Ecirb Müller's Twisted Dixie is the creation of Dr. Brice Miller, a New Orleans trumpeter, vocalist, music educator and entrepreneur whom WWOZ calls Grammy-nominated. Frustrated by what he sees as the staid, caught-in-amber side of traditional jazz, Miller built the band around a style he calls NuTrad: the relaxed vibe of trad jazz funked up with hip-hop, funk, go-go, dubstep and free jazz. As the band puts it: 'It's fun. It's funky. It's all about the groove.'
Twisted Dixie made its name on high-energy, funny stage shows and Sunday-night Frenchmen Street dance parties — monthly shows at the Spotted Cat routinely sell out with a line down the street, and they hold down Café Negril too. They're in demand for clubs, festivals and corporate gigs across the city, with dancers packing the floor, and they play weddings and private events.
The whole project hangs on the comic tall tale of 'Ecirb Müller' — Miller spelled backward — a fictional, supposedly immortal New Orleans jazzman (born circa 1886, playing a plastic horn) who, per the band's mythology, taught Louis Armstrong, Buddy Bolden and Danny Barker everything they knew. Their debut LP, What Had Happened Was…, was released May 11, 2019 on the New Orleans Music Company with a release party at the Spotted Cat.
