Tuba Skinny • Hot Town

I’m enough of a hipster to wish I could dislike Tuba Skinny. To wish I could say they were overrated and their fame undeserved. To complain they drew attention away from more deserving acts. But while I can picture that act, steeped in cliches and substandard playing, Tuba Skinny is not it. Over thirteen years of touring out from New Orleans they have left a wake of serious bands taking up traditional jazz, in part to enjoy the demand their popularity has inspired. Even better, few of those bands attempt to mimic Tuba Skinny’s uniquely rootsy style, instead taking direct inspiration from other trad jazz sources, including the older folks in their local areas. It’s hard to say where traditional jazz would be if not for the band of street musicians who through grit and good timing gained world renown. As it is my review list has stretched to 150 albums, from all over the world, almost entirely made up of bands with a mean age of members south of 50. It is an album bonanza made possible by the low cost in producing and distributing new recordings—and unfortunately met with an absolute cratering in demand to own albums. If I do have one wish it would be that more of the groups we cover could get the album sales that Tuba Skinny enjoys on release day. Many of them release the same way as Tuba Skinny does, through Bandcamp as albums or singles to buy, not available on streaming. St