Dukes of Dixieland look to carry on legacy

The Dukes of Dixieland have a simple goal: keeping Dixieland jazz alive.

“New Orleans has a pretty rich musical heritage,” said drummer Richard Taylor, by phone from his New Orleans home. “It would be a shame if it wasn’t preserved so that people can hear how it was.”

So this band goes back to the origins of jazz to play songs like “South Rampart Street Parade,” “The Original Dixieland One-Step,” “Sleepy Time Down South” and, naturally, “When the Saints Go Marching In.”

They play these songs in the raucous, good-time collaborative style that came to be called Dixieland jazz.

“There are only a couple of real jazz bands left in the area,” said Taylor. “There are a lot of great players playing the more modern jazz. But we stick to playing the songs the Dukes have been known for for years and years. It was the pop music of its day. And I think people still enjoy and appreciate the talent and dexterity that people show when they are playing that kind of music.”

Taylor summed up Dixieland’s appeal this way: “You can share it with the audience, as opposed to playing it at them.”

On Saturday night, they’ll also be sharing it with the Spokane Symphony, under the direction of associate conductor Morihiko Nakahara, in the season’s second SuperPops concert.

“We’ll do some Dixieland standards with the orchestra, and some with just the group itself,” said Taylor. “We want to get into that old-time New Orleans mood.”

The Dukes of Dixieland are practically newcomers when you consider that jazz was invented in the 1910s and 1920s. The Dukes were founded in 1949 by brothers Frankie and Freddie Assunto.

They quickly established themselves as the house band at the Famous Door in New Orleans, playing largely for the tourist crowd. They soon hit national chart pay dirt with a series of albums in the late ‘50s and early ‘60s that sold well partly because they were early examples of high-quality stereo recordings. Dixieland music was perfect for showcasing early stereo technology because the instruments were so distinct and easy to separate.

The Dukes also recorded with Louis Armstrong in the late ‘50s. They toured the country as well, and it was on one of those tours to Chicago that the young Taylor first heard them.

“All the kids in our jazz band in school went to hear them,” said Taylor. “I said, ‘Oh, so that’s how it’s supposed to go.’ What a great band.”

Fred Assunto died in 1966 and Frank in 1974, but the band reorganized and soldiered on. The group is in its 55th year of continuous performance, with Taylor the senior member at 15 years. The lineup also includes Michael Fulton on trumpet, Ben Smith on trombone, Scott Obenschain on piano, Earl Bonie on clarinet and Everett Link on bass.

The Dukes have a regular gig most nights on the Mississippi steamboat Natchez. They also manage to get away for about 35 to 40 dates a year around the country, including five or 10 pops concerts with orchestras.