Meet the Collective: Kerry Hunter

Kerry Hunter was a chubby baby, thus earning him the nickname “Fat Man” at a young age. The name stuck as he grew up in New Orleans, surrounded by musicians, the second lines of the Tambourine & Fan Social & Pleasure Club, and the city’s signature brass bands.

At age 12, Kerry started playing snare drum for the Roots of Jazz Brass Band, led by Danny Barker. In the early 1990s, he joined the Junior Olympia Brass Band and went on his first tour. Under the leadership of Milton Baptiste and Harold Dejan, the young musicians learned the importance of tradition in New Orleans music and the countless songs in the brass band repertoire.

Kerry remembers his first days at Preservation Hall were spent peeking in on rehearsals, and Milton inviting him in to listen and play.

Since then, Kerry has traveled the world playing New Orleans music, with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band; the New Orleans Nightcrawlers, who just released a new album “Atmosphere”; and numerous brass bands, including the New Birth Brass Band, Tornado, Dirty Dozen, Olympia and Rebirth Brass Bands. We can’t wait to have him back at 726 St. Peter.