Eureka Brass Band

The Eureka Brass Band was founded in 1920 by clarinetist Willie Parker, who drew its name from a West Indian ensemble known by the same title, according to details recounted by Richard Knowles in his 1996 chronicle of New Orleans brass bands. From 1946 forward, trumpet player Percy Humphrey served as its best-known director. Over the years the ensemble cut sessions for Pax, Alamac, Folkways, Jazzology, and Sounds of New Orleans, yet its strongest commercial releases came in 1962 on Atlantic Records under Humphrey’s direction, with his brother Willie Humphrey featured on clarinet; those tracks appeared on the album Jazz at Preservation Hall, Vol. 1: The Eureka Brass Band of New Orleans. The lineup at the time also featured trumpeters Kid Sheik Colar and Pete Bocage, trombonists Albert Warner and Oscar “Chicken” Henry, tenor saxophonist Emmanuel Paul, sousaphonist Wilbert “Bird” Tillman, snare drummer Josiah “Cie” Frasier, and bass drummer Robert “Son Fewclothes” Lewis.