STORYVILLE JAZZ BAND
New Orleans, LA
How It All Began
In 1979, Donald Hirstius was responsible for the start of the Storyville Jazz Band. Our first gig was as an unnamed group playing for the Krewe of Minerva Carnival Parade. Since then SJB has played for all of the major Mardi Gras Krewes in New Orleans, Jefferson Parish and the Metro area.
The band consisted of 6 musicians. Don played the snare, his nephew Dennis Hirstius and brother Bruce Hirstius played trumpet.
Sorry, we can't remember who the other guys were.
We have had many young musicians that got their start with us.
Some of them went on to have professional musical careers with the likes of Harry Connick Jr. and more.
The name selection for the group was a process that took a while.
We picked the name Storyville Jazz Band. Bruce Hirstius, now the bands leader, was called by musician George French, asking him to drop SJB because of his group with a similar name.
Bruce rejected him and told him that his band was named "George French's STORYVILLE JAZZ BAND" and we would keep our name simply "Storyville Jazz Band."
The rest is history and Storyville Jazz Band has been our name ever since.
We have played for some strange groups in our time.
We played for a Jazz Funeral to return a Movie Projector to it's owner.
We have kicked off a parade at 11:30pm for a walking krewe called The MOTHEROOS. We strolled with them to local bars and through several New Orleans neighborhoods till the early morning hours.
Things really kicked off for the band in 1986 when SJB got a job as the strolling jazz band for the New Orleans Saints home games.
The job was to play fun New Orleans jazz music the fans in the stands and suites. And, to Second Line through the concourses of the Superdome.
A big thanks to Ronnie Totora and Dr. Joe Hebert from Loyola's school of music for getting us the gig.
In 1990, we performed in London's "Wembley Stadium" for the New Orleans Saints first American Bowl game.
In 1993 we performed in Tokyo's "Big Egg" stadium for the New Orleans Saints second American Bowl games.
We were considered ambassadors for the NFL, playing our style of New Orleans jazz for several NFL events in both cites.
We were even featured on Japan's national morning show which is equivalent to NBC's Today Show in the US.
In 1997, we performed live on ESPN Radio for several shows the week leading up to SUPER BOWL XXXI.
In 2012, a Times Picayune article about Bruce and SJB playing in the dome for years was published and was a boost to the bands local fame.
NOLA.com Times Picayune article link.
In 2012, we got national exposure when were proudly featured in a segment that aired on ESPN TV about Bruce and the band playing for all Saints home games for the last 28 years.
In 2013, we were asked to be the house band for ESPN's
Super Bowl XLVII Sunday Countdown show live from the French Quarter .
2016 makes our 30th year with the New Orleans Saints and we are looking forward to playing our style of New Orleans Jazz for all of our fans and the Saints fans in the Superdome.
*** All info is based on Bruce Hirstius' memory :) :)