In Pictures: Snooks Eaglin's Second Line Funeral

c/o Jambase

Words & Images by: Zack Smith

If you live in New Orleans, or keep a good eye on it, you can't help but feel the giant loss our music scene has suffered in recent years. In just the last two years alone we lost Earl Palmer, Earl Turbinton and his brother Willie "Tee" Turbinton. I dare you to Google those names and not start singing along or tapping your foot uncontrollably.

The days are passing by, time is taking our masters and our teachers - our inspiration. I am here for only a few reasons, and those reasons all have to do with the LIVING HISTORY of this city. It is passed down. Its sounds are ricocheted from Uptown to the Treme, sent to my ears, which then move my feet.

In a recent two week span, New Orleans lost two of its heroes. Fird "Snooks" Eaglin and Antoinette K-Doe. In fitting fashion that only New Orleans can do, we set them free from a dirge to a ramble on the streets of the city they so loved. Their jazz funerals brought folks together, walking the streets of the city with a brass band leading the charge and funeral carriage in tow.

There are a plethora of articles, YouTube videos and Wikipedia entries on these two and I will let you decide what route you want to take in your own discovery. But, what you won't see out there in the wild, wild web is the legacy they left behind. They were powerhouses in sharing their love of their city and the common New Orleanian spirit to any and all. They will be missed.

These galleries contain images of two very traditional New Orleans jazz funerals - where Indians, Skull and Bones Gangs, Baby Dolls and brass bands rolled side by side with a horse drawn hearse - all gathered to set the body and spirit free.

For more on Snooks Eaglin, check out JamBase's Saturday Eye Candy salute that appeared the week he passed.

Snooks Eaglin :: 01/21/36 - 02/18/09
Second Line Funeral :: 02/26/09

Irma Thomas sings at Snooks Eaglin's Funeral Service

Young Men Olympian SAPC Assemble and get ready to begin Funeral Dirge

Drummer Shannon Powell begins "Closer Walk With Thee"

Funeral Dirge begins, as YMO walk side by side, slowly

Dirge tune segues into "Didn't He Ramble" and the procession "sets the body free"