Ritual

A New Orleans second line is something you feel before you even see it.

Even when its still blocks away.

You hear the brass and the beat.

And as it nears, you begin to see the intricate foot work, the strutting the bright colored suits.

Joining a second line is like, I don't know.

It's like stepping into a current.

There is something distinct about the momentum you can feel yourself being carried by.

On Sundays during much of the year, second lines move through neighborhoods across New Orleans.

Just like this one.

I am Tarriona Tank Ball.

And this is Ritual.

If you've never been to a second line, let me tell you, it's not just a parade.

It's the band, the block, the people all deciding together that the street belongs to joy.

The first line is the band, the club, the people leading the way.

The second line is everybody who falls in behind them.

Neighbors, friends, even strangers.

Anybody the music pulls in.

This tradition comes out of Black New Orleans, out of people taking care of each other, organizing with each other.

That same spirit also shaped the ways we grieve at funerals.

First, the music mourns.

It walks with the grief.

And then after the farewell, after the body has been seen, the music lifts, the tempo changes, the street changes, and grief starts moving in towards celebration.

Every second line has its own personality.

There are things you see again and again.

Community, hard work, creativity, and a deep desire to give back.

I'm in the famous Trem neighborhood.

About to go see my girl Sue Press, And her son Askia Bennett.

Who represent the Ole & Nu Style Fellas Social Aid and Pleasure Club.

That's a thing in New Orleans, you know.

Come on y'all.

Founded by Sue and her family in 1997, Ole & Nu Style Fellas prepare all year for for this annual parade.

As the only woman member of her crew.

New Orleans native Sue Press knows what it means to hold her own in a sea of boys and men.

How you doing?

Good to see you!

Alright!

Where did the name come from?

The name came from due to the fact that we were going to mentor to younger fellas.

Older fellas was mentoring to younger fellas.

I was so tired of people saying you cant do nothing with young children today.

And I didn't believe that.

Only thing I believed that children wanted to be heard.

They want somebody to listen to them.

But you still got to give children something to do.

All children love to second line.

Love to dress up.

They like to look good.

If someone were to ask you what a second line was, and you had to describe it to someone that's never heard of one in their life?

Second line in New Orleans is when you hear a jazz band, You just hear the band.

You can hear the drums.

You can hear the the saxophone.

You can hear the horn.

You can hear the tuba.

And you get to shuffling your feet.

And cheering your hands up.

You don't even have to know how to a second line.

Put your hands up in the air and you shake your head.

And it's like a big old family reunion.

Where youre going to see people that you haven't seen in forever.

And you know everybody there, and theyre smiling and theyre laughing.

And it's a thing that you feel it.

You know, when the band starts to playing and its something.

I mean, it's just, it's in your blood.

Askia, this is one of the most amazing creative rooms I've ever been inside of.

Every time I go to a second line and I see people with things like this in their hand.

I never really know what they are.

What are these?

I've been trying to find a word for them, but for the most part, theyre decoration.

Yeah.

Like this.

Do you make them?

Whew.

I supervise in making them.

My brother makes everything.

Tyrone Miller Jr.

What's the purpose though?

It gives the clothes.

It gives the actual tradition and the meaning of what were doing.

It gives it a different light.

Wow.

Like it just gives the extra art to it.

It's a simple tradition.

And theyre, like, literally parade down the street.

For how many hours?

Four.

You ever get tired of holding them?

I guess since I've been doing it a while.

No.

Like I dont.

It gives you like.

Like confidence.

Yeah.

Like extra strength.

The sun, and like, looking good.

Yeah.

Yeah.

You shine!

When you partake in this especially like me being grown and raised into it.

Mm hmm.

It has to become a lifestyle.

After seeing the care behind the day, I started listening differently because none of this moves without the music.

In New Orleans, Jazz didn't come from one place.

It came from a whole mix of sounds, brass bands, church music, street rhythms, Black musical traditions.

All right, y'all, to understand more about what music adds to all of this, I'm headed to meet trumpeter Leroy Jones.

And later I'm going to see my friends from The Soul Rebels, to talk about brass bands and how they relate to second line culture.

Sounds like a good day.

[Plays trumpet] That's what I'm talking about.

A real New Orleans musician.

How you doing, Mr.

Leroy?

Im so excited to be here with you!

Hi Tank!

Im so excited to be here with you and to learn more about you.

Can you tell me how long youve been playing that trumpet for?

Well, I have been playing the trumpet now for 58 years.

58 years?

Yes.

Nah, thats longer than Ive been alive!

[Laughter] I'm old.

And what neighborhood did you grow up playing in, in New Orleans?

I grew up in the 7th Ward.

In the 7th Ward?

What was a second line like for you?

I dove into that through the Fairview Baptist Church Brass Band.

We played second lines all around the city.

Are you meaning to tell me that second lines kind of birthed from church culture in a way?

The church would have every Easter, which was basically a second line.

This, these, this was the first gig that I ever did at the age of 12 was played a church parade, and we'd have second liners, but everybody would be dressed up real nice... Because theyre coming after church, thats why they got their handkerchiefs in their hands and stuff.

And I would always see everyone's dressing so nice.

So you mean to tell me, like, right after church, like we just marching out of church afterwards.

And how does this begin?

Well we, we would usually play a number in the church, and then wed march around the neighborhood.

This is exactly what the social aid and pleasure clubs were doing.

Except that for those things you got paid.

[Laughter] Oh, you wasnt getting paid at church for years.

They, used to tell, my grandparents you say, This for the Lord. It was for me.

It was.

It was a labor of love.

Oh, it definitely was a labor of love.

Is there anything special that you can add to to the world so that people can know what the second line culture really is and what it means to you?

You have all of these people.

You have a multitude of people out there.

All moving their bodies.

It's like watching poetry in motion.

It's a sight to behold.

[Plays trumpet] Mm hmm.

Yeah.

Whew child.

When Leroy calls second lines poetry in motion, I feel that.

Then I wanted to follow that feeling back into the street where musicians carry that poetry in the real time.

[The Soul Rebels Brass Band Play Music] I feel like the brass band culture is so important to our whole entire New Orleans experience.

What is it like being a part of a brass band?

Oh, it's a blessing, man.

Definitely being from New Orleans, you always around.

You grew up around it.

So it's when you be able to finally become a musician and join the what we call the brass band family.

Its a blessing thats going to be with you for life.

But that second line, energy is just so unique.

It's like, you can't get that nowhere.

Like you said, it's just people on top of you.

The love is everywhere.

To be honest with you, that energy from the second line, it's... it's special.

It's like nothing else.

To have hundreds of people around you while you're playing... on your back, yelling and moving.

You think the ground is shaking sometimes.

Then you might see somebody standing on top of a advertising sign dance and lifting they leg up.

It's like no other feeling.

The funeral thing has such a spiritual element to it.

Yeah, so much emotion when you perform it and you play that close to walk, it's like you reel in all of those ancient pre, you know, brass band people who came before you.

You feel what they felt.

Yes.

And you're like, I'm part of something special.

I'm carrying on a traditional jazz funeral.

For me, its pure New Orleans.

I mean, where else can you get that?

[Brass Band Jazz Music Plays] By parade day, I've heard the history.

Seen the preparation.

Felt what the music can do.

Now I want to see it all come together.

[Brass Band Jazz Music Plays] And that's when I begin to understand a second line isn't just a parade.

It's a ritual people make together.

And I'm happy to be in that number.

[Laughter] Hello!

I am a part of the Ole & Nu Style Fellas.

Yes.

Nice to meet you!

We are the Nu Style and we represent the young Fellas.

Beautiful.

Nice to meet you.

Nice to meet you.

Nice to meet you.

Nice handshake.

We present this to you, from Ole & Nu Style, the Fellas.

Thank you so much!

Youre welcome.

You little handsome person.

I love Barbie dolls.

[Laughter] Can I open it?

Sure.

Oh.

Did your son make this?

Yes.

With the hands.

For real?

You know, everything.

Oh, thank you!

They even designed the dress.