The Dukes of Dixieland

The Dukes of Dixieland have long upheld the lively traditional jazz idiom rooted in New Orleans, sustaining popularity across successive lineups spanning many decades. Trombonist Freddie Assunto and his brother, trumpeter Frank Assunto, assembled the group in the closing years of the 1940s. As the sons of veteran New Orleans trombonist Jac Assunto, the pair maintained national recognition as a concert attraction for more than two decades while releasing numerous respected recordings such as the 1957 album The Dukes of Dixieland and the 1962 release The Dukes of Dixieland at Disneyland. Following the brothers’ deaths, new direction revived the ensemble name during the 1970s with a shifting roster of musicians. This later incarnation has sustained touring and recording activity, earning a Grammy nomination for the 1999 album Gloryland and issuing several live collections that include Live at Jazzfest 2017.

The ensemble’s trajectory in fact forms one segment of the Assunto family’s multi-generational musical legacy in New Orleans, a lineage that encompasses no fewer than three generations of performers. Jac Assunto ranked among the earliest jazz musicians to document their work in the city, captured in 1925 by Ralph Peer while performing with the Midnight Serenaders. His sons Freddie and Frank launched the Dukes in 1949; the group attained nationwide visibility during the 1950s, initially as a featured act at the Famous Door on Bourbon Street before extending its reach through 1955 engagements in Chicago and Las Vegas. “Papa” Jac had become a band member by then, and in 1956 the Assuntos established Las Vegas as their base while preparing for wider exposure. Between 1956 and 1966 the musicians produced numerous recordings, among them several collaborations with Louis Armstrong, and launched an international itinerary encompassing most of North America along with Japan and the Far East.

Freddie Assunto’s death in 1966 prompted the band’s return to New Orleans in 1967; Frank’s passing six years later concluded the family’s central role and closed the group’s initial chapter. The Dukes nevertheless persisted with fresh personnel and, by the late 1970s, reestablished themselves as a visitor draw in a rooftop venue above the Montleone Hotel in the French Quarter. Further membership shifts occurred in the mid-1980s, yet the ensemble continued performing into the twenty-first century at Lulu White’s Mahogany Hall—formerly the Paddock Lounge—on Bourbon Street. After the hall’s sale and closure in 1991, the Dukes relocated to the Steamboat Natchez at the Toulouse Street wharf in the French Quarter, where they appeared regularly thereafter. Their first Grammy nomination arrived in 1999 for Gloryland, recorded with Moses Hogan’s New Orleans Gospel Choir.

Across every configuration the Dukes of Dixieland have delivered a brisk, rhythmically engaging style of jazz that combines musical and visual appeal. The four-disc anthology Timeless surfaced in 2006, compiling material drawn from the sixteen albums the group issued between 1974 and 2006. The 2012 release When Country Meets Dixie presented the musicians in a country-jazz hybrid alongside the Oak Ridge Boys. One year later they saluted New Orleans trumpet legend Louis Armstrong on Celebrating Satchmo. Additional concert recordings made at the New Orleans Blues and Heritage Festival followed, among them Live at Jazzfest 2017.