Bringing The Music Back

Think of New Orleans and you conjure up images of Mardi Gras and gumbo.

And for many tourists, the Treme Brass Band comes to mind as well.

The band's members lost almost everything to Hurricane Katrina and had to leave the city they love.

So, as part of its special "Week of Wishes" series devoted to helping Katrina's victims, The Early Show is helping some of the band's members return to the Big Easy.

Tourist Pat Lindgren of St. Paul, Minn., alerted The Early Show to the musicians' plight.

She wrote that she'd had a great time visiting New Orleans and, after Katrina, couldn't stop thinking about the band she'd heard at Donna's Bar & Grill, a little jazz club.

Based on her letter, The Early Show decided to lend the band's nine members a hand.

They were displaced by the hurricane and wound up seeking shelter hundreds of miles from home.

The Early Show is making it possible for them to go home again by giving them airline tickets, temporary housing, jobs and instruments to replace the ones they lost in the hurricane.

The musicians are definitely "old school," a traditional New Orleans-style brass band. They grew up playing their horns and drums in the streets and nightclubs, at Mardi Gras, and in the "second line" of jazz funerals. The "first line" refers to family and friends of the deceased; then comes the "second line" of jazz musicians and assorted other folks who turn the funeral procession into a celebration of life.

The Treme Brass Band, named for the Treme district of New Orleans, is recognized as one of the premiere brass bands in the world. The band has toured throughout the United States, Japan and Europe, and has also been featured in some jazz documentaries.

Some of the members have played backup for Gladys Knight and the late Ray Charles, and the band was often booked at Preservation Hall and LSU football games.

However, Treme is best-known as the house band at Donna's, which is on the fringes of the French Quarter, where they packed the house every Friday night.

Treme, says co-anchor Rene Syler, was "part of the soundtrack of New Orleans life."

Donna's, says owner Charlie Sims, is "a real soulful joint. I don't call it a club. I call it a joint. J-O-I-N-T."

Sims and wife Donna kept the joint jumping for 13 years, Syler says, showcasing homegrown talent such as the George French Band. Some of the biggest names in jazz have graced its stage.

But it was Treme that made Donna's a favorite destination for locals and tourists alike.

New Orleans resident Bill Harris says he knows "of people who have come … from Japan and around the world, and they come back on a yearly basis."

"Before Katrina," Sims says, "Treme packed the house every Friday night."

Katrina changed all that.

The band members evacuated with just a few days' worth of clothing, a beaten-up horn or two, and a couple of Bibles. Some of them lost houses, cars and antiques to the storm, not to mention their beloved instruments. Donna's itself was badly damaged.

But now it's coming back to life, and Sims is confident Treme's members, somehow, will make their way back home. "They will be back," he insists. "Nobody leaves New Orleans and stays away from New Orleans."

Eddie King, the trombonist, had 10 feet of water in house.

"Half the roof was blown off," he said, "so it rained in my house and ruined my clothes, my organ, refrigerator and bed. The ceiling had fallen in some of the rooms from the weight of the rain, so there goes the microwave and computer. Not salvageable. Everything is gone."

The men wound up in various parts of the country, but several landed in Chandler, Ariz., where a local concert promoter and jazz-lover, Bart Salzman, took them into his home at first, then moved them to condos nearby.

Out of his own pocket, Salzman bought them clothing, paid their rent and provided transportation and other necessities, but he can't afford to do that forever.

He also arranged the donation of some secondhand instruments so they could play at Katrina fundraisers out West.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency is supposed to provide money to repair or rebuild their homes, but the band members haven't been able to go home, assess the damage and get the photos and other information FEMA requires.

While some of the younger band members have decided to stay in Arizona, the older guys want back into New Orleans. Some still have family there.

When Eddie King was asked if he wants to go home, he said, "Oh yeah, that's where the music is! Our rhythm is entirely different from rest of the country. It's that hip, syncopated rhythm, more of a Latin and African beat than anything."

The Early Show is making it possible for the band to return and get a fresh start.

On the show Tuesday, co-anchor Syler

As is usual during "Week of Wishes" segments, the guests had no idea what was really in store for them.

Then Syler brought out Pat Lindgren, the tourist from Minnesota, who read portions of her letter.

"In 2002," it said at one point, "I went to New Orleans and ended up going to Donna's. It was the highlight of my trip. I have wondered ever since the hurricane what happened to those musicians at Donna's. I would like to see her musicians get a gig that would put a little money in their pockets to help them recover."

Then Syler introduced Herb Boydstun, president and CEO of Hibernia Bank, which is sponsoring Rejazz New Orleans with the support of Capital One. Boydstun announced that Hibernia has secured temporary housing in New Orleans for the band members, and the bank will pay their rent for four months, giving them time to get on their feet.

Beyond that, Wendy Oxenhorn of the Jazz Foundation of America said the organization and eTrade Financial Group will give each band member a security deposit and first month's rent whenever they settle into permanent apartments. In addition, the foundation has arranged jobs for the band teaching jazz workshops to children in New Orleans schools, keeping the culture and tradition alive. She also announced that the Music and Arts Center of America is donating $50,000 worth of instruments.

Then came more surprises. Once the musicians get into permanent housing, Sam's Club Warehouse Clubs will give them furnishings for five full apartments, everything from living room and bedroom sets to major kitchen appliances, stereo equipment, even flatware and linens.

And Orbitz.com, an online source for discount travel, which brought King and Jones to New York for their appearance on The Early Show, will fly them from Arizona to New Orleans when they're ready to go home.

With that, Jones said, "We'll go back to New Orleans and help put New Orleans back on the map."

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