lines can be very unobtrusive (though not always), and they are always unpredictable. When the band repeats choruses, he always plays a different line. He has a wonderful sense of the music. Instead of simply playing mostly roots and fifths, or a line that simply uses the notes of chords in a way that makes up a simple sequence of notes, he may, for example, play the notes that are really distinctively different about each chord. His solos vary a lot. They can be more typical bass solos -- more like broken chords -- or they can be very melodic. Again, there is no predicting what he will do. He is always an excellent complement to the other musicians -- he helps them sound good. I also enjoyed it when he sang his solos.

As you can tell, I am extremely impressed with Tuba Fats as a musician. He did not show off with "technical" stuff, but once in a while I heard a short riff that made me think that he could show off that way if he wanted to. For him, it was all about the music. It was such a pleasure to hear this wonderful musician who has chosen to express himself via the tuba.



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