YOUR AD HERE »

Hot 8 Brass Band plays Sunday as part of Breckenridge Music Festival’s Blue River Series

Daily News staff report
Special to the Daily

If you go

What: The Hot 8 Brass Band

When: 7:30 p.m. Sunday

Where: Riverwalk Center, 150 West Adams Ave., Breckenridge

Cost: Tickets start at $18

More information: Purchase tickets online at http://www.breckenridgemusicfestival.com, at the box office at 150 W. Adams Ave., Breckenridge, or by calling (970) 547-3100

The Breckenridge Music Festival’s Blue River Series presents the Hot 8 Brass Band on Sunday, sponsored by Centennial Bank.

Hot 8 Brass Band has epitomized New Orleans street music for more than a decade. The band infuses its performances with the funk and energy that makes New Orleans music loved around the world. The members of the Hot 8 Brass Band were born and raised in New Orleans, and many began playing together in high school. It’s the sounds they coax from their well-loved, well-worn instruments that make the Hot 8 so special.

Members of the Hot 8 Brass Band have toured in Japan, Italy, France, Spain, Finland, England and Sardinia. The band performs annually at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and at world and jazz festivals across the United States and Europe.



The band was featured in the second season of the HBO series “Treme” and recently appeared at The Apollo Theater with Dr. John, Lou Reed, Nicolas Payton and others for the annual Great Day in Harlem. The Hot 8 has released three critically acclaimed recordings and is featured on the latest Blind Boys of Alabama recording on Time-Life Records.

“No outfit has done more than the Hot 8 to recast the long tradition of New Orleans marching music for modern times. (The band’s) second album finds them in incendiary form.”
— The Guardian News

When the nine-member band was displaced by Hurricane Katrina, they moved on to concert venues and recording studios. They have been featured in the New York Times and on CNN, ABC’s “Nightline” and in director Spike Lee’s Katrina documentary, “When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts.”



Responding to Hurricane Katrina, the group has been part of several important relief projects. Save Our Brass! is a local, grassroots project that has brought music and instruments to shelters, temporary trailer parks and communities across the Gulf Coast.

The Hot 8’s first release after Hurricane Katrina took the band back to its roots and told its story on the rough streets of New Orleans. Dedicated to friends whose lives were taken on those very streets, “Life and Times” captures both the musical personalities and the life experiences of the band members.

“Everyone knows what this band has been through,” said Bennie Pete, bandleader and sousaphone player. “Our story is the story of the New Orleans streets. This album just tells those stories to the world.”

The Guardian News writes, “No outfit has done more than the Hot 8 to recast the long tradition of New Orleans marching music for modern times. This second album finds them in incendiary form.”

For a complete Breckenridge Music Festival schedule or to order tickets online, visit http://www.breckenridgemusicfestival.com.


Support Local Journalism

Support Local Journalism

As a Summit Daily News reader, you make our work possible.

Summit Daily is embarking on a multiyear project to digitize its archives going back to 1989 and make them available to the public in partnership with the Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection. The full project is expected to cost about $165,000. All donations made in 2023 will go directly toward this project.

Every contribution, no matter the size, will make a difference.