Brass and Jazz in the Park Brings New Orleans Traditions, Dallas Legacy to West Dallas

West Dallas will once again move to the sounds of brass bands, the rhythm of Second Lines and the rich cultural traditions of New Orleans when the AT&T Performing Arts Center presents its sixth annual Brass and Jazz in the Park on Saturday, Nov. 7.

From 12:30 to 4 p.m., Mattie Nash-Myrtle Davis Park will transform into a gathering place for music, movement and community, bringing together Dallas talent and Louisiana traditions in a free, family-friendly celebration of Black culture and history.

This year’s festival carries particular significance as it honors the legacy of Roy Hargrove, the Dallas-raised, two-time Grammy-winning jazz trumpeter whose career demonstrated how far local talent can travel while remaining rooted in homegrown beginnings. The celebration will also recognize the late Jerome “Big Duck” Smith, a New Orleans civil rights leader, Freedom Rider and community mentor whose life connected cultural expression with the pursuit of justice.

Together, these tributes underscore a central message of Brass and Jazz in the Park: Black music is more than entertainment. It is a living record of history, resistance, creativity and community.

Honoring a Dallas Original

Before Roy Hargrove became an internationally celebrated jazz musician, he was a student at Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Dallas. His journey from a local classroom to the world stage remains a powerful example of what can happen when talent meets opportunity.

For the festival, honoring Hargrove brings its mission full circle. His legacy demonstrates the extraordinary heights a young musician from Dallas can reach, while reminding the community of the importance of investing in the artists coming up behind him.

That connection will be especially visible through the appearance of the Booker T. Washington HSPVA Jazz Band, whose students will perform alongside established artists, including Terence Bradford and Congo Square and The Thaddeus Ford Band.

For these young musicians, the opportunity extends beyond a performance. It offers a chance to experience professional musicianship firsthand, learn from established artists and see their own futures reflected in the legacy of someone who once walked the same school halls.

Hargrove’s story also challenges Dallas to recognize the talent developing in its own neighborhoods. Celebrating a hometown legend is one way to honor the past, but creating meaningful opportunities for the next generation is how that legacy continues.

Where Dallas Meets New Orleans

The festival’s cultural roots reach beyond North Texas. Curated by New Orleans native Michelle N. Gibson, Brass and Jazz in the Park brings together the musical traditions of two cities with deep connections to Black history, artistic expression and community storytelling.

Dallas and New Orleans each have distinct cultural identities, but both have been shaped by generations of Black artists and communities who have used music to tell their stories, preserve their traditions and create spaces for collective celebration.

Through brass bands, Black Mardi Gras Indian traditions and Second Lines, the festival offers Dallas residents an opportunity to experience the cultural expressions that have long been central to New Orleans life.

The Wild Apache Black Mardi Gras Indians will bring the artistry, movement and visual storytelling of a tradition rooted in African American history and cultural memory. Meanwhile, the Second Line procession will invite audiences into a participatory experience in which music and movement transform spectators into part of the celebration.

These traditions are not simply performances to watch. They carry histories that have been passed from one generation to the next, preserving cultural knowledge through sound, dance, craftsmanship and community participation.

In an era when cultural traditions can be reduced to trends or separated from their historical context, sharing these art forms in a public, communal setting creates opportunities for deeper understanding. It allows longtime practitioners to continue their work while introducing younger audiences to the histories behind the music.

Cultural preservation, in this sense, is not confined to museums or history books. It is something communities actively practice whenever they gather, teach, perform and celebrate together.

Music, Memory and the Fight for Justice

This year’s Second Line will also honor Jerome “Big Duck” Smith, whose work as a civil rights leader, Freedom Rider and community mentor offers another dimension to the festival’s celebration.

Smith’s legacy connects the joy of collective cultural expression with the long struggle for civil rights and equity. As a New Orleans figure who participated in the fight for racial justice, his life reflects the courage and commitment required to challenge inequality and support communities through difficult times.

The Second Line provides a fitting setting for his recognition. Across New Orleans and the broader South, Black musical traditions have served as expressions of resilience, solidarity and liberation. Music has created opportunities for communities to gather, mourn, celebrate victories and reaffirm their collective identity.

Honoring Smith during the procession recognizes that cultural celebration and social justice are not separate pursuits. Both depend on communities remembering their histories, caring for one another and continuing the work of building a more equitable future.

His recognition also reinforces the importance of community mentors and organizers whose influence often extends far beyond formal titles or public recognition. Their contributions live on through the people they support, the movements they strengthen and the values they pass forward.

A Free Festival With a Lasting Community Impact

Now in its sixth year at Mattie Nash-Myrtle Davis Park, Brass and Jazz in the Park has established itself as a gathering place for West Dallas residents to experience high-quality arts and cultural programming close to home.

The festival’s free admission is central to that mission. With support from the AT&T Performing Arts Center’s ArtsBridge program and donors such as The Addy Foundation, the event helps ensure that cost does not prevent families from participating in a meaningful cultural experience.

Accessible arts programming matters because opportunities to engage with live music, traditional performance and cultural education are not distributed equally across communities. Bringing artists and audiences together in a neighborhood park helps reduce those barriers while creating a shared space for connection.

Families can enjoy live performances, local food and an afternoon outdoors while encountering cultural traditions they may not have experienced before. For West Dallas, the event also offers a chance to celebrate the creativity and cultural contributions that exist within and beyond the neighborhood.

The festival’s continued presence reflects the value of making arts programming part of community life rather than treating it as an experience reserved for concert halls or ticketed venues.

An Invitation to Move With the Music

For those who have never experienced a New Orleans Second Line, seen the artistry of the Black Mardi Gras Indians up close or heard a brass band fill an open-air park, Brass and Jazz in the Park offers an introduction that invites participation.

The afternoon promises a vibrant mix of sound, movement and collective joy, with performances and procession traditions that encourage audiences to join the celebration rather than simply observe it.

Visitors are encouraged to bring a lawn chair or blanket and settle in for an afternoon of music, cultural discovery and community connection.

Brass and Jazz in the Park takes place Saturday, Nov. 7, from 12:30 to 4 p.m. at Mattie Nash-Myrtle Davis Park in West Dallas. Admission is free.

As the festival honors Roy Hargrove, remembers Jerome “Big Duck” Smith and introduces younger generations to the traditions that continue to shape Black cultural life, it offers Dallas an opportunity to celebrate more than a lineup of performers. It invites the community to recognize the histories carried through music, the people who preserve them and the young artists who will carry them forward.

On Nov. 7, West Dallas will have a chance to experience that legacy together, one brass note, one procession and one shared moment at a time.