In 1976, a young street band from Tilburg recorded a single for Carnival, together with De Walddrums and The New Stars. Lamarotte Jazzband was two years old at the time and had been founded as the Netherlands’ first Dixieland street orchestra. The founders stated their goal modestly: play jazz, but not too seriously. Jazz met een knipoog, jazz with a wink, is still their motto today.
The name winks, too. La marotte is the French word for the fool’s cap, and if you read it in Dutch, you hear laat maar rotten, loosely translated: let it go. Both describe the attitude of a band that takes its craft seriously, but not itself.
Over the decades, this has developed into a sound of its own, shaped above all by three trumpets in the frontline. Where other bands use trumpet, clarinet and trombone, Lamarotte relies on a brass section that gleams and blares, with saxophone and trombone adding colour. Underneath is a rhythm section straight out of parade life: sousaphone, two banjos, washboard and bass drum. The band writes its own arrangements and leaves room for blues, Cajun and gospel alongside authentic Dixieland and Old Style Jazz.
What began as a marching band has become an internationally sought-after stage ensemble that has kept its street licence. It performs at festivals all over Europe and knows how to turn a concert upside down. Since 1984, the band has released one LP and eight CDs; for its 40th anniversary in 2014, a double CD featuring guest appearances by former members, and in 2019 Lamarotte 9 with live recordings. With Jan Hoes as vocalist, the band also contributed to a CD of Beatles songs in Brabant dialect.
Tilburg likes to celebrate in a big way. The band marked its 45th anniversary in 2019 at Koning Willem II Stadion, and its 50th anniversary in 2024 with a party at the ice sports centre. In November of that same year, Lamarotte was awarded the Tilburgse Ereprent, an honour from the city.
Dresden knows the Brabanter well. At the Dixieland parade in 2019, their three trumpets blared across the old town from the open top deck of a sightseeing bus. A street band is, after all, a street band.
