Duke Dejan during the second funeral procession in "Live & Let Die"
Harold Andrew Dejan, known professionally as Duke Dejan, was born on the 4th of February, 1909, in New Orleans.
He was a noted American jazz musician, best known for his long standing leadership of the Olympia Brass Band.
His early passion for music began with the clarinet until he later switched to the saxophone. His brother Leo, inspired him to further his talents and the pair often sat watching the local talent performing in the streets of New Orleans. After leaving school in the eighth grade, Harold decided to pursue a professional career as a musician, joining the Olympia Serenaders and achieving his first appearance on an early radio show. He soon started his own band known as the Holy Ghost Brass Band, and his career took off rapidly. Soon he was performing at some of the most prestigious venues in the city, as well as entertaining guests on some of the luxurious boats on Lake Pontchartrain and on the Mississippi river.
One of the early breakthroughs in his career came in 1930 when he was playing aboard a ship bound for the city of New York. When he landed, he stayed with highly noted singer and banjoist Danny Barker, who took him to some of the top jazz clubs in the Big Apple to watch performance by Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington. During his time in the city, Duke found work at the Lykes Brothers Steamship Company until he was drafted into service with the United States Navy during World War II, where he performed and entertained troops. After the war, he returned to his full-time work while furthering his music career by performing as part of a quartet called the Mighty Four and also with the Eureka Brass Band, where he was the leader of the second unit.
By 1950, the old-school brass bands were beginning to slowly disappear so Duke Dejan decided to form his own group which in 1959 was renamed ‘Dejan’s Olympia Brass Band’ in honour of the original Olympia Brass Band. Over the years with Duke at the helm, they became one of the most famous musical groups from New Orleans as they performed at almost every major event on the city’s calendar, including concerts at the famed Preservation Hall. As their popularity grew to an international level, the band went on to make 30 concert tours of Europe, entertaining the likes of Queen Elizabeth II and Pope John Paul II. In October of 1972 came another highlight during Dejan’s already illustrious career, when he was asked by Eon Productions to showcase his band during two funeral processions in the newest James Bond adventure “Live & Let Die”, which was partly set in the old French Quarter.
Throughout his long career with Olympia, the band recorded and released a number of albums and singles, most of which kept the tradition of the original brass bands alive. Duke was widely regarded as one of the most instrumental figures in the musical history of New Orleans and even after suffering a stroke in 1991 which left him unable to play the saxophone, he continued to lead the group by singing and playing the tambourine.
Harold ‘Duke’ Dejan passed away on the 5th of July, 2002, aged 93.
In "Live & Let Die", the iconic Olympia Brass Band were a real life band, who led funerals in the city of New Orleans.
The band were led at the time by Harold 'Duke' Dejan and he can be seen during both funeral processions as the alto saxophone player. The alto saxophone is the smaller of the two instruments seen in the film, with the tenor saxophone being closest to the camera.
Below is an extremely rare contact sheet still, showing the Olympia Brass Band on Thursday the 26th of October, 1972. Due to inclement weather, shooting the scene had to be abandoned for the day and the sequence was rescheduled for the 9th of November.
Note: Saxophone player Emmanuel Paul who can be seen in this photo was unavailable for the second date and subsequently did not appear in the final version of the film. He was replaced by an as-of-yet unidentified saxophone player.
The item displayed below is the LP 'Best of New Orleans Jazz, Volume II, featuring Dejan's Olympia Brass Band' (1989).
It was signed by Harold 'Duke' Dejan (signed H. Dejan), trumpeter Milton Batiste and a third unidentified person.
Autographs of Dejan do come up for auction occasionally but can be highly priced due to his status in the New Orleans Jazz scene.
He usually always signed his name 'H. Dejan', 'H. Duke Dejan' or 'Duke Dejan'.
Unfortunately, no James Bond material has ever been seen.
Harold 'Duke' Dejan won a number of awards throughout his career including being inducted into the National Black Music Hall of Fame in 1997. He also received a gold record for his 1993 remake of the 1883 song 'Oh It Ain't My Fault' and a series of honours from the New Orleans jazz hierachy.
A number of high profile jazz celebrities have been identified by The Bond Archives in both funeral processions including Danny Barker and his wife Blue Lu Barker.
His brother Leo performed in Manny Perez's Imperial Brass Band, which at the time included a young Louis Armstrong.
Harold's home phone number was printed on the large bass drum of the Olympia Brass Band, in order to facilitate bookings!
Duke usually wore a hat that said 'Leader', while the other members of the band had hats that said 'Olympia'. In the film however, all members are seen wearing the same hat with the band's name on it.
Such was the international popularity of the band, a wealthy gentleman from Wales, U.K. paid in advance for them to play at his funeral.
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