Group

Tuba Skinny

From: New Orleans, United States
Since: 2009–present
Releases: 19

dixieland
jazz

About

Tuba Skinny is an American street band based in New Orleans, Louisiana, known for their performances of early jazz, ragtime, and blues music of the 1920s and 1930s. In contrast to many pre-revival and revival traditional bands, the ensemble seeks to emulate the sound of jazz in the days before phonographs became widely available. The band's instrumentation includes cornet, clarinet, trombone, tuba, tenor banjo, guitar, frottoir, and vocals. As a busking band, the group has performed on city streets and at music festivals around the world, including Mexico, Sweden, Australia, Italy, France, Switzerland, and Spain.

Formed in 2009 after many years of its members playing in different New Orleans street bands, Tuba Skinny quickly gained a strong following on YouTube, where hundreds of fan-recorded videos attracted a substantial international viewership. Although the band does not maintain an official YouTube channel, its street performances are widely shared by fans. Critics have described the band's fan base as possessing a "lighthearted, fun, flapper vibe," a reflection of the early Jazz Age time period evoked by their music.
In the decade and a half since their formation, Tuba Skinny has grown in popularity, releasing more than a dozen albums, touring internationally, and attracting high-profile fans such as R. Crumb, Amanda Palmer, and Neil Gaiman. Their albums have garnered several awards, and publications such as OffBeat and The Syncopated Times rank them among the leading traditional jazz bands active today. Despite international acclaim and paid appearances at jazz festivals, Tuba Skinny continues to perform on the streets of New Orleans and elsewhere in order to maintain their close connection with audiences.

From Tuba Skinny on Wikipedia, under CC BY-SA 4.0.