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Vol. 1, No. 4
Holy Jazz
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F e s t i v a l 20 0 3
FEST!
CLUB SCHEDULES
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WHERE IS BEAT STREET
T
here is a place in New Orleans — a figurative address that is home to all that is real.
New Orleans Beat Street is the home of jazz. It is also the residence of funk and the blues. R&B and rock ‘n’ roll live here, too. When zydeco and Cajun music come to town, B e a t S t r e e t is their local address.
B e a t S t r e e t has intersections all over town — from Uptown to Treme, from the Ninth Ward to the French Quarter, from Bywater to the Irish Channel — weaving its way through Mid-City and all points Back o’ Town. B e a t S t r e e t is the Main Street in our musical village. It is where we gather to dine and to groove to live music in settings both upscale and downhome. B e a t S t r e e t is where we meet to celebrate life in New Orleans with second-line parades, festivals and concerts in the park. B e a t S t r e e t is lined with music clubs, restaurants, art galleries, recording studios, clothing shops, coffee emporiums and so much more. New Orleans Beat Street is a mythical street in New Orleans surrounded by water and flooded with music.
Jazz Fest Photographs by Jenny Bagert
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New Orleans Magazine
8311 Oak Street New Orleans, La. 70118 504.314.0710 beatstreet@cox.net
P u b l i s h e r Stephen Novak E d i t o r Jay Mazza A r t D i r e c t o r Celia Sinclair
Artists Jenny Bagert Michelle Elmore Raeburn Flerlage Todd Pecoul Leni Sinclair Michael P. Smith Writers Karl Bremer Jerry Brock David Kunian Brice Miller Spike Perkins John Sinclair Marc Stone Su Zi Cover Art by Frenchy Beat Street Logo by Mike Williamson
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IN THIS ISSUE
contents ROOTS, LEAVES & BRANCHES
page 4
Marc Stone looks into the cultural heart and growing vision of the Jazz Fest.
THE PHAT MAN?
page 14
Jerry Brock recounts the glory and the story of New Orleans’ own King of Rock and Roll. FATS DOMINO DISCOGRAPHY
page 18
THE STORY OF QUINT
page 20
David Kunian chats with the driving wheel behind New Orleans’ premier musical event. SACRED GROUND
page 26
The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival as a force for good in the world. WHO WAS ALLISON MINER?
page 28
Jerry Brock remembers that it’s all about the love. EVERBODY’S WHALIN’
page 33
Karl Bremer gets the lowdown on the Stomp from Head Mystic Knight Dr. Ike. ACCORDION EVOLUTION
page 37
Spike Perkins takes the accordion seriously, for once. MP3 CONFIDENTIAL
page 43
Warren America envisions the end of CDs. MUSICIANS ON MUSIC
page 45
Brice Miller kicks some brass at the Fest. CLUB LISTINGS
page 50
POETS ON POETRY
page 58
Su Zi finds something to get excited about in John Sinclair’s new book of blues poetry. SUBSCRIBE TO BEAT STREET
page 60
www.neworleansbeatstreet.com everywhereallthetimehanginlikeagecko
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Let the spirit heal you, dance away your misery Get up on your feet and set your dancin’ spirit free — from “Jam The Jazz Fest” by Terrance Simien
Roots, Leaves & Branches The cultural heart and growing vision of New Orleans’ premier musical event. By Marc Stone
F
rom the very beginning, The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival has presented the traditional and the cutting edge side by side. At the inaugural festival in 1970, on a program touting headliners Duke Ellington and Mahalia Jackson, traditional jazz stalwarts Percy Humphrey and the Olympia Brass Band appeared on the same stage with funk pioneers the Meters.
T h e f e s t i va l m ov e d from Congo Square to the New Orleans Fairgrounds in 1972, and with the new digs came a major rush of national talent. The “Night of Stars” presented at the Municipal Auditorium on April 29th of that year featured B.B. King, Nina Simone, Art Blakey, Thelonious Monk, Dizzy Gillespie, Jimmy Smith, the Tuxedo Brass Band and Mardi Gras Indians — all on the same bill.
One year after the first festival, the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation, a non-profit group, was formed to put on the annual event. Its mission is to “promote, preserve, perpetuate and encourage the music, arts, culture, and heritage indigenous to the New Orleans area.”
The following year brought the first appearance by a major pop star at the festival. Stevie Wonder was at what many consider to be the creative apex of his career when he played the Fairgrounds. The festival program proudly notes his use of synthesizers, as it would with Herbie Hancock the next year.
Casa Samba Dancer by Leni Sinclair
4 New Orleans Beat Street Magazine
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Wonder took time after his sound check to jam with the Meters during their set. Meters’ bassist George Porter, Jr., remembers what it was like to have a star of Wonder’s caliber at the Jazz Fest, “We were still the little guys on the planet, so when a Stevie Wonder would come to play with us, it was a serious yeah you right!”
A Question of Definitions F ro m t h e o u t s e t , the festival’s choice of acts has stirred debate about the definition of different musical styles and what should fall under the umbrella of “Jazz and Heritage.” Yet, debates about stylistic parameters didn’t slow the growth of the festival. In 1977, with corporate sponsorship firmly in place, the Fest greatly increased the number and scope of national acts appearing on its stages. Acts as diverse as Natalie Cole, Doc and Merle Watson, Ella Fitzgerald, the Crusaders and Bonnie Raitt all graced the lineup. It was during this period that Latin and Caribbean acts from outside New Orleans also started coming into the mix. A pivotal event in the history of the festival occurred in the late 1970s when members of New Orleans’ AfricanAmerican community staged a boycott of Jazz Fest and it’s main sponsor, Schlitz Beer. As a result, a body of community
members was added to the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation’s Board of Directors. This was followed by the addition of the African-inspired Koindu music and craft area to the festival site in 1979 (Koindu would become Congo Square in 1988). That year also saw the inclusion of an Afro/Caribbean section to the program featuring kora player Bai Konte of Gambia, African drum master Baba Olatunji, and calypso great Mighty Sparrow. The broadening of the festival’s musical outlook was not purely Afro-centric. Nashville fiddle virtuoso Vassar Clements, country-rock hitmakers the Flying Burrito Brothers and folk music legend Pete Seeger all turned in performances at the Fairgrounds.
Growth and Innovation T h e e a r ly a n d m i d - 1 9 8 0 s saw a parade of top-shelf international talent come through the Fest. Innovative groupings of acts continued. In 1982, the Neville Brothers appeared in the “Caribbean meets New Orleans” concert on the Riverboat President with Rita Marley and Bahamian guitarist Exuma on a bill that reflected the long-established musical link between Louisiana and the islands.
Stevie Wonder & the Meters by Michael P. Smith
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Smokey Robinson by Leni Sinclair Smokey Robinson performs at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation Gala on Thursday, April 24 at 8 p.m. in the Imperial Ballroom of the Fairmont Hotel.
T h e f e st i va l ’ s f o r ay s into hiphop would put them ahead of the curve in presenting rap to mixed audiences. In 1984, Irma Thomas and the Dirty Dozen Brass Band shared a day on Stage 1 with hip hop pioneer Grand Master Flash. The 1985 appearance by Run-DMC predated the release of their multi-platinum album Raising Hell and its huge crossover cover of Aerosmith’s “Walk This Way” by a year. Future Latin mega-star Gloria Estefan and her band Miami Sound Machine opened for Jose Feliciano aboard the President on May 1, 1986. Another artist who would go on to become a major draw and Jazz Fest favorite, banjo revolutionary Bela Fleck, played with the groundbreaking string band New Grass Revival in 1986 as well. That year also marked the beginning of corporate sponsorship of individual stages. The new influx of capital was reflected in expanded programming and a great boost to the educational component of the Fest including the introduction of the Craft Demonstration and Music Heritage areas in 1988. Workshops throughout the city featuring artists like Taj Mahal and members of the esteemed Marsalis family began to be put on in conjunction with the festival itself. The foundation’s Community Grants program, revived in 1984, also benefited from the influx of sponsorship dollars.
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New Faces at the Fest A n o t h e r st y l i st i c addition to the talent roster began to surface in 1987 as survivors of the 1960s rock scene, such as the Band, Richard Thompson, and Alex Chilton, began appearing at the Fest. The following year brought the newly re-formed Little Feat and the return of Bonnie Raitt, as well as the first “La Noche Latina” concert featuring Tito Puente, Celia Cruz and Willie Colon. In 1989, the Fest took its booking scheme even further into the big-time pop realm as Santana and Jimmy Buffet made their Fairgrounds debuts. The 20th anniversary program also offered Sun Ra, Ricky Skaggs, Youssou N’Dour, John Hiatt and the Goners (featuring Louisianaborn slide whiz Sonny Landreth), and Ali Farke Toure. By the early 1990s, the Jazz Fest lineups were studded with major national acts. Linda Ronstadt, Blues Traveler, Miles Davis, the Indigo Girls, Maze and Los Lobos would all perform between 1990 and 1992. In 1993, the Allman Brothers made their Jazz Fest debut. In the 1980s and 1990s, a noticeable trend emerged as Louisiana music started to play a prominent role nationally and internationally. Major rock bands began
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Ornette Coleman 1985
Photography by Leni Sinclair
www.lenisinclair.com
www.musiclegends.net
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Terrance Simien by Leni Sinclair, 1993
Terrance Simien performs at the Jazz Fest on Saturday, April 26 at 3 p.m. on the Louisiana Heritage Stage.
to feature Louisiana artists as their opening acts. The Neville Brothers opened for the Grateful Dead, the Dirty Dozen toured with the Black Crowes, Terrance Simien did stints supporting Robert Palmer and Los Lobos. Ivan Neville opened for Robert Cray. Another factor that would help shape Jazz Fest in the 90s was the advent of the jam band scene, specifically the birth of the H.O.R.D.E. (Horizons of Rock Developing Everywhere) tour. Founded by Blues Traveler frontman John Popper in 1992, this multi-stage traveling festival served as an incubator of future Jazz Fest talent. H.O.R.D.E. stars Blues Traveler, Phish, Widespread Panic, and Bela Fleck and the Flecktones would all go on to appear at Jazz Fest throughout the course of the decade.
some people who did not appreciate the direction of the festival’s growth during the last decade, the event continues to expand in attendance, musical scope and community impact. The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation’s 2002 Annual Report boasts of the festival’s $300 million yearly impact on the local economy. A multitude of local educational programs, grants, small festivals and community radio are all funded by the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation with proceeds from the Jazz Fest itself.
An Artist’s Perspective
In 1995, another trend began emerging. In spite of the fact that none of them were booked at the Fairgrounds, Blues Traveler, Phish and the Dave Matthews Band all played concerts at the State Palace Theater during Jazz Fest. The next year Phish would perform at the Fairgrounds.
W h i l e s o m e m ay continue to debate the legitimacy of booking certain acts under the jazz and heritage banner, many Louisiana artists are honored to share stages with big name acts at their home-town affair. Terrance Simien, a Creole from Mallet, Louisiana, has been on the cutting edge of the zydeco world since he burst on the scene as a wildeyed teenager in the mid-80s.
T h e a p p e a r a n c e o f m e g a -stars and huge touring draws like Paul Simon, Sting and the Dave Matthews Band have greatly increased attendance at the Festival. And despite the protests of
Simien has consistently been booked on the main stages at Jazz Fest since his first appearance in 1986 and he has shared these stages with many of his idols. He cites his first experience hearing the
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Youssou N’Dour by Leni Sinclair
Yousou N‘Dour, who was scheduled to perform this Jazz Fest on a double bill with Crosby, Stills & Nash, canceled his biggest-ever tour of North America in protest of the U.S. war on Iraq.
Neville Brothers at Jazz Fest as being the inspiration for his expanding the existing parameters of his music with the addition of four-part vocal harmony (never before featured in a zydeco group) and reggae and afro-pop sensibilities.
back on talent. Jazz Fest is just the opposite. It’s an investment. They give [exposure to] bands like us, that do roots music, that may never get a song played on Top 40 radio.”
“I’m going to forget all my prejudices from my childhood and I’m going to see things differently.” I think that’s what our Jam band/zydeco cross-pollination Festival did. also occurred that year as Phish In addition to sharing a stage with personal heroes like Willie Nelson and Santana, Simien experienced Phish first hand when he appeared on the same stage with them in 1996. “It hit me real good!,” Simien says of the experience. “Bands like Phish, they do all different styles of music. They even did a Clifton Chenier song.”
guitarist Trey Anastasio joined Sunpie & the Louisiana Sunspots for their set. Simien continues, “Bands like that, they’re going everywhere with the music, and I believe that’s what music is going to evolve to, [a] little bit of everything.” After nearly 20 years playing festivals around the world, he is clear on his feelings about the growth of the festival and its impact on Louisiana artists, “The growth is good. A lot of festivals, once they get going good, they start cutting
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— Allison Miner The author wishes to thank Rachel Lyons, archivist of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, for her invaluable assistance in researching this story. Marc Stone is a professional guitarist and songwriter and has worked with many of Louisiana’s top artists. Marc is also the host of the weekly Soul Serenade Blues show on WWOZ-FM New Orleans. For more info, see www.marcstonemusic.com.
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THE PHAT MAN? By Jerry Brock
Fats Domino by Leni Sinclair
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“I’m ready, I’m willing and I’m able to rock and roll all night! ” Fats Domino
A
n t o i n e “ Fa t s ” Domino, Jr. was born in New Orleans on February 26, 1928. At the age of 75, he will once again enhance the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. Make every effort to attend his performance on Thursday, April 24th, because you never know if it will be his best. Above all, don’t believe that the music he performs is “oldies.” It is stomp-your-feet, in-yourface rock ‘n’ roll, and he still rocks like a teenager. In the scope of their careers, Louis Armstrong and Mahalia Jackson are the only two artists comparable to Fats Domino. Louis and Mahalia are long departed, but Fats is alive and well nestled in his Lower 9th Ward abode. He lives a stone’s throw away from the house where he was born on Jourdan Avenue. Surrounded by his family and close friends, he often spends his days cooking the local Creole cuisine that he favors. Fats is probably the most unaffected star in the history of American popular music. Domino’s biographer Rick Coleman has described him as a musical civil rights leader whose impact predates Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. His recordings and concerts were so infectious that they attracted an unprecedented black and white audience during the segregation period. Coleman has written, “He led numerous rock ‘n’ roll caravans across America that broke down barriers, carrying integrated shows to all parts of North America – none more impressive than the fall 1957 edition of the “The Biggest Show Of Stars” during the time of the Little Rock school integration riots. Ten years later, Dr. King would state, “School integration is much easier now that they [America’s youth] share a common music, a common language, and enjoy the same dances.”
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The commercialism of record companies and the media that capitalized on his cherubic face and friendly attitude have muddled Domino’s influence on politics and race relations in America. In today’s environment of political correctness, he appears to be the perfect and harmless fit. But in 1956 and 1957, riots broke out at four Fats Domino concerts. The combination of racial mixing on an unprecedented level, along with alcohol drinking, created a volatile mix. In Fayetteville, North Carolina, the cause of the riot was rowdy marines and sailors in a macho contest. At a concert in Roanoke, Virginia, the white audience in the balcony overflowed onto the segregated black floor demanding more space. On December 10, 1999, Domino celebrated 50 years as a recording artist. His vocal and piano styles are immediately recognizable on record or in performance. He created a personal and singular sound that has influenced every New Orleans piano player who has followed him, including Allen Toussaint, Dr. John, James Booker and Art Neville. In his music you hear the influence of the second line parade beat, boogie-woogie, country, Tin Pan Alley, and jazz. O n e c a n n o t w r i t e about Mr. Domino without mentioning Dave Bartholomew, who produced and cowrote the majority of Fats’ recordings. It was Dave who brought the owner of Imperial Records, Lewis “Lew” Chudd, to the Hideaway, a small barroom on Desire Street where Fats performed. Fats released “Hide Away Blues” on Imperial in 1950. He first performed with the Dave Bartholomew Orchestra at the Club Desire, which is still standing about four blocks away.
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Photographs by Jenny Bagert
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Who Is It? The Fat Man! In 1947, Billy Diamond, who worked with Fats, gave him the nickname “The Fat Man.” It was his feeling that “Fats” connoted an important person á la Fats Waller or Minnesota Fats. Fats recorded the song “The Fat Man” on December 10, 1949, at his first recording session. This was his first hit record and introduced him to audiences outside of New Orleans. The idea for the song came from a suspense radio program created by Dashiell Hammett, who is best known for his creation of “The Thin Man.” “The Fat Man” was the story of private eye Brad Runyon that was broadcast over the ABC radio network from 1946 to 1950. J. Scott Smart performed the voice of the “Fat Man.” The program began with, “He’s walking into that drugstore, he’s stepping onto the scales – weight, 237 pounds – fortune, danger – who is it? The Fat Man!”
Where It All Began You can visit the site in New Orleans where Fats first recorded. The address is 838 N. Rampart Street, and it is marked with a historic landmark plaque. This is the original site of J&M Music that was owned and operated by Cosimo Matassa. It is now the location of Hula Mae’s Tropic Wash. Inside check out the George Jetson spaceage ceiling. That area was for record sales and appliances. In the space where the clothes dryers sit was the actual recording studio. Antoine “Fats” Domino sold more records than any 1950s era recording artist with the exception of Elvis Presley. It is estimated that he sold over 65 million records. He scored 23 gold records that today are platinum, and 61 records that reached the charts. The BMI website lists 212 song titles that Fats claims he either wrote or co-wrote.
I’m Just a Country Boy Fats grew up in a rural neighborhood. There were dirt roads and horse drawn carts. People raised horses, cows, goats, chickens, turkeys and pigs. They worked their own gardens, and it was common for black folk to listen to country music on the radio. So it
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should not be surprising that Fats has a love for country music. He recorded three of Hank Williams’ songs, “Jambalaya,” “You Win Again,” and “Your Cheatin’ Heart.” In 1957 he charted on Billboard’s country & western chart. His last record to chart was the 1980 recording of “Whiskey Heaven” in the C&W category. Fats was a major influence on the Beatles. The first song that John Lennon learned to play was “Ain’t That A Shame.” They opened for him at the Star Club in Hamburg Germany in 1962. When the Beatles played in New Orleans in 1965, they requested an audience with Mr. Domino. When Fats walked into their trailer, they were performing an acoustic rendition of his song “I’m In Love Again,” which George Harrison said was the first rock and roll song that he ever heard. His pervasive influence is documented by the wide range of artists that have covered his work including Elvis Presley, Cheap Trick, Professor Longhair, Buddy Holly, Ike and Tina Turner, Led Zeppelin, Richard Hell, Sheryl Crow, Los Lobos, The Band, Blues Traveler, the Grateful Dead, Taj Mahal, Tom Rush, the Flamin’ Groovies, Rickie Nelson, Canned Heat, Bill Haley, Delbert McClinton, Cat Stevens, Pat Boone, Bobby Darin, Percy Sledge, Chuck Willis, Dr. John, and Jerry Lee Lewis. Fats has received numerous honors in his lifetime. In 1986, he was one of the original inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He has received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, is a member of the Songwriter Hall of Fame, and President Clinton awarded him the National Medal of Arts in 1998. H ow e v e r , I am sure that one of the greatest honors Fats receives is when he looks out from the stage and sees a large crowd of people bumping and grinding, belly to belly and breast to breast as he sings, “I’m ready, I’m willing and I’m able to rock and roll all night!” The author wishes to thank Rick Coleman who has shared biographical information on Antoine “Fats” Domino with him through the years. Rick is the author of an upcoming biography of Fats Domino.
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HIT RECORDS BY FATS DOMINO
Buy New Orleans music online at www.louisianamusicfactory.com 18 New Orleans Beat Street Magazine
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FATS DOMINO DISCOGRAPHY 1955 Carry on Rockin’ Imperial 1956 Rock and Rollin’ with Fats Imperial 1956 This Is Fats Imperial 1958 Here Stands Fats Domino Imperial 1958 The Fabulous Mr. D Imperial 1959 Let’s Play Fats Domino Imperial 1960 A Lot of Domino’s Imperial 1960 Fats Domino [United Artists] Joker 1961 I Miss You So Imperial 1961 Let the Four Winds Blow Imperial 1962 What a Party Imperial 1962 Twistin’ the Stomp Imperial 1963 Walking to New Orleans Imperial 1963 Just Domino Imperial 1963 Let’s Dance with Domino Imperial 1963 Here He Comes Again Imperial 1963 Here Comes Fats ABC 1964 Fantastic Fats ABC 1965 Trouble in Mind Sunset 1965 Fats Domino ‘65 Mercury 1966 Getaway with Fats Domino Paramount 1966 Southland U.S.A. Mercury 1967 Fats Domino Swings Imperial 1967 Stompin’ Sunset 1968 Fats Is Back Bullseye Blues 1970 Ain’t That a Shame Rhino 1970 Fats Reprise 1971 Cookin’ with Fats United Artists 1973 Live in Las Vegas Philips
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WHAT’S IT LIKE
Quint By David Kunian
Q u i n t D av i s . The name alone has a mystique that keeps New Orleans guessing. This is the man who wears the hat of producer/director of what is often called the best festival in the world.
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But who is Quint Davis? What is his background? How did he start out working in music? B e a t S t r e e t spoke to him about his past in his brightly colored office full of folk art, tour posters, and the ever-present alligators.
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TO BE
Davis ?
Photo By Zack Smith
His first musical memory is listening on the radio. When he was a kid, there were several black radio stations that played rhythm and blues during the week and gospel on the weekends. When he was 11 or 12, his parents gave him a transistor radio. He said, “That was it!”
— blues clubs in Shrewsbury, gospel churches in Central City, second lines and Indian practices, or, as he put it, “living that life.” He explored the academic side by taking ethnomusicology classes at Tulane with Norma Mcloud, one of the first experts on African music.
He used to walk with it to school, putting it in his desk with an earphone snaked up his sleeve. He'd put it under his pillow at night and fall asleep with it playing.
He was also working with his future partner Allison Miner at Tulane’s jazz archive under the tutelage of Dick Allen when Newport Jazz Festival impresario George Wein came calling. He was looking for someone to find New Orleans heritage music for a heritage festival. Davis volunteered for the job.
W h e n h e w a s 14 , he met photographer and music fan Jules Cahn, who started taking him to second lines and jazz funerals. Most times, they were the only Caucasian faces in the crowds. He also started hanging out with some of the guys who worked at the gas station around the corner from his house. They took him to places like Gloria's Living Room where he heard James Rivers and to clubs on Freret Street where he heard Rivers and Willie Tee. T h e s a g a c o n t i n u e d for a time up North. While attending Lake Forest College north of Chicago, he lived down the hall from a football player named Andre Francis, who put on a show in the cafeteria featuring Son House and the Staple Singers. Davis remembers, “It just changed my mind and life. I started to understand all the stuff that I had grown up with in New Orleans as a natural, indigenous thing. I met the Staple Singers and started going to their church in Chicago. When I saw a Cadillac pull up and Mavis Staples get out in a full length mink coat, I said to myself, 'There's a lot of stuff going on here that I need to know about.’” Davis came back to New Orleans in 1966 and promptly picked up where he left off
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There had been music festivals in New Orleans before, but the groups that had put them on had splintered off. According to Davis, Wein wanted to start a festival here and had been talking for several years to the City Council and the mayor. But because of the repressive segregation laws, Wein wouldn't do it. His wife was African American, so the state of race relations in the South hit very close to home. When the laws began to be eliminated, Wein decided to go for it. The legend of the first New Orleans Jazz & Heritage festival has been recounted many times. But Davis adds to the body of knowledge by discussing the many doubters. At this time, there was a lot of dissension in the jazz world. The beboppers didn't like the traditional jazz fans, calling them “moldy figs.” The moldy figs didn't even think that bebop was jazz. The big band players hated the avant-garde musicians. Additionally, there was a feeling that people wouldn’t understand the rationale behind adding African, gospel
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and rhythm and blues music to the mix. Naysayers also told Davis that no one would attend a festival that consisted mainly of musicians who they could see in their neighborhood bars and food that they cooked in their kitchens. Finally, they expressed disbelief that there could be a festival where young, old, black, white, rich, poor, city, country, educated, and uneducated men and women would all be welcome. However, they persevered and put on the first festival in 1969 in Beauregard (now Congo) Square. To start it off, Bo Dollis and his gang of Mardi Gras Indians marched down Canal Street and through the French Quarter up to the gates to attract people. Davis said that it was the first time any Mardi Gras Indians had done any kind of public performance that wasn't either Mardi Gras or St. Joseph's night.
“ O h , m a n ,” h e s a i d , “There must have been 90 musicians and 50 spectators. Joyce Wein [George’s wife] went into the Quarter to McDonogh 15 Elementary School and talked the teachers into letting the kids come so it looked like there were some people there.” The highlight of the first festival was Professor Longhair. When you ask Quint Davis about
Professor Longhair, his eyes light up, and he smiles from deep down. It is obvious that Davis still holds a great amount of esteem and affection for Fess. His first interest in Fess came in the typical way — through hearing “Go to the Mardi Gras” and “Big Chief” each Carnival season. Finding an old 78 RPM record of “Tipitina” put the icing on the cake. He recalls, “It was the one with the yellow label. I put that on my turntable and put the tone arm to repeat and I played it 20 times in a row, and it blew my mind.” As his relationship with Wein developed, Davis took him to Indian practice at the H&R Bar at Second and Dryades. They were early, so they went into the neighborhood sweet shop. While they were there, “Go to the Mardi Gras” came on the jukebox, and Wein asked Davis about the person who recorded it. Uncharacteristically, Davis said that it was nobody special. Wein retorted (according to Davis) “Well, it's somebody. You find that guy for our festival. That's something incredible.” By following the trail of Professor Longhair’s recordings, he made his way to the One Stop Record Shop on Rampart Street. Joe Assunto, who had released “Big Chief” on his Watch Records owned
Quint Davis with Cleveland & Clifton Chenier by Michael P. Smith, 1977
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Photo by Zack Smith the One Stop. Davis had heard that Fess came by there occasionally. He pestered the staff to no avail for some time. Then one day at the shop somebody pointed him out, “You looking for Professor Longhair? That's him.” Even recounting this story more than 30 years later, Davis gets excited. “I jumped out of my skin. I grabbed him and said, 'I've been looking for you!' I scared the hell out of him.” Fess wasn't playing music then. But Davis convinced him to play the Festival.
D av i s w i l l n e v e r f o rg e t what happened when Fess played the first Festival. “He showed up at the Festival dragging his bad leg with Sheba on drums. When he started playing, everybody stopped. It was unbelievable. It was like all the missing links of New Orleans music piling on top of each other.” This performance led to regular performances. Davis became his business manager, booking agent, stage manager, and road manager. He remembers, “For a while it was just me and him. But I didn't drive. He drove. . . . Fess was kind of like the Miles Davis of New Orleans. He came out of the tradition of the time, but he was an avant-garde thinker and player. He was that hip in his manner and his way of dress. Of course, he shared none of Miles Davis's personality.” At about the same time, Davis got the idea to record Mardi Gras Indians with a
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live band. Davis smiles again when he thinks about this. He said, “I used to drag a reel-to-reel tape recorder everywhere. One time I took it to an Indian practice downtown, and I was listening to the tape and this one voice came on. It was so clear and beautiful. It sang a little bit, and then it went away.” The voice was Big Chief Bo Dollis. Davis started hanging out even more with the Indians. He went to practice and helped them sew their suits all night before Mardi Gras. Davis laughs as he recounts, “One St. Joseph's Night, I masked as the Witch Doctor.” Then he realized something at an Indian practice. “At the beginning of every practice, they would unplug the jukebox and then plug it in again at the end as if to say, ‘Here is the real music, and here is the jukebox music.’ I wanted to bring the jukebox and the Indian music together and let it be seen on the same level as pop music.”
A j a m s e s s i o n at the Tulane Jazz Festival between Willie Tee and the Wild Magnolias was the first time that the Indians had ever played with outside music, and it rocked. That concert led to the 45-rpm single “Handa Wanda,” which Davis produced for his own Cosmic Q records. It was the first time Mardi Gras Indians had recorded with outside instruments. Davis leaned back when he related this and laughed again, “My whole career is a testament to what you can do if you don't know any better.”
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SACRED GROUND
T
he New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival has been known for years as the world’s largest and most important musical and cultural happening. From its start in 1970 at Armstrong Park to its current location at the New Orleans Fair Grounds, the festival has become a showcase for the city’s talented musicians, creative artists, and wonderful chefs. It has evolved from a local gathering to a global celebration at the crossroads of Beat Street. There is a vibe that flows through the air during these two weekends that is as distinct as the music that moves our soul or the aroma of that mouth-watering cuisine that tickles our taste buds. The energy of this festival begins long before the gatekeepers begin taking tickets. It is part of a cycle of life that is as beautiful as life itself. It has been said to be a microcosm of what America would be like if it were perfect. All sorts of people would live in peace and harmony, eating abundantly, drinking ecstatically, singing songs of celebration and joy.
By the Second Line Shaman
faces, watch it in the dance steps, and feel it everywhere each and every day. Everyone who attends finds a spot they can call their sacred ground. It might be the same spot for each day, or it may change with each act and each stage. It may be up front and center or it may be in the back dancing on a blanket. When you find your magical spot you will surely feel the energy. This energy begins inside each of us, and is shared with all those who open their hearts, mind and soul to this wonderful celebration honoring the heritage of New Orleans, the city that care forgot but didn’t forget to care. As you pick out that loud shirt and funny hat, take a moment and think about what you are participating in. Whether you are a local and have attended for years, or you are from out of town experiencing it for the first time, realize that you are taking part in something special; a global celebration at the crossroads of B e a t S t r e e t. It is an example to all the world of what life would be like if we only gathered in the name of peace, love, and harmony.
Those who attend the Festival are as much a part of the event as the musicians and artists who are showcased. The crowd feeds off the beautiful sounds and the lovely art, while the musicians and artists feed off the energy of the crowd. Racial, social, and economical differences may mark us outside this event, but within that oval racetrack, people from around the globe enjoy life without boundaries. Funny hats, loud shirts, vivid flags, and wild totems have a higher priority than the jobs we work or the cars we drive. The musicians, artists, volunteers, and participants all do their own thing to create a living example of Earl King’s classic song, “Make a Better World to Live In.” Everyone becomes part of the whole, celebrating the love of music, culture, and our joint heritage. T h e s e c r e t to a good gumbo is the roux, and the secret to this celebration is the love of life. It spreads quicker than a wild fire. It is more contagious than any epidemic this city ever experienced. You can see it on the
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By Jerry Brock A l o n g w i t h Q u i n t Davis and George Wein, Allison Miner was a powerful force in starting the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. Appropriately, she was born on September 23, the same day as Ray Charles, John Coltrane, and her dear friend Earl Turbinton. It is an understatement to say that Jazz Fest would not be the same without her involvement. Chris
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Strachwitz, who 40 years ago started Arhoolie Records — one of the greatest American roots music labels in the world — said, “Allison was the heart and soul of the festival during its early years.”
S h e wa s b o r n in Baltimore and raised in Daytona Beach, Florida, where she befriended a local garage band by the name of the Allman Joys. That band
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Allison Miner Sunrise: September 23, 1949 Sunset: December 23, 1995
Allison Miner & Elizabeth Cotton in New Orleans by Michael P. Smith, 1978 would eventually become the Allman Brothers. That was just the beginning of her lifelong involvement with music.
I n 1 9 6 5 , she heard Danny Barker on a TV program talking about the tradition of jazz funerals in New Orleans and she came to this city. Miner got a job at the Louisiana Historical Museum. In 1969 she moved to the Hogan Jazz Archives at
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Tulane University under the auspices of Dick Allen. During this period she met Quint Davis and George Wein. The rest, as they say, is history.
To d ay, the “Heritage” aspect of the festival is best experienced at the stage that bears her name — the Allison Miner Music Heritage Stage — located inside the Grandstand on the eastern end. The
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wonderful and informative presentations that occur daily on the Food, African, Cajun, and Folk Heritage stages are also the direct result of Allison’s influence on the festival. Regarding the Music Heritage stage, Davis told writer Geraldine Wyckoff, “She did all parts of it. She would design it artistically, pick out the people who would be on it. She would actually call them all up and talk them into doing it, get them contracts and releases, get it produced, get it recorded, be the stage manager, be the production manager, and do all the interviews. For years she did all of those things.” In addition, she helped run the entire festival for the first five years.
A l l i s o n b e l i e v e d that the soul of the musician is the soul of the music. She made sure that they felt comfortable, were treated properly, and had a positive experience. She personally dragged Henry Roeland Byrd, aka Professor Longhair, out of obscurity and brought him to the attention of record labels, writers and booking agents. It is possible that he would have died unknown to the next generations of fans all over the world without her efforts. Beyond the festival, she also worked to achieve recognition and a paycheck for Big Chiefs Bo Dollis and Monk Boudreaux, the Rebirth Brass Band, Kermit Ruffins and Tuts Washington. The legion of local and national artists that she loved and worked with include Allen Toussaint, Aaron Neville, Willie and Earl Turbinton, Beausoleil, Robert Pete Williams, Bukka White, the Radiators, Filé Cajun Band, Marc & Ann Savoy, Snooks Eaglin, and on and on. Her impact on the community was also felt in her work at the Contemporary Arts Center and WWOZ Radio.
A l l i s o n l ov e d t o s i n g , but she pursued the non-performing aspects of the music business upon her arrival to New Orleans. She did sing one of her favorite songs, “Something Within,” at a tribute / benefit concert organized in her honor in 1995. The song was written by Lucie Campbell Williams, an important gospel composer, educator, and evangelist. Allison learned it from a collection of Angola prison songs at the Hogan Archive.
Have you something within you, oh Lord That holds in the reigns Something within you Oh child, you cannot explain Something within you, oh child, you cannot explain Though you can say, oh God Something within you. Allison Miner succumbed to multiple myeloma, a bone-destroying cancer at the young age of 46. Her survivors include two sons, Jonathan and Rashi Kaslow.
She received a jazz funeral on January 14, 1996. A memorial service was held in City Park. As was her request, her two sons spread her ashes into the park’s lagoon. The moment they hit the water, the end of the rainbow touched upon her. Allison was a pot of gold. Her life and memorial service were documented in Reverence by filmmaker Amy Nesbitt, which is available from Video Veracity.
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Indian Red’s Hebrew Honky-Tonk Studio Michael Hirsch Cabinetmaker (504) 486-7529 3027 Chartres St. New Orleans, LA 70117
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Everbody’s W haling: The Ponderosa Stomp “Well, the blues had a baby, and they named the baby rock ’n‘ roll.” - Muddy Waters
by Karl Bremer O n c e u p o n a t i m e , in the 1950s and ‘60s, New Orleans was the axis of the rock ‘n’ roll universe. Cosimo Matassa’s famous studios on Rampart were churning out hit after hit for artists like Fats Domino, Earl King, Tommy Ridgley and Guitar Slim. Producers like Allen Toussaint were making household names out of guys like Jessie Hill, Lee Dorsey and Ernie KDoe. And local joints like the Dew Drop Inn and Club Tiajuana were playing host to headliners Little Richard, Dinah Washington, Big Joe Turner and Huey “Piano” Smith. Many of the musicians were cutting records by day and heads by night in sweaty after-hours jam sessions that pitted the cream of New Orleans’ studio players against one another in showdowns that sometimes lasted until dawn. The city was awash in trail-blazing music wherever you turned, and even though it didn’t realize it at the time, New Orleans was helping give birth to that baby known as rock ‘n’ roll. If rock ‘n’ roll wasn’t born in New Orleans, it damn sure was conceived here. A secret society known as the Mystic Knights of the Mau Mau set out last year to recreate those halcyon early days, when the blues was courting R&B and ended up in the backseat. In response to what they saw as a lack of attention and respect paid to many of the architects of rock ‘n’ roll, the Mystic Knights launched the inaugural run of the Ponderosa Stomp-a mindbending, three-night blowout featuring some of the giants and geniuses. Rather than feature an all-star lineup of marquee artists, the Ponderosa Stomp was designed to pay homage to “the true unsung heroes of rock ‘n’ roll,” says Chief Mystic Knight Dr. Ike. These are the studio cats who performed the yeoman’s work behind such revered labels as Chess, Excello, Specialty, Aladdin, Sun and Imperial. Ike continues, “They were the
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building blocks of rock ‘n’ roll. They did stuff that was so far ahead of their time that people never gave them credit for it. And their influence was so long-lasting that people forgot about it.” Last year’s Stomp featured renowned sidemen like Howlin’ Wolf alumni Hubert Sumlin, Henry Gray and Jody Williams; career Elvis band members D.J. Fontana and Scotty Moore; swamp rocker Tony Joe White; harmolodic guitar master James Blood Ulmer; powerhouse New Orleans drummer Earl Palmer; R&B legends Earl King, King Lloyd and Eddie Bo; James Burton, bandleader for Elvis and Jerry Lee Lewis; Paul Burlison, accidental inventor of the fuzztone guitar; Sonny Boy Williamson harp protégé Billy Boy Arnold; 93-yearold fife-and-drum bandleader Othar Turner; Chicago bluesman Magic Slim and a reunion of his Teardrops; and the incomparable Dave Bartholomew. And that only scratches the surface. D r . I k e i s n o s t r a n g e r to these kinds of shakedowns. He’s been whuppin’ the good stuff on his friends and neighbors for years at legendary house parties in New Orleans and his hometown of Chicago. The affairs were an outgrowth for his passion-some would say obsession-for music that’s manifested in a monumental vinyl collection of 45s and 78s. Ike eventually “went public” and moved to the Circle Bar. “The vibe was right, the owners had the right attitude,” says Ike. His first show was Classie Ballou. He recalls chasing down Ballou, who played guitar on Boo Zoo Chavis’ original recording of the first zydeco hit, “Paper in My Shoe.” “I really think Classie Ballou freaked a lot of people out at last year’s Stomp. He had a couple of scorching instrumentals for Excello, a few other things and then
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Hubert Sumlin & Howlin’ Wolf in Chicago January 19, 1964 by R aeburn Flerlage vanished. He’d been playing in Waco, Texas for oil rig crowds — ZZ Top, Lynard Skynard, classic rock. He had played at Jazz Fest but hadn’t played his original material — hadn’t played it in 30 years. I made a tape of the songs he had recorded for Excello and sent them to him and he played them at our wedding.” Ike continued to put on these Circle Bar extravaganzas featuring Li’l Buck Senegal, Rudy Richard, King Lloyd, Warren Storm, C.C. Adcock, John Mooney, Freddie Roulette, Paul John Primer, D.J. Fontana, Billie Lee Riley, Eddie Bo and others. His burgeoning repertoire started to look like, well, his record collection. Eventually, Ike decided it was getting to be too much for one person to handle, so the Mystic Knights of the Mau Mau coagulated to put on the Ponderosa Stomp. “The whole idea was that we’re a secret
organization. No one knows who we are and who’s putting it on. It’s a faceless organization. It’s not about who’s putting it on-just focus on the music.” When they started assembling the Ponderosa Stomp lineup, Ike explains, “We tried to build the bands as they originally appeared—get the people who played on the original hit records. Reuniting Dale Hawkins and James Burton, D.J. Fontana and Scotty Moore, trying to put people together like that. We went out of our way to get as many of Cosimo Matassa’s studio musicians as we could...Everybody (the musicians) liked the concept and when they got there it just blew ‘em away.” I t j u s t b l e w the audiences away too. Each night of the Ponderosa Stomp spotlighted a different flavor of early rock ‘n’ roll and R&B: blues, rockabilly and swamp
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blues. With the amount of top-shelf talent in the house every night, some spontaneous musical combustion was bound to occur. “On a gig like this, there is no headliner because all these guys are deserving of being a headliner,” says Ike. Musicians shuffled on and off stage every few songs, mingled with the crowd and posed for photos. It had all the feel of a gritty Mississippi Delta juke joint one set, a South Side Chicago blues joint the next and a New Orleans after-hours club the next. Legends here and originals there, mixing it up and throwing down like they’d been playing together all their lives, when in fact some of them had just met. “If you rehearse it too much, it loses some of the spark,” says Ike. “I mean, D.J. Fontana had never met Earl Palmer before. And watching pictures being taken of Dave Bartholomew with Ernest McLean and Herb Hardesty, and Earl Palmer and Henry Gray. They didn’t all know each other...it was just a scene, and when they weren’t playing they would come hang out.” The Ponderosa Stomp takes advantage of the throngs of music lovers who jam New Orleans for Jazz Fest. At the same time, it serves a mission that some feel Jazz Fest itself is veering away from. “This is all done for the love of the music,” says Ike.
“We wanted to present this music because there was a real trend away from the old stuff at Jazz Fest...They’ve tended to go more commercial with less emphasis on the obscure. We wanted people to see guys like Hubert Sumlin, who sometimes doesn’t get the full credit of how much of Howlin’ Wolf ’s sound he was. Or Jody Williams, who played a lot of the great Chess guitar parts, and was a big influence on Buddy Guy’s Cobra stuff and on Ike Turner.” A l s o , I ke c o n c e d e s , “There’s some urgency to get the recognition for what they did. The roster is getting smaller.” Indeed. Just days after playing at last year’s Ponderosa Stomp, 79-year-old Texas blues shouter Clarence Samuels died. One of Othar Turner’s drummers passed away shortly after appearing at last year’s Stomp. Othar Turner, the nonagenarian fife player and bandleader, and his daughter, who also played with him, both died in February. For more information about the Second Annual Ponderosa Stomp in New Orleans April 29 — May 1, go to www.knightsmaumau.com on the internet, or call Mid City Lanes Rock & Bowl at (504) 482-3133.
Karl Bremer is a free-lance writer in Stillwater, MN.
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ACCORDION EVOLUTION The Rehabilitation of an Instrument By Spike Perkins
W
hen many of us were growing up, the accordion was pretty much a joke. In fact, there were jokes about it: how do you define a gentleman? A man who knows how to play the accordion — but doesn’t. “The Far Side” had a comic vision of the afterlife: “Welcome to heaven, here’s your harp; Welcome to hell, here’s your accordion.” Yet for much of the first half the 20th century, the accordion was one of the most popular instruments for recreational music-making, occupying a position something like the guitar today. It was cheaper and more portable than a piano, and it was easy to play reading sheet music — the common way to learn popular new songs before radio and records. Part of its popularity was due to the great wave of immigration from South and Central Europe to the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, since the accordion was a major part of the popular and folk music of these cultures. But the instrument also held a respected place in professional music acts up through the late 1940s and early 1950s. The country bands of Roy Acuff and Merle Travis used a c c o rd i o n players, and Art Va n D a m m e became a jazz accordion star with Ben Bernie’s swing band in the late 1930s. Van Damme later worked with the NBC orchestra in Chicago and
backed artists like Dizzy Gillespie, Buddy DeFranco, Peggy Lee, Ella Fitzgerald and Jo Stafford. But by the mid 1950s, change was on the horizon. On the jazz front, the bebop revolution had flowered into a diverse style called modern jazz and the pop charts began to be dominated by a synthesis of rhythm and blues and country music called rock ‘n’ roll. The accordion seemed to fit neither style. No doubt, there were jazz accordionists copying Charlie Parker solos, and down on the bayous of Louisiana, Clifton Chenier developed an R&B-tinged style of zydeco, rocking his accordion just as hard as Fats Domino, Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard did their pianos. But these were labors in obscurity. The accordion just wasn’t cool anymore. The instrument’s association with Lawrence Welk didn’t help either. With a national TV show debuting in 1955, Welk called his style, “champagne music,” but it was so bland, you’d swear the champagne was non-alcoholic. Even the services of Pete Fountain, who was known to knock back a few, couldn’t save the show from its annoyingly well-scrubbed and boring image. G row i n g u p i n t h e 1960s, I can think of only two pop recordings that used an accordion. One is the Rolling Wayne Toups by Leni Sinclair
Wayne Toups performs at the Jazz Fest on Sunday, May 4 at 3:50 p.m. on the Allison Miner Heritage Stage.
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Stones’ “Backstreet Girl,” a beautiful ballad in waltz time, on which Brian Jones plays an accordion-like instrument, probably some form of concertina. The other is by the one hit wonders, the Mojo Men — a cover of Stephen Still’s “Sit Down, I Think I Love You,” arranged by Van Dyke Parks, which featured accordion, slide guitar and strings.
Throughout the 1980s, the accordion began a slow climb from a mere blip on the radar to a strong presence. Thanks to attention from the Ry Cooder group, Flaco Jimenez became in demand for studio work and guest appearances. In 1988, he was featured on a major country hit, Dwight Yoakam’s “Streets of Bakersfield.”
Beginning in the 1970s, the accordion began a long, slow rehabilitation into the good graces of American popular music. Guitar master Ry Cooder, known to the public as a studio musician who had recorded with the Rolling Stones, Randy Newman and other popular artists, became interested in Tex-Mex music and the work of three-row button accordionist Flaco Jimenez. Also known as norteno or tejano music, Tex-Mex is a style that is popular in Northern Mexico and the Southwestern United States. The accordion is the style’s predominant instrument and it is believed to have been introduced to the Mexicans by Czechs and Germans that settled in Texas in the mid-nineteenth century.
Los Lobos, a Mexican-American band from East Los Angeles, made their recording debut in 1983. Their early records featured traditional Tex-Mex tunes, along with their own brand of roots rock, with guitarist David Hidalgo doubling on the button accordion. As their sound evolved, the accordion became more integrated into their style.
When Cooder began fronting and recording with his own band he soon had a big cult following of rock cognoscenti. He teamed Jimenez with a black gospel vocal group and some of his longtime band members and christened the group, the Chicken Skin Review. In 1976 he released one of his most influential recordings, Chicken Skin Music that featured beautiful melodic lines from Jimenez.
Some other young Louisiana musicians raised on rock had turned their attention to Acadiana’s traditional music. Fiddler Michael Doucet founded the group Beausoleil during the same period which, paradoxically, helped spearhead the revival of traditional Cajun music, even though the group soon began to experiment with other influences. Accordionist/guitarist Zachary Richard, a former classmate of
In Louisiana, the revival of Cajun and zydeco music that began in the mid 1970s was in full flower. Thanks to a contract with Arhoolie Records, zydeco accordion great Clifton Chenier enjoyed a career revival, even as, sadly, his health was failing. He performed almost up until is death in 1987.
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Doucet’s, found inspiration for his own eclectic songwriting style in Cajun culture. Jo-El Sonnier, another Louisiana accordionist with an eclectic style, scored a Top 20 country hit in 1988 with “Tear Stained Letter,” written by British folk rocker Richard Thompson, in whose band he had played for a time. In the same year, Keith Richards released his solo recording, Talk Is Cheap, which received even more attention than it might have because the Rolling Stones were temporarily disbanded. One tune, “Locked Away,” featured another zydeco accordion great, Stanley “Buckwheat” Dural, along with Michael Doucet on fiddle. The defining moment of the accordion’s emergence from the shadows was Paul Simon’s 1986 masterpiece, Graceland. Using primarily South African musicians,
Conjunto Accordion King Mingo Salvidar will be interviewed by historian Nick Spitzer on Sunday, April 27 at 5:50 p.m. on the Allison Miner Heritage Stage. Mingo Salvidar y los Cuatro Espadas perform at the Jazz Fest on Sunday, April 27 at 3:55 p.m. on the Fais Do-Do Stage.
including an accordionist, he also tipped his hat to American accordion roots music by featuring Rockin’ Dopsie & the Zydeco Twisters on one cut and Los Lobos on another. This milestone recording helped to bring both world music and the accordion into the mainstream. But on the local bar scene in New Orleans, performing accordion music could still be a dicey business. In 1989, the newly formed Iguanas, who in those days played blues, rhythm & blues and swamp pop, had a steady Sunday night gig at Cosimo’s Bar in the French Quarter. The guitarist Rod Hodges had started learning the button accordion, and Joe Cabral, the saxophonist, had gotten a bajo sexto, a lower-pitched twelve-string guitar used in Tex-Mex music.
They were both Mexican-American and they had learned a few traditional
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Guitar and Accordian King Rod Hodges performs with The Iguanas on Sunday, April 27 at 4:20 p.m. on the Louisiana Heritage Stage.
Rod Hodges by Leni Sinclair, 1995
tunes as a way of exploring their heritage. The first night they chose to play these rancheras, (essentially polkas) f o r w h a t t h e y thought was a blues a u d i e n c e , t h e y didn’t know if the crowd would throw beer bottles and run them out of the place. Just the opposite was true: they loved it. [Editor’s note: The author was the bassist on that seminal gig.] In 1990, the subdudes released their first recording. It marked the first time there was a band on the local scene without a direct connection to some ethnic or roots music style that featured an accordion. The
rootsy feel was there, but the songs themselves were non-traditional and strikingly original. Even the instrumentation was unusual — accordion, acoustic guitar, bass and tambourine. The accordion has proved to be a stubborn presence in American music. While it never really went away, it spent years in the pop culture wilderness subjected to all manner of jokes. While aficionados always knew where to look for it, it spent years decidedly out of the mainstream. But now the accordion is back, with a vengeance.
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Anatomy of an Instrument By Spike Perkins
A
ll accordions use brass reeds to produce a sound. The reeds vibrate when air pumped by a bellows passes over them. Mechanically connected keys or buttons operate openings that allow the air to reach selected reeds to produce a note. Button accordions use round buttons to operate the treble register, while piano accordions have black and white keys. Both types use buttons for the bass register, which is played by the left hand while simultaneously operating the bellows. Most types of button accordions produce different notes, with the same button pushed depending on whether the bellows is pushed in or pulled out. On piano accordions, the same note is produced regardless of the direction of the bellows.
Single row button accordion The simplest type, not unlike a harmonica played with a bellows. It has a single bank of reeds and plays in only one key. It is used in Cajun and some zydeco music. Double row button accordion It has two banks of reeds and plays in two different keys. It is used in traditional Irish music. Triple row button accordion It has three banks of reeds in three keys, with a small full chromatic range near the top. It is used in Tex-Mex music and by some zydeco players, notable the Dopsie family. Five row button accordion It is a fully chromatic accordion popular in Europe. Buttons produce the same note regardless of bellows direction. Though the system seems esoteric to those used to the piano keyboard, this accordion is very agile, and good players can even perform jazz with great virtuosity. Some material written on this type of accordion bedevils piano accordionists who try to play it on their instruments. Piano accordion It is the most familiar, and therefore the most stereotyped. These instruments come in a variety of sizes. All use black and white, piano type keys for the treble, and buttons provide bass notes and preset chords. Some ethnic purists think its sound is bland and less soulful than button accordions, but that depends on the player. Clifton Chenier, the late, great king of zydeco, played a piano accordion.
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MP3 Confidential
LIFE AFTER CDs: Labels & Artists Scramble for New Models
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By Warren America
a n t a p e e k at the future of the music business? Look at China, where the old models have c o m p l e te l y f a i l e d : Ninety-five percent of all music sold in China is pirated, according to the International Federation of Phonographic Industries, the trade group for the record business. Record labels serving the world’s most populous country have been forced to abandon traditional album contracts, to stop developing formal distribution channels, and to forget the very notion of a sales-based Top 40 chart. “You cannot fight piracy, so there is no point in even getting angry,” singer Han Hong told the International Herald Tribune. “We must adapt to the environment.” “Our survival strategy required switching to a talent-management business model,” said Zorro Xu, managing director in China for Warner Music, also quoted in the Herald Tribune. “As piracy increases in other countries, this is what record companies elsewhere may have to try.”
Indeed, we've already seen their American and European counterparts make moves toward new business models that de-emphasize recordings and focus on corporate endorsements and artist management. Tommy Mottola resigned his post as Sony Music Entertainment’s label chief last year to launch a new effort in this direction, pointing to recent Celine Dion car ad campaigns as a template for the type of cross-marketing he envisions.
made it possible for artists to record albums of competitive quality using inexpensive home studios. That trend largely made obsolete the traditional purpose of a record deal advance, namely the financing of recordings. What remains are the promotional roles — the star-making advertising, marketing, and publicity campaigns that most artists can't afford on their own; and the deal-making role — the ability to secure the attention and support of major corporate sponsors. While digital recording has changed the rules on the production side, other technologies have hammered the record labels on the distribution and sales side. Cheap, easy CD copying using home PCs, high-volume CD counterfeiting by professional pirates, and internet file sharing have created burgeoning illicit marketplaces for ripped-off music and have made it steadily more difficult to sell the authorized versions. International superstar Robbie Williams signed a headline-making contract with EMI last October that, according to the BBC, has the label taking “an unusually high share of profit from touring, publishing profits and merchandise — areas where the artists themselves usually make more m o n ey. ” Wi l l i a m s ’ representatives c a l l e d t h e n ew deal a “multi-platform approach to the respective elements of recording, live work, film and television.”
We must adapt to the environment.
T h e r e v o l u t i o n in digital recording
2003 April
Once the ink dried, Williams turned around and told the BBC that music piracy is fine with him. “I think it's great; really I do. There is nothing anyone can do about it,” he said. As these trends
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accelerate, artists will face some tough decisions: share more hard-won publishing, merchandising, and performance revenue with a label, or forego the marketing and advertising investment that normally accompanies a record deal. “We might look at other industries where copying is part of the industry and look for other models,” suggests Dr. Jerry R. Goolsby, Hilton/Baldridge Eminent Scholar in Music Industry Studies at Loyola University New Orleans. “For example, in the fashion industry, Bill Blass cannot copyright a fashion design, and no sooner than the model has pivoted at the end of the runway, photos are being sent to designers in the Far East. The original Bill Blass costs $60,000, and the last copy, sold six years later . . . costs $1. Maybe we charge people for giving them access to music, rather than the music. Early access is expensive; late access is free.” “Anyone who does the math will see that artists generally don't make much, if anything, on the sale of the recorded m u s i c , ” c o n t i n u e s G o o l s b y. “Merchandising and live performance are
the mainstay cash flows of recording artists. The recording companies, who are addicted to multi-platinum selling artists, are much more challenged.” T h e u p s h o t for regional musicians is generally to scale down expectations about selling recordings. If you do have a record deal, expect to be pirated massively. If you are popular, it is unavoidable, so view it as a promotional expense. Recordings are no longer the main event. CDs are a loss leader. Most never recoup their production costs, yet they legitimize the tour, the T-shirts, the bumper stickers, and the other goodies emblazoned with the artist’s name. My advice is to focus on the real moneymakers — namely live appearances, merchandising, endorsements, and sponsorships. And hang on to the money from those sources, as tight as you possibly can. Warren America spent 25 years as a recording and performing artist. Now he spends a lot of time in international airport terminals, on his way to important-sounding computer guy stuff.
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Musicians on Music
KICK’N SOME BRASS By Brice A. Miller andkerchiefs flowing in the air, the old and young alike doing the two-step to the syncopated rhythms echoing from the bass drum with other celebratory sounds intermingling, folks from everywhere gathering in unison, dancing, yelling, and cutting loose. What could it possibly be? It’s none other than the Jazz Fest second line — kick’n some brass at Jazz Fest.
H
For the very first New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, the Eureka and Olympia Brass Bands paraded in and around the French Quarter with festival supporters in tow to spread the gospel of
the newest show in town. Back in Congo Square you could parade around the entire festival grounds with now legendary names such as Doc Paulin, Tuxedo, Majestic, Olympia, and Fairview. I have been a part of the “Jazz Fest Second Line Celebration” for over 20 years. First as a youngster walking alongside my Dad as he played with Doc Paulin, the Pin Stripe, Tuba Fats, and others. As I got older I joined the celebration as the Grand Marshal for the Pin Stripe Brass Band. Once I learned to play the trumpet, I joined the band. As a bandleader, I have led the Junior Pin Stripe, the Jazzy Gentlemen, and the Mahogany Brass Bands across the infield for the last 12 years.
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Thirty-four years after the first festival, the second line parades are still rollin’. Today, the brass bands begin their journey from an area known as “Parade Central.” Led by parade coordinator Norman Dixon and joined by social aid & pleasure clubs, the bands head out to kick some dust up alongside the asphalt path. Winding through nearly impassable crowds, the Jazz Fest second line inches its way along the outskirts of the stages and breaks the monotony of the lines at the food and drink booths with stares and questions about what’s going on. Many are taken by surprise and others run for cover as they observe the large musical mass of gyrating bodies, bobbing heads, and syncopated beats heading towards them. Those whose curiosity gets the best of them become so hypnotized by this cultural celebration that they become revelers themselves, forgoing their other plans, joining a party they know nothing about and heading to an unknown destination. All because they chose to start running with the second line!
Yo u a r e h e r e by i n v i t e d to visit “Parade Central” and join the second line celebration. When you see the feathers in the air, feel the rumble of the mass, and hear the melodic horns singing towards you, prepare to sweat, and join the fun. It ain’t always the big things that count, sometimes it’s the little ones, so instead of kidnapping a plot of land in front of some stage, read the fine print and direct your feet to “Parade Central.” Mahogany Brass Band performs at the Jazz Fest on Saturday, April 26th at 2 p.m.
Jazz trumpeter Brice Miller was born and raised in New Orleans. He has performed locally, nationally, and internationally with his Mahogany Brass Band and other notable ensembles. He is an award-winning educator and is presently the Jazz Studies Coordinator for New Orleans Public Schools. He is the proprietor of Brice Miller Productions (www.bricemillerproductions), an entertainment provider of “authentic” New Orleans style entertainment with “hipshakin’” music for all occasions.
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blue nile
(504) 948-2583 534 frenchmen street
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carrollton station
(504) 865-9190 8140 willow street
All weekend shows start at 10 pm unless otherwise noted.
April 10 Thu
April 28 Mon
Singer/Songwriter Night
Twangorama
April 11 Fri Andi Hoffmann & B-Goes CD Release Party
April 12 Sat Ingrid Lucia
April 17 Thu Autin Packing Co.
April 18 Fri The Friday Night Gigolos
April 19 Sat Sonia Tetlow
April 24 Thu Anders Osborne & Tab Benoit
April 25 Fri Dash
plus
RF-7 & the Hightones
April 26 Sat Motorway
plus
The Joneses
April 27 Sun Jim McCormick & His Full Band
plus Bar Stool Logic
feat. Tommy Malone April 29 Tue Caffeine Music Singer/Songwriter Night
April 30 Wed Walter “Wolfman” Washington & the Roadmasters
May 1 Thu Woodenhead with the Bonerama Horns & Li'l Queenie
May 2 Fri Tom's House
plus Dr. A Go-Go May 3 Sat Irene Sage Band
plus The Proud Marys May 5 Mon Original
Continental Drifters Reunion feat. Peter Holsapple Mark Walton Carlo Nuccio Ray Ganucheau & Gary Eaton
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(504) 942-3731 618 frenchmen street www.drinkgoodstuff.com
dba All shows start at 10 pm unless otherwise noted. Thursday, April 10
Tuesday, April 22
Naked on the Floor
Joe Krown Organ Combo
Friday, April 11
Linnzi Zaorski & Delta Royale Saturday, April 12
Jeremy Lyons & the Deltabilly Boys Sunday, April 13
Coco Robicheaux
Wednesday, April 23
Poor Man's Speedball Thursday, April 24
New Orleans Klezmer All-Stars Friday, April 25
Monday, April 14
Rob Wagner Trio
The Tin Men Saturday, April 26
Tuesday, April 15
Walter “Wolfman” Washington & The Chosen Few Wednesday, April 16
The Brotherhood of Groove Thursday, April 17
Charm City Brokers
Permagrin Sunday, April 27
John Boutté with Uptown Okra Monday, April 28
Rob Wagner Trio Tuesday, April 29
Lynn Drury & Bad Mayo Wednesday, April 30
3 now 4 Thursday, May 1
007
Friday, April 18
Friday, May 2
Hot Club of New Orleans
Hot Club of New rleans
6 pm
Sunday, April 20
Saturday, May 3
Smoky Greenwell & Smoke Alarm
Dave Pirner
Monday, April 21
Rob Wagner Trio
Sunday, May 4
Coco Robicheaux with The Fessters
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dixie taverne
(504) 822-8268 3340 canal street
Sunday, May 4th at 10pm, the Dixie Taverne presents Captured! By Robots. This plus Giant Bags Of Weed, The one-man band is a living Original Three, and Dirty Charlie science fiction nightmare. The human in the group, J Tues., April 15th BOT, was a musician with an anti-social disposition. He needed bandmates, (from Portugal) but not enough to get Wed., April 16th along w/ other bandmates . . . so, he made robots. Robots who play music. plus Bonaparte Lagarde & the Conquerers This was all fine and dandy at first. Then his Thur., April 17th robots began to expose their personalities and agenda. The robots are Fri., April 18th evil, and they hate humans, and they are plus The Kenmores, planning a robot revoluZack The Rookie and Infinity tion to erase humanity. Sat., April 26th Their first step was to insert a biocerebreal micro chip into JBOT's plus The Bulemics brain, by which they now and The Pallbearers control his every move Sun., April 27th and could end his life if the desire moved them to.
Thur., April 10th
AD/DC
LES BATON ROUGES
WADSWORTH
THE WHITE OUTS OUTPLAY
PINK SWORDS
ANN BERETTA Fri., May 2nd
8 Bux xpieriment plus AVW Sat., May 4th
MACGILLICUDDYS plus Die Rotzz and Bonaparte Lagarde & the Conquerers Sun.,May 4th
CAPTURED! BY ROBOTS plus M.C. TRACHEOTOMY and QUINTRON Sat., May 10th
PYGMY plus Antenna Inn, Sam Sarah, and The Bruisers 2003 April
For now, the bots settle for painfully humiliating poor JBOT. They torture him regularily. They own him. He performs his show in chains and shackles with his guts hanging out at all times. Well, that's the Captured! By Robots story as it's been told to me. What little I do actually know about C!BR is that The band is one human to four robots who play amazingly catchy (and funny) rock'n'roll. All shows begin at 10 pm. $5 cover charge. New Orleans Beat Street Magazine 51
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donna’s FRIDAY, APRIL 11 AT 10:30PM
Big Chief Bo Dollis & The Wild Magnolias SATURDAY, APRIL 12 AT 10:30PM CHARLIE'S 68TH BIRTH DAY PARTY! FREE FOOD AND MORE!!
Leroy Jones Quintet FRIDAY, APRIL 18 AT 10:30PM
(504) 596-6914 800 north rampart
SATURDAY, APRIL 26 AT 10:30PM
Henry Butler TUESDAY, APRIL 29 & WEDNESDAY, APRIL 30
Bob French & Friends FRIDAY, MAY 2 AT 8:30PM
Treme Brass Band MIDNIGHT:
Treme Brass Band
Big Chief Bo Dollis & the Wild Magnolias
SATURDAY, APRIL 19 AT 10:30PM
SATURDAY, MAY 3 AT 8:30PM
Leroy Jones Quintet FRIDAY, APRIL 25 AT 10:30PM
Herlin Riley Quartet
SUNDAYS 9:30PM
Mama Digdown Brass Band 11:30PM:
Leroy Jones Quintet
MONDAYS 9:30PM
Shannon Powell Quartet Bob French & Friends F r e e ! ! BBQ Chicken, Red Beans & Rice (between sets every Monday) Donna’s has been the place where locals hang on Monday since the days when Kermit Ruffins held down the slot. Now your “Monday Date” is drummer Bob French. French hails from one of the premier musical families in New Orleans and his chops are time-tested. His act walks the line between jazz and R&B, and he always has a first-class band.
THURSDAYS 10:30PM Photo by Leni Sinclair
Shannon Powell is known the world over as a drummer’s drummer. His resume includes stints with such international stars as Harry Connick, Jr. and Diana Krall. His quartet is always loaded with talent, but most of all they just want to have fun playing in front of the ebullient bandleader. His grin is infectious. You’ll never believe you could have this much fun listening to jazz. Regulars with Shannon include Henry Butler, June Yamagishi, Davell Crawford and Donald Harrison, Jr.
52 New Orleans Beat Street Magazine
Evan Christopher & Tom McDermott Clarinetist Evan Christopher and pianist Tom McDermott lead a most interesting quartet. Backed by sousaphonist/bassist Matt Perrine and percussionist Michael Skinkus, they seek to find connections between early traditional music of New Orleans, Brazil and the Caribbean. A typical set might include a Scott Joplin rag, a Sidney Bechet tune, a Brazilian choro or two, a West Indian beguine, a 40's calypso from Trinidad, and a French musette. Refreshingly different music, served up with virtuosic style!
March 2003
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dos jefes
(504) 891-8500 5355 tchoupitoulas street
blue monday
tuesday
Ken Swartz 7 pm
Marlena Decker 7 pm
wednesday
Tom Hook 9:00 pm
Leigh “Lil’ Queenie” Harris 9:30 pm Friday, April 11, 10 pm Saturday, May 3, 10 pm
Jerry Jumonville & Jump City
Sunpie Barnes
Saturday, April 12, 10 pm
Sunday, May 4, 9:30 pm
Dave Ellington & Trio Chevere Sunday, April 13, 9 pm
Javier & Elegant Gypsy CD Release Party Thursday, April 17, 9:30 pm
Loren Pickford
Leroy Jones Thursday, May 8, 9:30 pm
Rebecca Barry Friday, May 9, 10 pm
Wendell Brunious Saturday, May 10, 10 pm
Los Goochie Goochie Boys
Friday, April 18, 10 pm
Rickie Castrillo & Dreamland Saturday, April 19, 10 pm
Wendell Brunious Thursday, April 24, 10 pm
Wendell Brunious Friday, April 25, 10 pm
Dr. Bone & the Hepcats Saturday, April 26, 10 pm
Lenny McDaniel Thursday, May 1, 9:30 pm
Los Tres Amigos Friday, May 2, 10 pm
Rickie Castrillo & Dreamland 2003 April
See Lenny McDaniel on Sat. Apr. 26.
New Orleans Beat Street Magazine 53
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maple leaf
(504) 866-LEAF 8316 oak street
SUNDAY
SUNDAYS
April 13 • 9pm
EVERETTE MADDOX MEMORIAL POETRY & PROSE READING SERIES
Stumpknockers April 20 • 9pm
Ramsey & Vaan
3 pm
MONDAYS April 27 • 9pm
Otra plus Los Hombres Calientes and ReBirth
Papa Grows Funk
May 4
TUESDAYS
Theresa Andersson
Rebirth
WEDNESDAY
Theresa Andersson _______ May 4
THURSDAY
Jon Cleary _______ May 2
FRIDAY
SATURDAY
April 16 & 23
April 17
April 11
April 12 & 19
Johnny Vidacovich Trio
Idletime
Papa Grows Funk
featuring
The Iguanas
Walter “Wolfman” Washington & the Roadmasters
George Porter, Jr. plus special guest April 30
Idletime plus
Mofro, 2 am
April 24
May 1
Juice plus Robert Walter's 20th Congress, 2 am
plus
Just a Bill April 18
Irene Sage Band April 25
Johnny Sansone
April 26
Bonerama plus
Juice
and May 3
Hubert Sumlin
Bonerama
plus
plus
Papa Grows Funk
Walter “Wolfman” Washington & the Roadmasters
May 2
Carlos Washington plus
and
Jon Cleary
Vinyl Walter Washington _______ April 12 & 19 May 8
Hubert Sumlin _______ April 25 Photo by Raeburn Flerlage
54 New Orleans Beat Street Magazine
Photo by Leni Sinclair
March 2003
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mermaid lounge Apr 11 Fri
(504) 524-4747 1100 constance street www.mermaidlounge.com
Apr 30 Wed
Apr 19 Sat
All That Rebecca Sonny Barry & Landreth Bust plus Johnny Sketch & the Dirty Notes
plus DJ Logic & Friends, 1a
Apr 12 Sat
Luther Wright & the Wrongs
Apr 23 Wed
Jeff & Vida plus Kim Ruehl Apr 24 Thu
Apr 13 Sun
The Thermals
Bonerama plus DJ Logic & Friends, 1a
plus Good Friday Experiment Apr 25 Fri Apr 14 Mon
Crooked Fingers plus Baptist Generals and Eldon Ahrold Apr 17 Thu
Electrical Spectacle Apr 18 Fri
Deadboy & the Elephantmen 2003 April
May 1 Thu Basin Street Records Presents
Jon Cleary & the Absolute Monster Gentlemen May 2 Fri
Lil Band Egg Yolk o’ Gold Jubilee plus DJ Logic & Friends, 1a
May 3 Sat Basin Street Records Presents
Henry Butler’s
Apr 26 Sat Apr 27 Sun Apr 28 Mon Apr 29 Tue
Funk Band
Charlie Hunter Rebirth Brass Band May 4 Sun
plus DJ Logic & Friends
plus Myself
New Orleans Beat Street Magazine 55
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snug harbor
626 frenchmen (504) 949-0696 www.snugjazz.com
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501 napoleon avenue (504) 895-8477 www.tipitinas.com
tipitina’s All shows 10 pm unless noted.
APR 10 THU KIM CARSON & THE CASUALTIES LIVE CD RECORDING APR 11 FRI GEORGE PORTER, JR. & HIS PARDNERS PLUS
HOT 8 BRASS
BAND
APR 12 SAT STRAIGHT FROM THE 6TH WARD CD RELEASE PARTY FEAT. LI'L RASCALS REBIRTH NEW BIRTH TREME PLUS THE 6TH WARD ALLSTARS BRASS BAND JAM APR 13 SUN 5-9P CAJUN FAIS DO-DO HADLEY CASTILLE
WITH
APR 15 TUE 9P HOMEGROWN NIGHT BACKHAND PLUS SHUTTER AND TOM VIOLENCE
WITH
APR 17 THU WILLEM! PLUS THE SUPERCARTERS APR 18 FRI 10:30P THE LATELYS PLUS BROTHERHOOD OF GROOVE AND SAARABA APR 19 SAT 10:30P BINGO PLUS LIQUIDRONE APR 20 SUN 5-9P BRUCE DAIGREPONT'S CAJUN FAIS DO DO APR 22 TUE 9P HOMEGROWN NIGHT WITH THE SMOKE FAERIES PLUS LOWERLINE AND OCTANE APR 23 WED HOUSEMAN'S LOUNGE FEAT. THERYL DECLOUET IVAN & IAN NEVILLE STANTON MOORE JUNE YAMAGISHI, TONY HALL BEN ELLMAN MARK MULLINS & MORE APR 24 THU TIPITINA'S FRENCH QUARTER NEW ORLEANS SLIDEMANIA WITH SONNY LANDRETH JOHN MOONEY PAPA MALI
T I C K E T S: 5 0 4 - 8 9 5 - T I P S
APR 24 THU GALACTIC PLUS ERIC LINDELL & CO. APR 25 FRI 2A KARL DENSON'S TINY UNIVERSE APR 25 FRI MARCIA BALL CD RELEASE PARTY PLUS JON CLEARY & THE ABSOLUTE MONSTER GENTLEMEN APR 26 SAT 2A KARL DENSON'S TINY UNIVERSE APR 26 SAT RADIATORS PLUS THE LI'L RASCALS BRASS BAND APR 27 SUN NORTH MISSISSIPPI ALLSTARS WITH SPECIAL GUEST DICKIE BETTS PLUS ANDERS OSBORNE AND HENRY BUTLER APR 28 MON 5P INSTRUMENTS A COMIN' BENEFIT FEAT. THE RADIATORS LEO NOCENTELLI & MORE APR 29 TUE 9P PORTER, BATISTE & STOLTZ PLUS BONERAMA, RUSSO BENEVENTO AND DJ MOTION POTION
O R W W W. T I P I T I N A S. C O M
APR 30 WED SOULIVE WITH SPECIAL GUEST JOHN SCOFIELD PLUS LETTUCE AND THE LI'L RASCALS MAY 2 FRI TIPITINA'S FRENCH QUARTER NEW ORLEANS 'FOG FEST' FEAT. ROBERT WALTER'S 20TH CONGRESS PLUS MOFRO AND LEGENDARY JCS MAY 2 FRI 2A G. LOVE & SPECIAL SAUCE MAY 2 FRI RADIATORS
PLUS
REBIRTH
MAY 3 SAT 2A KARL DENSON'S TINY UNIVERSE MAY 3 SAT 9P A NIGHT OF OLD SCHOOL WITH THE NEVILLE BROTHERS PLUS THE WILD MAGNOLIAS MAY 4 SUN LES CLAYPOOL'S FROG BRIGADE PLUS DRUMS & TUBA AND THE WORLD ACCORDION TO GLENN HARTMAN
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Poets on Poetry
JOHN SINCLAIR Culture Warrior By Su Zi Fattening Frogs For Snakes: Delta Sound Suite New Orleans: Surregional Press, 2002, 206 pp. Illustrations by Francis Pavy. Hardcover $25 ISBN 10931165-02-5. Paper $15 ISBN 1-931165-01-7. Accompanying CD on OkraTone Records (www.okratone.com). Introduction by Amiri Baraka. Contact mesechabe@hotmail.com or 504-944-4823.
T
h e r e a r e t h o s e of us for whom the homogenization of culture is an obscenity far exceeding that of taboo language; an offense in the exclusions created by the very marketing forces which promote unelected deities.
Not all of us are willing to abide the perverse amnesia insisted upon by the purveyors of our cultural marketplace whose primary interest seems to be mindnumbing numbers of items sold. We live in an art world which, as critic Raphael Rubinstein says, is “commercialized, capitalized and institutionalized” and he says we are encouraged to forget the past, or to keep it safely quarantined, perhaps never having known it in the first place.1 In such a situation, any reference to our own history is a history which is safely sanitized for public consumption. Any research is then institutionalized, funded, processed, designated by varying degrees of prestige and then locked up by category in a sort of intellectual zoo. Thus, the wildness is lost; the freedom to be as was meant to be becomes only the safely incarcerated glare of some rare species. We n e e d n o t s u b m i t and accept what we are served; we have options, choices beyond the hot lights of arena art, choices found in smaller venues and speaking in a power which reaches the original intent of culture — culture in its origin, its first manifestation: the human soul and that which calls us. An epitome of such undeified but powerful voice is blues scholar John Sinclair. His recently released book Fattening Frogs For Snakes is the result of decades of unfunded scholarship; and the book is also the product of the small, uninstitutionalized Surregional Press. The physical presence of the book itself is superior to that of many small press products; the hardbound edition boasts a glossy paper cover over its boards, crisp type, and chapter illustrations of superior quality than that of most larger house publica-
tions, but sells for an equal or lesser price. There is also a CD of the same title; a testament to Sinclair's commitment to culture as a whole. We m i g h t e x p e c t more than 20 years of scholarship to result in a text of unreadable density, but Sinclair crosses the boundaries of institutional expectations by reporting the results of his research in poetry. Beyond the chapters of poetry, there is an extensive appendix containing not only the references typical of scholarly work — pages of general bibliography and source notes — but also extensive discographies of those persons whose lifework has come to comprise Sinclair's own: Charley Patton, Howlin' Wolf, Sonny Boy Williamson, and a further cast of folks in the index. The poems themselves are directly from the research — Sinclair uses extensive quotations — and on the surface their content is biographical. We might still expect the dryness of scholarship or the postmodern puns of current poetic fashion, but Sinclair's work is neither: the poems are constructed with careful veracity to the spoken story of people's lives in griot style and the cadences and language choices of the source material is preserved here. Yet Sinclair's own resonance is also audible in these poems. There is a specificity of place-name which clearly informs of Sinclair's tight area of research: the blues as they originated in the Mississippi region of our country (with some excursions to Chicago and a place or two out West). These are poems about the blues, the people who made the blues; an honoring of those people who gave our country the rootstock from which all our current music has flowered. To those people living outside of New Orleans, the relevance of the blues might seem to be an exercise in the exotic; for those living outside of New Orleans, any music beyond today's Top 10 tunes might seem a strange and foreign entity; music is a part of daily life in New Orleans — the only city in America where music is always in the air, breathed by citizens of every caste.
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John Sinclair at the Detroit Institute of Arts by Leni Sinclair H ow f i t t i n g that Sinclair's book should be published by the unfunded Surregional Press, also of New Orleans, and of a press run of less than 2.000 copies. The commitment to culture is exemplified by both press and author, a commitment which has not yet bowed to lack of economic reward — although our collective financial fashions may undo us all. Sinclair himself addresses the usurping of culture for economic gain in the title poem of the book. It is the only poem in which Sinclair expresses overt authorial opinion; in most of the poems, he maintains no authorial presence beyond the sculpting of the poem from researched sources. The poem “Fattening Frogs For Snakes” is an indemnification of all cultural exploitation, but also remains specific to Sinclair's subject: that their bitter experience could be shaped into art of the highest possible order that would inform all of popular music for the rest of the century [...] & the music of the Delta would be appropriated & exploited beyond measure [...] & they would be left to face the terrible future of life in the ghetto with nothing to sustain them
nothing but the watered down sound of what was once their music played back at them [...] on every television set in America These are poems about people's lives: lives whose truth finds divinity in the transformation into an artform; people who might be, as James Baldwin said in “Sonny's Blues,” some sort of god or monster. But the monstrosity is not in the immortal resonance of the artform itself, it is in our ignorance of what critic David Kunian calls the “joys and suffering of the United States' most marginalized citizens.”2 I f w e , a s t ru t h f u l l ov e r s to and of culture, are to refuse and resist the genetically engineered products of culture blasted over the airwaves, cabled into our homes, and displayed in massproduced glare in our bookstores, then it is these marginalized and dedicated people with whom we must ally ourselves. It is with these artforms we find a deeper satisfaction and it is with these yet unrevered artists, writers, scholars, and their ever-battling small presses and small production companies to whom we owe our hard-earned wages and our gratitude. Citations: 1Raphael Rubinstein ,”A Quiet Crisis,” Art in America, NY: Brant Art Publications, March 2003, p 39. 2David Kunian “Suite Relief,” Gambit Weekly, New Orleans, 10 December 2002, p 47.
Su Zi’s website is www.gnosticsuzi.com
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DO YOU LIVE ON BEAT STREET
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The residents of Beat Street are musicians and artists and everyone who loves them. The perspective of B e a t S t r e e t is finely focused. We promise to expose our readers to the nuances of the music scene in New Orleans. To help you decide what to do on your nights out, our listings provide you with information to make decisions about what acts you want to see, even on the run. Our goal is to provide quick informative reads that will direct music lovers to real New Orleans music made by real New Orleans musicians. When we say N e w O r l e a n s B e a t S t r e e t , what we really mean is, “No B.S.�
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“Dante’s Kitchen could only exist in New Orleans. It’s the kind of place you take out-of-town guests when you want to show them the spirit of the city as experienced through something other than a gumbo.” Gambit Weekly — Sara Roahen
Page 3
contemporary louisiana comfort food 736 Dante Street New Orleans 861.3121 www.danteskitchen.com
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Frenchy Gallery 319 Royal Street 504.561.5885 signed prints available
www.frenchylive.com