The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival opened this past weekend. We’ll have a photo gallery and additional reports to follow but one way to get a sense of the range and scope of the event is by tracking the efforts of the NOLA denizens, the Dirty Dozen Brass Band. On Friday at the festival grounds some of the group joined Spoon for a few songs, including ‘The Underdog,’ ‘Rhythm and Soul’ and ‘You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb.’ Shortly before that band members appeared with Leroy Jones and the Fairview Baptist Church Band in a tribute to jazz banjoist Danny Barker. Then on Saturday the group delivered two sets at the Maple Leaf before some of the Dozen headed over to Tipitina’s Uptown to join Fred Wesley in guesting with Groovesect. Then on Sunday night the group returned to Tip’s, opening for Blind Boys of Alabama and later sitting in along with Henry Butler and Charlie Musslewhite. The pace will continue over the coming days with an intimate two set show at Donna’s on Tuesday, a gig in Lafayette on Thursday, a return to the Fairgrounds on Friday afternoon followed by a Preservation Hall gig that night and a Saturday evening performance at Tip’s French Quarter.