Roll With It is a firsthand account of the precarious lives of musicians in the Rebirth, Soul Rebels, and Hot 8 brass bands of New Orleans. These young men are celebrated as cultural icons for upholding the proud traditions of the jazz funeral and the second line parade, yet they remain subject to the perils of poverty, racial marginalization, and urban violence that characterize life for many black Americans. Some achieve a degree of social mobility while many more encounter aggressive policing, exploitative economies, and a political infrastructure that creates insecurities in healthcare, housing, education, and criminal justice. The gripping narrative moves with the band members from back street to backstage, before and after Hurricane Katrina, always in step with the tap of the snare drum, the thud of the bass drum, and the boom of the tuba.
Industry Reviews
"Many New Orleanians and tourists justifiably identify second-lines as the quintessential local experience. Second-lines are sharply defined by the participation of brass bands, musical icons in a city that relies on - and sometimes exploits - culture to support its economy. In Roll With It, ethnomusicologist Matt Sakakeeny explores the development and dynamics of brass band culture, but also highlights the obstacles musicians encounter despite their status as "culture-bearers." The book's content is skillfully sequenced into narrative episodes used to contextualize Sakakeeny's research and conclusions [...] Roll With It is informative on many levels, detailing song structures, jazz history, neighborhood developments, and weaving information together through anecdote and research. It also poses a bigger question: If our city has economically benefitted from selling culture as a post-Katrina resource, are musicians getting what they deserve?"- Samuel Nelson, whereyat.com "In his fascinating book Roll With It: Brass Bands in the Streets of New Orleans, ethnomusicologist and journalist Matt Sakakeeny delves deep into one of the great institutions of American music. In this searingly honest portrait of 21st-century brass bands, Sakakeeny shares the stories of musicians in three contemporary brass bands: Rebirth, Soul Rebels, and Hot 8. The musicians' personal stories are interwoven with historical information, academic reflection, and personal experience, combining to form a highly original work that creates a vivid portrait both of this musical format and the noble but beleaguered city of New Orleans."-Florence Wetzel, All About Jazz "In addition to chronicling groups including the Rebirth Brass Brand, Sakakeeny provides a revealing look at the daily lives of musicians. Many of the issues addressed in "Roll With It" concern the fact that brass band music is uniquely embedded in neighborhoods. In addition to literally being performed on the streets, the audience actively participates via joining in on the "second line." [...] Detailed profiles of individual musicians make for a captivating narrative, and the book is beautifully illustrated with artwork by New Orleans native Willie Birch." - Clarion Ledger "Roll With It ... benefits from both Sakakeeny's deeply embedded documentation of the lives and times of brass band musicians (from the Rebirth, Hot 8, and others bands) and Birch's uniquely evocative art. Together, Sakakeeny and Birch reveal the political and social contexts of brass band music, which, while always entertaining, forms both in-the-moment activism and commentary. The book is an artful telling of cultural history illustrated by important artifacts of that cultural history. Sakakeeny's book benefits from the rich scholarly perspective of a seasoned ethnomusicologist but its greatest resonance is the truth in the streets, unfiltered. Birch's work, like the music of the brass bands documented here, erases lines between folk and high art by sheer power of expression and seriousness of purpose." - BluNotes "Roll With It searches past academic theories, tapping many interviews and [Sakakeeny's] own experiences" - New Orleans Magazine
