Dukes of Dixieland

Longtime custodians of New Orleans' classic jazz tradition, the Dukes of Dixieland have sustained a thriving career across successive lineups since the close of the 1940s. Trombonist Freddie Assunto and his trumpeter brother Frank Assunto launched the group, drawing on the musical legacy of their father, veteran New Orleans trombonist Jac Assunto. For more than two decades the brothers kept the ensemble in the national spotlight, issuing acclaimed recordings such as the 1957 release The Dukes of Dixieland and The Dukes of Dixieland at Disneyland from 1962. Following their deaths, fresh leadership revived the name in the 1970s and guided an ever-changing roster of musicians. This later edition of the Dukes has maintained an active schedule of performances and studio work, earning a Grammy nomination for the 1999 album Gloryland and documenting several live sets, among them Live at Jazzfest 2017.

Their history forms part of the wider narrative of the Assunto musical lineage, one of New Orleans' enduring dynasties that spans at least three generations of players. Jac Assunto himself figured among the city's earliest recorded jazz artists, captured in 1925 by Ralph Peer while performing with the Midnight Serenaders. His sons Freddie and Frank established the Dukes in 1949; during the 1950s the band gained nationwide attention first at the Famous Door on Bourbon Street and then, after journeys to Chicago and Las Vegas in 1955, as a touring attraction. By then "Papa" Jac had become a member, and in 1956 the family relocated its base to Las Vegas while preparing for wider exposure. Between 1956 and 1966 the group produced numerous sessions, several of them alongside Louis Armstrong, and embarked on international routes that reached across North America, Japan, and the Far East.

Freddie Assunto's passing in 1966 prompted a return to New Orleans the next year; Frank's death in 1973 concluded the family's central role and the ensemble's initial chapter. The Dukes nevertheless persisted with new personnel and, by the late 1970s, had reestablished themselves as a local draw in a penthouse venue atop the Montleone Hotel in the French Quarter. Further changes occurred in the mid-1980s, yet the band continued performing well into the twenty-first century, holding regular engagements at Lulu White's Mahogany Hall—formerly the Paddock Lounge—on Bourbon Street. After that club's sale and closure in 1991, the musicians relocated to the Steamboat Natchez at the Toulouse Street wharf in the French Quarter, where they maintained their residency. Their first Grammy nomination arrived in 1999 for Gloryland, recorded with Moses Hogan's New Orleans Gospel Choir.

Across every configuration, the Dukes have delivered a brisk, rhythmically engaging brand of jazz that appeals to both ears and eyes. The four-disc anthology Timeless appeared in 2006, surveying material from the sixteen albums cut between 1974 and 2006. Genre-blending arrived with 2012's When Country Meets Dixie, a collaboration with the Oak Ridge Boys, while the following year brought Celebrating Satchmo, a tribute to New Orleans trumpet icon Louis Armstrong. Additional live documents have emerged from appearances at the New Orleans Blues and Heritage Festival, including Live at Jazzfest 2017.