Doreen Ketchens — from New Orleans to Sisters

By Ceili Gatley, The Nugget Newspaper

It’s a long way from the street scene of New Orleans to the Sisters Folk Festival stage, but for Doreen Ketchens it’s all about that jazz.

Ketchens, who plays the jazz clarinet, began her musical journey at 6 years old, growing up in the flourishing music scene of New Orleans.

Ketchens picked up the clarinet in the school band and was happy that she chose that instrument, as every other girl in her class played the flute. She had the opportunity to play in some of the most renowned school bands in New Orleans, including John F. Kennedy High School. Ketchens got a scholarship for clarinet playing to Loyola University in New Orleans. Ketchens met her husband, Lawrence Ketchens, at Loyola. He was an arranger and sousaphonist.

During her junior year, she transferred to the Hartt School, a performing arts conservatory in Hartford, Connecticut. She left the Hartt School to make a life with Ketchens, six credits short of graduating.

Ketchens and her husband moved back to New Orleans, and she began finding her love for jazz music.

“I had grown up playing classical music and wanted to learn jazz, which in turn I figured out to be a lot about improvising and learning from others,” said Ketchens.

Ketchens and her husband began playing in the streets of New Orleans, in the French Quarter, and Ketchens would sit in with other musicians on the clarinet.

She was talented in the art of reading music, but quickly realized that jazz was a different type of musical genre entirely.

“Jazz wasn’t the same. You have to be more creative and improvise with jazz and learn by doing,” she said.

Ketchens played with a musician named Pud Brown, who could play any instrument.

“I would sit next to him in the Quarter, and ask him questions about how he can solo so well, and I then started learning some of those solos and copying them,” she said.

Ketchens learned to play jazz by interpreting solos and playing the melodies over and over. During their time performing in the streets of New Orleans, Ketchens worked as a chef and homed in on her passion for jazz.

“If I wasn’t in love with my husband as much as I am, I would not be a jazz performer today,” she said.

Ketchens was nicknamed “Lady Louis” because of her ability to hit and hold powerful high notes, and her love of Louis Armstrong’s performance style. She has performed with Ellis Marsalis, Jon Faddis, Trombone Shorty, The Black Crowes, and other notable names in music.

She played her first jazz gig at the 1987 Republican National Convention with her husband and his band. Her first band with Lawrence was called the Jackson Square All- Stars. That band evolved into Doreen’s Jazz, New Orleans. After struggling to enter the world of jazz performances, they finally settled on a formula of playing together, and have since been entertaining audiences with their streetperformance style.

“It was sheer dumb luck; people would hear us and like us and some of those people were important in the music industry, so we started booking gigs. Nowadays, it is easier for people to hear us digitally and that’s how we get a lot of festival bookings, instead of applying to play at them like we used to,” she said.

Ketchens and her band still perform on the streets of the French Quarter every weekend, paying homage to where they began, while booking festivals and gigs throughout the United States. She has performed and been a part of several documentaries about New Orleans and the street-music scene as well.

The band and Ketchens perform original jazz pieces, as well as requested covers of old jazz songs, including lots of Louis Armstrong.

“A lot of people request a lot of Motown-style music, and we just try to figure out the crowd and what type of songs they are going to enjoy and like,” said Ketchens.

This will be Ketchens’ first time to Sisters, performing for the Sisters Folk Festival crowd. Creative Director Brad Tisdel saw Ketchens and her band performing in the French Quarter during a visit to New Orleans, and tried for a couple of years to get Ketchens to the Festival. This year, the timing worked out. Ketchens will be bringing her husband, playing the sousaphone, as well as a guitar player, and drummer with her. Ketchens has over 30 albums to her name, so she will be bringing some of those along with her. “Come out and enjoy some of our music and hear some jazz band music. I am so excited to be there and see the mountains,” said Ketchens.

Doreen Ketchens brings her jazz stylings to Sisters Folk Festival for the first time.