Omaha Performing Arts Presents 'A Night in Treme: The Musical Majesty of New Orleans' at Holland Performing Arts Center 11/14

Omaha Performing Arts presents "A Night in Treme: The Musical Majesty of New Orleans" at the Holland Performing Arts Center on Thursday, November 14, 2013, at 7:30 p.m. The performance is part of Omaha Performing Arts' 13/14 Jazz Series. Tickets start at $30 and are available at TicketOmaha.com, 402.345.0606 or at the Ticket Omaha Office inside the Holland Center, 1200 Douglas St.

"A Night in Treme" will feature the legendary Soul Rebels Brass Band along with Mardi Gras Indian Chief and alto saxophonist Donald Harrison Jr., trumpeter James Andrews and funk guitarist Leo Nocentelli. Birthplace of the great New Orleans brass band tradition and one of the first black neighborhoods in America, Treme (pronounced truh-MAY) is the heartbeat of New Orleans and the home to Congo Square.

The Soul Rebels Brass Band formed when Lumar LeBlanc and Derrick Moss, originally members of New Orleans' iconic Dejean's Young Olympia Brass Band, decided they wanted to play the new, exciting music they were hearing on the radio while respecting the tradition they loved. Both New Orleans natives, the pair was steeped in the fundamentals of New Orleans jazz, but inevitably, contemporary styles of music began to seep into their psyches. The band took the marching band format they had learned in school and incorporated influences from outside the city as well as late- breaking local styles - R&B, funk and hip-hop - especially through half-sung, half-rapped lyrics. The band has settled on an eight-piece lineup, building a career around an eclectic live show that harnesses the power of horns and drums in the party-like atmosphere of a dance club. Since Hurricane Katrina, the band has been more successful than ever serving as an international ambassador of the New Orleans sound. Now a hardcore touring band, they have recently represented its hometown on television, appearing in the season finale of the HBO series Treme, the

Discovery Channel hit After the Catch, and the NBC broadcast of the parade before the Saints' winning 2010 Super Bowl. The released its first international album in 2012, Unlock Your Mind.

Composer, educator, historian, producer, saxophonist and patriarch of the Congo Nation Indian tribe, Donald Harrison Jr. is a true ambassador of New Orleans music. His sensibility as a modernist and traditionalist with a highly personal style has produced satisfying collaborations with Clark Terry, Lena Horne, Roy Haynes, Jack McDuff, Terence Blanchard, Don Pullen, Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers and the reformed Headhunters.

Trumpeter and bandleader James Andrews is one of those New Orleans musicians who can play anything: rock, jazz, Latin, bossa, calypso or biting funk. Growing up, Andrews loved the sound of the brass bands and social aid and pleasure clubs that paraded outside his front door in Treme. He also felt a deep connection with the spirit of Louis Armstrong, so much that Andrews came up with his own handle: "Satchmo of The Ghetto." It became the title of his debut album in 1998. His most recent album is The Big Time Stuff.

Leo Nocentelli was one of the original members of the Meters, a ground breaking funk group based in New Orleans from the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s. He has since gone out on his own, developing his style with varied elements that span blues, rock, rap, jazz and funk. He and his band have performed from coast to coast across the United States, including appearances at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. He has penned more than 200 songs recorded by the likes of Robert Palmer, Joe Cocker, Etta James and the Neville Brothers.

"A Night in Treme: The Musical Majesty of New Orleans" will be at the Holland Performing Arts Center, 1200 Douglas St., on Nov. 14, 2013, at 7:30 p.m. Tickets start at $30 and are available at TicketOmaha.com, 402.345.0606 or at the Ticket Omaha Office inside the Holland Center.