Onward Brass Band

The Onward Brass Band was either of two brass bands active in New Orleans for extended periods of time.

This incarnation of the Onward Brass Band played often in its early history at picnics, festivals, parades, and baseball games. It was under the leadership of Joseph Othello Lainez, a cornetist, by 1887, and quickly became as popular as the longstanding Excelsior Brass Band and Pickwick Brass Band. After 1903, Manuel Perez led the ensemble. The group typically held between 10 and 12 players, with three cornets or trumpets, two trombones, two clarinets, an alto horn, a baritone horn, a tuba, a snare drum, and a bass drum. Perez changed the group's name to the Imperial Brass Band in the middle of the 1920s; it disbanded in 1930. Among the group's members were Isidore Barbarin, George Filhe, Lorenzo Tio, Peter Bocage, George Baquet, and King Oliver.

In 1960, Paul Barbarin and Louis Cottrell, Jr. revived the name Onward Brass Band for a new ensemble patterned after the old group. Barbarin led the group until 1969, after which time Louis Cottrell, Jr. took over. Placide Adams took over the band after the death of Louis Cottrell. Jr. in 1978 and was the leader until his death in 2003. The band reorganized in 2005. This band recorded albums in 1965 and 1974 and recently in 2009, and consists of eight to ten players, hewing strictly to traditional brass band music. Its members included Cag Cagnolatti, Kid Howard, Andrew Morgan, Joe Thomas, Louis Barbarin, Alvin Alcorn, Danny Barker, and Freddie Kohlman. Some of the active N.O. musicians who have appeared with Onward include Gerald French, Freddie Lonzo, Marc Braud, Leon "Kid Chocolate" Brown, Tom Fischer, Dwayne Paulin, Shannon Powell, David W. Hansen, Kirk Joseph, Ernie Elie, Dimitri Smith, Louis Ford, and Christian Winther.

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