A New Orleans brass band does not play at a room — it plays with it. The tuba sets the floor, the drums push, the horns trade and stack, and by the second tune the whole place is a second line with a roof on it.

The tradition came up out of the benevolent-society funerals — the dirge out, the celebration back — and it lives today in Tuesday residencies, Sunday parades, festival stages and street corners. Come early, stay late, tip the band.