Revolutionary Snake Ensemble celebrates Mardi Gras at Scullers

At Scullers, he’ll give attention to New Orleans stuff. Nearly the entire band’s lineup for the previous a number of years might be available: Field on alto saxophone and flute, Tom Hall on tenor sax, Dave Harris on trombone and tuba, Blake Newman on bass, and Phil Neighbors on drums. Trumpeter Jerry Sabatini has a battle so he might be absent, however the core band might be augmented by expatriated New Orleanians Henri Smith on vocals and Amadee Castenell on tenor sax and flute.

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“I feel to do a Mardi Gras celebration in Boston, it’s simply so nice to have some folks representing the town instantly,” says Field. “Henri used to emcee at Jazz Fest [the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival], is a tremendous vocalist. Amadee has performed with everyone — Allen Toussaint, and many others. — and is only a nice participant and an exquisite man.” (Those et ceteras embrace the likes of Elvis Costello, Fats Domino, the Neville Brothers, and Dr. John.)

Smith, who settled in Gloucester after being displaced by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, says he was launched to Field by his late trombonist buddy Danny Heath, and that one of many songs he’ll be singing Saturday is “That’s When I Know It’s Mardi Gras,” which he wrote with saxophonist Donald Harrison Jr. quickly earlier than leaving New Orleans. He likes the ensemble as a result of “it’s electrical, eclectic. [Field] studied a little bit bit with Charles Neville, and I used to be pals with Charles Neville.

“The band is simply — they’re totally different, however they know New Orleans model.”

More avant-garde sorts admire the ensemble as properly. When Field was assembling dwell recordings for the 2014 album “Live Snakes” at a handful of venues in New York and Cambridge, a snowstorm triggered a few of the band members to overlook a New York gig. Filling in for them had been drummer Kenny Wollesen, trombonist (and Newton native) Josh Roseman, and reedman Matt Darriau, finest identified for his work with the Klezmatics.

“Matt got here away from the gig, and his little quote was ‘enjoyable but deep,’” remembers Field. “Which I feel is the right solution to describe the Snake Ensemble. It is enjoyable, however there’s some harmonic complexity. There’s some melodic complexity. A bit of little bit of rhythmic complexity — we type of stick with fairly straight-ahead grooves, however generally not.”

That complexity crept into the ensemble’s social gathering music isn’t shocking. Trombone Shorty and others have been modernizing the Mardi Gras-style brass bands in New Orleans, notes Field. And Field’s personal influences and pursuits can’t assist however stretch issues for the Snake Ensemble.

Field hosts “The New Edge,” a weekly two-hour radio present on MIT’s WMBR-FM overlaying new, principally instrumental recordings from the realms of classical, jazz, and world music. He chairs the Truro Concert Committee along with overseeing JazzBoston, and previously helped plan Somerville’s Honk! Festival.

Since the late Eighties, Field has been a member of Birdsongs of the Mesozoic, an offshoot of the post-punk group Mission of Burma that bridges trendy classical and rock.

Two of his dance collaborations might be carried out regionally in coming months as properly: On March 8, he’ll be at Tufts University reprising his dance fee “Under the Skin” with Bridgman/Packer Dance, and April 13-14 he’ll be at Boston University Dance Theater for 3 performances, debuting “Under the Canopy” with the choreographer and dancer Joanie Block, a piece exploring loss that was impressed by the demise of her husband, Sandy Block, in 2021.

Field suffered an identical loss in 2011 when his spouse and frequent collaborator, filmmaker Karen Aqua, died of ovarian most cancers at age 57. Contributing music to her animated movies, together with playful academic shorts for “Sesame Street,” led to his layering saxophone elements on dance initiatives in addition to to his personal solo works.

Of the latter, his first, “Subterranea” (1996), was recorded in an underground house in Roswell, N.M., when Aqua had a residency in that metropolis. His recent album, “Transmitter” (2021), was composed and carried out by Field alone in a studio along with his sax and looper machine — his response to the shutdown of dwell music in the course of the COVID pandemic.

Some of the music Field created to accompany Aqua’s “Sesame Street” shorts made its approach into the Revolutionary Snake Ensemble repertoire. “Parade,” for instance, is the opening monitor of “Live Snakes” however was written for her “Parade of Numbers.”

It’s a enjoyable, danceable piece, befitting a Mardi Gras social gathering. But Field says the Scullers units won’t solely be about enjoyable.

“We’re promoting it as a celebration, and it’s a social gathering,” he explains. “It’s nice to play this type of music and have fun. People dance and have a good time. But there’s quite a bit happening on the planet now. We can have a festivity, but additionally a celebration that respects issues that aren’t joyful on the planet and reminds us that we nonetheless have plenty of work to do.

“That’s what occurs at a New Orleans funeral,” he provides. “People are mournful on the way in which to the cemetery, and they’re celebratory on the way in which again.”

Field trusts Boston audiences to be equally able to balancing conflicting feelings.

Asked how which may play out onstage, he replies, “We take a bit like ‘Just a Closer Walk With Thee’ and play it slowly, then convey it uptempo. I imply, that’s a quite common approach of presenting that type of music. But we even have a few items that we’re going to try this respect different elements of the world. People needs to be ready for a wide-ranging emotional expertise. It’s a celebration, however it’s not only a social gathering.”

REVOLUTIONARY SNAKE ENSEMBLE

At Scullers, 400 Soldiers Field Road. Feb. 17, 7 and 9 p.m. Tickets from $35. scullersjazz.com

Bill Beuttler will be reached at [email protected].