The Rebirth Brass Band

Small group from the Rebirth playing for a parade, 2007The Rebirth Brass Band is a New Orleans brass band. The group was founded in 1982 by tuba/sousaphone player Philip Frazier, his brother, bass drummer, Keith Frazier and trumpeter Kermit Ruffins, and other school marching band members from Joseph S. Clark Senior High School in New Orleans’ Tremé neighborhood. The band was discovered at the 1982 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and recorded its first studio album in 1984.

Rebirth is known for combining traditional New Orleans brass band music, including the New Orleans tradition of second line with funk, jazz, soul and hip hop influences. In 1992, Ruffins and Rebirth split amicably after Ruffins decided not to accompany the band on a trip to Africa.

Ruffins later formed his own Band, the Barbecue Swingers, who are signed to Basin Street Records and play a more traditional style of New Orleans jazz music. Rebirth's longstanding regular Tuesday night gig at the Maple Leaf Bar on Oak Street in the Carrollton neighborhood of Uptown New Orleans is one of the pillars of the New Orleans music scene, and has served as a reliable introduction to the city's nightlife for many newly arrived college students.

The band regularly tours in North America and Europe, second only to the Dirty Dozen Brass Band in popularity and acclaim among the brass bands of New Orleans.