Twenty-five hundred miles separate Portland and New Orleans, but one of the Big Easy’s traditions has traveled the distance, tugged along by a common cord that transcends state lines: grief. Community and music are two balms at our disposal to soothe deep sorrows, and that’s where jazz funerals come in.
Tim Halbur is familiar with grief, having lost both of his parents in a wildfire in 2017. In the wake of the initial shock and pain, he started paying attention to how other people reacted when they heard about the tragedy. Realizing that many weren’t equipped to authentically offer empathy made him crave the company of others who had lost people dear to them.
“As the years passed, I looked into being a grief therapist to continue being connected to the truth of it, the wisdom that comes from understanding that death is a part of life,” Halbur said. “And it struck me that the New Orleans jazz funeral tradition is a way of helping people through the pain in an honest and truly connected way.”
Tapping into his long experience playing music, Halbur recently started St. Cecilia’s Brass Band to offer exactly that in the Portland area.
Music for all
“You’ve seen it in movies or TV — a solemn, mournful dirge leads the tearful crowd, then eventually turns that grief into celebration with upbeat tunes as you parade down the street,” Halbur said.
Such a procession requires at least six musicians. St. Cecilia’s Brass Band has a roster of about 20 people to tap, depending on their availability, many of whom are involved in the local jazz scene — like saxophonist Lev Liberman of The Klezmorim and trombonist Steve Vortigern of the Sugarfoot Stompers.
The jazz funeral tradition is rooted in gospel and church music, but Halbur said what they do “is really a non-denominational experience.” Anyone can write it into their funeral instructions, or a family can choose to send their loved one off with a celebration.
Here’s a more robust explanation from Halbur of what a procession looks like:
“The traditional process of a New Orleans jazz funeral is that the band waits outside the chapel and when the casket is taken out through the front doors the band begins a mournful dirge. This is the part that those who haven’t experienced grief might have trouble with — they might feel like we’re compounding the sadness, or it is inappropriate. But it is a deep recognition that we are sad. Someone we loved is gone. The band goes second in line after the casket (hence the term, ‘second line’) and the crowd follows the parade to the gravesite (which traditionally was on the same grounds). Once the ceremony is complete and the person is buried, the band strikes up a raucous, upbeat tune such as ‘When the Saints Go Marching In,’ a recognition that we celebrate this person whom we have lost, that death is complex and joyous and intertwined with life. Of course, today, most funerals don’t happen on the same grounds where a person is buried, and many people choose to be cremated. We’ll need to be flexible with how it plays out.”
Embracing emotions
Jazz funerals encourage grieving people to express what they’re feeling — and thus find a path forward.
“You should weep, and the dirge encourages you to weep. And you should celebrate and move your body with joy and release. Funerals need to be a marker for your brain that says, ‘Yes, that person is gone. The reality where I knew them is over, and this is a new time now, and that is okay,’” he said.
