INTERVIEW: Big Sam ready for funky time at French Quarter Fest

For those uninitiated fans who have not jumped on the bandwagon and joined the Funky Nation, it’s time to sign on the dotted line. Big Sam Williams, the leader of Big Sam’s Funky Nation, is exporting New Orleans brass sounds to any community wishing to listen, and over the years, he has expanded his fan base to include “preaching-to-the-choir” NOLA addicts and new converts to his funky church.

Big Sam’s Funky Nation will play this year’s French Quarter Festival. They are scheduled to play 7:15 p.m. Friday, April 7 on the GE Digital Big River Stage in New Orleans.

Here’s what Big Sam promises: “High energy, great performance, high energy, a lot of movement, feel-good music, nonstop dancing all night long.”

Those are some lofty goals, and only a fool would bet against Big Sam reaching them night in and night out. The trombone player has become a surefire hit and dependable brass favorite in the NOLA community, and his success has come from years of dedication to perfecting the party sound.

“Whenever we travel, we bring New Orleans with us,” he said. “We are New Orleans. … For all of our fans who’ve been to New Orleans, and they love the city and love the music, you can’t come to New Orleans all the time. And then for people that’s never been to New Orleans, it’s just so special because we bring our New Orleans party style music to you, and then you get to have New Orleans in your city for the night.”

Big Sam, who was profiled at Hollywood Soapbox in 2016, is a cheerful, positive musician, someone who is constantly seeing the silver lining. However, recent months have been difficult for the performer, and that’s mostly because of Koko.

Koko is the name of Big Sam’s custom trombone, a wonderfully designed instrument with an iconic fleur-de-lis engraving. The problem is that Koko was stolen when the Funky Nation were in Las Vegas performing at the Brooklyn Bowl. The memories of that episode in his life still hurt.

“It’s so unique,” Big Sam said of the horn. “It’s a custom horn, man, so it’s so unique. And you can’t just bring that to a pawn shop, so they’re actually still looking for my horn now. They’ve got some leads on some of the other instruments that were stolen, but my horn is still just out there somewhere in the world. I have no idea where it is. Hopefully they find it. Man, that was my baby. I have a new one being made now finally, but man that sh– hurts. That was my baby, and she’s gone now, one of a kind.”

Here are the details that Big Sam remembers from the incident. The instruments, including Koko the trombone, were in the band’s vehicle. The members placed the instruments out of sight from passersby, and the van also had tinted windows.

“We came out of the hotel the next morning, and the window was smashed,” he said. “All the instruments were gone, along with a few other things, and what I think overall was that whoever did it, there was a few people involved because they took too much for it to be one person, you know. What I think happened was that they may have saw something else, or they just smashed it just to get lucky because we have a trailer, too. Let’s see what’s in here, and they got lucky because you couldn’t see any of our instruments. It’s well hidden under the seats, especially with the tinted windows, and our cases are black.”

Big Sam said there were two unopened bottles of alcohol on the middle seat, and that may have been the draw to break the window. After grabbing the bottles, perhaps they looked around and realized they hit the jackpot.

“Either way, it just hurts,” he said. “I try not to think about it, but everyday I’m online. And I see my old pictures. I’m like, oh man, my baby, man. I have another one being made right now by the same guys. It’ll be a little different than my previous horn, but this one is going to be special as well.”

Since that incident, Big Sam has been playing on a few different instruments. They are special to him because they were purchased at different stages of his career, but none of them can rival the significance and personal touch of Koko. “That was my only custom horn,” he said. “It just hurts. I can’t even describe it any other way, but, yeah, I have a few other horns that I’ve been playing on until I get another custom one.”

What keeps Big Sam focused on the positive — and he’s truly a silver-lining type of guy — is the music his band has been able to pump out for adoring fans. The sounds of the Funky Nation are loud and spirited, good party tunes that get the toes tapping, the heads bobbing and the hips swaying. If one doesn’t have a good time at a Funky Nation show, it’s probably not the band’s fault.

“The music sounds good in any environment,” he said. “You can put us in a stadium. You can put us in a huge festival. You can put us in a small club. You can put us anywhere, in a theater, and it’s just going to feel so good. There’s something about that New Orleans [sound]. You can’t deny the groove and the backbeats and everything, so once we get started, it’s just like, oh, man, we got to get up and dance. We can’t sit still. We’ve got to do something, so no matter where we’re playing, man, the music just hits you. You’re going to get up. You’re going to dance. You’re going to feel good.”

Big Sam has made his rounds and earned his credibility over the years. He helped found the Stooges Brass Band, a group that continues to dominate the NOLA scene today. That project was back in his high school days, and it made a name for himself.

Then the big call came for Big Sam. On the other end of the line: the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, one of the most influential groups of NOLA’s storied music history.

“So I went out with the Dozen,” he said. “I was playing with Dirty Dozen, and one of the first shows that we did, man, was with Widespread Panic. I was 19 years old, and I had no idea who Widespread Panic was. … It was in Keystone, Colorado, an empty field out in the mountains. And by the time we started, it was empty, but by the time it was show time, we had 20,000 people out there.”

The experience was baptism by fire, and the revelatory playing with the group continued for several years. Eventually Big Sam founded the Funky Nation, and he tried his best to play with both groups. Often he would be on the road with Dirty Dozen, and his band would be holding down court in NOLA without him. When he could get home to play with his group on Sunday nights at the Funky Butt, the evenings were billed as something special because Big Sam could play with Big Sam’s Funky Nation.

“So around 2004, I left Dirty Dozen to pursue my thing full time,” he said.

Or so he thought.

“After I left Dirty Dozen, I got a phone call from Allen Toussaint, so then I started playing with Allen Toussaint, played with him and then [Hurricane] Katrina happened,” he said. “Come 2007, I was like OK, look I really need to put everything else aside. I can still do gigs here and there with other people, but I really want this thing to take off. I have to focus solely on Big Sam’s Funky Nation and only this, so around 2007 is when I finally was, OK, look, all my attention and all my focus has gone toward Big Sam’s Funky Nation.”

Since that decision a decade ago, the Funky Nation has grown and grown and grown. “I’m totally living my dream,” he said. “To be able to do what you love for a living and not have to do anything else is a huge blessing. … I think about this everyday. Man, I play music for a living. I love what I do.”

By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com

Big Sam’s Funky Nation will play this year’s French Quarter Festival. They are scheduled to perform 7:15 p.m. Friday, April 7 on the GE Digital Big River Stage in New Orleans. Click here for more information.