At the tender age of 13, Kirk Joseph was already on the march. When his older brothers’ marching band was short a tuba player, Joseph filled in, knowing the tunes from hearing his father, brothers and New Orleans neighbors play them. That was 30 years ago, but since then, he has helped define the good-time sound of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, of which he has long been, instrumentally at least, the biggest and deepest member. His first release as a bandleader, “Sousafunk Ave.,” extends…

Kirk Joseph has earned his seat at the table of New Orleans’ greatest musicians and will surely claim his place in music history as perhaps the greatest innovator of his instrument, the sousaphone. For most, a mention of the sousaphone conjures images of marching bands and drum cadences. But in the hands of Joseph, the instrument comes to life in ways that its namesake, John Phillip Sousa, could have hardly imagined. During his long tenure with the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Joseph developed his innovative…