Photos: Erin Shine
Words: Slade Rand
The Rumble was in attack mode this past weekend in Colorado.
During a marathon Saturday night set at Cervantes’ Other Side, the Mardi Gras Indian funk band left it all on the floor. Big Chief Joseph Boudreaux, Jr. proudly led the way with guitarist Ari Teitel at his side and a joyous band behind him. The night prior, the septet out of New Orleans played the MeadowGrass festival in Colorado Springs.
Boudreaux, Jr. heads The Rumble with TJ Norris on bass guitar, Aurélian Barnes on trumpet and conga percussion and Trenton O’Neil on drums “making it sound like a parade.” José Maize, central to New Orleans’ TBC Brass Band, plays trombone and Teitel is on guitar. Víctor Campbell joined the band for its weekend in Colorado on keyboards and one solo on a bright red Keytar. These were his first shows with The Rumble.
The band played a pair of gigs in the Rockies over Memorial Day weekend, with supporting fire from The Parrisian in Denver on Saturday night. The Rumble returns West later this month for the FIBArk festival in Salida on June 13.
It didn’t take long for the well-greased Rumble to get rolling at Cervantes’. The attuned bandmates easily find their own rhythms, and even more smoothly mesh them with the group-funk always cooking onstage. Everybody’s got a voice.
Boudreaux, Jr. dove right into the band’s highly contagious original music Saturday night. He’s a third-generation black masking Indian chief “from wayyy Uptown” and the Young Eagles Black Masking Indian tribe, carrying on a family lineage with a modern touch. The music takes turns toward hip hop and jazz, on top of a deeply traditional foundation of funk and chant.
Though the Rumble only took shape the past few years, the core bandmates have made music together for a while now.
Teitel, Barnes and the gang released Grammy-nominated albums (2018’s Spy Boy, 2021’s My People) for years as Cha Wa, and now rack up consistent acclaim as The Rumble. The Rumble’s 2023 debut, a live album recorded Uptown at the Maple Leaf Bar on Oak Street, was nominated for Best Regional Roots Music Album. The Rumble earned a second consecutive nomination for ‘Stories from the Battlefield’ released in 2024.
New Orleanians have dominated the category since Rebirth Brass Band took home the inaugural award in 2012. Joseph’s father has been nominated twice.
“This is for all my people,” Boudreaux, Jr. said Saturday night before Barnes hammered out a percussion intro to Cha Wa tune ‘My People.’
On the first big trumpet solo of the night, Barnes used an echoing effect, winding down into a full-band breakdown. The seven-piece funk machine was on fire.
“This is a story that is often untold, but we are keeping it alive in New Orleans,” Barnes said.
Barnes is a member of Northside Skull and Bone Gang, and can be found each year on Mardi Gras Day bringing the morning sun in Treme.
On ‘My People,’ Teitel dropped back into a slower groove. The guitarist stuck to his baby blue stratocaster all night, able to take control with power-stance solos over the crowd and also sit back in his melody pocket.
Parris Fleming joined The Rumble with his trumpet during a smooth breakdown on the next tune, ‘Golden Crown.’ His quartet, Parrisian Live Band, opened the night with a cozy set of effects-heavy jazz noir grooves mixed with unique takes on funk classics like George Clinton’s ‘Flashlight.’
Click here to view a gallery of The Parrisian Live Band’s performance on the Other Side.
The Parrisian’s welcoming set established a local, family vibe on the Other Side that only grew all night. The bandmates laughed with each other and kicked it like they would in their living room. On Saturday night, Fleming played trumpet and other production; Hunter Roberts was on bass with Matt Campbell on the drum kit and AJ Salas on keys. Fleming’s mom was there down in front, too.
After the romp through ‘Golden Crown’ with Fleming, Teitel sang a formal introduction for the Denver crowd. The guitarist and songwriter lead the band through ‘The Rumble’ while the audience got loud. Teitel raged at the foot of the stage and coaxed a slide-like tone from his strat.
The party rambled on with O’Neil taking vocals from behind the kit for the next tune. The nearly two-hour set from The Rumble was a full-time collaboration between everyone onstage.
“How do y’all breathe up here?” Boudreaux, Jr. asked after a fiery tear through “Now You Know,” off the band’s 2024 release.
“They don’t second line here!,” Barnes replied cross-stage.
Boudreaux, Jr. emptied the clip during the band’s closing run lacing in Mardi Gras classics with The Rumble’s thumping original beats. During a one-two punch of The Rumble’s ‘Up Until the Morning’ and Cha Wa’s ‘Wildman,’ the chief shouted out ‘Sew Sew Sew’ and ‘I Love Rock and Roll’ lyrics.
“Y’all ready to get wild?” Boudreaux, Jr. asked.
Sometime during the romping medley, Campbell hopped up from behind the keys and took an explosive keytar solo.
The band closed out with original track ‘Morning Glory’ and a smoking, street-party encore.
The Rumble returns to Colorado next week with a headlining gig at FIBArk festival in Salida on June 13. Individual day tickets are available here.
See a full gallery from The Rumble’s stop in Denver below, shot by Erin Shine:
After Midnight 
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