The Band

The musical ties that bind New Orleans to San Francisco run more than a century deep, back to the days

when Crescent City players brought the new hot sound to the city’s notorious red-light district, the

Barbary Coast. Born into a family from Louisiana and Oklahoma, San Francisco trumpeter, vocalist,

arranger, and filmmaker Cameron Washington was weaned on a savory array of New Orleans grooves, a

rhythmic key that opened doors to everything from Afrobeat to reggae. His debut album Back to San

Francisco is an uproarious love letter to his hometown, steeped in New Orleans lore and kindred

rhythmic currents.

Featuring unusual, bottom-heavy instrumentation, with sousaphone, double bass, baritone sax, trombone,

and Hammond B3 organ, Washington and his Lazy Californians deliver a rollicking good time, romping

through a program that seamlessly embraces New Orleans parade beats, hip hop, Nigerian funk, and

more. Recording the album was a process of self-discovery, as he started with the idea of a contemporary

New Orleans brass project à la Rebirth Brass Band.

The more he thought about it and the music he’d been playing around San Francisco, he realized “we are

not Rebirth, we’re not New Orleans, and we’re not a swing band from San Francisco,” Washington says.

“I knew I had a sound in my head that was something different. I wanted sousaphone and standup bass,

which brass bands don’t have, obviously. I wanted B3 and I wanted songs to be New Orleans and funky.

It’s got to groove and be fun and accessible.”

Mission accomplished. The album kicks off with the title track, an agenda-setting manifesto that opens

with a trumpet fanfare and vocals by Cameron Washington  and Jairo Vargas, who also supplies the jivey

recitation. A stinging guitar solo by Animal Liberation Orchestra’s Dan “Lebo” Lebowitz adds a Red Bull

jolt to the party.  The song culminates with a soaring solo by special guest trumpeter Leroy Jones, a

New Orleans icon.

With only two of the 12 tracks running longer than four minutes, the album’s momentum is unrelenting,

bounding from one rhythmic setting to another. Washington’s sousaphone-driven “Mêlée in the Vieux

Carré” is a Kingston-to-Lagos dance-floor anthem with Elvis Waahid Jones contributing an infectious

Yoruba chant. Washington channels his inner middle-schooler with “The Motorboat Song,” a lascivious

faux-calypso. And the soul-steeped, Mardi Gras–inflected cover of the famous theme from the 1970s hit

sitcom The Jeffersons, “Movin’ On Up,” features powerhouse vocalist Shamila Ivory.

“Busted Key Stomp” is a hard-grooving instrumental showcase for Washington’s bright trumpet work

and smart arranging, while Todd “Woodz” Woodward’s “Ricochet” is a slinky funk-hop piece that

unleashes his skills as an MC and vocalist. From new-school to old-school, Washington’s “The Cookout”

is a Louis Jordan meets Junior Wells meets Ice Cube shindig centering on expert harmonica work by

Glenn Appell. And “Toussaint’s Groove” is a Mardi Gras Indians–inspired instrumental that gives the

horn players a chance to strut.

Washington displays his breezy way with the jump blues on “I Ain’t Drunk,” an affirmation that loses all

credibility with the neo-swing version of Scotty Morris’s “You & Me & A Bottle Makes 3 Tonight.”

From the profane to the sacred, he pays homage to his father with his favorite spiritual, “Ken’s Chariot

(Swing Low, Sweet Chariot)” featuring the gospel-fueled vocals of Shamila Ivory. The album closes with

a very different ancestral communion, “Sankofa,” a gentle percussion incantation featuring beautifully

layered kalimba and marimba. It’s calming benediction for a hard-working band that puts the slothful to

shame.