Get down to the Dirty work; Jazz.

Byline: MARTIN LONGLEY

THE Dirty Dozen Brass Band will be making an extremely rare Midlands appearance next week.

Their last visit was around a decade back to play at the now-defunct Ronnie Scott's and the eight-piece combo will be at the Glee Club in Birmingham on Tuesday.

They represent the old funeral parade marching band tradition of New Orleans, taken through the bebop, funk and hip hop.

Four of its founder members are still on board from 1977. There is Gregory Davis and Efrem Towns on trumpets and Roger Lewis and Kevin Harris on saxophones.

The touring version of the band also includes a trombonist, guitarist, drummer and a huffing sousaphone blower.

Last year's What's Going On? album was a direct homage to Marvin Gaye's classic disc of the same name from 1971, directly reapplied to the tragic flooding of Hurricane Katrina.

The Dozen returned to their familiar tactic of employing guest vocalists for the project, bookending their re-creation with rappers Chuck D and Guru, and sticking the soul deep inside with G. Love and Bettye Lavette.

Some of the Dozen's output harks back to the dawn of New Orleans jazz, particularly their 1993 dedication to the music of Jelly Roll Morton, but their funking-up tendencies have been just as likely in recent years.

The group also contributed a track to the excellent benefit fund compilation, Our New Orleans, in 2005.

For this Midlands jaunt, they're fresh from a Stateside tour, and preparing to hit the rest of Europe. The Dirty Dozen promise a fast-shuffling session of pneumatic party music.