Roger Lewis, a legendary baritone sax player and vocalist, co-founded the seminal Dirty Dozen Brass Band in 1977 and is still playing and touring with the celebrated group today. The Grammy-winning Lewis also performs regularly with the Treme Brass Band and Delfeayo Marsalis’s Uptown Jazz Orchestra. His deft musicianship and personable stage presence have delighted audiences around the world for six decades.
The Dirty Dozen’s influence cannot be overestimated. They fundamentally re-shaped and revived brass band music in New Orleans and around the world by freshening the traditional form with straight-ahead jazz and funk rhythms, and incorporating contemporary tunes – from Thelonius Monk to Prince to The Eurythmics – into the repertoire. Since their formation in 1977, the Dozen have toured the world relentlessly, have some 14 albums under their own name, and have recorded on many more with artists ranging from Elvis Costello to Dizzy Gillespie to Widespread Panic. They won a Grammy in 2023 with Aaron Neville for "Stompin' Ground" as the Best American Roots Performance.
Lewis grew up in the Crescent City and was taught piano by his mother. He played sax in marching and concert bands in school, and, by the time he was in high school, was playing professionally in local rhythm and blues clubs and on the so-called Chitlin Circuit. The R&B bands of the day wanted a tenor sax so that’s what he played, switching to baritone with the larger brass bands. In the 1960s and 70s he predominantly backed up Irma Thomas and Fats Domino, with detours to Northern California and Las Vegas.
By the 1970’s the old-line traditional brass bands of New Orleans had lost their relevance as audiences faded and younger musicians were attracted to more contemporary sounds. A group of young musicians, schooled up by Danny Barker and brought together by Benny Jones, took their name from the Dirty Dozen Social Aid and Pleasure Club, where they began playing as the house band. The band kept it loose, bringing in the music they were hearing on the streets and adapting new tunes to the old musical traditions. Audiences loved it. The band landed a regular Monday night gig at The Glass House, which became wildly popular and attracted musical cognoscenti ranging from Dizzy Gillespie to David Byrne. WWOZ founder Jerry Brock produced their first album (the 1984 classic My feet Can’t Fail Me Now) and got them airplay, while legendary festival George Wein began booking them across the country and then Europe. Audiences loved their energetic style and unique sound.
Nearly a half-century later, the Dirty Dozen are still kicking it with music fans everywhere, cheering on Lewis when he riffs into his signature tune, “Dirty Old Man.” The Dozen have played and recorded with a Who’s Who of contemporary pop and jazz music: Dizzy Gillespie, Branford Marsalis, Danny Barker, Miles Davis, DJ Logic, Norah Jones, The Black Crowes, Dr. John, Modest Mouse, Little Feat, B.B. King, Zachary Richard, Phil Alvin, Buckwheat Zydeco, and Gov’t Mule.
Lewis, busy on stage and in the studio over the years, finally released an album of his own in 2022, the acclaimed Alright!. Lewis features himself on all the saxophones, and brings in fellow Dirty Dozen member Kirk Joseph on the sousaphone, the impeccable Herlin Riley on drums, and Mario Abney on trumpet, among others, on tunes like the percussion-driven “Bobe (What a Spirit Walks That Way).”
