Detroit Brooks & Friends: A Tribute to Danny Barker
Schedule
Sat Feb 28 2026 at 06:30 pm to 06:45 pm
UTC-06:00Location
430 Lamarque St, Mandeville, LA, United States, Louisiana 70448 | Mandeville, LA
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Detroit Brooks & Friends: A Tribute to Danny BarkerSaturday, February 28th
Doors 5:30pm, Music 6:30-9pm
Dew Drop Jazz & Social Hall
Guitarist and banjo player Detroit Brooks was born into a New Orleans musical family with deep roots in the Southern gospel traditions. His father, George A. Brooks, performed with the Masonic Kings; his brother Mark is a world-renowned bassist, while his sister Juanita toured extensively with her band, Juanita’s Gospel Express. Detroit came of age playing with his family’s acts, and matured into a consummate musician who can skillfully move through various musical styles: traditional and contemporary jazz, funk, and rhythm and blues. Detroit will be celebrating his mentor, legendary New Orleans musician, & cultural ambassador Danny Barker, whose own contributions to jazz include playing with Louis Armstrong, Cab Calloway, and Billie Holiday. Beyond his extraordinary musicianship, Barker was instrumental in preserving New Orleans’ rich musical heritage, founding the Fairview Baptist Church Brass Band, which nurtured a new generation of jazz talent. Detroit celebrates Danny’s extraordinary life & contributions by assembling a band of musicians who will perform his music as a testament to his profound impact on jazz and New Orleans’ cultural history.
Presented by the Friends of the Dew Drop, this concert will feature home-cooked food for purchase provided by the Ladies of First Free Mission Baptist Church, located next door. Soft drinks, water, beer and wine will be available for purchase. The concert begins at 6:30pm and will run till 9pm.
Admission is $15 per adult. Students and children can enter free. No outside food or drinks are allowed and lawn chairs can be used outside the hall on the grounds. Please, no smoking allowed on premises, and no pets allowed, except certified service animals.
About the Dew Drop: In 1885, a group of civic-minded African American residents of the village of Mandeville, led by the late Olivia Eunio, created the Dew Drop Social and Benevolent Association. A decade later, in 1895, the organization laid a cornerstone and constructed a small wooden building 2 1/2 blocks from Lake Pontchartrain on Lamarque Street. The Association, like many created among African American residents following the Civil War, had chiefly benevolent goals - to care for the sick, provide help with funeral arrangements, food & temporary housing - all during a time when black residents could not obtain various types of insurance. Starting around the turn of the century, and for more than 40 years the Dew Drop was a sparkling center of musical activity for the neighborhood and community. Documentation reveals that early jazz greats such as Buddie Petit, Kid Ory, Bunk Johnson, George Lewis and even Louis Armstrong shared the small stage inside the building.
Today, known as one of the oldest, unaltered rural jazz halls in the U.S. the 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization, Friends of the Dew Drop, schedules and manages the hall’s performances and educational activities (JazzKids). Along with hundreds of evening concerts presented in the historic hall over two decades the Friends of the Dew Drop have also gifted 50+ free JazzKids music assemblies and master classes since 2015 to schools in St. Tammany Parish, reaching over 12,000 local students in grades PreK-12.
The mission of the Friends of the Dew Drop is to preserve the Dew Drop Jazz Hall and promote its significance in the origins and the cultural history of Mandeville though music performances, music education programs and benevolent activities in support of local and emerging artists.
For more information, please visit www.dewdropjazzhall.com.
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Where is it happening?
430 Lamarque St, Mandeville, LA, United States, Louisiana 70448Event Location & Nearby Stays:
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