WE SHALL WALK THROUGH THE STREETS OF THE CITY - Free Jazz Leadsheet

“we shall walk through the streets of the city” is a traditional New Orleans brass-band tune rooted in early jazz funeral processions. Its exact composer is unknown, but the melody has been preserved through oral tradition and brass-band performances.

The first commercial recordings are not precisely documented, but New Orleans brass bands and ensembles have performed it continuously into the modern era. The Treme Brass Band notably helped revive it for contemporary audiences.

The song’s theme is communal mourning and spiritual procession. Musically, it has a slow, dirge-like march structure with space for horn calls, collective improvisation, and rhythmic variation typical of second-line music.