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LOUISIANA MUSIC, FOOD & CULTURE—JAZZ FEST 2015 Free In Metro New Orleans US $5.99 CAN $6.99 £UK 3.50

...why his music makes us happy.

Letters, 12

a ge Insert, p

Happy Music

Mojo Mouth, 14

What Fats Domino Fresh, 16 means to New Orleans.

ide u G e t e Compl est to Jazz F Map & Schedules

Chaz Fest; Breaux Bridge Crawfish Festival; Greek Fest; My Music with Nigel Hall; Neville Brothers Reunion; 10 NOLA songs; Bill Crowell’s art; Drew Brees’ Gig Town; Upbeat Academy; Five questions with Zared Zeller on Bayou Boogaloo.

BLAST FROM THE PAST “Lifetime Achievement in Music: Fats Domino” By John Swenson, January 2007

JAZZ FEST Features Our

26 A Culture That Deserves Preserving: Are we are steering away from it? 29 Do You Hear Angels Sing? OffBeat tallies Jazz Fest’s auditory reach. 30 The New Cajun Sound: Feufollet takes flight. 34 A New Orleans Groove: Delfeayo Marsalis on what jazz actually is and represents. 36 We love Big Chief: The legacy of Theodore Emile “Bo” Dollis. 44 Ministering to the Crowd: Veronica Downs-Dorsey’s McDonogh 35 Gospel Choir. 46 More than Embers: Ray Abshire picks up the musical torch of his family members. 48 Wrecking Crew: Trumpet Mafia’s family will continue to grow. 50 Signing and Singing: Yvette Landry expresses the music physically. 52 Sound Seeker: Charles Lloyd’s offering to the human condition. 56 Look for that Feeling: Kenny Garrett’s happy journey. 58 Heathens from the Bayou: BeauSoleil’s 40 year journey. 62 I Don’t Play Jazz: Nicholas Payton’s box of Crayola.

Obituary, 24 Lady BJ

Jazz Fest A-Z, 70 Crawfish Fiesta, 110 Crawfish go to Jazz Fest.

In the Spirit, 112 Paul Gustings at Empire Bar mixes up the Douce-Doucet for David Doucet.

OffBeat Eats, 114 Debbie Davis is In the Spot at Stein’s Deli and Peter Thriffiley reviews 1000 Figs.

Listings, 126 Backtalk, 134 Pete Townshend

After Hurricane Katrina, Fats Domino emerged with a smile. He never went far from his birthplace at 1937 Jourdan Ave., building his famous home only a few blocks away when he could have constructed his own version of Graceland anywhere he wanted to. More at www.offbeat.com/issues/ january-2007/.

Fest Focuses 102 Tony Hall 103 Angelique Kidjo 104 Monty Alexander 105 Ceceil Savant 106 Christian McBride 108 Becky Fos Web Only: Taj Mahal

Reviews, 116 Irvin Mayfield, Kermit Ruffins, Marc Stone, Johnny Sansone, Aurora Nealand and Tom McDermott, Spencer Bohren, and more.

Rewind, 124 Paul Sanchez rewinds Law of the Fish with Ed Volker.

JA ZZ FEST BI BLE 2 015

Letters

that people “The reason , is the charm love NOLA re the city, the lifestyle of in it e k li ce pla is no other ” the country. , Elk ck e n —Steve Susa ois n li Il , e Grove Villag

Louisiana Music, Food & Culture

Jazz Fest Bible 2015 Publisher and Editor-in-Chief Jan V. Ramsey, janramsey@offbeat.com Managing Editor Joseph L. Irrera, josephirrera@offbeat.com Consulting Editor John Swenson

NO PLACE LIKE NOLA The following is in response to Jan Ramsey’s blog “Are More Visitors Really What We Need?,” wherein she suggests, “Maybe we should think more about the quality of visitors and less about the quantity… visitors who are more likely to spend more money, stay here longer and who are more appreciative of our culture.”—Ed. In the words of Yogi Berra “the place is so crowded that nobody goes there anymore.” We have been going to New Orleans several times a year for a long time. We like going there so much that we bought a small place in the CBD and have become involved in local arts. There have indeed been monumental changes in the city since the storm, some good and some bad. Tourism is a necessary evil for a city like New Orleans, it always has been and always will be, but it doesn’t have to change the fabric of the culture. Bourbon Street has always been what it is and always will be—just don’t go there. The problem goes deeper than the quality of tourists that come here. It lies in the people that live here. The reason that people love NOLA is the charm, lifestyle of the city, there is no other place like it in the country. When that is lost and there is a Starbucks on every corner and NOLA become every town USA then the game is over. Don’t let NOLA turn into Key West, just another stop on the cruise. —Steve Susaneck, Elk Grove Village, Illinois As we all agree, tourism is critical to the livelihood of New Orleans. One in seven jobs here depend on it. The New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau and the New Orleans Tourism Marketing Corporation are tasked to entice people to visit the city, thereby supporting continued economic growth. Our top priority is ensuring that we have sustainable growth; respect, restore and preserve our infrastructure; and honor

our traditions to ensure a rich quality of life for locals, long after popular seasons are over. As far as “partygoers,” these alone wouldn’t grow New Orleans’ economy, but we know that the city’s rich culture is what makes NOLA a special brand that appeals to a bigger psychographic group of more adventurous travelers, one that we have termed the “experiential discoverer.” This person craves authenticity, history and heritage and wants to immerse themselves in the fabric of the city to experience our local spirit in a mutuallybeneficial way. Our present strategy is to target consumers with high intent to travel earlier in the week and who are influential in advising other like-minded travelers to consider traveling here once they return home. Our campaign is focused on pursuing these new kinds of travelers—the cultural discoverers, accomplished creatives, lovers of music and the arts, and a growing international segment of travelers from Europe, Canada and Latin America and Asia: people that have the travel bug and are searching for an inspiring place to visit. New Orleans is unique and our communications model will continue to tell this story of the “real” New Orleans. The NOLA brand now ranks at the top of the industry for travel. We are determined to ensure these visitors provide benefit with increased spending and returning stays. —J. Stephen Perry, President and CEO, New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau; Mark C. Romig, President and CEO, New Orleans Tourism Marketing Corp. Note: This letter was condensed; the full letter can be read online at offbeat.com

RUSSELL WELCH Regarding Robert Fontenot’s April 2015 CD review of the Russell Welch Hot Quartet. That [violin pretending to be a] theremin is actually a musical saw, played masterfully by Dr. Sick. [New Orleans songwriter multiinstrumentalist, violinist and guitarist]. —Jason Jurzak, New Orleans, Louisiana

OffBeat welcomes letters from its readers—both comments and criticisms. To be considered for publication, all letters must be signed and contain the current address and phone number of the writer. Letters to the editor are subject to editing for length or content deemed objectionable to OffBeat readers. Please send letters to Editor, OffBeat Publications, 421 Frenchmen St., Suite 200, New Orleans, LA 70116.

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Food Editor Elsa Hahne, elsahahne@offbeat.com Listings Editor Katie Walenter, listings@offbeat.com Web Editor Stephen Maloney, stevemaloney@offbeat.com Contributors Rory Callais, Laura DeFazio, Frank Etheridge, Robert Fontenot, Elsa Hahne, Thomas Jacobsen, David Kunian, Brett Milano, Jennifer Odell, Nick Pittman, Paul Sanchez, Brittney Schering, Steve Steinberg, John Swenson, Peter Thriffiley, Dan Willging, Geraldine Wyckoff Cover Tim Neil Design/Art Direction Elsa Hahne, elsahahne@offbeat.com Editorial and Promotions Laura DeFazio, lauradefazio@offbeat.com Advertising Sales Malcolm Finkelstein, malcolm@offbeat.com Brandt Vicknair, brandtvicknair@offbeat.com Advertising Design PressWorks, 504-944-4300 Business Manager Joseph L. Irrera Interns Marissa Altazan, Noé Cugny, Jacqueline Kulla, Sierra Motsinger Distribution Patti Carrigan, Doug Jackson OffBeat (ISSN# 1090-0810) is published monthly in New Orleans by OffBeat, Inc., 421 Frenchmen St., Suite 200, New Orleans, LA 70116 (504) 944-4300 • fax (504) 944-4306 e-mail: offbeat@offbeat.com, web site: www.offbeat.com facebook.com/offbeatmagazine twitter.com/offbeatmagazine Copyright © 2015, OffBeat, Inc. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the consent of the publisher. OffBeat is a registered trademark of OffBeat, Inc. First class subscriptions to OffBeat in the U.S. are available for $45 per year ($52 Canada, $105 foreign airmail). Back issues are available for $10, except for the May issue for $16 (for foreign delivery add $6, except for the May issue add $4). Submission of photos and articles on Louisiana artists are welcomed, but unfortunately material cannot be returned.

MOJO MOUTH

Welcome to Jazz Fest

elcome to the wonderful New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and to this issue of OffBeat, our first-ever, stand-alone Jazz Fest Bible. You might have read our Jazz Fest Bible before, we’ve done it forever, but it always counted as our regular May issue with extra Jazz Fest content, and that is no more. We’re now doing 13 issues a year. Many of our advertisers and readers asked us to concentrate this issue on the Fest, and we have. Our music club and events listings are solely focused on the city’s most music-intense time of the year. You’ll see another OffBeat issue the first week of May that will be the official program for the city’s upand-coming music festival, Bayou

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Boogaloo, Mid-City’s celebration of music, food and culture on May 1517 on the shores of the bayou. If you enjoy this issue of OffBeat, we’d welcome the opportunity to send you a copy each month when you subscribe. It’s absolutely the best way to keep up with what’s going on here for people who want to know about the authentic New Orleans experience. It’s all explained on our website. Go to www.offbeat.com/product-category/ subscriptions/ or scan the code on this page for quicker access. OffBeat needs your support and readership in this age of digitized editorial content. Yes, we have great digital content too, but our reputation for in-depth coverage of the local music and culture scene is still rooted in print.

There are new recording studios showing up in this issue. One of them is The Parlor, an idea that’s taken years to create. Its owners and operators are beginning a major move into New Orleans to consolidate recording, artist development and management, as well as event promotion and production. New Orleans is growing rapidly, with a whole new group of young people who see the city as the best place to be, and music, entertainment and restaurants are thriving—we know this because they tell us so. We see it as OffBeat’s job to try to educate and enthrall newcomers with the unbelievably rich culture of the city, something that not only needs to be nurtured and supported, but

challenged and renewed. This is also the time of year where I publicly thank the people who make OffBeat possible. It takes a lot of folks to keep this business alive: writers, photographers, editors, graphic designers, advertising and marketing people, distribution staff, promotional people and volunteers who support what we do. And then, of course, there are our advertisers—who understand the importance of New Orleans music, culture and cuisine and partner with us monthly to keep what we do viable. Our subscribers are an integral part of the OffBeat “family.” We hope you’ll join us. —Jan Ramsey

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MY MUSIC: Nigel Hall

Photo: willow haley

St. Joseph's Night OffBeat.com

BREAUX BRIDGE CRAWFISH FESTIVAL

SUCK THE HEAD

“I

’m going to Stevie Wonder tonight. I grew up listening to Stevie Wonder. We all did—if you were born in the last 40 years, then you know who Stevie Wonder is. The first record of his that I listened to all the way through was Songs in the Key of Life, just because it was so deep. I could hear how deep it was, even as a kid. Back then, I used to listen to records by looking at their covers and be like, ‘This looks cool,’ and pick that one. Songs in the Key of Life, that’s one of the coolest album covers of all time. I play keyboards, I sing, I play bass. I play all instruments, really, but keyboards are my thing. I never had lessons, so I don’t know what formal music is. I know people that know what formal music is, and it’s really difficult. I can’t read music, never been able to. There was a point where I felt like I wanted to, but I don’t think I really need to. It’s still something that I don’t think I could wrap my head around, even to this day. I’ve talked to professors about it. I could write a chart and say, ‘This is G major,’ and I know enough to know the difference between major and minor and I know my chords. But I don’t know what the flat seven is. I

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don’t know what the flat five is. I don’t know what any of that is. But if I hear it, I can play it. If I hear it one time, maybe two times, then I can play it. I was four when I can first actually remember touching a piano. My grandmother had a piano, and when I pressed a note and it made a sound, the way it sounded—that did something to me. I’m 33 now, and I’ve been chasing that feeling ever since. I like playing with a band—I really can’t stand doing solo gigs. It’s too much pressure on me. There’s nobody to hide behind. I love playing in New Orleans, there’s nothing better than playing in New Orleans. I go out on the road for weeks at a time and play everywhere, and you’d think I’d be tired of playing by the time I got home. But if I come home and I got a gig, then I’m ready to play. I’m always ready to play. I’m always playing with my friends—it’s all my homies. It’s like, ‘Okay let’s get together and have some fun. Have a couple of drinks and have some fun.’ I’m not from here. I’m from D.C. I’ve lived here for a couple of years. But I’m in. I’m having fun. This is definitely home—I’m not going anywhere.” —Frank Etheridge

Crawfish season is in full swing once again, and with it comes the return one of the biggest “only in Louisiana” festivals: the Breaux Bridge Crawfish Festival. Taking place at Parc Hardy in Breaux Bridge, Louisiana, from May 1st through May 3rd, this multiple-awardwinning celebration of everyone’s favorite crustacean began in 1960 as a spin-off of the town’s Centennial Celebration. In the past 50 plus years, it’s grown into a three-day, fullon smorgasbord of delicious local food items, non-stop music from some of the most acclaimed artists in the area, and lots of crawfish-themed activities. The festival is run by the Breaux Bridge Crawfish Festival Association, a volunteer organization dedicated to supporting the state’s crawfish industry and the unique culture of its Cajun country. Every year, they allocate money to local schools and to scholarship funds, and they’ve donated $1.3 million to date to civic organizations and city improvements. This year, festivities will kick off on Friday with a celebrity crawfish eating

SWEET TWEETS @JasonMarsalis How many have noticed that Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” sounds like [Rick James' "Give It To Me Baby"]? #MarvinGayeLawsuit @AlisonF_NOLA (Alison Fensterstock) Just overheard a 20-year-old frat boy in a rainbow tie-dye at Buku announce that vinyl is making a big comeback, so I guess that clinches it. @paynic (Nicholas Payton) You can try to get rid of Black people, but you can’t escape Black culture. #BAM @shamarrallen Early on @kanyewest “HAD” the potential to lead us as a younger generation. The knowledge to be a modern day #MLK. Where did it go wrong? @Pete_Townshend Music changes the way you live in the world. It changes the way you see it. But it doesn’t change the world itself. @ericbolivar One of the strange things about my career arc is that I’ve only played @sxsw once. Some hate the game but I like meeting new people. @JohnMichaelVibe (John Michael Bradford) Just landed in New York!! Very excited for my audition at Juilliard tomorrow!!! @mcbridesworld (Christian McBride) I mean, really, don’t you think more people would give jazz a chance if we even THOUGHT about taking shorter solos? @TourSync Is this your bathroom @Stanton_Moore? This is awesome!

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Photo: frank etheridge

SOUNDCHECK: Five Questions with Jared Zeller, Founder and producer of the Bayou Boogaloo

hat excites you the most about this year’s Bayou Boogaloo? As far as the festival goes, being able to make it and call it the 10th annual festival is pretty cool. We also have some new partnerships, one of which is becoming more clearly defined, and that’s our 5K run with Zulu [Social Aid & Pleasure Club]. This year we were able to get the race to end at the festival. Our mission is to promote art, culture and recreation, so we’re excited to promote the recreation aspect of the festival. Which aspect of organizing a festival such as this do you think would surprise people the most? I think it’s just the amount of work that goes into it. I don’t think people realize the potential obstacles, the sponsorship solicitation negotiations, making neighbors happy because it is a community event. We have such a small staff with limited resources. That makes it hard for us. Some locals have voiced the opinion that, in the years following Katrina, so many festivals have popped up that it’s become too much, to the point where it’s diluting this rich Louisiana tradition. Do you think there’s any truth to that? We started in 2006, so I think the timing was right, because I felt like it was something we really needed as a community to celebrate why we’re moving back to New Orleans. But now? Look at Hogs for the Cause, Buku Fest. There seems to be room if you have a niche. A king cake festival. A daiquiri festival. The [Oak Street] Po-Boy Festival. Freret Street Festival. It’s amazing—it’s really difficult to find a weekend now where there’s not a festival. Plans are in the works to expand the Bayou Boogaloo concept to the Northshore, to Bayou Bonfouca

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in Slidell, in 2016. How is the planning and permitting process in St. Tammany Parish compared to that in Orleans Parish? We have learned a lot producing [Bayou Boogaloo] so we know how much it takes to get municipalities on board and get the community excited about an event. We’ve been talking about Slidell for almost a year now. We had a meeting with the [Slidell] City Council, and while they were reluctant to give away the farm in terms of support, they were really excited about the possibility. So that’s encouraging. When you look at the New Orleans City Council, which is just bombarded with special-event requests, it takes a couple of months to just get the permitting together. Slidell just doesn’t have that type of demand for special events, so thus far it’s been relatively easy to get to the councilmembers. The Greener Bayou St. John Coalition has argued that the public greenspace along the bayou is overused, even abused, by special events. How do you respond to that? We have Faubourg St. John, MidCity and Parkview [neighborhood organizations] and the newer one, Greener Bayou St. John. Three out of four neighborhood groups overwhelmingly want the festival here. So as long as the majority wants it and logistically we can pull it off, then we want to keep it there. We think our improvement projects are valuable to the neighborhood over the long-term: planting trees, the antilitter campaign and we also want to help stock the bayou with large-mouth bass. We really want to encourage recreation, obviously in partnership with the Lafitte Corridor and what that’s going to bring to the neighborhood. It seems like not only us but the city is in alignment with creating recreational opportunities along the bayou. —Frank Etheridge

contest. An opento-all contest will follow on Saturday, and if you want to break the record, you’ll need to pack away over 55 pounds of the little critters. Make sure to save some appetite, though. Dozens of vendors will be on hand to dole out crawfish étouffée, crawfish pies, crawfish po-boys, boudin beignets, foot-long corn dogs, jambalaya, gator-on-a-stick, funnel cakes, fudge, and countless other regional specialties. The world-famous crawfish races return once again this year, along with an étouffée cook-off, Cajun and Zydeco dance contests, a carnival midway, handcrafted arts and crafts, and a parade in honor of this year’s Crawfish Queen. To fully immerse yourself in Cajun culture, be sure to check out the Breaux Bridge Heritage Tent, featuring accordionmaking lessons, the traditional card game “Bourré,” and more. The festival is known almost as much for its music as its food, and this year’s spectacular lineup includes Bon Soir, Catin, Roddy Romero & the Hub City All-Stars, Chris Ardoin & NuStep Zydeco, Wayne Toups & Zydecajun, Geno Delafose & French Rockin’ Boogie, Chubby Carrier & the Bayou Swamp Band, and more! We’ll have a complete lineup on OffBeat.com. Admission is $5 Friday or Sunday, $10 Saturday, or $15 for a 3-day pass. —Laura DeFazio

TEN NOLA SONGS This month’s playlist is dedicated to everyone making their annual pilgrimage for Jazz Fest, with 10 of the best songs we know about the city where it all goes on. Fats Domino “Walking to New Orleans”: There are few greater songs about this city, and no better one to start a Jazz Fest trip. When you show up at the airport and see the lines to check in, you may understand why Fats considered making the journey on foot. Earl King “No City Like New Orleans”: “Welcome to the city where people like to eat”—Perfect opening for a song with a slinky, quintessentially New Orleans groove. Earl is gone, but we’re glad to say that George Porter Jr., the bassist on this track, still performs it live with the Runnin’ Partners. Li’l Queenie & the Percolators: “My Darlin’ New Orleans”: To these ears, Leigh Harris’ voice on this classic track—sexy, festive and warm-spirited—is the voice of the city itself. Harris is much missed. She’s hardly played in town at all since her post-Katrina move to North Carolina. Kermit Ruffins “Drop me off in New Orleans”: Kermit himself seems to leave home as infrequently as possible, but he dedicates this one to non-locals: “If you’re not from New Orleans, let me hear you scream.” So how come the crowd at Vaughan’s, on the night he recorded this song live, sounds like it’s all out-of-towners? Harry Connick, Jr. “Oh, My NOLA”: Harry proves that it’s possible to be a bit too effusive in praise of this city—despite the lyric, it’s okay to admit that people who live here might have a care or two at one time or another. But as a song designed to lift spirits in the wake of Katrina, this ’07 track is still touching. New Orleans Jazz Vipers “I Hope You’re Coming Back to New Orleans”: A more specific post-Katrina song, and a reminder that “Stormy weather may come and go, Mother Nature may put on her show.” Take those lyrics to heart if one of those Jazz Fest storms makes you duck into the T-shirt booth for an hour. Anders Osborne “Summertime in New Orleans”: This easygoing tune doesn’t quite mention everything about summers in town—he missed the flash floods and the road construction—but it does capture the joys of having a neighbor with a pool and hearing Kermit and Irma on WWOZ. Dr. John “Sweet Home New Orleans”: Here’s proof that you can take this city’s spirit wherever you go: This rousing anthem, one of his most NOLAcentric songs of the past couple decades, is from Anutha Zone, the album he made in London. The Meters “Talkin’ ’bout New Orleans”: Not only does this song have an infectious chorus, a killer Porter/Nocentelli breakdown and a tasty arrangement (strings on a Meters record!), it will teach you the correct way to pronounce “Vieux Carre.” Louis Armstrong “Do you know what it means to miss New Orleans”: When the Fest is over, your hangover is kicking in, and you’ve just found out that your connecting flight is delayed three hours in Duluth, you can start playing this one. —Brett Milano

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AND ALL THAT CHAZ TURNING PRO

nspired by the Hunter S. Thompson quote, “When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro,” local artist and University of New Orleans Fine Arts graduate Bill Crowell recently put the 610 Stompers—the all-male, mustachioed dance team—on canvas. The painting is part of a series entitled “Happy Hour,” on view at the Jean Bragg Gallery at 600 Julia Street during the month of May. “I had become interested in the concept of a painting within a painting,” Crowell said about his new series. “That suggested a bar to me, since traditionally, a painting hung behind the bar. And bar scenes are generally happy scenes, another factor that appealed to me.” One of the paintings in the show, “Thursday Night in the Swamp,” shows a man and a woman sitting far apart in a bar in front of an enormous painting of alligators laying about in about the same way as the bar patrons, waiting for something tasty to come along, without worrying too much about it. Bill Crowell said his own favorite cocktail is a Bloody Mary with a healthy shot of Tabasco, ideally at his favorite bar, La Riviera, the rooftop bar by the pool at the Omni Royal Orleans, because of its great view of the river and the French Quarter. If you can’t find him there, you might find him at the Jean Bragg Gallery for the opening reception of “Happy Hour” on May 2, 6-9 p.m. —Elsa Hahne

IT’S ALL GREEK TO ME

he 42nd annual New Orleans Greek Festival is set to take place over Memorial Day weekend, May 22-24, bringing three days of Greek food, music and entertainment to the scenic banks of Bayou St. John. The festival is hosted by the Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church, which turned 150 last year. Founded in 1864, it’s the oldest Greek Orthodox Church in the Americas, located at 1200 Robert E. Lee Boulevard. Goat burgers, gyros, souvlaki, calamari, and feta fries are just a few crowd favorites at the festival, not to mention baklava sundaes. Admission is $7, and children under 12 get in for free (as well as toga wearers on Sunday!).

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fter a year hiatus, there will be a ChazFest in 2015. The Ninth Ward local music festival, named after the irrepressible washboard virtuoso “Washboard” Chaz Leary, will be held on Wednesday, April 29, right in between the two weekends of Jazz Fest. “I’m in a band with him called The Tin Men, and have been since 2000,” said Alex McMurray, founder of the festival, when asked about “Washboard” Chaz Leary. He went on to say, “We always joke around when we’re trying to ‘beg for tips’ at our shows, and we say things like, ‘win a dream date with Chaz,’ and one of the jokes we say is ‘Chaz Fest’ because, you know, it rhymes with Jazz Fest.” McMurray explained that the year after Hurricane Katrina, the number of slots and days at Jazz Fest was significantly reduced. As a result, a lot of people—mainly the locals—were not getting gigs the way that they used to before the storm. A few musicians took note of this change and decided to start an alternative neighborhood festival in 2006 to honor the great local talent here. Chaz Fest has been held every year since, with the exception of last year. Named “Best Neighborhood Festival” in OffBeat’s Best of the Beat Awards, McMurray explained what makes it stand out from the rest amidst what is fittingly called “festival season.” “Chaz Fest is held on private property, and it’s a funky spot,” he said. “The property is four houses that share a large lot in the middle of the city. Four houses, and if you go through the alley, it opens up into this huge, open space.” McMurray shared that the property used to be home to horses and fruit trees, as well as a cigar factory, back in the day. “There’s some shade and sheds. It’s a cool looking spot,” he said. “The vibe is different from your normal fest with the typical food

booths. It’s kind of funky and weird.” When it comes to the eclectic festival’s CHAZ FEST offered eats, The Joint WEDNESDAY is a BBQ place that has APRIL 29 been with Chaz Fest since the beginning. As for the best memory of the festival thus far, McMurray shared that two years ago New Orleans was experiencing a period of very intense rain the week before and even on the day of Chaz Fest. “Only one spot in the entire city didn’t get any rain that day, and it was us,” he said. “There are weather maps to prove it.” Chaz Fest tickets are available for $30 at chazfestival.com, and they can also be bought at the event, which will be held at The Truck Farm at 3020 St. Claude Avenue, for $35. “Just show up at The Truck Farm for the best Wednesday in New Orleans you ever had.” The lineup for the two-stage event is as follows: Hard Liqueur Main Stage Meschiya Lake & the Little Big Horns, 12p Schatzy, 1:15p Hot 8 Brass Band, 2:45p Debauche, 4:15p Matt Perrine & Sunflower City, 5:45p Brian Coogan Band, 7:30p Happy Talk Band, 9p Bywater Juke Joint Side Stage The Tom Paines, 12:45p Helen Gillet & Other Instruments, 2p My Graveyard Jaw, 3:45p The Geraniums, 5:05p Washboard Chaz Blues Trio, 6:35p Ratty Scurvics, 8:30p —Brittney Schering

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KEEPING THINGS UPBEAT NEVILLE BROTHERS REUNITE FOR TRIBUTE CONCERT

Photo: erika goldring

Photo: frank etheridge

rt, Aaron, Charles and Cyril Neville will play it again May 2 at the Saenger Theater, reuniting the legendary Neville Brother Band for a tribute concert. The brothers will share the stage with celebrity guests including Widespread Panic and a host of New Orleans musicians who’ve been part of a shared culture: players like Trombone Shorty, Galactic, Allen Toussaint, Terence Blanchard, Anders Osborne, and the great vocalists Irma Thomas and John Boutte. The event will be recorded for producer Keith Wortman, who has put together similar shows for Johnny Cash, Levon Helm, Gregg Allman and Mavis Staples and also produced last year’s tribute to Dr. John at the Saenger. Don Was will serve once again as musical director. The show is not so much of a final concert as a reunion to enhance the band’s legacy with a special event. At the same time, the show will be a Last Waltz-style tribute to a golden era of New Orleans R&B stretching from Art’s work with the Hawkettes and Aaron’s 1960s hit “Tell It Like It Is” through Nevilles classics like “Yellow Moon” and “My Blood.” Though each of the brothers worked as musicians, they didn’t record together until their uncle George Landry, also known as Big Chief Jolly of the Wild Tchoupitoulas Mardi Gras Indians, enlisted the brothers to back him on the Wild Tchoupitoulas album in 1976. That group never recorded again, but Art Neville answered his mother Naomi Neville’s request to form a family band with his brothers. “I saw my mother just before she died, and she told me it’s going to be all right if you keep those boys together,” Art said. “I tried my best. Things happen.” What happened was Hurricane Katrina and a months-long evacuation that scattered New Orleans families all over the country, permanently weakening the city’s social structure. The Neville Brothers were one of the casualties of the evacuation. Only Art was able to stay in New Orleans, although Cyril was able to return a few years later. The Nevilles had the honor of closing the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival every year, a tradition that was broken in Katrina’s aftermath. The group returned to the Jazz Fest stage once more in 2008. “That was the 30th anniversary of the Neville Brothers,” said Cyril. “That whole show was a tribute to the Neville Brothers, starting with the Wild Tchoupitoulas. Every Jazz Fest used to be a family reunion for the Neville family. Cousins from all over the country would come, and people from right home in town that you hadn’t seen would show up. You might not see them the rest of the year, but you’d see them at the Jazz and Heritage Festival.” —John Swenson

“I

can certainly relate to a kid in the school system—maybe because they’re bored, maybe because they’re not engaged in the right way— being labeled as having behavior issues, because I was,” says Matthew Zarba. “Though I prefer to think that’s just being a kid with a big personality.” Zarba is today director of the Upbeat Academy, a nascent New Orleans nonprofit blossoming in its full academic year in operation. The school operates with a mission of “providing underprivileged at-risk children with an opportunity to learn how to produce and perform the type of music they listen to and dream of creating with a focus on electronic dance music and hip-hop.” A Loyola University graduate who majored in creative writing, Zarba credits music with charting him on the right course in life. His passion for penning hip-hop rhymes now has him leading local kids on similar paths toward success in the music world. “I see the change in them as soon as they hit the studio door. They walk in, they glance

at the [Upbeat Academy] logo, and instantly their posture changes to a positive one.” Now boasting 22 students—hailing from high schools including West Jeff, Ben Franklin, Landry, Karr and ReNew—Upbeat began as part of the NFL’s charitable outreach efforts in 2013. As director of a nonprofit, Zarba has taken on responsibilities in grant writing, forging partnerships with similar local programs and soliciting donations. Zarba has secured 10 Digital Audio Work Stations for the studio, where he helps the students navigate software such as Fruity Loops. “I ask the band directors around town for students interested in music and music production,” Zarba explains. “We’re working toward a finished project, mastering a five-song EP.” Upbeat Academy’s director says that when it comes to the students and harnessing their passion for music, it’s actually quite simple: “I just tell them, ‘It’s y’all’s studio—take good care of it.” —Frank Etheridge

GIGTOWN New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees is bringing GigTown, an innovative new way for musicians to book gigs through a smartphone app, to New Orleans. To join the GigTown community, a musician just has to set up a free profile on GigTown.com. “What we ask for people to do is to put a YouTube video on their profile so that people can actually see you play, as well as whatever songs that you would choose to download,” Brees said. “Then a fan or a user is able to go on the website, learn about all the local musicians and bands, they can listen to their music, they can watch them perform, and then they can also book them for a gig.” GigTown collects a 13 percent service fee on all transactions, but all other interactions are directly between the musician and the booker, with payments processed in the form of a direct deposit to the musician, Brees said. Forever a supporter of the city, Brees said he is excited about the possibilities the app will bring to local musicians in the near future. “New Orleans is very much at the ground level for this,” he said. “That’s what I like about it-being able to bring something new and unique to New Orleans that will change the industry a little bit. I think it’s really cool for the city.” —Stephen Maloney

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Lady B.J. Crosby (1952-2015)

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he went from a little New Orleans girl to a Broadway star,” says Vernel Bagneris of Lady B.J. Crosby, his lifelong friend and musical and theatrical cohort. Born Joanne Clayton, the vocalist and actress gained national acclaim in the Tony-nominated production of “Smokey Joe’s Cafe: The Songs of Leiber and Stoller.” She was also nominated as the musical’s Best Featured Actress. Lady B.J. Crosby died on Monday, March 27, 2015, at the age of 62. Pianist/vocalist Henry Butler explains that he gave Crosby the title Lady B.J. in the early 1970s when she was working at Mason’s on South Claiborne Avenue under the moniker Black Jack. Interested in taking her beyond the small, black neighborhood clubs to bigger spots on “the other side of town,” Butler realized that her nickname wouldn’t work. “I talked to her about it and said I would call her Lady B.J.—and it stuck,” Butler says. The duo soon began working at Lu & Charlie’s and branched out to play French Quarter spots. Crosby began singing in the Baptist church and was a featured soloist with the Gospel Soul Children. Her talents as an actress gained attention in the late 1970s for her work in Bagneris’ musical, “One Mo’ Time.” Crosby was teamed with the Ellis Marsalis Quartet on the 1988 Rounder Records release The New New Orleans Music and at shows at Snug Harbor. “It was fun to work with B.J.,” Marsalis says. “Like any singer,

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when they’re really good at what they do, it’s fun.” The word “fun” pops up often when people speak of the spirited Lady B.J. “B.J. was a very funloving person and enjoyed life to the fullest,” says her good friend and frequent collaborator vocalist Charmaine Neville. “She was crazy when she needed to be.” In 1987, Crosby headed to Los Angles to further her career. It was her move in 1995 to New York that resulted in her great success. Her stage credits include the aforementioned “Smokey Joe’s Cafe,” the cast album of which won a Grammy, “Dreamgirls,” “Staggerlee,” “Chicago,” and “Harlem Song.” “Everybody in New York knew her as a Broadway star,” says Bagneris, who calls her “hard-working” and her talent “stupendous.” “She had a great mothering, nurturing spirit,” says pianist/vocalist Davell Crawford, who knew Lady B.J. his entire life. “She wanted and demanded the best from everybody around her. She demanded that from the musicians that she worked with and even from the audience that came to see her.” Crosby returned to her hometown in 2007 and recorded her debut album as a leader, Best of Your Heart. Often performing at Jazz Fest, her last appearance there was in 2014 at the Gospel Tent as one of the guest vocalists on Jo “Cool” Davis’ set. —Geraldine Wyckoff www.OFFBEAT.com

photo: pat jolly

IN MEMORIAM

JAZZ FEST

A Culture That Deserves Preserving The unattractive side of the “new” New Orleans.

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illustration: l. steve williams

ome New Orleanians are frustrated. The city is undeniably changing, and it is often changed by outside forces eliminating what makes our culture so special. The past few years have seen charges of gentrification, go-cup controversies, and landmark live music venues neutered by noise ordinances and zoning permits. Many locals are uneasy with the changes, feeling as if the culture they helped build is no longer for them. This is the unattractive side of the “new” New Orleans. This is also how I rationalize the vitriol I saw on my Facebook feed the day the 2015 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival lineup was announced. As I scrolled through my news feed, I saw accusations of Jazz Fest being “out of touch” or “for tourists” or “no longer for locals.” While some posts were more hyperbolic than others, there was a morsel of truth in the frustration. One may feel that Quint Davis and Festival Productions have finally lost their way. But then I read the Jazz Fest mission statement: “The mission of the Festival is to annually celebrate the unique culture and heritage of New Orleans and Louisiana alongside nationally and internationally renowned guest artists.” To “celebrate” a culture, one must have a pretty firm grasp of it. The celebration should ultimately serve as a reflection of that culture, albeit its more flattering aspects. Given where many locals fear the city is heading, the 2015 Jazz Fest may reflect New Orleans culture now more than ever. While Jazz Fest is undoubtedly a tourist-drawing event (and was originally conceived to be just

that), it always felt like a festival for Louisianians. Congo Square and the Louisiana Folklife Village along with the local artist-heavy music and art market justified the “Heritage” in the festival’s name. Even Jazz Fest’s original producer George Wein—one of the primary forces behind Newport’s Jazz and Folk Festivals—intrinsically understood the importance of Jazz Fest being the ultimate homer party, once saying “a festival has to be a success in its By Rory Callais

home town before the world will realize it’s something great.” The original 1970 festival fully committed itself to hometown success. Dubbed the New Orleans Jazz Festival and Louisiana Heritage Fair, the inaugural fest featured regional Cajun, blues, zydeco, folk, and country artists during the day in what is now Louis Armstrong Park while holding jazz-centric evening concerts in today’s Mahalia Jackson Theater, with the biggest

national name being Duke Ellington and his Orchestra. Because then-interns Davis and Allison Miner were without a working phone or vehicle, the duo took streetcars to local music clubs for scouting acts, used the payphone behind Touro hospital for booking, and landed legendary local blues artist Snooks Eaglin as the first confirmed act of Jazz Fest. Although Wein was in charge, it was a festival organized by locals designed for local fans to celebrate www.OFFBEAT.com

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So while the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival may seem like it no longer preserves our culture, the literal millions it generates goes directly to the Jazz and Heritage Foundation, whose sole purpose is to preserve our culture. local culture. The first year did not draw huge crowds, but exploded in subsequent years to become the cultural force it is today. Reflecting the attitude of the promoters, Jazz Fest was born during a time of optimism in New Orleans. Desegregationist Mayor Moon Landrieu was about to take office. Public excitement was ramping up for the construction of the Superdome, which was a year away from breaking ground. The port was thriving, and the early signs of the oil boom to come were emerging. There was a great feeling of civic pride as the city sought to oust Houston and Atlanta as the “Crown Jewel” of The South. Over the next three decades, the festival did not exactly reflect its city financially. While Jazz Fest crowds grew each year, New Orleans itself saw the port and oil industries evaporate and its economy decline. At this point Jazz Fest became far more than a celebration of New Orleans culture. It became ingrained in helping that culture survive. Jazz Fest became one of New Orleans’ biggest cultural champions through two means. The first was through the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation, which owns the festival and is funded fully through Jazz Fest’s profits. The Foundation provides New Orleans with cultural enrichment through various other festivals, economic development opportunities, and music education programs, including the Jazz and Heritage Archive featuring numerous artist interviews conducted at Jazz Fest as well as pictures, articles, artwork, and recordings. Second, as New Orleans officials further made tourism the

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city’s primary industry—reaching its apex with the current Landrieu administration and the 2013 Super Bowl—Jazz Fest became a financial pillar for the New Orleans economy, second only to Mardi Gras. For the local retail and service industries, “high season” essentially begins with Mardi Gras and concludes after Jazz Fest. However, in the early 21st Century, both Jazz Fest and New Orleans experienced devastating setbacks. The 2004 Jazz Fest was a financial disaster. Between horrid weather washing out an entire day’s earnings and residual travel reluctance following 9/11, the 2004 festival incurred just under $1 million in losses and nearly cost Davis his job. And, of course, the summer of 2005 saw Hurricane Katrina bring New Orleans to its knees. Both the festival and the city clawed their way back, but they relied on help from decidedly un-local sources. After the 2004 Jazz Fest, Davis’ Festival Productions entered a partnership with AEG Live, a live music and entertainment event mogul second only to Live Nation. AEG took financial responsibility for the festival—much to the Foundation board’s relief—while also using its deep corporate pockets to bring in bigger and bigger acts. This led to headlining artists that shared few similarities with Louisiana heritage or roots music in general (Bon Jovi, the Strokes, Sting, Foo Fighters, and this year’s Pitbull), but it also led to profits consistently in the millions. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Jazz Fest and AEG’s partnership brought new moneymaking techniques such as corporate sponsorships and “premium”

ticket packages offering reserved viewing areas, uncomfortable reminders to many locals of the well-off newcomers buying, appropriating, and changing New Orleans culture. Which brings me to the 2015 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. Many have argued that both the festival and the city “sold out” in a time of need. Newcomers seem to come to the city to slowly turn the very culture that drew them here into one that more resembles the cities they left behind. If that is true in the city, then it is reflected in Jazz Fest. The festival is bigger than ever after 45 years, but a quick look at the headliners does not suggest a festival that is geared toward reflecting, much less “celebrating,” Louisiana music or heritage (seriously, Pitbull?). However, selling out is not without its perks. Jazz Fest’s recent lineups may not excite many locals, but the unprecedented profits those lineups generate provide a surge in money funneled to the Foundation. So while the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival may seem like it no longer preserves our culture, the literal millions it generates goes directly to the Jazz and Heritage Foundation, whose sole purpose is to preserve our culture. And while many locals decry the latest trendy “craft cocktails” or “small plates” establishment taking real estate away from the type of institutions that made New Orleans great, new businesses still bring money into a city that is in historic need of any type of income it can get. Both the city and festival have made great strides in recovery to reach levels of success that

seemed impossible even less than a decade ago. “Progress” always brings about change, and whether that change is good or bad is a matter of opinion. What is not a matter of opinion is the positive financial impact these changes have brought for our culture through the Foundation as well as new jobs and taxes. But if monetary value were the only part of the equation, then the term “sell-out” wouldn’t carry a negative connotation. For most people, culture, just as life, is rarely measured purely in dollars and cents. We must ask ourselves if these compromises are steering us away from a culture that deserves preserving, and, if so, is that worth it? We can still safely say both the city and the festival have yet to fully succumb to outside forces, and, considering both have weathered far worse, maybe never will. The fierceness with which locals fight for New Orleans’ collective identity, the scrappy local businesses defining our culture one sale at a time, and the thriving music scene which now has vibrant branches in hip-hop, metal, pop, and indie rock show there is still a New Orleans that is very much “ours.” And between the local art and food, continued focus on Louisiana heritage, and the impressive amount of resources now available to the Foundation, I, nor anyone else, can say Jazz Fest has crossed the line into “generic corporate American music festival.” However, just as many worry that New Orleans is increasingly becoming a place for luxury condos and tightlyregulated live music, I can’t be the only one who fears Jazz Fest’s toes are inching closer and closer to that line every year.

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infographic: elsa hahne

JAZZ FEST

Do you hear the angels sing? Well, you might be at Jazz Fest. OffBeat tallies the event's auditory reach.

6,300 ft How high you'd get if you stacked all the Jazz Fest mic stands on top of each other. You'd be in heaven, or at least in the cumulus clouds. Is that Professor Longhair singing?

2 microphones How many microphones each attendee at the first New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival in 1970 could have held in each hand if there had been as many microphones as there are today.

1 double shotgun How much space you could fill if you put all of Jazz Fest's speaker cabinets in one place.

5.7 miles How far you'd get if you tied all the Jazz Fest mic cables end to end. You'd get all the way from the Mississippi River to Lake Pontchartrain, along Elysian Fields Ave.

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FEUFOLLET

The New Cajun Sound

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Feufollet Sunday, May 3 Fais Do-Do Stage, 12:25p

Feufollet takes flight.

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Photo: Allison Bohl Dehart/Makemade

very once in a while, a band comes along that you think might be really special, a band that makes you wonder what they might be capable of—what might be possible for them. Feufollet (fe-fiLAY in Cajun French, fe-foo-LAY en Anglais) is one of those bands. Born from the collaboration of fiddler Chris Segura and multiinstrumentalist Chris Stafford roughly 19 years ago—when the former was just 12 and the latter only nine—Feufollet recorded their first full-length CD in 1999 (when Segura and Stafford were 15 and 12, respectively), announcing to the world that a spirited group of young musicians had arrived—Cajun legacy in hand, with youthful energy and a desire for innovation clearly chomping at the bit. Even the name they chose—a Cajun reference to spectral lights that sometimes appear over swampland caused by the release of gaseous deposits embedded in the muck below—represented a youthful boast with its vernacular translation: crazy fire. Now, sixteen years later, Feufollet is brings its sixth full-length CD into the world, provocatively title Two Universes, a recording with plenty of crazy fire in it, but plenty of accomplishment as well, not to mention a host of inherent but very palpable possibilities. Two Universes presents listeners with Feufollet’s current stateof-the-art reimagining of Cajun music. Even with seven of 11 tracks vocalized in English, the sound bed of Two Universes is firmly located in Cajun-style honky tonk, an easy swinging dancehall feel. On top of that foundation, chiming guitars, fiddle-based riffs, and accordion-inspired swirls of dense sound washes mix with

From left to right: vocalist, guitarist and fiddler Kelli Jones-Savoy; drummer Michael Stafford; bassist Philippe Billeaudeaux; vocalist, accordionist, guitarist and fiddler Chris Stafford; and keyboardist Andrew Toups.

eerie modulations of indie-rock/ Americana harmonies. The result goes beyond reimagining, actually—Two Universes is a reinvention of Cajun-style honky tonk all done up in youthful, pop energy and decorated with masterful, intriguing, and even occasionally profound songwriting, including seven confident and melodic compositions from newcomer Kelli Jones-Savoy, and three wry, psychedelic pop ruminations from co-founder Chris Stafford. Bass player Philippe Billeaudeaux contributes an evocative swamp-pop tale of the barroom down-and outer, while string-band comrade Caleb Klauder adds the most purely Cajun composition of the whole adventure.

Will the Cajun Cutting Edge Extend Beyond Cajunland? Given their longstanding tenure, the band really needs no introducRoger Hahn

tion inside the universe of Cajun music, these days an amalgam of purist practitioners, enthusiast fusionists, and a cutting-edge new breed, where Feufollet looks to have the inside track. For example, for 40-plus years now, the worlds of Cajun and Creole culture have gathered together in mid-October in what today has become Les Festivals Acadiens et Créoles, a massive, three-day presentation of local music, regional food, and the best handcrafts … but most of all, lots of local music. Festival Music Director Barry Jean Ancelet is both a chaired University of Louisiana at Lafayette professor and a kind of reigning elder over what is now a six-decades-old traditional Cajun music revival. You might guess he takes his music very seriously. “We listen to hours of radio,” Ancelet explains, in describing how

the annual festival’s music is programmed. “We go out to local performances and pay close attention to what records are coming out. In real terms, we try with each festival to present the state of the art, where Cajun music and Creole music are at this particular moment.” And for the past four years in a row, the future of Cajun and Creole music has been placed in the hands of the same headlining group, Feufollet. And asking the band to headline four years in a row has been no afterthought, says Ancelet. “The people who are invited to play at the festival are obviously standing out that year. They’re clearly doing something that genuinely matters.” And Feufollet? “They’re doin’ real stuff, man, they’re the real deal. And they keep pushing their own boundaries, on their own, just to keep getting better. They’re just amazing.” www.OFFBEAT.com

FEUFOLLET But unconditional acceptance within the universe of Cajun and Creole music is one thing— expanding beyond is another thing entirely. There are worlds of listeners and potentially receptive audiences spread across the globe, both in French-speaking countries and in other locations, where an appreciation for what is generally referred to as “world music” has been cultivated. Maybe a dozen or more Cajun/ Creole bands from Louisiana— ranging in musical attitude from conventional to genre-busting— qualify as active contenders in the world-music arena. Roughly half that number are actively employing the basic elements of rock and rock-related sounds to recommodify what the world usually thinks of Louisiana Cajun music. The first Louisiana band to cross the bridge into straight-rock territory was Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys. Having released three rock-oriented albums since the mid-1990s, they’ve succeeded in elevating their creative standing here in their home state and in foreign markets, but have yet to do much more than dent the domestic world of U.S. indie rock. Most recently, The Lost Bayou Ramblers intensified their own appreciation of early, primitive Cajun roots music into a punk-sounding rock amalgam, racking up a series of discrete incursions into citybound indie scenes in hip environs like Austin, the French Quarter, and Brooklyn, but not much more.

rather than two-stepping -- and a concept album to boot, filled with musical interludes and intros keyed to primary colors of the prismatic spectrum. For traditional Cajun music fans that might have begun to admire the young band’s remarkable ability to play just like their elders only with a fresh, updated perspective, En Couleurs might have been confusing and disappointing.

But to the new, young audience beginning to coalesce at home and to the band’s musical peers, En Couleurs was a breath of fresh, day lit air. Better yet, by way of connection through local swamp pop veterans Li’l Band o’ Gold, the album found its way into the hands of English rock star Elvis Costello, who was mightily impressed, and said so in a fairly visible interview in the British music press.

What followed were unexpected bookings in England and Europe, capped off with an unexpected Grammy nomination back home. Best of all, when the band decided to actually attend the Grammy ceremony, who do they run into but their old buddy Elvis Costello! And who’s he hanging with? One of the band’s great musical heroes, Neil Young! Fast-forward five years. What happened? Why didn’t Feufollet

A 2010 Breakthrough —Then Life Intervenes And now it’s Feufollet’s turn to test the waters, with a dramatically reconfigured band lineup, and a new, aggressive approach to releasing their new product without benefit of a major label or a wellestablished independent label. The last time the young Cajun band went into the studio, what resulted probably surpassed all their expectations. En Couleurs, released in 2010, today sounds pretty tame, but at the time, it was definitely cutting edge for stateof-the-art Cajun music -- rocking www.OFFBEAT.com

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In their own promotional literature Feufollet describe themselves as “a band deeply rooted in the Francophone soil of Louisiana and pushing boldly into unexplored yet utterly natural varieties of Cajun experience.” grab the momentum their last CD created and use it to catapult to national prominence? It’s not a simple answer. Yes, in part, life intervened. But the real answer is that Feufollet is beyond all doubt a Lafayette-centric band, like their counterparts Steve Riley & The Mamou Playboys, The Pine Leaf Boys, The Lost Bayou Ramblers, Cedric Watson & Bijou Creole, the all-female group Bonsoir Catin, Corey Ledet & His Zydeco Band, Roddie Romero & The Hub City All-Stars, and the Yvette Landry Band, all members of a growing cohort of bands and fans currently engaged in a new resurgence of time-tested Cajun music traditions. And for these bands, and their indie rock cousins—Brass Bed and GIVERS—it’s the music that matters. Fame and success are good, and always considered a viable goal, but having the music, and forming the kind of genuine camaraderie that actually gives birth to the music, is considered essential.

She Ran Away to Join the Circus??!! Perhaps the greatest disruption to life-as-they-knew it for Feufollet was the departure of long-time female vocalist Anna Laura Edmiston, a freespirited multi-instrumentalist who brought a sense of both passion and playfulness to the band’s colorful stage presence. As Feufollet was in the process of organically developing a clearly new sound, Edmiston received an offer she felt she couldn’t refuse – to join Cavalia, a Montreal-based, equestrian-oriented, traveling extravaganza. Basically, she ran away to join the circus. A hard exit to top, and not an easy act to follow.

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Fortunately, a viable replacement was not far away. Kelli JonesSavoy, a North Carolina immigrant raised in the old-time country music tradition had become a good friend of the band during her years spent in Louisiana since 2006 absorbing the Cajun heritage. “All the members of Feufollet, including Anna Laura, have been good friends of mine since I moved here,” Jones-Savoy explains. “They are a great group of people and are a big part of the wonderfully talented and supportive community that I fell in love with when I came to this part of the country. I do have to say, though, that when they asked me to be in the band I was nervous as well as honored. They had such a great band vibe, a real connection with each other, and a fairly extensive repertoire with Anna Laura, so adding a new member meant adjusting all that, and that can be a very delicate situation.” In fact, Feufollet’s new female vocalist, who is also proficient on guitar and fiddle, has become a significant catalyst in helping determine and focus the band’s new sound, bringing a wealth of new musical references and writing a plethora of strong new compositions that have become central components of the band’s current repertoire. And she’s not the only new addition to the band’s lineup, which also includes Chris Stafford’s brother Michael on drums (a member since he was eight years old and enlisted to play on the band’s first CD) and Philippe Billeaudeaux on bass (who joined seven years ago, after a stint with indie rockers Brass Bed). Feufollet has also recently added keyboardist Andrew Toups to the mix full-time (also from Brass Bed). Toups, like JonesSavoy, adds a super-sensitive

ear and the ability to overlap textures, extending especially Chris Stafford’s accordion swirls into deep-background swells of electronically elastic, harmonic chording. With the band’s new English-language compositions and a decided tendency all-around to favor the recent trend among young bands toward adopting Cajun honky-tonk funk and swing, Feufollet now finds itself calling the recent market category of Americana, if not home, at least familiar territory.

Thoughtfully Sequenced; Visiting Another Culture Perhaps most importantly, though, there’s a knowing quality, a kind of masterfully achieved sly humor (Cajun humor?) that pervades Two Universes, doubling up on its youthfully conceived psychedelic indie-pop sound. The proceedings begin straightforwardly enough, with Kelli Jones-Savoy’s upbeat “Tired of Your Tears,” a twangy, high-octane two-step based in accordion but glossed up with Hammond B-3 organ and soaring pedal-steel guitar. Chris Stafford’s “Know What’s Next” follows, and like all three of his compositions here operates on several levels: as simple love song, philosophical inquiry, and wisely turned piece of wisdom. There’s whimsy here, too: Is the band saying that it knows what’s next? The narrator sure doesn’t. He keeps asking, in the chorus, to “Wake me, shake me when it’s real; don’t you let me feel that I know what’s next.” After presenting the two sides of Feufollet’s musical point of view, the track listing reverts, as the whole CD often does, to basics: “Hole in My Heart,” a wholeheartedly Cajun tune confusingly given an English-language title.

Next comes the CD’s title tune, “Two Universes,” a mission statement of sorts, delivered at a stately waltz tempo. Rendered in Chris Stafford’s fetchingly reverbed vocal, the lyrics directly and cagily take on the phenomenon of two (cultural?) universes colliding: they will always remain as two, the narrator concludes, learning “what was given and what was taken away.” But then comes the chorus: “And everything in this old world returns to how it should be, and every singer will sing about broken hearts, and every river will flow to the sea.” The music will always be the music, the songwriter seems to be reminding us, and regardless of category, style, or cultural context, you’ll more than likely find the singer singing about broken hearts, the seedbed, perhaps, of all music that seems to matter. As with most CDs that, in the end, do matter, Two Universes is thoughtfully programmed and sequenced, its overcoat of swirling and finely modulated layers of harmonic accompaniment cementing the whole. And as it should be, the CD seems to get better and better the longer one listens. One of my favorite tunes comes halfway down the song list, Kelli Savoy-Jones’ precociously knowing break-up song, “(Something You Said,) When You Said Goodbye,” which manages to elicit a smile and break your heart all in the same moment, promising to become the next hit for some clever country star or well-established pop crooner. The singer-instrumentalistsongwriter also brings a sharply defined country sound to the band with vocals that the gently but firmly cut through the dense harmonics, vocals reminiscent, www.OFFBEAT.com

FEUFOLLET perhaps, of a Loretta Lynn or even Dolly Parton. In addition, she helped me best understand where Two Universes belongs in our understanding of genre music. Rather than lowering standards to increase audience share, this new creation functions more as an invitation to visit a new world. I understood this when I asked Kelli if it was difficult transitioning from Appalachian mountain music to Cajun culture. “Learning another genre of music is very similar to learning another language,” she told me. “The ‘vocabulary’ of common melodies and chord changes within the songs, which were all very new and different when I started trying to play Cajun music, but become more predictable and easier to understand as I played it more and more. “Learning more about Cajun music and culture has helped me learn not just the music, but about music and culture in general.” And this, finally, is the invitation Two Universes extends to listeners who are ready to learn a little

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something about a different cultural universe.

Leasing Music-Industry Services; Breaking Barriers With their shift toward an English-language, moreAmericana-based sound, the band sincerely hoped to snag the services and resources of a serious record label—if not a major label, then one of several major independent labels marketing Americana-oriented music. Trying their hand to no avail, the band decided to embark on new, state-of-the-art strategy drawing on an alliance with a company called Thirty Tigers, which offers a full menu of à-lacarte, record-company services ranging from distribution, promotion, and publicity all the way to artist management combined with the increasingly popular Internet practice of crowd funding: for packaging and promoting Two Universes,

the band successfully completed a $30,000 round of funding on IndieGoGo. Created in Austin with upand-coming indie producer Danny Reisch, Two Universes clearly breaks new ground on several levels, both aesthetic and commercial. In their own promotional literature Feufollet describe themselves as “a band deeply rooted in the Francophone soil of Louisiana and pushing boldly into unexplored yet utterly natural varieties of Cajun experience.” With a new, moreaccomplished and more-flexible lineup, new material, a new attitude toward their music in general but English-language numbers in particular, and adding the dynamic component of deepindustry wisdom and resources, it’s impossible to tell just how far Feufollet is prepared to go, although all indications it will be farther, perhaps much farther, than after their last CD release.

Will they considerably expand their standing in Cajun and world-music circles, or will they make the leap into mainstream Americana listening territory? Will they become the first of the young Cajun bands to break the French/English-language market barrier? It’s clear they’ve succeeded in “pushing boldly into unexplored yet utterly natural varieties of Cajun experience” musically. Will they now be able to do what no band before them has done and “push boldly into unexplored yet utterly natural varieties of Cajun experience” commercially? If they do, it may well be a victory not just for the band itself but for the entire vanguard Cajun rockers as well, and that would be totally in keeping with the communal instincts of Cajun tradition, calling for a change in status of a decade-long new wave of a several-decades-long Cajun music revival. O

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DELFEAYO MARSALIS

A New Orleans Groove

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Delfeayo Marsalis & the Uptown Jazz Orchestra Friday, May 1 WWOZ Jazz Tent, 6p

ost Wednesday nights at Snug Harbor, the live music starts before any musicians walk onstage. Clustered at the top of the club’s mezzanine stairs, trombone slides and trumpet bells vying for space in the near-darkness, the dozen-plus-member Uptown Jazz Orchestra discharges a bright brass phrase, finds a parade beat and processes, single file, down into the main room as curious audience members turn their bodies toward the source of the music. It’s an engaging way to start a show—and that’s intentional. Trombonist Delfeayo Marsalis, who formed the orchestra in 2008, wants to get away from the idea that jazz is a high art that must be enjoyed from a distance. “It’s not,” he says. “It’s a form of entertainment.” Marsalis wants the Uptown Jazz Orchestra to connect players and listeners alike by allowing them to participate together in something they enjoy. That may sound basic, but Marsalis worries that it’s falling out of favor in the jazz genre. “Our strength is what you’d consider jump music, riff-based music,” he says, describing the orchestra’s sound. “And this is an idea that comes out of the communal aspects of African music and what is certainly missing in much of [today’s] jazz—or what is being pawned off as jazz by younger musicians. The strength of the orchestra is combining the New Orleans tradition with the riff-based material and groove. And this is so important today.” Trends in contemporary jazz, Marsalis contends, are creating a generation of musicians whose priority is showing off their ability to do things like play lots of notes

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in an odd meter, regardless of whether that will engage their audience. Conversely, the UJO generally plays a diverse mix of songs culled from a wide swath of jazz history, creating a variety of entry points to the music for both the audience and the band. At a recent show, the American Songbook standard “Autumn Leaves” followed Professor Longhair’s “Go To the Mardi Gras.” Later in the set, a complex and burning solo by saxophonist Khari Allen Lee offset the tune’s groove, giving it a whole new feel. Marsalis maintains that taking an audience out on a limb musically doesn’t have to mean losing their interest. “You’ll read about the direction of jazz or ‘is jazz dying?’ and the reality is the music has to return to functionality,” he says, referencing an idea he wrote about in the liner notes to 2014s The Last Southern Gentlemen, his first full-length recording with his father, Ellis. By Jennifer Odell

In one of the multiple essays and short stories Marsalis penned for the CD package, he argued that art in African culture usually serves a tangible purpose beyond simple beauty. “The African idea of art is from a functional standpoint,” he says. “Items that can be used in rituals that will aid in the fertility of the land or ‘Let’s create a music that will inspire our people to celebrate and be joyous.’ The European design is more, ‘Let’s create a music that people will sit down and be forced to respect.’” He laughs and adds, “I’m really going to the Africa kick for sure.” Jokes aside, his argument comes at what many see as a critical time for the jazz industry. The number of jazz albums sold per year has fallen more or less steadily since 2011. And last year, jazz represented just 1.4 percent of America’s total music consumption, according to the 2014 Nielsen Music U.S. Report. (That percentage is on par with classical music consumption, but more classical than jazz albums

were sold overall, putting the jazz genre dead last in music sales.) “When Miles Davis or John Coltrane in the ’60s were playing what we considered a higher level of intellectual artist music, that was counterbalanced by Duke Ellington’s orchestra. Louis Armstrong was still playing,” Marsalis says. “Now we’re missing a variety in what’s called ‘jazz.’ [With the orchestra] we want to bring back that New Orleans groove, inspire more jazz musicians to expand their concept for what jazz actually is and should represent.” Another part of the UJO’s appeal is its mix of players, who range from very experienced to fresh out of school and hew to a variety of musical tastes. On any given gig, the horn section might include Dirty Dozen baritone saxophonist Roger Lewis, hip-hop-inclined Trumpet Mafia member Scott Frock and Berklee School of Music-trained saxophonist James Partridge, a regular on New Orleans’ avant-garde jazz scene. “At first, I thought it was chaos,” Partridge says with a laugh. “I think it’s the only big band I’ve played with that’s purposely trying to do the old school Count Basie approach, as in constantly making up riffs—blues riffs—and coming up with arrangements on the spot, which Basie used to do. No one ever does that anymore, so it’s a unique experience.” This summer, those riffs—along with the band’s trademark rendition of New Orleans second line and swing tunes—will be documented on the UJO’s first studio album, which they plan to record in June. Marsalis also has a batch of new compositions lined up for the project. Its theme, he says, is Africa.

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Photo: ryan hodgson-rigsbee

Delfeayo Marsalis: What jazz actually is and represents.

BO DOLLIS

We Love Big Chief Bo Dollis (right) with his lifelong friend Monk Boudreaux.

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t was the Bo Dollis Mardi Gras,” declared Mardi Gras Indian historian and radio host Jack Snyder. Snyder was reflecting on Dollis after two weeks of Mardi Gras punctuated by a series of memorial services for Big Chief Theodore Emile “Bo” Dollis, the man who brought the Mardi Gras Indians from the backstreets of New Orleans to the four corners of the world. Dollis was the voice of a generation, “a combination of Wilson Pickett and Screamin’ Jay Hawkins,” said Snyder. Bo Dollis was Big Chief of the Wild Magnolias from 1964 until ill health forced him to turn the role over to his son Gerard in recent years. Dollis worked closely with his

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lifelong friend Monk Boudreaux, Big Chief of the Golden Eagles, and a member of the Wild Magnolias for many years. “He brought a lot,” said Monk, “because he had that great voice. And people listen to people with great voices.” Spontaneous gatherings of Mardi Gras Indians began assembling, almost as if by magic, the moment Dollis passed on the morning of January 20. Dollis, who had just turned 71, had been in the hospital a week before, the last in a series of visits over a ten-year period when he suffered several strokes and required treatment for diabetes. That morning, Bo’s wife Laurita (Rita) had given her husband By John Swenson

breakfast. She was with him in the house when he died. She called EMS, and by the time Bo was being wheeled out, a group of Indians had already gathered outside and were singing “Indian Red” to send him off. Impromptu tributes to Dollis began that night at the Sportsman’s Bar at Second and Dryades, a longtime Dollis site for Indian practices. Scores of Indians and friends of Dollis showed up and sang Black Indian chants to celebrate his life. Bo and Rita’s son Gerard “Bo Jr.” Dollis said on WWOZ that he was so upset he considered retiring from the tribe, but the support of his friends and other Indians convinced him to continue. “I had a point, when it

first happened, that I was about to stop masking Indian,” he said. “I wasn’t going to come out this year. Because me and my dad were two peas in a pod. Wherever he went, I was his shadow.” At the celebrations for his father Bo. Jr. was in the center of the action, as if the spirit of Bo Dollis himself was animating him. The sendoff continued Wednesday at another of Bo’s favorite Dryades hangouts, Pop’s House of Blues. Heavy rain Thursday and continued rain Friday could not stop the Indians and Bo’s followers from more spontaneous tributes at the Uptown Bar on Danneel and the Purple Rain Lounge on Washington. www.OFFBEAT.com

Photo: Erika goldring

The legacy of Theodore Emile “Bo” Dollis.

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Photo: Erika goldring

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“Bo is, in his own way, on a scale with Louis Armstrong and Mahalia Jackson when it comes to Mardi Gras Indian music.” —Davis Rogan Right around the same time, word came out that Bo Dollis was the subject of this year’s Jazz and Heritage Festival poster. Bo’s funeral was set for January 31 at the Xavier University Convocation Center, with a visitation the day before at the Carver Theater. After the funeral, a procession of Black Indians and brass bands brought the body to Providence Park Cemetery. The turnout for this event was remarkable—Indians from all over town came in full regalia, dancing and chanting in honor of Dollis. Quint Davis, who managed Bo Dollis and the Wild Magnolias for years, brought them to the inaugural New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival and made all their early recordings, starting with the double-sided 45 “Handa Wanda” in 1970, delivered a stirring eulogy at the funeral. “Bo is, in his own way, on a scale with Louis Armstrong and Mahalia Jackson when it comes to Mardi Gras Indian music,” Davis said. “Louis didn’t invent jazz, and Mahalia didn’t invent gospel, but they became the public face of that music. I think Bo was the face of the Mardi Gras Indian culture. He really gave all the Mardi Gras Indians who record now and get paid now their livelihood. They stand on his shoulders. He brought it to the world and made it a visible and accepted and revered thing. At the same time, he made incredible music. He was a driver on a Magnolia liquor truck. That’s kind of ironic huh? The Chief of the Wild Magnolias was driving for Magnolia liquor. We knew we were gonna make a record and he says ‘I’ve written a new song for the record.’ I didn’t think it was possible to write a new Mardi Gras Indian song,

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they were all traditional songs. But he had, and it was ‘Handa Wanda,’ which, as far as I know, was the first newly created Indian song. He was a genius on a lot of levels. And then he was just a superior person. I talked a lot at his funeral that there was never a humbug that I ever saw around him. A lot of the old guys I talked

Black Indian culture. The elder Dollis, Boudreaux and Wild Tchoupitoulas Big Chief Jolly (George Landry) all hung out together back in the day. “I’ve been knowin’ Bo practically all my life,” said Boudreaux. “Because we come up in the same neighborhood. He was just a couple of blocks

to afterward all agreed on that. He was a really peaceful guy. He never had a confrontational edge to him. He was a special person.” A tribute show called “3 Chiefs” was scheduled for February 13 at the Joy Theater. The three chiefs featured were Wild Magnolias Big Chief Bo Dollis Jr., Big Chief Monk Boudreaux of the White Eagles and Big Chief Roderick “Roddy” Sylvas of the Wild Tchoupitoulas. The meeting of the “3 Chiefs” underscored the close relationship among Uptown families that lies at the heart of

from me. I come up on First and Dryades and Bo came up around Jackson. I always did know Bo’s brother ‘cause we around the same age, and then one day a friend brought Bo around our neighborhood and that’s how I met him. “You know when you’re good people you meet people and you come to be friends. I think I was already masking with when I met him. Bo started young. Bo and I had practice together. When we first started going into the bar for practice Bo wasn’t masking yet. It was different because before

that we had the practice in the big chief’s back yard. But when we got to be friends we started to have practice in the bar so him and I practiced together. He would sing, then I would take over, then he would come back in. “We come up together and we knew Big Chief Jolly, that’s his nephews the Neville Brothers. Me and Bo and Big Chief Jolly, we was all together. We used to have Indian practice, we’d go to his and he’d come to ours. Jolly got his name because he was a jolly fella, laughing all the time. He was a good person. He masked with the Wild Magnolias one time.” On Mardi Gras day this year, Bo Dollis took part in the festivities in effigy as Rita danced in front of a lifesize cardboard cutout of Bo in his white suit at Second and Dryades. Emotions continued to run high as friends and well-wishers gathered in Dollis’ memory. Among the crowd was John Sinclair, the great poet and radio host. Sinclair, who celebrated Mardi Gras at Second and Dryades with Bo every year since 1982, had already done a tribute to Bo on Radio Amsterdam. He recalled Dollis in a striking series of observations. “I came to New Orleans to find Bo Dollis,” said Sinclair. “I heard the Wild Magnolias on tape in a studio in Los Angeles. I was there trying to sell my recordings from the 1973 Ann Arbor Blues and Jazz Festival. We were there in the studio and they put this on the speakers and we were out of our minds on this really good hash. It was the most insane shit I’d ever heard, and looking at the pictures I had never seen or imagined anything like this in my life. The words were so deep… the songs were all about them www.OFFBEAT.com

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Before he knew of the Mardi Gras Indians, Bo Dollis knew he liked to sing. As a boy, he would entertain family visitors with his renditions of Fats Domino tunes. and what they did last year and what they were gonna do, how beautiful they were and what those who came before them had done. So it was a new experience that just blew me away. “I came here in ’76. I was the culture editor of a little paper in Detroit and I talked them into sending me to New Orleans to cover the Mardi Gras. When I got here at first I couldn’t find out anything about the Wild Magnolias, then on Lundi Gras I ran into Necktie Nancy from the Jazz Festival. She says ‘What are you up to?’ I say ‘I’m trying to find the Wild Magnolias’ and she says ‘I was over to Bo Dollis’ house last night. So you stick with me, I’ll take you right to him.’ It was a great experience. We went uptown to see Professor Longhair at Tips. At five o’clock in the morning we went over to the Patio Lounge and the Wild Tchoupitoulas were there. She brought me across from here to here and we got to Second and Dryades. You know, I wasn’t from here, we had to get through all the parades. She brought me to Bo’s house and I saw him come out on Mardi Gras morning. As I recall, we went to his mother’s house. He initially was coming out his mother’s house on Jackson Avenue.” Before he knew of the Mardi Gras Indians, Bo Dollis knew he liked to sing. As a boy, he would entertain family visitors with his renditions of Fats Domino tunes. But once he became interested in Black Indian culture, Dollis realized that his voice was perfect for the chants and songs that made up the Mardi Gras Indian canon. He paraded on Mardi Gras day for the first time with the Golden Arrows when he was 13 years old. After he joined the

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Wild Magnolias, he quickly rose from spy boy to Big Chief due to his remarkable vocal ability. Bo and Monk had already been working together, even though they were with different gangs. They were about to usher in a new era of Mardi Gras Indian culture. At their practices, Bo and Monk developed a symbiosis out of their dramatically different approaches to the material. “We started going to all the different Indian practices,” Boudreaux recalls. “We invited the chiefs from downtown to come to our practice and they would invite us to their practice so we all pretty much got along together. Each tribe from different parts of town, they may sing the same song but they got different lyrics, the same background but different lyrics, and right now today if you will come to uptown practice and you were hearing somebody singing in there that really know how to sing then you go downtown you’ll hear that same song but it will have different lyrics to it. “(Bo) would sing, then I would take over, then he would come back in. We was doing it traditionally and everybody was singing the same song so then I started chanting my own lyrics. Bo had the voice and that’s what the people wanted to hear. But I was always there in the background.” Bertrand Butler, Director of the New Orleans Mardi Gras Indian Council, credits Bo Dollis with introducing drums to the Indian parades. “We were used to hearing tambourines,” he said. Boudreaux thinks the idea came from one of their joint practices. “When we first started out all we had was tambourines,” Monk

recalled. “They used to have the metal ashtrays in the bar on the table. One guy, he grabbed one and started hittin’ it. He be way over there hittin’ it but you could hear it. One guy was hittin’ on a bottle and you could hear that. And it was blendin’ into what we were doing and this one night one guy got up on top of the cigarette machine and you can hear that bass in there so that’s where the bass drum come from. It fattened up the music.” But that was just the beginning of the changes Bo Dollis would bring to Black Indian music. Quint Davis, who was working at Tulane’s Hogan Archives at the time, had been attending Indian practice since 1967 and making private recordings. “I became part of the Indian culture,” he said. “I went to Indian practice every Sunday. I went out with them Mardi Gras morning, stayed up all night with Bo, helping with the costume. One St. Joseph’s night I actually dressed as a witch doctor—horrible costume. I was part of the sidekicks to the Wild Magnolias, just living in the culture. When the first Jazz Fest came out, Mardi Gras Day and St. Joseph’s night were the only things Indians had done, there were no Super Sundays yet. I talked them into coming to the Festival. They had never appeared in public other than Mardi Gras Day and St. Joseph’s night, much less meet me at the neutral ground on Canal Street. We had a second line to the festival with Mardi Gras Indians, but we also had the music, and leading the music was Bo. We marched down Royal Street, took a left to Congo Square, then they danced around and sang at the festival. So that was the first time Mardi Gras

Indians broke from their strictly traditional rituals.” The Wild Magnolias have performed at every Jazz and Heritage Festival since. The festival appearance led to the idea of putting together a recording group with Bo and Monk. “I wanted to make that leap and get Mardi Gras Indian music into jukeboxes and into people’s cars,” said Davis. “I started an organization at Tulane called G.I.T. (Get It Together) and put on a program one night with Willie Tee’s group and the Wild Magnolias opening. While the Mardi Gras Indians were jamming, Willie Tee goes onstage, sits at the piano and begins to play this incredible new music, a combination of elements, jazz funk and R&B. He was making up a kind of music to go along with their songs. I taped that as well. “So we went to make a record in Baton Rouge. The group was formed with two chiefs, Bo from the Wild Magnolias and Monk from the Golden Eagles. Each one chose three of their best music people, so the two tribes came together and they were slammin’. The transformation happened. I went around and got ‘Handa Wanda’ on the radio and on the juke boxes. So now Indian music on the radio was part of Carnival.” According to Monk Boudreaux, Willie Tee knew about the Black Indians before they played together. “Quint thought it would be a good idea to get Willie Tee with us because he come up in the neighborhood,” said Monk. “He knew about the Indians. I know he lived on LaSalle Street, that’s when I was knowing him because we went to school together. www.OFFBEAT.com

BO DOLLIS We wasn’t into that recording thing, so as far as we knew he was joining us. We went in with the percussion thing that we do and he listened to it and then he started playing it. Like I say, he came up in the neighborhood so he knew about it.” The French producer Philippe Rault made a deal with Barclay Records to record a full length album with the Wild Magnolias. Polydor was the American distributor for Barclay, which eventually released two Wild Magnolias album. Quint Davis was managing the group through this process. “I managed, road managed, whatever. Philippe Rault came to live in my apartment. When we went to do the first album I formed what we called the New Orleans Project. It was Willie and Earl Turbinton, Julius Farmer on bass and Snooks Eaglin on guitar. I was managing Snooks. Monk sings a version of ‘Shoo Fly’ on there that is incredible. Monk

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may be the only person who can sing for ten minutes and never sing the same verse again. That ‘Shoo Fly’ with Snooks playing all over it is unbelievable.” From that point on, there were two versions of the Wild Magnolias—the gang that sewed their suits, had Indian practices and paraded on Mardi Gras day and St. Joseph’s day, and the recording and touring group backed by a funk band. “The album came out, and we went to Europe,” Davis recalled. “By the second album, Willie started writing new songs. “New Suit” was actually written by Willie.” The second album wasn’t released in the U.S. until years later. “They put us to the side, said we was before our time,” said Monk. A few years later, though, Rounder records signed the Wild Magnolias, and the band went on tour again backed by guitarist June Victory’s band. “So we got some of this band the Bayou Renegades with June

Victory,” said Monk. “Geechee, who played with me, he was in that band so we went and talked to them and they backed us. Like I say we all in the city, we’re all friends so they know what we do.” As the band continued to tour, the Wild Magnolias became known around the world as the carriers of Mardi Gras Indian music. Subsequent recordings included covers of popular music and R&B staples. Bo could have easily become an international R&B star. “Yeah, but that wasn’t what he wanted,” Davis concluded. “He was an Indian Chief. To have a life where you could be an Indian Chief all year round and that was your main job, it was unbelievable. He was never happier at any moment in his life than on Mardi Gras morning. And then he ended up having a job doing that all over the world. That was beyond his dream come true.”

AFTERWORD Davis had one more anecdote about Dollis:

“T

he song ‘Brother John Is Gone,’ he created that song, ‘cause I was standing next to him when he did it. There was a guy named John Williams, he was in Huey Piano Smith and the Clowns, playing backup on some of the songs. He was sort of an Indian and he came to some of our first practices and would sing. He got killed, I think knifed, and the funeral parlor was down on Jackson and Dryades. We were comin’ down Dryades and Bo started singing ‘Brother John is gone.’ He was talking about John Williams. Other people have taken credit for writing it, maybe even publishing money credit, but that’s where it came from, and that’s who it was about. That was Bo.”

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MCDONOGH 35

Ministering to the Crowd

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McDonogh 35 High School Gospel Choir Thursday, April 30 Gospel Tent, 5p

hough the membership of the McDonogh 35 High School Gospel Choir naturally changes year-to-year, it maintains a high standard of quality and a loyal following. Many folks consider its performances in the Gospel Tent a “must-see” experience. The choir also won OffBeat’s Best of the Beat award in the gospel category. “I think it’s the energy,” says the choir’s director and stalwart in the New Orleans gospel community, Veronica Downs-Dorsey. “I always tell people, you have to minister to the crowd or minister to the church. You can’t minister to the people standing up like a statue. If you’re singing about Jesus you ought be happy [and show it] in your body language, your movements, your facial expressions. When you say Jesus, something should just take over your whole mind, body and spirit. We’re ministering, not performing.” Downs-Dorsey has been a choir director and music teacher at the school since 1991. She took over the positions from Patricia Sallier Seals, also renowned in this city’s gospel circles, who also was once her teacher. It was under Seals’ watch that the McDonogh 35 Gospel Choir was established some 40 years ago, making it the first public school to boast a gospel program. “Thanks go to her,” Downs-Dorsey praises, adding that at that time, gospel music was even “taboo” in Catholic churches. That changed when St. Francis de Sales became the first Catholic church to welcome gospel music into its services. One of the things that make McDonogh 35’s Jazz Fest performances special is that the audience, often stocked with fellow students and alumni, is very participatory. Many of those in the crowd jump out of their seats and

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sing along—as many know all of the words and arrangements to the songs—dance, clap and cheer. They, to say the least, are not passive. “That’s my thing,” says DownsDorsey. “I like to touch the crowd and get the crowd involved. I want everybody to join in. If you’re just looking at us performing, that’s not what we’re about.” Downs-Dorsey brings this philosophy to her many endeavors. A music teacher for the last 35 years, she also leads the Voices of St. Peter Claver Church and is a member of Tyrone Foster and the Arc Singers, the Archdiocese of New Orleans Gospel Choir and the Davell Crawford Singers. She also accompanies the New Orleans Black Chorale on piano, which she says helps keep her on toes performing classically. She’ll be with all of the above at Jazz Fest. “I’ll be tired,” she exclaims. Notably, her daughter, Veronique, a trumpeter with the Pinettes Brass Band, will be playing drums behind the McDonogh 35 Choir and all of the church By Geraldine Wyckoff

ensembles with whom DownsDorsey works. As anyone who’s around teenagers knows, their young and strong voices project. That’s, of course, also true when they sing en masse in the McDonogh 35 Choir or any of the school or youth-oriented gospel groups. The members’ powerful voices matched with their natural, youthful enthusiasm simply bursts out of the Gospel Tent. “When everybody comes together they make a wonderful sound,” agrees Downs-Dorsey. Indeed, they make a joyful noise. For 30 years, Downs-Dorsey was a member of the St. Monica’s Catholic Church Choir, and about half of that time as its director before joining Saint Peter Claver Church in 2000. Despite her vast musical experience, in recent years, she hasn’t found it easy to keep the McDonogh 35 Choir up to her high expectations. “Hmm, girl, it’s been a struggle,” she admits. “Every year it gets harder and harder. The end results, when I the finish the Jazz Fest [performance], I just have to say

‘Thank God for looking out for me one more time.’ I always tell the members that I have a reputation I have to keep. So you can’t be messin’ with my rep now.” “To be honest with you, you have less and less children knowing who they are singing about,” she laments. “I hate to say it, but it’s true. A lot of our children aren’t going to church. In order to sing gospel music you have to know who you are singing about and why you’re singing about him. After Katrina, everything changed—just the culture of the schools.” Despite these obstacles, the McDonogh 35 Gospel Choir continues to pack a punch performing in both the old school gospel style that’s mixed with some of the contemporary numbers that the kids enjoy such as Tye Tribett’s “Eternity.” “Call Him Up” comes from the traditional gospel songbook and acts as the choir’s signature finale in the Gospel Tent. It includes a crowd-pleasing and participatory choreographed “freeze” that momentarily puts a halt to all vocals and motion. “We put our own little twist on the music,” says Downs-Dorsey. “I like to say we Veronica-ize it." The definition of Veronica-ize might not be found in a dictionary but it can be heard and felt in the churches where she sings, plays piano or directs a choir and through the students she’s taught during her 35 years as an educator. The membership of the McDonogh 35 High School Gospel Choir changes every year but the spirit behind it, that of Patricia Seals and now Veronica Downs-Dorsey, continues to abound. “Everybody says we look happy,” Downs-Dorsey proudly exclaims. “That’s what it’s all about.”

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Photo: Brian Bennett

Veronica Downs-Dorsey’s McDonogh 35 High School Gospel Choir.

RAY ABSHIRE

More than Embers

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Ray Abshire Cajun Band, Sunday, April 26, Lagniappe Stage, 12:45p

Ray Abshire picks up the musical torch of his family members.

“I

’ve been very fortunate,” Ray Abshire says modestly. “I’ve been able to swim the same river twice.” The river that the Cajun accordionist refers to is his five-decade music career, which is logically divided into two distinct phases separated by an 18-year hiatus. The first chapter was with such standard bearers as his coozan Nathan Abshire and the Balfa Brothers. His reemergence includes like-minded practitioners in fiddlers Courtney Granger and Kevin Wimmer and the Michot family. But years ago, when Ray first acquired his first accordion in the ’60s, Cajun music was a much different game. “Before, you had to be in a loop, have been born into a musical family,” Abshire says. There were no Cajun restaurants that featured nightly music and dance, nor instructional camps where yearlings could learn their craft. Only a few radio stations in the area even broadcast Cajun music. Luckily, Abshire’s family had musical roots, most notably with Nathan who lived close by in Gueydan, Louisiana. Though Ray never studied formally with the legend, he did learn by watching and listening. “He said a couple of things that took me many years to realize how wise it was. ‘You know, Tee Ray, you just have to remember where the sound comes from.’ What he was telling me was like you get to the point where you know where your fingers are in this position and if you are pulling, it’s going to be this sound. It’s going to be a ‘D’ or an ‘A’ or an ‘E’,” Abshire says, explaining about the process of learning by ear. One summer in the mid-’60s, Ray lived with Nathan (who, by then, lived in Basille), occasionally sitting in at gigs. At the end of the summer, Nathan gave his teenage prodigy his Monarch ‘C’ accordion, the very

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squeezebox he recorded “Pine Grove Blues” on. “He said ‘Well, it looks like you’re going to make it,” Abshire says. “Boy, that was a sentimental moment there.” Through Nathan, Ray got to know the Balfa Brothers - Dewey, Rodney and Will - and through Dewey, Ray met fiddler Lionel Leleux, who offered him a one-night gig that lasted three-and-a-half years. In ’69, Ray got a call from Dewey. “‘Man, your cousin is having a hard time here,’” Ray recalls the Cajun music ambassador commenting on Nathan’s deteriorating health. “‘Would you like to join the band?’ I said ‘Well, I’m playing, but I’m not at your level of playing.’ Then, in his typical Dewey fashion, he replied ‘Don’t worry about it. We’ll teach you.’” Thus, a fortuitous seven-year partnership began. “I learned, and he did exactly that. Most of my learning was on the bandstand. I would learn by ear and some nights he would introduce me to two or three tunes.” Ray also noticed how the repertoire was so regional at that time, the Balfas focusing on By Dan Willging

fiddle-centric tunes from the prairies that were rarely heard in his native, accordion-centric marshland. During his Balfa Brothers tenure, Abshire played with the Brothers at the first Festivals Acadiens held at Blackham Coliseum in 1974. Abshire notes that out of that class, only a few remain, such as accordionist Marc Savoy and fiddler Merlin Fontenot. Ray played with the Brothers for another year before making the painful decision to leave the group to better balance family life and a grueling job in the oil patch. Eighteen years later, Abshire was in a good place with work and family but never considered playing publicly until another cousin, fiddler Leo Abshire of the Old Tymers Cajun Band, called. “Ray, can you come help me?” Abshire recalls him asking. “I ended up playing three-and-a-half years every Thursday night with him, and it was supposed to be that one night.” When the news got out, other groups called, one of which was Les Frères Michot, a family band that included future Lost Bayou Ramblers Andre and Louie. Looking back, Louie is still astounded at the thought of first

hearing Ray. “It’s like he knew a whole other repertoire that had been lost,” says Louie. ““He wasn’t out there chasing his style and being influenced by others. It was like a style that had been well preserved in an old house somewhere and someone went and dusted off this old book.” Despite his accomplishments and rapid re-entry into Cajun music, Ray never pushed music on his sons Brett and Travis. Then one night at a Folk Roots’ presentation of the Abshire Family’s musical legacy, Brett was so moved that afterwards he expressed interest in keeping the torch going. “Man, you don’t know how long I’ve waited for one of you to say this,” Ray exclaimed. After a few accordion lessons, Brett inquired about joining his dad’s band. Instead of prematurely surrendering the accordion chair, Ray gave him a live tape of Rodney Balfa playing his signature guitar rhythms. “When you can play like this man or come close, you got a job.” Six months later, Brett proved he was ready, which ultimately led to Travis learning the acoustic bass. In 2013, Ray achieved another proud moment when his sons joined him on his third Swallow Records album All Night Long. The terrain has changed drastically since the time Ray acquired his first accordion, a cheapie Tee Gris, in the ’60s. Gone are the historic dancehalls, but these days more and more outsiders are attracted to the culture than ever before. Some love it so much that they eventually relocate to Acadiana. Ray feels that it’s an honor that so many want to drink from the same well, a testament to how rich and powerful the culture is, something he refers to as “absorb and conquer.” “I’ve travelled a lot. When it comes to the music, the culture and the food, I just haven’t found anything yet that I would want to give this up for.”

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TRUMPET MAFIA

Wrecking Crew

ne of the many indelible musical things that seem to happen in New Orleans and seemingly nowhere else is the strong sense of community between musicians. On any given night on Frenchmen Street, musicians who ought to be competing for gigs and audiences are instead sharing the stage. But that spirit of camaraderie doesn’t stop with live performances, and it isn’t limited to just one genre or type of musician. Anders Osborne produces blues albums for other musicians while delving into the blues himself. Derrick Tabb has made it his mission in life to inspire and educate the next generation of New Orleans musicians. Jon Cleary instantly bonded with fellow transplanted keyboard master Nigel Hall, and the two work together instead of compete. The list goes on and on, but it’s worth highlighting that for a host of up and coming jazz musicians, New Orleans Jazz Orchestra maestro Irvin Mayfield has facilitated countless musical collaborations in the past decade. One such outgrowth of the NOJO that has earned a spotlight at this year’s Jazz Fest is the Trumpet Mafia, a wrecking crew of New Orleans based trumpet players making waves around the world. Led by trumpeter and longtime NOJO member Ashlin Parker, Trumpet Mafia formed organically as a group of NOJO members and other assorted musicians started to gather for daily practices. “Trumpet Mafia started in 2013 when I got back from Switzerland, during that really, really hot summer,” Parker said. “Some of us trumpet players got together in the Ninth Ward, and because there were no gigs and it was hot like Mars, we just practiced all day.”

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Through a flurry of texts and social media posts, Parker got the word out that they were “shedding,” or practicing. Like moths to a flame, the musicians gravitated to the informal and communal shedding sessions. “All of the sudden, there’s like 15 cats that came by,” Parker said. “Everybody came at least twice, and benefitted from the forum that we started.” All musical egos and performance baggage were checked at the door. “We’re all here doing the same job,” Parker said. “Instead of competing with each other, we’re trying to help each other. We’re trying to figure out ‘what do you do on this problem?’ We’re sharing issues, sharing warm ups, exercises, things like that.” The practices that led to the formation of the Trumpet Mafia ended up lasting for four months, with the musicians shedding at least eight hours each day. When Delfeayo Marsalis and his Uptown Jazz Orchestra hosted a battle of the bands against Russia’s Igor Butman Jazz Orchestra in January of 2014, Parker welcomed the visiting trumpet players with open arms. By Stephen Maloney

“We took the whole Russian trumpet section to my house,” Parker said. “People were having nosebleeds we were practicing so hard. It was such an intense practice session.” One of the Russian trumpeters noticed something strange. “Every 10 minutes, another trumpet player would walk in to my house,” Parker said. “One of the Russians said ‘Man, there are so many trumpet players. It is like a trumpet mafia!’ He coined it. We’re like ‘That’s damn right what it is!’” Soon after, the loose and informal group with a newly minted name began to coalesce around Parker’s natural leadership skills. “There was a point where we would practice our exercises in harmony, rather than in unison,” Parker said. “One day, we were practicing something really difficult, and one of the guys said ‘Damn, we sound good. We could actually perform this.’” In early September of 2014, Branden Lewis, Alex Massa, Chris Cotton, Grayson Hackleman, James Williams, and Julian Addison joined Parker on the balcony of his Frenchmen Street apartment to film a performance

of the Duke Ellington standard “Caravan” that Parker arranged for the band for OffBeat.com. A little more than one month later, Trumpet Mafia performed at Tulane University as part of the Jazz at the Rat series, blending hip hop and traditional jazz in a wellreceived formal debut. After the show, the musicians all hopped in a limo for the ride back to Frenchmen Street. As they spilled out onto the busy street amid a throbbing Thursday night crowd, everyone within a five block radius became aware of one thing: Trumpet Mafia had arrived. The next step ended up being an invitation to play at Jazz Fest, which Parker readily accepted. He immediately started lining up special guests for the band’s festival debut. “For Jazz Fest, I’ve got some crazy hitters on this one, not even New Orleans cats,” Parker said. “The first special guest artist is Leroy Jones. We’re going to do an original composition ‘Louie’s Lamentation’ that’s a dirge. We’re going to do a dirge at Jazz Fest.” After Jazz Fest, the next step for the band is to begin recording, but Parker is taking one thing at a time. Parker’s arrangement of a Harold Batiste tune called “Harlis Laughing” for a performance at Snug Harbor caught the attention of Jesse McBride, who plans on connecting the band with Batiste so the elder master can see his work performed by a new wave of musicians. “One thing that we really want to do is pay homage, that’s really important for us” Parker said. “Before we go to the studio, we need to pay homage. These cats are still here. It’s crazy. We get to play this beautiful music, and that’s just what we need to do. That’s satisfaction.” The mafia is all about respect, after all.

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Photo: stephen maloney

Trumpet Mafia’s family will continue to grow.

YVETTE LANDRY

Signing and Singing

JF2

Yvette Landry Band Thursday, April 30 Fais Do-Do Stage, 1:30p

usician Yvette Landry of Breaux Bridge has become the darling of the south Louisiana music scene. Her work as bassist for the Grammy-nominated Bonsoir Catin, Lafayette Rhythm Devils, and leader of her own Yvette Landry Band has established her reputation as a go-to player for touring and sit-in sessions. She does have a different life away from the footlights, however. To her students, she’s Miss Landry. Among the deaf and hearingimpaired of Acadiana, she’s a volunteer sign language interpreter at the Lafayette-based Deaf Action Center Sunday church services. At times, she’s the peacemaker called by Lafayette Police when hearingimpaired people are involved. Finally, she’s a teacher/mentor for beginning sign interpreters across Acadiana. It’s ironic though that a culture which enjoys music as much as south Louisiana’s Cajuns are disproportionately affected by Usher Syndromes, a disease that renders victims deaf and blind. “Acadiana has the largest community of not just deaf, but deaf and blind people,” Landry said. “We have the highest rate of Usher Syndromes in the nation.” Usher Syndromes (USH) is a group of genetic diseases characterized by hearing loss and a degenerative retinal condition called retinitis pigmentosa. The severity and age at the onset of symptoms determines the disease classification as type 1, 2 or 3. Cajuns suffer mostly from Type 1, which strikes infants with deafness, often before they are able to walk. Blindness comes later when sufferers are in their 20s or younger. Why Cajuns? History and geography—only 60 French families settled in Canada’s Maritime Provinces in the 15th century and they survived for nearly three generations in relative isolation.

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Genetically, humans have 35,000 genes, of which a dozen can be defective. Therefore, there is a higher possibility of people coupling in the Acadian culture who carry the same defective gene. Researchers believe the genetic anomaly was created accidentally 15 generations before le Grand Derangement of 1755. The Acadian mutation (the 216G<A mutation) is found in no other population. Landry did not learn sign interpretation specifically to help USH sufferers. It was about disciplining a hearing-impaired fifth grader. Landry had learned a few signs while working with special needs students who could not read phonetically. “I used signing in conjunction with a sight word approach,” Landry said. “I learned about 200 words, but that’s like learning 200 words in French. It doesn’t really mean you can communicate.” On her first day at a new school she observed two boys signing in conversation. “I got excited because I knew how to sign ‘Good morning,’” By Sam Irwin

she said. “I wanted to be the nice teacher who talked to the hearing-impaired children. I said, ‘Good morning,’ and they started talking to me—fast!” But signing “Good morning” is the same as saying “comment ça va” to a bilingual Cajun, Landry said. “When that Cajun answers with a flurry of French and keeps going, you’re stuck,” she said. “The boy started talking to me and I was signing, ‘Stop,’” Landry said. “He got upset and hauled off for his interpreter. He came back and basically chewed my butt off. “He was saying through the interpreter, ‘Who do you think you are? Are you pretending to talk to me? If you want to talk to me, why don’t you learn how to talk to me?’” Landry was horrified—put down by a nine-year-old. “I felt bad all day long, but I thought about it and remembered I was just telling that kid ‘Good morning’ just like I was telling every other kid ‘Good morning’ and nobody chewed me out. How dare he!”

Day two at school was decidedly different. “I was huffing and puffing and told the interpreter, ‘Get that kid,’” Landry said. “He was all Mr. Attitude, all four foot of him— arms crossed—total attitude. I told the interpreter to tell him everything I said word for word.” Which amounted to a “Where do you get off, Buster?” speech. “I told you ‘Good morning’ just like I told 50 other students ‘Good morning,’” Landry said. “But let me tell you something—I will learn how to talk to you and when I do, I am going to chew you out just like you did to me.” Put up or shut up time followed. “I went straight to the office and called the Deaf Action Center,” Landry said. “Sign me up, because you have until May 15 to teach me how to chew out a fifth grader.” Later, Landry learned the boy suffered from USH. The irony abounds for Landry. She’s fluent in English and signing, but French doesn’t come naturally to her. And hearing loss is an occupational hazard for musicians. “Many musicians lose their hearing, and it’s as if I was preparing by learning sign language before I became a musician,” she said. (Landry uses precautionary earplugs when she’s onstage and her hearing is fine thus far). When Landry appears at Jazz Festival, sign interpreters will be on the stage to express the music physically for the deaf. “Signing is an expressive and beautiful language,” Landry said. “It’s a lot like music. One of my favorite things to do is interpret/ sing songs. And I love that it’s a way that I can tie both signing and music together.”

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Photo: sam irwin

Yvette Landry expresses music physically.

CHARLES LLOYD

Sound Seeker

JF2

Charles Lloyd Quartet Saturday, May 2 Allison Miner Stage, 2p, WWOZ Jazz Tent, 4:10p

Charles Lloyd’s offering to the human condition.

“I

’m still drunk on the music, I was even before I was a teenager,” declares Charles Lloyd, 77, who remains passionate about music’s inherent humanitarian nature to communicate and foster understanding. “This is a music of wonder,” says the always spiritually attuned, legendary tenor saxophonist, flautist and composer. “It is our flight. It is our wings.” Lloyd grew up in Memphis, Tennessee—a place, like New Orleans, of music. He got his first saxophone at age nine, and it was the great pianist Phineas Newborn, also a Memphis native, who became his first teacher. Even as a teen, Lloyd got to share stages with jazz and blues greats, including his good friend trumpeter Booker Little as well as pianist Harold Mabern and saxophonist George Coleman. Growing up in Memphis meant that he was surrounded by those musicians who would eventually become blues legends, including guitarist/vocalist/composer Howlin’ Wolf, vocalist Bobby “Blue” Bland and guitarist/vocalist B.B. King. He played with them all. “I’m a bluesman on a spiritual journey,” says Lloyd, a brilliant jazz artist whose blues roots can still be heard in his lovely “The Spirit Is Wide” from his 2000 album of the same name. In 1956, Lloyd set out for Los Angeles to further his education, and at the same time gigged with the West Coast giants like saxophonist Ornette Coleman and drummer Billy Higgins. Next up was working as the musical director in drummer Chico Hamilton’s band and with the great saxophonist Cannonball Adderley’s group. In other words, Lloyd was blowing with the hottest jazz men on the scene. In 1965, Lloyd formed his own formidable quartet with now-

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“I come from the tradition of explorers,” he explains. “For me, music is my service. It’s my way of making an offering to the human condition. We are all seekers whether we call it that or know it. Whatever I play, the spirituality is there. It is where I live. It pours forth through me and my musicians.” Lloyd’s spiritual depth “pours forth” not only when he plays but when he speaks about the music that is his life. You’ve performed in many musical environments through the years. Is there one element in your blowing that remains core no matter with whom or in what style you are playing? I am a “sound seeker.” It has been a lifelong quest to find the one sound that says it all. When I find it, I will be able to put my horn down and go back into the forest.

legends pianist Keith Jarrett, drummer Jack DeJohnette and bassist Cecil McBee. It was with this group that he would produce some of his most noted works, Dream Weaver and Forest Flower: Live at Monterey. The recordings found cross-over support from popular and rock audiences new to the jazz arena. Forest Flower, with its beautiful melodic and uplifting quality, became the first jazz album to sell a million records. The tune, as Lloyd describes all jazz music, remains By Geraldine Wyckoff

“younger than springtime.” Lloyd’s stunning quartet was also the first jazz group to perform at San Francisco’s previously rock- and psychedelically-oriented Fillmore Auditorium. Except for a brief sabbatical in the ’70s that in this interview he describes as being “off the bus,” Charles Lloyd has continued his commitment to his musical and spiritual search. His latest release is this year’s Wild Man Dance, a commissioned suite that was recorded live.

I think many people would be surprised to learn that you played with groups like the Beach Boys, the Grateful Dead and the Doors. What did you take away from those experiences? I don’t have lines of demarcation. In most of those cases those guys were fans of my music. That’s how we sort of met up. In the ’60s a lot of that cross-pollination was going on. The Grateful Dead would want to play with me on shows at the Fillmore and around the Bay Area. There was a period when I had gotten “off the bus” and they [the aforementioned musicians] were very supportive of me. First of all, I came up in the south. I’m from Memphis, so I played with the guys who created this music—Howlin’ Wolf, Bobby www.OFFBEAT.com

CH A RL

ES L

LOY

"I learned long ago from Kalamu Ya Salaam that expectations can ruin many a great joy."

“Blue” Bland, Junior Parker, B.B. King—so there was nothing alien to me. Most of those bands from the ’60s, they drew from those people who I grew up playing with as a child. So I grew up with the source. Our indigenous art form, so called jazz—and coming from your guy [trumpeter Louis] Armstrong down there—it’s deep music. People were drawn to the deep music. I took from it [the experience] that it was a time of idealism and we wanted to change the world. And I’m still a dreamer and I still want to do that. I’m just not as naive as I was. What aspect or people/ musicians in your early life and career inspired your openness to diversity? When you love music, you love a lot of it. I grew up around the blues, gospel and jazz—the great Phineas Newborn was my first mentor. He introduced me to the music of Art Tatum, Duke Ellington, Bird, Prez, and Lady Day. In high school I discovered Bartok [classical composer/ pianist Bela Bartok] and how he transformed the folk songs of Hungary into miraculous compositions. It inspired me greatly. Many of those who go to the Jazz Tent, of course, know your music. What would you tell those who don’t what to expect? Will you perform a spectrum of works from your career? I learned long ago from Kalamu Ya Salaam that expectations can ruin many a great joy. I would tell them to come with open hearts and minds. We will try to fill that

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vessel with an uplifting and transformative experience. As you know, Kalamu ya Salaam is from New Orleans. How and when did you meet him? I think I first met him there in 1992 when I was playing the Jazz Fest and he wanted to interview me. He was very interested in my association with the great genius Phineas Newborn from my hometown. We went to some deep places. I read a lot and he’s a poet and he loves the word. We’d meet up around the word. He’s a citizen of the world who cares about deep things and cares about humanity, so we had some intersections there. I think musicians, poets, writers and artists, we are a community. Can’t help but ask, but do audiences demand that you play “Forest Flower”? If so, do you still enjoy playing it? Do you think it is its strong melody that initially attracted “non-jazz” audiences to it? I am asked from time to time to perform “Forest Flower” but there are a lot of young listeners who now request other songs like the “Water Is Wide” or “Tagi.” “Forest Flower” captured the imagination of that generation in the ’60s—the idealists—who, like me, were trying to create a better world. It took root at that particular point in time and grew exponentially. Let’s talk about your band. It includes some fairly young guys, though certainly top notch, musicians. What do you require when selecting who will be in your group? Are these musicians your new “working band?” Are you touring with them?

[Pianist] Gerald Clayton and [bassist] Joe Sanders are part of a quartet and sextet that I put together in 2013 to perform my new composition the “Wild Man Dance Suite.” We have been touring together at various times since then. Gerald is an old soul— an extremely sensitive poet who has his roots in the jazz tradition and also brings a modern classical lyricism to his playing. Joe Sanders has a compositional and rhythmic approach to his playing—he’s a marvel. And Kendrick Scott is one of the great young drummers of his generation. He is someone that [drummer] Eric Harland, who could not be here, thinks very highly of. The recording “Wild Man Dance” will be released on vinyl and CD on Blue Note Records on April 14. We are quite excited about this. You haven’t recorded for Blue Note since 1983. Is the label switch just for the commissioned piece, “Wild Man Dance” or a move from your long-time label ECM? I take life one day at a time. [Bassist/record producer and Blue Note president] Don Was is a good friend. When he invited me to record for Blue Note, I resisted for quite some time. But he persisted. The last time you played the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival was 1999. Do you have any memories of that? Any thoughts on New Orleans itself—you haven’t been here much—or its importance to jazz. Have you played with any New Orleans musicians? I hope the city is healing from all of its devastation—we were all affected by it. The last time I was there, master [drummer] Billy

Higgins was with me. Every note we played together in this life is memorable. My love for master Louis Armstrong has no bounds. As a kid in Memphis, I heard Pops and Fats Domino when they came to town. When I was in college at USC in the ’50s, the great [pianist] Ellis Marsalis was stationed at Camp Pendleton. He would come to Los Angeles on the weekends and take me to jam sessions at various clubs. We would turn the places out and then explore the local cuisine together. He is a great master and teacher. [Lloyd later added that three “great” New Orleans drummers played with him—Earl Palmer, Ed Blackwell and Idris Muhammad, in that order.] A question I’ve taken to asking is why a person plays a certain instrument—for instance tenor rather than alto. Do you think there are low note people and high note people—like some people prefer red to blue? I wanted to be a singer—but upon discovering that I didn’t have the voice for it, I started playing alto. It became my voice. I took up tenor in college—[tenor saxophonists] Sonny [Rollins] and Trane [John Coltrane] were forging a new terrain in sound and I liked the challenge of what they were doing. I had also become very tall with long arms and the alto no longer fit my frame. I always encourage musicians to add whatever they’d like to say—answer a question I didn’t ask. So please feel free. Truth is one. Sages call it by various names.

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KENNY GARRETT

Look for that Feeling

JF1

Kenny Garrett Saturday, April 25 WWOZ Jazz Tent, 5:50p

y the time Kenny Garrett ended his show at Dillard University in January 2014, everybody in the Lawless Chapel was on their feet dancing. The alto and soprano saxophonist encouraged the mania by repeatedly blowing the catchy hook of his tune “Happy People”—from his 2002 album of the same name—while standing at the very edge of the stage. “The first time we did that was in France, and the encore was 45 minutes—people went crazy,” Garrett says with a laugh. The Dillard performance marked the Grammywinning artist’s first show in New Orleans as a leader, and only the second time he’d played in the city. In 1986, Garrett was a member of trumpet legend Miles Davis’ band performing at a Jazz Fest night concert in a tent erected by the river. “I remember it because [trumpeter] Nicholas Payton was 13 years old and he wanted to sit in. I said ‘What!?’” According to Payton, he took the stage on a $100 bet by trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, who was doublebilled with Davis. Payton blew a little as he walked towards the band but was soon whisked off by security. While Garrett’s explosive show at Dillard ended with great festivity, the brilliant musician and composer challenged the audience at its onset with some of his serious works from his latest releases, the highlyacclaimed and Grammy-nominated Seeds from the Underground and Pushing the World Away. He returns to New Orleans with the same dynamic working/recording band— percussionist Rudy Bird (also a Miles Davis alumnus), pianist Vernell Brown, bassist Corcoran Holt and drummer McClenty Hunter—with which he’s been touring the world. “What I try to do with the audience is take them on a journey,”

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Garrett, 54, explains. “Every night is a different journey. It’s just the way I hear music. What music does for me, I try to do that for people.” Garrett, a Detroit native now residing in New Jersey, began garnering national attention at age 18 when he joined the Duke Ellington Orchestra, then led by Mercer Ellington. The saxophonist, then considered a “young lion,” remained on the jazz radar, playing with the likes of Davis, drummer Art Blakey, trumpeter Woody Shaw, saxophonist Pharoah Sanders, and other highly regarded artists. “It’s been a blessing to be around all the elders,” Garrett says of his many musical relationships. “They allowed me to express myself.” He credits Blakey for teaching him how to develop a solo and By Geraldine Wyckoff

swing. Garrett explains that on the opposite side of that was Davis, who would give him as long as 10 or 15 minutes to solo. “The main thing is that they all taught me the language,” he adds. “Playing with Miles Davis every night, he’s teaching me the language. We’re doing this call and response and it was like the African tradition, he’s passing this language to me. They were so giving, so I try to be giving to my musicians.” “Pharoah was my man,” exclaims Garrett, who both played and recorded with the tenor giant. “Pharoah stood on the bandstand with John Coltrane and I get the chance to stand on the bandstand with him.” Garrett’s first instrument was an alto saxophone that his father, a tenor player, bought for him.

“It had a bullet hole in it that had been soldered, so I guess he got it from a pawn shop or the street. I used to listen to my father practice, and I gravitated toward the case—I loved the smell of the case,” says Garrett with a laugh, adding that actually his first horn was a plastic saxophone that he got one Christmas. “Eventually, I just found that it [the alto] was something I could express myself through—it was like my voice.” Garrett, who consistently tops the jazz polls as one of today’s best alto saxophonist, is at the pinnacle of a career that’s locomotion has remained ever-forward. He’s a serious musician who is not afraid to become light-hearted and have some fun, as demonstrated on his performance of “Happy People.” For Pushing the World Away and at the Dillard show, he even reprieved Dionne Warwick’s 1967 pop hit that was later recorded by Aretha Franklin, “Say a Little Prayer.” Garrett’s original material is as diverse and stunning as his shows. Chant-like vocals augment the rhythmic and spiritually inclined title cut of Pushing the World Away. He plays solo piano on his on his quiet ballad “Brother Brown,” while paying tribute to keyboard masters Chucho Valdes on “Chucho’s Mambo” and Chick Corea on “Hey, Chick.” “I’m always writing,” Garrett says. “I go for myself first, to see if it moves me, and if it moves me, I hope that it moves other people. I’m writing because that’s the gift. You can’t really not take the gift.” “What motivates me is the idea that if I have another day on the planet, that I try to do the best I can do musically and as a person. Miles was always talking about the feeling you got when you first started playing. I’m always looking for that.”

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Photo: keith major

Kenny Garrett’s happy journey.

BEAUSOLEIL

Heathens from the Bayou

JF1

BeauSoleil Sunday, April 26 Allison Miner Stage, 1:30p, Fais Do-Do Stage, 5:50p

f you want to know how much the perception of Cajun culture has changed since Michael Doucet formed BeauSoleil 40 years ago, consider this: early in the band’s life, Doucet and legendary fiddler Dennis McGee started visiting high schools to present a program on Cajun music—and often as not, they got turned down flat. “The principals would say to us, ‘What’s to say about Cajun music? You work hard, you play at dances, you get drunk.’ And we wanted to show them the whole scope of the music, which is so much more than that. Of course, certain of those principals are probably running Cajun catfish shacks today.” Doucet’s done as much as anyone to bring Cajun culture to the world, and in that respect, BeauSoleil’s 40-year (and counting) mission has been a success. But for a preservationist, Doucet is remarkably open-minded, and his freewheeling approach has given the band a rich and varied catalogue. They’ve done acoustic albums of traditional pieces and progressive ones with original material. They’ve incorporated jazz, swing and rock ’n’ roll. Doucet will tell you that it all makes sense within the Cajun tradition, but it’s the flexibility that keeps BeauSoleil fresh. Case in point: When they play Jazz Fest this year, the guests will include saxman Charles Neville, trombonist Roswell Rudd, and banjo player Don Vappie—bona fide jazzmen all, not something you often hear in a Cajun band. “I’ve always been a proponent of the traditional jazz influence that came into Louisiana after they closed Storyville,” he explains. “At that time, people like Bunk Johnson and Hippolyte Charles all moved to the Bayou. There must have been 30 or 40 groups in South Louisiana at that time, and a lot of those groups had a violin. So that leads to a different smorgasbord of music and a whole new palette.”

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Though Doucet grew up near Lafayette in a musical family, it took an English folk-rock band to turn him onto playing Cajun music. “I walked into a record store in 1968 and they tell me, ‘You’ve got to hear this’—and it was ‘Cajun Woman’ by Fairport Convention. And the song doesn’t really sound Cajun at all, but it inspired my imagination. What interested me was what they brought to a folk song, how they brought it up to date and put their own feeling into it.” The writer and guitarist on that track was none other than Richard Thompson, who’d be a friend and collaborator of Doucet’s in years to come. Accordingly, Doucet’s first band was the Cajun-spiced rock band Coteau, together from 1975-77, and all the more legendary because they were never recorded (at least not until a reunion two decades By Brett Milano

later). Originally that band’s acoustic counterpart, BeauSoleil took on its own life as Doucet’s sense of mission grew—first with the death of a musician in the family, then after he took a study trip to France. “Travelling there definitely helped, because I saw how the French accepted Cajun music as the newest form of creative French folk songs. I was never sure what BeauSoleil was going to be, or what it is—I was just interested in getting the music back to where it came from, getting people my age interested in playing it. There was a sense of ‘Hey, we should learn this music and pass it on.’” And Doucet made a point of learning from the best, knocking on the doors of then-forgotten legends like Dennis McGee, Dewey Balfa and Canray Fontenot. “The question they usually asked was ‘Why you interested in me? I used

to play that music a long time ago.’ People like Dennis McGee, I’d heard his recordings and didn’t know if he was still alive. I spoke French to him, we became good friends, and I’d go over there every other week—I would wound up recording about 150 of his songs. Then I was about to go on tour and he said, ‘How come you don’t take me?’—and of course, he was 78. I asked where he wanted to go, and he said New York City.” During that trip, McGee got severe indigestion when he ate cornbread at one of the first East Coast Cajun restaurants. Doucet had to pull strings to get the uninsured musician into a hospital. “When we come home and we go to his house where his wife says, ‘I hope you behaved.’ And Dennis opens his shirt and he’s still got the suction pads from the EKG stuck on his chest.” While the first stages of BeauSoleil were acoustic and strictly traditional, they were already shaking things up by the time they signed to Rounder in the mid-’80s. They flirted with rock ’n’ roll on albums like 1989’s Bayou Cadillac and Doucet’s accompanying solo album Cajun Brew—especially the latter, which included both “Woolly Bully” and “Louie Louie” in French. “Rounder wanted to record Coteau, so that was a thing to show what we played like back then. The Cajun Brew record started almost as a joke, us doing this garage record, but it was fun and it became a big hit.” As did 1991s Cajun Conja, their label debut for Rhino, perhaps BeauSoleil’s most progressive and most electric album, with Richard Thompson cutting loose on a few tracks. It remains their best seller. In took until 1986 for the band to quit its day jobs and go full-time. At the time, Doucet resolved that they’d play every state in the USA. Since then, the band has taken on regular collaborators—Thompson, Sonny www.OFFBEAT.com

Photo: golden g. richard, III

BeauSoleil’s 40-year journey.

BEAUSOLEIL Landreth and Cindy Cashdollar being among the most frequent— and survived at least one major loss with the death of BeauSoleil and Coteau guitarist Tommy Comeaux in 1997. But the core of the band is mostly unchanged: drummer Tommy Alessi and percussionist Billy Ware were both on the earliest albums, while bassist Mitchell Reed joined eight years ago. But the heart of the sound has always been the interplay between Doucet’s fiddle and brother David Doucet’s acoustic guitar. “Sibling voices are always the best together,” Michael says. “We do duos and trios and everything is unsaid, you know what the other person is going to do. It’s symbiotic.” Of course, they got a boost in that era from the commercialization of Cajun culture, something that Doucet supports up to a point. “You give people the culture and give them what you represent, and they’ll thank you for it. We used to be the heathens from the Bayou, and now you have Cajunization in New Orleans. It used to be that

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Jed’s across from the Maple Leaf was the only club we had. Now you can walk down Decatur Street and hear Cajun music coming out of the stores—it may be the same three Rockin’ Sidney songs, but you hear it. So it’s a whole different world that in was 40 years ago—Dennis McGee isn’t just an enigma, he’s part of the culture. And now you can go to McDonald’s and get a blackened chicken sandwich. So we’ve done some potato chip commercials, and we did one for Community Coffee back then, but we’ve done them our way. I don’t think anything harms it if it’s used in the right way. However much it’s commercialized, it makes people look further.” The ’80s and early ’90s also brought BeauSoleil to the masses via movie soundtracks (Belzaire the Cajun and The Big Easy) and then Mary Chapin Carpenter’s hit “Down at the Twist & Shout” which featured the band and endorsed them by name. Carpenter planned to put that song on her first album but because they

couldn’t initially get the session together, wound up recording it just in time for her breakthrough album Shooting Straight in the Dark. “When we recorded it I told her, ‘If we can’t get this song in three takes we’re not going to record it,’ and we got it on the second take. The first time we performed it together was on the Country Music Awards, but we had to pantomime it—and I made her promise me that the next time we played it together, we’d play it live. And the next time was on the Grammy Awards, we played it right after Metallica. I think that lifted peoples’ spirits about the possibilities of Cajun music.” Later albums got even more eclectic as they flirted with country on La Danse de la Vie (Rounder, 1993), swamp pop on L’Amour ou la Folie (Rounder 1996), and Tex Mex on Alligator Purse (Yep Roc, 2009)—the latter’s version of Julie Miller’s “Little Darlin” is one of the undiscovered gems in their catalogue. Most diverse of all was the last album, From Bamako to

Carencro (Compass, 2013) which included Cuban and West African rooted tunes alongside pieces by James Brown, John Coltrane and Mississippi Fred McDowell and somehow made the Cajunization of all that material seem natural, maybe even easy. “It’s easy for us. The music just has to have a certain soul. It has to be authentic in the sense of who wrote it or where it was found. I had a chance to go to Cuba last year— played every night, danced way too much—so it made sense to do songs with a Cuban or Spanish influence.” As Doucet sees it, BeauSoleil and the Jazz Fest have a lot in common. Both have absorbed a lot of new influences but stayed true to their essence. “We were there when all the stages were named after certain musicians. Now it’s become corporate, but what are you going to do? You have to go with it. There’s still always a lot of real music there. People from all over the world tried to copy the festival, hired the same musicians and tried to make the magic happen. And the magic doesn’t happen.”

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NICHOLAS PAYTON

I Don’t Play Jazz

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Nicholas Payton Trio Friday, April 24 WWOZ Jazz Tent, 4:10p

ne of the many great things about Nicholas Payton is that he does not limit himself in his musical pursuits. Recently he has been heard onstage and on record with Dr. John’s Spirit of Louis Armstrong band, and he did several gigs at the Maple Leaf as a part of the Thursday Johnny Vidacovich trio. His recording career is full of stellar records across the musical spectrum. From his fantastic revamp of New Orleans classics Gumbo Nouveau (check out his version of “St. James Infirmary”) to his Grammy-winning traditional style teaming with Doc Cheatham, to the wild space funk of Sonic Trance, the beautiful playing of Sketches of Spain, and the more rhythm and blues oriented session of Numbers, Nicholas Payton is one of the best musical artists out there. And he is direct and to the point as he describes what he does. He states, “I don’t play jazz. I’m not limited to genre. It’s all Black Cultural Expression, so I can call upon any of it at any time, be it swing or straight ahead, funk, the New Orleans thing, street beats, blues—these are all to me a color palate, like a 64 box of Crayola. I can use any and all of them in combination at my disposal to make the music. Sometimes there is a groove in mind, but the idea is to hire people who can bring their own voice to it.” Payton says his current trio is locked in with him. He explains, “Right now I’m touring with Vincente Archer on bass and Bill Stewart on drums and I’m playing keyboard and trumpet. Vincente and Bill hook up really well. They are very simpatico on music, what music they like, and what they have been influenced by. We all have similar frames of reference. When I go in a certain direction, they get it, and I don’t have to worry that they’ll know what to do. It gave me the creative latitude to go where I want to go because I know they understand where I’m

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going. I may or may not dictate a groove. Sometimes I hear something specific. Other times I want the drummer to take it. The music dictates that. There are certain codes in the music, and it dictates that. Either people get it or not. For me, that’s the beauty of hiring certain cats who get it. I don’t want to do a helluva lot of talking.” The music he plays reflects this. It moves in all sorts of directions depending on the venue and the moods of the players and audience. It is very exciting in that way and improvisatory in the manner that jazz should be even as it goes beyond the parameters of what most people consider jazz. It is music first, plain and simple. Payton calls By David Kunian

it BAM, or Black American Music, which is a sentiment shared by many of the great musicians before him. Max Roach and Duke Ellington had issues with the term jazz. The Art Ensemble of Chicago called it “Great Black Music: Ancient to the Future.” Always known for his independence, Payton started his own record label and released his first record on it in 2013. Numbers, Sketches of Spain, and Live at the Bohemian Caverns have all come out on the Paytone label. “I got tired of having to develop a sales pitch for some board or A&R guy. I work hard, and I should be able to do what I want to do without having somebody else green light

it. For all the stuff I talk about Black autonomy and control over the music, it seems like the way to go. I’ve outgrown the other thing, where I have to ask someone to do something. It’s passé for me.” Hand in hand with Payton’s independence is his knowledge and grounding in the tradition. His father Walter was a legendary bass player and music instructor whose bass lines graced much of the 1960s New Orleans rhythm and blues hits and 21st century Preservation Hall jams. The heroes of New Orleans music hung out at his house when he was a little kid. Online he has had in-depth Twitter conversations about everything from the compositional and rhythmic evolution of the second Miles Davis Quintet to recent jazz albums rooted in the blues. However, he is totally uninterested in repeating the past. “If people thought the way they did 100 years ago, then we wouldn’t have any of the great music we have today. That’s part of what made musicians like Louis Armstrong so fresh and revolutionary, it was some wild and revolutionary music at the time. It was very avant-garde, very cutting edge. No one had ever heard the trumpet played that way before. So if we as artists aren’t allowed to express our voices to their full potential like the masters who gave us this music have, then how is the music supposed to move forward? Obviously it’s contingent for the artists to have done their homework so they’ve earned the right to extend the tradition. It’s not something that is entitled. You must spent the time learning in tutelage under the masters and being linked to the ancestry to earn the right to be in the position to say you are in that lineage. But once you are, then I think you have the freedom to express that in whatever way within that tradition, because it’s going to be in that no matter what you do.”

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Photo: golden g. richard, III

Nicholas Payton’s box of Crayola.

COVER STORY

Photo: Erika goldring

Happy Music

What Fats Domino means to New Orleans.

Box Fontenot (left) and Roger Lewis (right) celebrated Fats Domino's 87th birthday this February. Fontenot played drums in Fats’ band, and Roger Lewis played sax with him for 20 years.

isten. You can hear Fats Domino everywhere in New Orleans, even in places where there is silence. There is something about his rhythms and melodies that are in the way people walk and horns riff and cars drive and streetcars squeal and cutlery clanks and cast-iron pots simmer. It might be over 65 years since he took an old junker blues riff and joyously proclaimed that he was the Fat Man because he weighed 200 pounds and was checking out the Creole gals on Rampart and Canal (scant blocks from where Fess said you’d see the Zulu Queen) and the world changed forever, but all that is still here. If you have spent enough time in the Crescent City, it’s in your heart beat (hence how it’s in the silence...) and the fact that it is part of your inner workings makes your life a little better, mark my words. The music and presence of Antoine “Fats” Domino has made the lives of millions better. It’s not just the fun and street profoundness of the music, although that would be enough. As Rick Coleman’s stellar biography of Fats make clear, Fats was a stealth saboteur

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By David Kunian

of Jim Crow and the bullshit race laws of mid-century America. Domino’s performances so inspired dancing teens in the 1950s that they would cross or knock down any barriers to their frenzied movements, and next thing you knew, whites were boogieing with blacks who were shaking it with Latinas who were high stepping with Native Americans. And all that came from a man who, while his persona was very non-threatening, was by no means subservient or a racial stereotype. Fats Domino was revolutionary, both musically and sociologically. But he and his band paid their dues for it. No matter how much mixing there was at the dances, in the early days, they were getting take-out food from windows labeled “Colored” and staying in black hotels. But the performances laid the seeds for a better future. And let’s not forget the band. Fats was and is a powerhouse of music, but he was matched and supported by one of the best bands in the business both live and in the studio. It was a band full of characters that could only come from the Crescent City—guys with names like Tennoo, Smokey, Stackman, Earl, Papoose, Red, Reggie, www.OFFBEAT.com

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JF2 To Fats with Love: A Tribute to Fats Domino w/ Davell Crawford Saturday, May 2, Acura Stage, 1:40p

and Reggie. There is a great dispute on whom or what invented rock ‘n’ roll, but if this band didn’t invent it, they perfected it. This band could swing and dart, shoot and skim. They were a sweet caress on the ballads and a barreling freight train on the rockers. They were recorded by the great Cosimo Mattasa and whipped into shape by the great unsung hero of American and New Orleans music, Dave Bartholomew, Fats’ partner and alter-ego. The way that Bartholomew made that music sound still influences the sound of popular music to this day, and of course it does because it’s a pinnacle of excellence. The horn arrangements, the backbeat, triplet, and Cuban rhythms, the songs—they still sound hip. It’s a sound that has influenced everyone from the Beatles (who, if you take a cynical view, were just a ramped up Fats Domino cover band) to New York trumpeter Steven Bernstein’s Domino-inspired arrangements of Jewish liturgical music to free jazz titan’s Peter Brotzmann’s Fats horn section on steroids recording “Machine Gun” to the Skatalites (whose rock steady and ska beats are just Fats Domino Jamaican style). It is the DNA of popular music. If you put rock ‘n’ roll under a microscope to analyze the strands, you’d see Antoine’s smiling face beaming back up at you. That smile is one of his signatures. Most photos you see of Fats, he is smiling. Those who had a chance to hear him in concert know that he’s smiling most of the time. His audiences at those concerts—from the tiny babies to the old folks, from the rookies to the hard core cynical music fans—are all smiling. Domino makes happy music. Even his sad songs aren’t that sad. When he sings things like “Please Don’t Leave Me” or “Every Night About This Time,” there is still a sense of optimism in their tone as if to say “these blues won’t last and I’m going to make sure about that.” Also, part of what makes it happy is that the music sounds so effortless (in a very New Orleans fashion). It’s not by any means, but it sounds that way, and that makes it happy too. And finally, a great part of the appeal of Fats and his music is the simplicity. It is basic, simple music. Several of the pianists interviewed for this article emphasized this. One well-regarded New Orleans pianist, who will remain nameless as this piece of information comes from a reliable but still secondhand source, considers Fats to be almost a guru to him because of the simplicity of the music. It’s basically boogie-woogie and triplets, but in that there is so much expressiveness and depth of emotion, experience, and spirit. Domino’s music has complexity in the simplicity. That’s a contradiction, but the great truths of our existence are such. There is a power and zen in how something so basic can contain so much. You can listen to Fats on that level and get lessons in life from it, and you can listen to it as great and energetic party music. Either way and both ways, or any other way, Antoine still wants to walk you home after he’s got a new pair of shoes from walking to New Orleans as he lets the four winds blow while he’s going to be a wheel some day and, by the way, hello Josephine, how do you do, etcetera. You get the message. You already had that message and the music in you, and you are better off for it. And that ain’t a shame. www.OFFBEAT.com

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What does Fats Domino mean to New Orleans piano players?

he people who have unique insights into Fats Domino are the pianists. They have thought about him on both a pianistic, technical level, and on a more encompassing metaphorical level. Each pianist was asked three questions: What is your favorite Fats Domino tune and why? What does Fats Domino and his music mean to you personally? What does Fats Domino and his music mean to New Orleans, the United States, and the Universe? We tried to get a variety of pianists both renown and notorious to give their opinions. No matter what you think about Fats’ profile around the current culture, he is still creating a disturbance in the mind of New Orleans pianists (to paraphrase Fats’ Ninth Ward neighbor and occasional opening act Jessie Hill) in a big way.

Amasa Miller When you asked the question about a favorite Fats tune, that’s a tough question. What first came into my mind is from an album that Fats doesn’t even play piano on. Booker does—Fats Is Back. It’s called “Wait ‘til It Happens To You.” I like his voice in that song. I like the way he expresses himself. There is no perfect answer. That’s what came to mind first. At the very least, that’s one I focused on as an interesting song. What usually comes to mind are the standards. The stuff most characteristic of Fats is the stuff he and Dave Bartholomew wrote together. They were collaborators— they completed each other. Fats had something that Dave needed and Dave had something that Fats needed. Neither one of them would have gotten the notoriety without the other. They were critical to each other. They were alter egos in some way. I’m glad for their relationship because it produced such great music. The way he puts his stamp on things is great. Never saw Fats up close. I saw him in big concert settings. It was extraordinary how much he put into his concert performances. He was so totally there. And the other thing important is how extraordinary his band was throughout his career—they were amazing, and he defined them. You’ve got these musicians who are better than Fats is. Folks like Fred Kemp and Herb Hardesty. It doesn’t get any better, and in a way, Fats is a boogie-woogie player. Compared to him, he doesn’t have the status in the snooty musician world. For me, if the music is good, then the technique is strong. By those terms, Fats is as good a musician as could exist. But, he’s got that amazing power. And at the end of the gig, he would get up and the band would keep playing. And when he stopped playing, it was like half the band went away. That’s what struck me about his live performance—how much of the glue that held it together was him. Half the band went away even if it was 15 people. Fats is one of many people who uniquely represents New Orleans. When you talk about things that represent New Orleans that you can only find here, Fats is in the top 10, maybe number one. He could not have come JA ZZ FEST BI BLE 2 015

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“When someone starts playing 'Blueberry Hill,' grab a pretty woman and start dancing.”

into being any place else. He is an iconic figure who represents New Orleans in a very complete way. If you think of the world wide impact of him, it’s amazing. I don’t think you could think of a musician whose name is more known worldwide than Fats—even Michael Jackson or other superstars. Over the last 50 years, his music is more known to more people. His music is so direct. It has a simplicity and drive that everybody can relate to. How many people in their art can reach so many people— and if you’re in an audience at a Fats show, everybody is smiling.

Jon Cleary I don’t have a favorite Fats tune. There are several I really like, and I like all of them. There are a few Fats songs in my repertoire. “Blueberry Hill,” obviously, and I think “Blue Monday,” just what happens when you’re playing hard with a band and you get to that bridge where the whole band is playing triplets and it builds and builds and builds and it’s a great pressure cooker. That’s one of my favorites. Being someone who fell in love with New Orleans music and hearing it from a very young age and then coming here and spent a lot of time listening to it and learning and getting a lot of pleasure from it—Fats is an inspiring piano player to a youngster. Fats Domino provided material that you could replicate fairly quickly. It’s very simple in its structure. What he did with it was add a whole lot of soul to it, and that’s magical. But the form—triplet form with the Jimmy Yancey bassline—that was relatively simple and that was the key that could unlock the door and you could start delving more deeply into Toussaint and others. The music that they invented here in New Orleans—and you can’t say when that started because it was a long evolution from day one, but the point they arrived at in the late 1940s—it’s hard to imagine what that sounded like to people more than half a century later, but it was revolutionary. The R&B that they developed here was the ethnic folk music of New Orleans, and there is ethnic folk music all around the world, but there is a style here that translates onto records and lit the world on fire and they renamed it rock ’n’ roll and it first happened here in New Orleans. It’s a style of music that became rock ‘n’ roll and evolved into heavy rock groups and heavy metal, all these different facets of what pop music is now. All of the music can be traced back to New Orleans. So to me, he is the face of New Orleans rhythm and blues. He’s the face of the little thing that happened here and took over the rest of the world, the backbeat and blues notes and the funk and the soul.

Paul Longstreth My favorite Fats Domino tune is one I love, “I’m Walkin’.” I love Fats’ version, but I love George French’s version too. It’s one of my earliest musical memories as a professional musician. Fats is my link as a piano teacher. He’s the perfect first piano lesson for someone who wants to learn the piano but doesn’t want to study the classical repertoire. There is simplicity in the way he plays. It’s not easy by any means, but it’s straight-forward and simple. Most people have Fats’ music in their head already—major triad in the left hand and funky triplet rhythms in the right hand. Once you play that, you’re pretty much playing a hit right there. As a teacher it’s great. As a performer, once I start playing [sings the opening riff of “Blueberry Hill”], everybody in the room is really going to appreciate that. And if it’s a hip

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room, somebody is going to be dancing. When someone starts playing “Blueberry Hill,” grab a pretty woman and start dancing. Really, the music of Fats should mean more than it does. I think Fats is underappreciated in the annals of American music. It might be different in the South. Internationally, I think the audiences are more tuned into New Orleans and understand his place in the New Orleans music pantheon. Even the serious jazz heads have to appreciate how Fats was able to take the New Orleans rhythm and blues and break out on a rock ’n’ roll scene. In New Orleans, people my age and older all love Fats, but I’m not sure that translates to younger listeners. I’m sure they’ve all heard it, but—I don’t know, I’m pessimistic about the younger listeners.

Ellis Marsalis There’s a lot I like about Fats. I like a lot of what he did. A lot of what I liked about Fats was when he worked at Al Hirt’s Club, and I was working with Al Hirt. He was a consummate showman, and he had an arrangement of “When the Saints Go Marching In” that was killer, but if I had to pick one, it would be “I’m Gonna Be A Wheel Some Day.” It has a certain appeal to me. They were all rhythm and blues tunes. All of Fats’ music had a heck of a groove to it. It’s hard for me to pin down what he means to me. I knew Antoine for a long time. After a period of time, I developed a respect for his ability to present his music. A lot of people came to Al’s to hear him, and they came from these little bitty towns right out of New Orleans. And I always had a respect for that because I would later on figure out how difficult it was to get people to come out and hear you. I’m never sure what someone means about American music. As you know, America is the land of immigrants. And there are a lot of different people playing music to all these different immigrants, and it sort of becomes a gumbo of music. If I had to pick something, I think Fats means a lot more to New Orleans than any other parts of America. See, the thing about him and his music is that it came from the culture of this town, and over the years he used musicians who were either from here or had been here for a long time. Like Lee Allen, he lived here but he came from somewhere else. They were able to grasp the concept of Fats. And consequently if he went to Vegas or where ever he went, what he brought to people was the culture of New Orleans. He brought them New Orleans. That’s basically what he meant. What he was doing, when you leave here, it’s not the same in Nashville. They have a version of the “Saints,” but his is one of a kind. People use that expression a lot, “one of a kind.” But he definitely is one of a kind. Fats had 19 gold records. And when he would come to Al Hirt’s, sometimes his road man Raymond, it would take Raymond forever to get him on the bandstand. But once he got on the bandstand, he wasn’t going to get down until the people in that club had heard all 19 of those records. There were not that many people who would understand the tradition here that reached the level where people would know them through the music or have heard the name. The point is that he was the consummate showman.

Tom McDermott “I’m Walking.” I’ve always liked the contrapuntal line the sax plays, and counterpoint in general. I never met Fess or Jelly Roll, have barely met Booker, Mac and Toussaint and Harry Connick, Jr., but through my friend Haydee Ellis, I’ve been to www.OFFBEAT.com

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Fats’ house several times, and that’s been pretty cool. Even went to his old Ninth Ward home twice back in the day. Ray Charles and Fats may have been the two earliest to crossover to white pop audiences. I think New Orleans loves him because he stayed in his original hood until he was flooded out—and because he is such a wonderful singer and cherubic presence.

John Autin My sentimental favorite is “The Rooster Song.” I had never heard it when my oldest brother Buford, who has now gone to the next life, asked me if I could play it, so I learned it for him, and it makes me think of him every time I play it. It’s got the same hook as his hit “Ain’t That a Shame.” Also “Blue Monday” is one of my favorites too because it really speaks to me as a working man lyrically and I love the raw tension that the bridge creates that is released so beautifully in the final verse. It uses a very simple musical device of a repeated triplet figure for a really long time to create the tension but it’s as dramatic as a Wagner opera in its result! Fats is so big all over the world. He’s our Elvis, our Beatles, our Michael Jackson all rolled into one. Every time I play a Fats song, the room lights up. It brings back memories for old folks and makes little kids dance. Fat’s is just magic. The triplet feel that he popularized is pounded deep into my soul. I’ve only met him a few times. He’s a kind sweet soul who just likes to hang out and play his piano. He played a gospel song for me one time in his living room and it was absolutely beautiful, his groove was deep, just him and the piano. His music is simple with a strong groove and a smile in it. He touched millions of fans all over the world and brought so much joy into the world. No matter where I play, in Europe, Japan, or Cocodries, when I start playing Fats, everyone lights up. Elvis and the Beatles were huge fans and he influenced them greatly. What we call swamp pop today began as just Fats sung in French. Fats along with Louie Jordan created and popularized Rhythm and Blues and gave birth to Rock ’n’ Roll. What more could you ask for from a boy from the Ninth Ward.

Sarah Gromko “I’m Walkin’” is probably the first Fats Domino tune I ever heard when I was very little. I just remember as a kid walking with a little strut to the song and singing along. It’s still got that bounce that brings back fun summer memories of my Grammy and Grampy’s house—the perpetual smell of Polish cabbage, inevitable bee stings from the pool, and unlimited raspberry ice cream. I didn’t even know Fats was from New Orleans until well into my adulthood, which says a lot about his fame. It’s heresy to say something like that down here, but I don’t think I’m in the minority. I just knew I loved his sound. In fact, a lot of music to which I had a strong visceral connection I later found out came from New Orleans. It is not something taught in music school. Maybe because it’s so simple and feels so good that it isn’t given its deserved clout by musicians outside the city. Maybe it’s because the element that makes New Orleans music so appealing is unteachable unless you live here. This sounds like a digression, but Fats was the first guy to expose the general public to our undefinable musical feel. It doesn’t matter if it can be defined. The beauty is that those who know the least

JAZZ FEST BIBLE 2015

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intellectually about music get the most out of New Orleans, precisely because of their lack of musical vocabulary.

Henry Butler Fats Domino was one of the more unique pianists/vocalists to come out of New Orleans. His uniqueness did not necessarily come from having great dexterity or facility on the piano. As I have listened to much of his music over the years, I think that he understood that he was not able to compete with the likes of James Booker, Allan Toussaint, Tuts Washington, etc.—but, he had lots of appeal being his natural, musical self. I am not one who usually has favorites coming from musicians’ bodies of work. The composition that is active in my repertoire right now is “Hello, Josephine.” Fats Domino, in his simplicity, gave New Orleans presence at the top of most of the popular charts. He made lots of New Orleanians, people across the nation, and people throughout the world happy— especially when they heard him in live performance. There has been absolutely no one coming out of New Orleans, or anywhere else, like Fats Domino.

Josh Paxton “I’m Ready,” because it was the song that first turned me on to Fats when I first started checking out the early rock ’n’ roll piano players as a kid. The whole thing just grooves, and the piano solo is so simple but so perfect for the song. It was important to me because when I started really studying New Orleans music, it was a bridge between a lot of music I was already familiar with and this new stuff I was hearing for the first time. Hearing what he had in common with, say, the Chicago blues and boogiewoogie players but also noting how he was different from them, was an important step in understanding a lot of New Orleans music. He’s the original King of Rock ’n’ Roll. What else can you say?

Davis Rogan My favorite Fat’s Domino song is “I’m Gonna Be A Wheel.” It captures the essence of that playful feel of New Orleans R&B. It written by Roy Hayes, the other credited writer is Dave Bartholomew, whose hand is very evident in the arrangements. It was originally a hit for Bobby Mitchell, but Fats owns it, and the countless groups who cover it are doing Fats’ version. It’s classic Fats, driven by Earl Palmer and spiked by Lee Allen. All this epitomizes Fats for me— that he was able to attract such massive talents to collaborate with him, but then he gives it a stamp that makes it unique. He’s an icon. That charisma and charm are as important as chops when it comes to being a successful entertainer. Fats Domino and the early New Orleans rhythm and blues style influenced music in America and the world on a level and scale equal to that of New Orleans jazz in the 1920s. There have been New Orleans styles since then that have been recognized and imitated world-wide—bounce, funk, modern brass bands, but nothing yet has had the influence of Fats et al, who had a seismic impact on the national aesthetic. O www.OFFBEAT.com

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JAZZ FEST A-Z

All you need to know is in our...

t can be daunting to choose from the panoply of cultures, rhythms and sounds available at Jazz Fest when mapping out a day at the Fair Grounds; this handy guide should help ensure your experience hits all the right notes. Happy Festing!

ACU = Acura Stage SAM = Samsung Galaxy Stage (formerly Gentilly) CON = Congo Square Stage JAZ = Zatarain’s/WWOZ Jazz Tent BLU = Blues Tent ECO = Peoples Health Economy Hall Tent FDD = Sheraton New Orleans Fais Do-Do Stage J&H = Jazz & Heritage Stage GOS = Gospel Tent LAG = Lagniappe Stage KID = Kids Tent AM = Allison Miner Music Heritage Stage PAR = Parades NAT = Native American Pow Wow NOC = NOCCA Pavilion All of the information presented here is also at your fingertips on OffBeat.com.

101 Runners, 4/25, J&H, 5:40p: Carrying on the proud tradition of fusing Mardi Gras Indian chants with funk, this group includes Chris Jones with War Chief Juan Pardo of the Wild Comanches and a star cast of players. 21st Century Brass Band, 5/1, PAR, 5p: This young, Treme-based group finds room in its repertoire for New Orleans jazz standards as well as modern R&B hits. The 4X4 Connection Band, 4/30, CON, 11:15a: Clark J. Knighten heads up this New Orleans-based R&B and smooth jazz-based quartet.

JAZZ FEST BIBLE 2015

7th Ward Creole Hunters, 4/30, PAR, 3p: Big Chief Jermaine Bossier leads this 7th Wardbased Mardi Gras Indian gang. Aaron Neville, 5/2, BLU, 4:30p: The goldenvoiced Neville brother, whose classic “Tell It Like It Is” was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame collection for 2015, brings a mix of doo-wop standards from My True Story alongside of greatest hits from his solo catalogue. Adella Adella the Storyteller and the Freeman Brothers, 4/26, KID, 12:40p: This kids’ performer aims to bring animals to life, make history real, turn ancestors into wise friends and open the imaginations and hearts of her listeners. Alexey Marti & Urban Minds, 4/24, J&H, 3:05p: Five years after relocating to New Orleans, Cuban-born conga player and percussionist Marti has become a key fixture on the local Latin scene, performing a mix of jazz, funk, salsa, son, rumba and more. Alexis and the Samurai, 4/26, NOC, 4:10p: A band led by two of the brighter talents on the local rock scene, singer/songwriter Alexis Marceaux and multi-instrumentalist Sam Craft. Both were in the alt-rock band Glasgow and in Susan Cowsill’s group, and Marceaux was a finalist on NBC’s The Voice. Alexis Spight, 4/25, GOS, 12:05: Stellar Award nominated gospel singer-songwriter Spight got her start on BET’s Sunday Best. An alum of Matthew Knowles’ client roster, she’s currently working on her sophomore album, Dear Diary. Algiers Warriors, 5/1, PAR, 3:50p: The West Bank-based Big Chief of the Algiers Warriors came out in sky blue with orange patchwork at this year’s Super Sunday. Alison Krauss and Union Station, 4/30, GEN, 5:25p: Mixing bluegrass with folk, serious fiddle chops and a delicate yet self-assured voice, Krauss is both a Jazz Fest and a Recording Academy favorite. These days, her Grammy Awards stockpile includes 26 statues. Allen Toussaint, 4/30, GEN, 2:05p: One of the guiding lights of New Orleans music and a

By Jennifer Odell

man whose songs virtually define New Orleans R&B. His Fest sets often see him breaking out unrecorded tunes and deep-catalogue nuggets, some of which also appeared on his 2013 live solo release Songbook. Amanda Shaw & the Cute Guys, 4/30, GEN, 2:05p: Now out of her teens and signed to Blue Mountain Artists, the fiddle prodigy and Cajun roots rocker is coming into her own. Onstage she does everything from pure Cajun music to modern funkafied pop. Amanda Shires, 4/30, FDD, 4:25p: This talented fiddle playing singer-songwriter from Texas frequently collaborates with her husband, Jason Isbell. Their new EP Sea Songs features stripped-down covers of Warren Zevon’s “Mutineer” and Lykke Li’s “I Follow Rivers.” Anders Osborne, 5/3, ACU, 12:25p; AM, 2:15p: In recent years, this Swedishrooted guitar hero and songwriting titan has earned acclaim for the soul-baring American Patchwork and the alternately stormy and organic Peace. In 2015 he teamed up with the North Mississippi All-Stars on Freedom & Dreams, an exercise in folk-inspired, uptempo Southern blues. Later, he sits down for an interview with Dave Margulies. Andrew Duhon, 5/2, FDD, 12:25p: With his achingly tender voice and penchant for lyrical depth, folk-pop singer-songwriter Duhon taps into personal experience to tug at listeners’ heart strings while strumming his way through original music that echoes the blues. Angelique Kidjo, 4/25, AM, 3:30p; 4/26, CON, 1:55p: Singing in four languages and drawing on influence ranging from jazz to Afro-pop to Latin to classical, the Benin-born Kidjo serves powerful socio-political messages in innovative and beautiful musical contexts. She’ll also be interviewed by Steve Hochman. Ann Savoy and Jane Vidrine of the Magnolia Sisters, 4/24, LAG, 3:05; AM, 4:30p: Interviewed by Ben Sandmel. See the Magnolia Sisters for band info. Anthony Hamilton, 5/1, CON, 5:25p: Widely recognized as one of his generation’s greatest R&B singers, Hamilton mixes gospelsteeped vocals with an honest and personal approach to songwriting.

Apache Hunters, 5/3, PAR, 12:15p: Big Chief Preston Whitfield leads this Uptownbased Mardi Gras Indian tribe, headquartered at 3rd and LaSalle Streets. Archdiocese of New Orleans Gospel Choir, 5/2, GOS, 1:55p: The Archdiocese represents the largest religious demographic in New Orleans and its choir conflates a tradition of Crescent City Catholicism dating back to 1793. Ashé Cultural Arts Center Kuumba Institute, 5/2, KID, 12:40p: This Central City community group brings storytelling, poetry, music, dance, photography and visual art to schools and neighborhoods throughout New Orleans. AsheSon, 4/25, J&H, 3p: Local guitarist Javier Olondo leads this ensemble primarily through the songs of his native Cuba while drawing on the traditions of other Latin American countries including Guatemala and Puerto Rico. Astral Project, 5/2, JAZ, 2:40p: The members of this modern jazz quartet— saxophonist Tony Dagradi, guitarist Steve Masakowski, bassist James Singleton and drummer Johnny Vidacovich—have active musical lives outside of the group, but as Astral Project, they evince a rare chemistry that results from playing together for three decades. Audrey Ferguson and The Voices of Distinction, 4/25, GOS, 11:15a: The “traditional foot-stomping, hands-clapping gospel” of this Baton Rouge-based quartet has been a Jazz Fest staple since before the storm. Baby Boyz Brass Band, 5/3, PAR, 1:30p: One of the younger brass groups on the second line and festival circuit, Baby Boyz is led by trumpeter Glenn Hall III, kin to the musical Andrews family. Bamboula 2000, 5/1, J&H, 5:40p: “Bamboula” was originally a form of drum and dance ceremony held on Congo Square. Bamboula 2000 leader Luther Gray brings that spirit into the present with a troupe of players and dancers. Banu Gibson with NOCCA and NOTJC Guests, 4/25, ECO, 3:05p: Singer/dancer

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illustration: tsierra motsinger

Fest Guide

Gibson specializes in swing, hot jazz and the Great American Songbook. She’s joined by students from two of New Orleans’ most celebrated youth jazz programs. BeauSoleil avec Michael Doucet, 40th Anniversary with special guests Charles Neville, Jo-El Sonnier, Steve Connand Don Vappie, 4/26, AM, 1:30p; FDD, 5:50p: Fiddler Doucet’s venerable Cajun band was the first of its genre to win a Grammy in 1998; their sound draws on eclectic influences ranging far beyond Acadiana, from bluegrass to West African music and more. Michael and David Doucet look back on the band’s history with Mark DeWitt before the show. Bela Fleck and Abigail Washburn, 4/26, FDD, 3p: Prolofic banjo virtuoso Fleck and his wife Washburn recently teamed up for an album of duets that juxtaposes Fleck’s African music and jazz influences against Washburn’s mix of Appalachian and Far East-based styles. The Bester Singers, 4/24, GOS, 2:50p: A cappella gospel harmonies are the specialty of this Slidell, La.-based group. Betty Winn & One A-Chord, 5/1, GOS, 1:50p: Formed in 1995 by Betty Winn and her husband Thomas, this choir traces the history of gospel from slave spirituals to new compositions. They perform with as many as 40 singers. Big Chief Bo Dollis Jr. & the Wild Magnolias, 5/3, J&H, 4:25p: The Wild Magnolias made one of the first landmark Indian funk records, the 1970 single “Handa Wanda.” In the wake of founder Bo Sr.’s death in January, the greater Indian community has helped Bo Jr. honor his father’s legacy at musical tributes, concerts and other gatherings across the city. Emotions are likely to run high at the renowned crew’s Fest set.

JAZZ FEST BIBLE 2015

Big Chief Juan and Jockimo’s Groove, 5/3, J&H, 1:45p: Skillful Golden Comanche Chief Juan Pardo, who grew up with the sounds of elder statesmen Indians like Monk Boudreaux and Bo Dollis, updates classic and original Mardi Gras Indian songs with a mix of funk and R&B. Big Chief Keke and the Comanche Hunters Mardi Gras Indians, 4/26, J&H, 12:35p: Big Chief Keith Keke Gibson leads this Ninth Ward gang, performing traditionals like “Indian Red” and Monk Boudreaux’s “Lighting and Thunder.” Big Chief Monk Boudreaux & the Golden Eagles, 5/3, J&H, 3p: Boudreaux, who performed for many years alongside Big Chief Bo Dollis in the Wild Magnolias, is one of the most prominent Indian performers and a soulful vocalist. The Golden Eagles’ reggaeheavy performances often get into heady, near-psychedelic territory. Big Chief Trouble and the Trouble Nation, 5/2, J&H, 1:30p: This tribe’s Big Chief Markeith Tero also rolls with the Revolution SA&PC. Big Chief Walter Cook and the Creole Wild West Mardi Gras Indians, 4/25, J&H, 12:40p: Claiming to be the oldest Mardi Gras Indian tribe, the Creole Wild West has been documented marching since the late 19th Century. Big Freedia, “Queen of Bounce,” 5/2, CON 4:10p: The self-professed Queen Diva put the bounce genre on the map nationally with her quick-fire rhymes, sweat-inducing rhythms and booty-shaking dance moves. Her self-titled reality show returned in February and her very own “In Your Pocket” toy is now in the works. Big Nine SA&PC, 4/24, PAR, 4:30p: Listen for cries of “way downtown” on the parade from this social aid and pleasure club.

Alexis and the Samurai

Big Sam’s Funky Nation, 4/25, ACU, 1:40p; 4/30, 3:55p: The charisma of former Dirty Dozen trombonist Sam Williams makes him an able focal point for a musical party that blends brass, Meters-style funk, hip-hop and rock. His hard-touring group has earned a large following in the jam-band world. Williams performs with Andrew Braham and drummer Joe Dyson in the NOCCA Pavilion. Bill Summers & Jazalsa, 4/26, J&H, 4:10p: Known for his membership in Los Hombres Calientes and Herbie Hancock’s Headhunters, percussionist Summers explores Latin and world music with his latest band. Bishop Sean T. Elder & the Mount Hermon Baptist Church Mass Choir, 4/24, GOS, 6p: Elder, who writes much of his group’s music, leads this choir from the church on North Broad Street in New Orleans.

Black Feathers, 5/3, PAR, 2:45p: This 7th Ward-based tribe has been masking Indian for more than 20 years. Black Mohawk and Blackfoot Hunters, 4/24, PAR, 12:20p: Big Chief Byron Thomas and Big Chief Donald lead this twofer Mardi Gras Indian parade. Black Seminoles, 4/24, PAR, 4:30p: This popular tribe was led by Cyril “Big Chief Ironhorse” Green until his unexpected passing in 2013. The Blind Boys of Alabama, 5/3, AM, 12:15p; GOS, 3:55p: This prolific group has been recording spiritual and gospel music together for almost 75 years. Their latest, I’ll Find a Way, features guests like Patty Griffin and Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon, who also produced the album. Joyce Jackson interviews members of the band before their set.

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Photo: robby klein

JAZZ FEST A-Z

JAZZ FEST A-Z The Blues Masters feat. “Big Al” Carson, 5/3, GEN, 11:20a: Carson’s imposing 400-pound frame and equally mighty voice are familiar attractions at the Funky Pirate on Bourbon Street, and his song “Take Your Drunken Ass Home” has become a Mardi Gras standard. Bo Dollis Tribute: Queen Rita & Big Chiefs Bo Dollis, Jr. and Monk Boudreaux, 5/3, AM, 1:15p: Maurice Martinez discusses the life and legend of the recently departed Wild Magnolias Big Chief with his widow, son and longtime collaborator. Bobby Lounge, 5/3, LAG, 5:15p: A one-of-a-kind mix of barrelhouse piano, Tom Waitsian poetics, Southern-gothic storytelling and just plain out-there-ness. USA Today, Rolling Stone and The New York Times have all raved about Lounge’s Jazz Fest sets. Bonerama, 4/30, ACU, 12:25p: What began as a novelty—a multi-trombone band playing jazz, funk and classic rock—has turned into a local favorite and a national go-to group. Their renditions of rock classics like Led Zeppelin’s “The Ocean” and the Grateful Dead-associated “Turn On Your Love Light” are full-tilt affairs. Bonsoir, Caitin, 5/2, FDD, 11:15a: This Cajun music supergroup features rhythm guitarist Christine Balfa (a founder of the Louisiana Folk Roots organization), accordionist Kristi Guillory, fiddle expert Anya Burgess, Feufollet vocalist Ashley Hayes, electric guitarist Meagan Berard, and drummer Danny Devillier. Brandon Moreau and Cajungrass, 5/3, LAG, 12:45p: One of the few Cajun acts based in New Orleans, Moreau’s outfit also draws on bluegrass, swing and honkeytonk influences. Brass Bed, 4/26, LAG, 5p: One of Lafayette’s most promising young rock acts, this quartet gets much of its fire from shimmering waves of psych rock reverb and guitarist Christiaan Mader’s Tweedy-esque voice. Brass-A-Holics, 4/24, CON, 1:20p: Formed by ex-Soul Rebels trombonist Winston Turner, this band created its own genre of “go-go brass funk,” combining the New Orleans elements with the strong grooves of Washington DC’s go-go scene. Brian “Breeze” Cayolle, 4/25, AM, 2:30p: Rick Coleman interviews saxophonist and singer/songwriter Cayolle, whose soul-drenched playing accompanies both Allen Toussaint and Ruby Wilson at this year’s fest.

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Benny Jones picks: O’Jay’s, Creole file Gumbo from Baquet’s Li’l Dizzy’s Café

Brother Tyrone & the Mindbenders, 5/3, CON, 11:20a: Tyrone Pollard, a.k.a. Brother Tyrone, is a deep-soul vocalist whose original songs could pass for long-lost vinyl tracks. Bruce “Sunpie” Barnes and Rachel Breunlin: Talk that Music, 5/2, AM, 12p: Jason Berry discusses the new book, Talk That Music Talk: Passing On Brass Band Music in New Orleans the Traditional Way, by harmonica and accordion wiz Barnes and Breunlin, a New Orleans based anthropologist and writer. Bruce Daigrepont Cajun Band, 4/25, FDD, 12:20p: One of the few major Cajun artists based in New Orleans, this singer/ accordionist has been playing a weekly fais do do since 1986. The dance is currently held on Sundays at Tipitina’s. Bryan Lee, 4/26, BLU, 11:10a: The socalled Braille Blues Daddy opened for Bill Haley & the Comets and Muddy Waters before relocating from Chicago to New Orleans. He has since become a perennial Fest favorite. Buckwheat Zydeco, 5/3, FDD, 2:40p: Stanley “Buckwheat” Dural has lately been

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returning to the pounding Hammond organ of his early R&B days, along with accordion-driven zydeco. His new YouTube series, Buckwheat’s World, sheds light on his work and life in Southeastern Louisiana. Buddy Guy, 5/3, BLU, 5:40p: This Louisiana-born, Chicago-bred luminary of the blues and rock worlds continues to tour, record and inspire new generations of musicians with his blazing guitar style. He recently teamed up with Junior Wells for the two-disc Buddy Guy and Junior Wells Play the Blues. Buffalo Hunters, 5/3, PAR, 12:15p: The Buffalo Hunters’ Big Chief Spoon masked in peach, light blue and yellow on Mardi Gras 2015. BWB featuring Rick Braun, Kirk Whalum and Norman Brown, 4/26, JAZ, 5:40p: Trumpeter Braun, saxophonist Whalum and guitarist Brown have been performing groovecentric smooth jazz on and off together since the early aughts. Fun fact: Whalum played the sax solo on Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You.” C. J. Chenier & the Red Hot Louisiana Band, 4/26, BLU, 2:50p: Zydeco king Clifton Chenier’s son has long emerged as a bandleader in his own right. His latest CD Can’t Sit Down has a killer version of Tom Waits’ “Clap Hands.” The Caesar Brothers, 4/24, J&H, 5:45p: Funk Box Norman and Rickey Caesar are the selfprofessed “keepers of the Uptown funk” (don’t tell Cyril Neville) and have worked with the likes of Maze, George Clinton and Tina Marie. Calliope Puppets, 4/24, KID, 1:50p: Puppeteer and arts education specialist Karen Konnerth draws on folklore and global cultural histories for the shows she writes, designs and presents. Calvin Johnson, 4/25, ECO, 1:50p; 5/2, NOC, 1:25p: Hailing from a musical family in New Orleans, this saxophonist was a protégé of Kidd Jordan at age 10. He’s since recorded and toured with Harry Connick, Jr., Aaron Neville, the Dirty Dozen, Mystikal and Jason Derulo. Capoeira New Orleans, 4/26, KID, 5:15p: Participants and students from this local AfroBrazilian arts program show off their moves. Cardinal Sons, 5/2, LAG, 2:10p: Blues and contemporary folk figure prominently in music from this young, local indie rock outfit made up of three brothers with a knack for three-part harmonies and head-bopping rhythms. Carolyn Wonderland, 4/26, BLU, 4:15p: Music from this Texan singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist centers around the blues, but her influences range from country to cumbia and beyond. Carrollton Hunters, 5/3, PAR, 2:45p: This Uptown Mardi Gras Indian tribe is one of the 19 members of the Mardi Gras Indian Council. Cassandra Wilson Coming Forth by Day: A Celebration of Billie Holliday, 4/25, JAZ, 4:10p: In honor of what would have been Holliday’s 100th birthday, acclaimed jazz vocalist Wilson revisits tunes for which Lady Day was best known. Cecile McLorin Salvant, 5/1, JAZ, 4:20p: The classically trained, theatrically inclined Salvant was deemed an “it girl” in the jazz world following her Mack Avenue Records debut, WomanChild. Her next release is due out later this year. Cedric Watson & Bijou Creole, 4/30, FDD, 12:20p: Arguably the most in-demand young fiddler, accordionist and singer on the Lafayette scene, this four-time Grammy nominee boasts equal parts star power and skill. His influences range from Creole and Cajun to West African music and beyond. Cha Wa, 5/2, J&H, 5:45p: Mardi Gras Indian singer Eric “Yettii” Boudreaux (Monk

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JAZZ FEST A-Z Cristina Perez

Boudreaux’s brother) formed this band to fuse Indian chants with blues. Their name is Indian slang for “We’re coming to get ya!” Charles Lloyd Quartet: 5/2, AM, 2p; JAZ, 4:10p: Multi-cultural and classical music has inspired this innovative jazz saxophonist and master improviser since the ‘60s. His graceful, expansive sound earned him multiple accolades in recent years, including the 2015 NEA Jazz Master honor. Ashley Khan interviews him before his set. Charles Neville, 4/26, AM, 2:30p: Rolling Stone’s David Fricke interviews Neville Brothers saxophonist Charles, the second oldest sibling in the esteemed New Orleans music family. Charmaine Neville Band, 5/1, GEN, 12:35p: An exuberant jazz singer whose influences run the gamut of New Orleans music styles, Neville has long been a staple of the city’s scene, particularly at Snug Harbor. Pianist Amasa Miller co-leads her five-piece ensemble. Cheyenne Mardi Gras Indians, 4/30, PAR, 3p: This Marid Gras Indian tribe takes its name after one of the most famous tribes of the Great Plains. Chicago, 5/1, GEN, 5:25p: Seventies and ’80s chart-toppers Chicago are often credited with helping to pave the way for the addition of horn sections to pop rock acts. Expect classics like “Saturday in the Park,” plus a selection of new tunes. Chosen Vessels Dance and Performing Arts, 5/3, KID, 1:55p: Kristy Lewis leads this local school and company specializing in theater arts and a mix of lyrical, modern, jazz, ballet and hip-hop dance styles. Chris Clifton & His All-Stars, 5/1, ECO, 11:20a: Trumpeter Clifton met and had an association with Louis Armstrong, playing with the great trumpeter’s second wife Lil Hardin. He still honors the traditional sounds of Satchmo. Chris Severin and Friends, 4/30, NOC, 1:25p: Local bassist Severin is adept in genres ranging from blues to jazz to funk. Chris Stapleton, 5/2, GEN, 12:30p: Mixing country with bluegrass, Nashville-based guitarist and singer-songwriter Stapleton has penned hits for George Strait, Adele, Brad Paisley, Kenny Chesney and many others. Chris Thomas King, 5/2, ECO: 12:15p: This Louisiana-born, experimental-minded bluesman became an international star after his turn in O Brother Where Art Thou, but his forays into marrying hip-hop and electronic sounds with traditional blues and folk provided wider recognition. He’s currently working on a new album. Christian McBride Big Band with special guests Dianne Reeves and Jeffrey Osborne, 5/3, AM, 3:15p; JAZ, 5:35p: Funk-loving jazz bassist McBride revisits his large ensemble project with some help from two of the most

JAZZ FEST BIBLE 2015

soulful voices in jazz. His pal DJ Soul Sister interviews him before the set. Christian Scott, 5/1, JAZ, 2:40p: After establishing his career in New York, trumpeter Scott returned to his hometown of New Orleans, where he’s continued to wow audiences with his inventive approaches to tackling issues like racial politics through genredefying instrumental music. Chubby Carrier & the Bayou Swamp Band, 4/24, FDD, 12:20p: This thirdgeneration bandleader won the last Best Zydeco or Cajun Album Grammy for Zydeco Junkie in 2010. He teamed up with Chris Ardoin for his latest album, Back To My Roots. City of Love Music & Worship Arts Choir, 5/3, GOS, 2:50p: Singers from New Orleans’ City of Love ministry perform as part of the group’s arts focus. Clive Wilson’s New Orleans Serenaders with guest Butch Thompson, 5/2, ECO, 1:40p: Jazz players steeped in the tradition, UK-born trumpeter Wilson and pianist Thompson first met in the ’60s as spectators at Preservation Hall. Thompson later became known as the bandleader on “A Prairie Home Companion.” Colin Lake, 5/1, BLU, 11:15a: A young singer-songwriter who’s consistently honed his lap-steel and acoustic guitar skills since relocating to New Orleans from Portland, Lake has performed at Austin City Limits, Hangout and other major festivals. Collage 3, 4/24, GOS, 1:55p: This New Orleans-based contemporary gospel trio is comprised of Larry Jones, Dominic Davis and Edward J. West, Sr., all of whom committed together to leave the streets behind in favor of a more spiritual existence. Connie and Dwight Fitch with St. Raymond & St. Leo the Great Gospel Choir, 5/1, GOS, 12:55p: Seventh Ward couple Connie and Dwight Fitch have done romantic R&B as well as gospel. She has sung in the past with Ray Charles and Dr. John. Connie Jones & the Crescent City Jazz Band, 5/2, ECO, 11:15a: As a teenager, Connie Jones played trumpet in the Basin Street 6 with a young Pete Fountain. He later toured with Jack Teagarden’s last band before rejoining Fountain’s group in the late ’60s. Corey Ledet & his Zydeco Band, May 2, FDD, 1:35p; AM, 4p: Ledet was already two years into his music career when he switched from drums to accordion at age 12. His 2013 release Destiny saw him exploring new musical terrain both in his singing and song choice. Herman Fuselier interviews Ledet after his set. Courtney Bryan, 5/3, JAZ, 11:15a: Acclaimed jazz pianist and composer Bryan is a New Orleans native whose work in music academia has taken her to New York and

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JAZZ FEST A-Z beyond for stints at Columbia, Princeton and Oberlin. Cowboy Mouth, 4/26, ACU, 1:40p: Singer/drummer Fred LeBlanc and guitarist John Thomas Griffith have led this anthemic rock band trough a few lineups and any number of full-tilt live shows. Coyotes, 4/25, LAG, 5:20p: Los Angeleanturned-New Orleanian Duz Mancini’s warm vocals and solid songwriting chops are have helped bring national buzz to these talented local indie rockers. Craig Adams & Higher Dimensions of Praise, 5/3, GOS, 6p: Hammond player and Houston/New Orleans native Adams leads this dynamic, 16-piece gospel group. Creole Osceola Mardi Gras Indians, 4/25, PAR, 3:10p: Mardi Gras Indian parade. Creole String Beans, 4/26, FDD, 4:30p: Fronted by photographer Rick Olivier and including former Iguanas and Cowboy Mouth members, the Creole String Beans began as a “Y’at cover band” doing vintage local gems, and moved on to write similarly-styled originals. Crescent City Lights Youth Theater, 5/2, KID, 4:10p: With performers aged 9 to 16, this group performs each summer at Gallier Hall in downtown New Orleans. In 2012, they won Most Outstanding Achievement in Acting at the Junior Theater Festival in Atlanta, Ga.

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Susan Cowsill picks: Jimmy Cliff, Mango Freeze from WWOZ

Culu Children’s Traditional African Dance Company with Stilt Walkers, 5/3, KID, 5:15p: Founded in 1988, this New Orleans-based company has toured the US and performed for Winnie Mandela. Curtis Pierre and the Samba Kids, 5/1, KID, 5:15p: The self-professed “samba king of New Orleans” leads the Afro-Brazilian troupe he founded in 1987 on a series of parades and performances. Cynthia Girtley “New Orleans Gospel Diva,” 5/3, GOS, 12:05p: This jazz-inspired singer/keyboardist is influenced by Mahalia Jackson, for whom she’s performed tributes. Cyril Neville, 4/30, CON, 3:35p: In addition to stints playing with the Meters and the Neville Brothers, reggae-loving percussionist and singer Cyril has helmed funk outfit the Uptown Allstars and conducted a successful solo career. Daryl Adams’ Tornado Brass Band, 4/26, PAR, 4p: Originally formed as the Hurricane Brass Band in 1974, the group got a new name when saxophonist Darryl Adams took over as leader. They’re inspired by the sound of the Olympia Brass Band and other traditional marching groups. Davell Crawford presents “To Fats With Love,” a Fats Domino tribute, 5/2, ACU, 1:40p: Grandson of the late New Orleans R&B great James “Sugarboy” Crawford, Davell is an energetic keyboardist and soulful singer whose repertoire draws on R&B, jazz and gospel. Here, he turns his attention to the work of piano legend Fats Domino. David & Roselyn, 5/1, KID, 5:15p: In addition to being a longtime fixture on the French Quarter music scene, local duo David Leonard and Roselyn Lionheart have performed their traditional jazz and blues mix on the Smithsonian Institute’s PBS “River of Song” documentary. Deacon John, 5/3, GEN, 12:35p: The singer/guitarist’s long history in New Orleans music includes leading the band at debutante balls, performing at the Dew Drop Inn and

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playing on some of the city’s classic records including Aaron Neville’s “Tell It Like It Is” and Ernie K-Doe’s “Mother-In-Law.” Dee-1, 5/2, CON, 12:15p: After a series of well-received mixtapes, this New Orleans-based rapper signed with RCA. His latest project 3’s Up features biting commentary about the music business and society at large embedded within an addictive flow. Delbert McClinton, 4/26, AM, 3:30p; BLU, 5:45: Texas singer-songwriter and multiinstrumentalist McClinton joined forces with his ‘70s-era sometime-sidekick Glen Clark for 2013’s Blind, Crippled and Crazy, a hardscrabble rocker of an album full of blues, honky-tonk piano and heart. Nick Spitzer interviews him ahead of his set. Delfeayo Marsalis & the Uptown Jazz Orchestra, 5/1, JAZ, 6p: The trombonist, composer and producer recently recorded “The Last Southern Gentlemen,” his first fulllength album with his father, Ellis Marsalis. His energetic UJO sets balance humor and fun with tight ensemble interplay and memorable solos. Dennis McNally, 5/1, AM, 2:30p: Gwen Thompkins interviews McNally and Marcia Ball about his book, Highway 61: Music, Race and the Evolution of Cultural Freedom. Deslondes, The 5/4, LAG, 12:55p: Formerly the Tumbleweeds, this earthy songwriters ensemble describes itself as “country-soul swamp boogie.” The band’s leader is Sam Doores, a former traveler and companion of Hurray For the Riff Raff’s Alynda Lee Segarra. Three players share composing duties. Fiddle and pedal steel player John James is also a standout. Di Filippo Marionette, 4/25, KID, 2:50p: Italian marionette maker and actor Remo di Fillipo returns after a successful performance at last spring’s New Orleans International Puppet Festival. The Dirty Dozen Brass Band, 5/1, GEN, 3:30p: This band was formed in 1977 by Benny Jones and introduced bebop and funk into the brass band sound. They’ve continued to evolve by adding drum kit and electric guitar. They recently celebrated their 35th anniversary with a new CD, 20 Dozen. Divine Ladies SA&PC, 4/25, PAR, 4:15p: This Uptown social aid and pleasure club’s annual parades generally kick off in serious style on St. Charles and Jackson Avenues. Dixie Cups, 5/2, BLU, 1:30p: See New Orleans Classic R&B Divas. DJ Captain Charles, 5/3, CON, 3:10p: The self-proclaimed “most renowned DJ in New Orleans,” Captain Charles has been fortifying his music collection for more than 20 years. Don “Moose” Jamison Heritage School of Music Band, 4/26, JAZ, 11:10a: “Big Chief” and “Hey Pocky Way” are part of the curriculum for this band of high school-aged students, sponsored by the Jazz & Heritage Foundation’s community music education program. Don Vappie & the Creole Jazz Serenaders, 5/3, ECO, 3p: Fresh off a tour in Europe, this eclectic banjo player has made a career of exploring his Creole heritage through music, whether it’s traditional jazz, island music, or with Otis Taylor, Keb’ Mo’, Alvin Youngblood Hart and Corey Harris as part of the Black Banjo Project. Donald Harrison, 4/25, NOC, 4:05p; 5/1, CON, 1:50p: Saxophonist Harrison is a New Orleans Renaissance man who has explored reggae, funk and Mardi Gras Indian music through the filter of jazz. His last CD, This is Jazz, is a trio set with Billy Cobham and Ron Carter. He welcomes special guest Dr. Lonnie Smith at his NOCCA Pavilion set. Donald Lewis, 4/30, KID, 11:30a: Local actor and educator Lewis teaches drama and storytelling and performs regularly with the group Young Audiences of Louisiana.

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JAZZ FEST A-Z Galactic

Donnell Russell and UPS, 4/30, GOS, 5:50p: Known for their single “Hold On Soldier,” local gospel act the United Praise Singers were recently named Best New Artist at the New Orleans Gospel Music Awards. Doreen’s Jazz New Orleans 5/1, ECO, 12:30p: Clarinetist Doreen Ketchens and her band perform traditional New Orleans jazz all over the world, and have played for Presidents Carter, Reagan, Bush Sr. and Clinton. Dr. Brice Miller & Mahogany Brass Band, 4/25, PAR, 12:45p; J&H, 1:40p: Performance artist, trumpeter, DJ and ethnomusicologist Miller has a taste for avant-garde jazz and electronic music, though the Mahogany Brass Band skews toward traditional jazz. Dr. John Ske Dat De Dat … The Spirit of Satch, 5/3, GEN, 5:55p: New Orleans piano icon Dr. John infuses his funky, mystical style into the music of Louis Armstrong. His recent Satchmo tribute album featured a host of big-name guests. Dr. Michael White & the Original Liberty Jazz Band with Thais Clark, 5/2, ECO, 2:55p: Clarinetist and jazz scholar White fused traditional and modern styles on his last two CDs with the Liberty Jazz Band, Adventures in New Orleans Jazz, Volumes 1 and 2. He recently produced an album’s worth of new recordings tracing the history of modern New Orleans brass band music for Smithsonian Folkways. Dukes of Dixieland, 5/2, ECO, 12:25p: The Dukes are one of the most storied names in traditional jazz. This incarnation of the venerable jazz band was formed in 1974. For a few years afterward they ran their own club atop the Hotel Monteleone, taking the space over from Louis Prima. Dumaine Gang SA&PC, 4/25, PAR, 4:15p: The Treme-based Dumaine Street Gang Social Aid and Pleasure Club hits the Sixth Ward’s hottest spots during its annual parade. Dwayne Dopsie & the Zydeco Hellraisers, 5/2, FDD, 5:55p: This second generation accordionist/singer carries on the blues-infused zydeco style of his dad Dopsie Sr., with a bit of added speed and volume. He was named 2014’s Best Zydeco Artist in OffBeat’s Best of the Beat Awards. Dynamic Smooth Gospel Singers of Slidell, 4/24, GOS, 2:50p: Evangelist Rosa Lee Smooth founded this gospel group three decades ago, he daughter Cynthia Smooth Plummer now leads the group. They perform this set with Slidell’s Bester Singers. E’Dana, 5/3, GOS, 1:55p: Gospel singer E’Dana has become as well known for her stage work as her music, having performed in plays including “Ain’t No Sunshine When He’s

JAZZ FEST BIBLE 2015

Home,” “I Can Do Bad All By Myself” and “Be Careful What You Pray For.” Eagle and Hawk, 4/30, GEN, 1:40p: This innovative septet from Winnipeg merges roots rock with sonic elements drawn from indigenous North American culture. Ed Sheeran, 5/2, GEN, 5:15p: One of England’s biggest pop exports, this singersongwriter has worked extensively with Taylor Swift and written songs for One Direction when not performing solo. Ed Volker’s Trio Mollusc, 5/2, LAG, 3:40p: The former Radiators keyboardist remains a fine and prolific songwriter. These days he usually performs acoustically with sax and percussion, still doing many of the trademark Rads tunes. Eleanor McMain Singing Mustangs, 4/30, GOS, 11:20a: The McMain Secondary School Gospel Choir, aka the McMain Singing Mustangs, return for their seventh Jazz Fest performance under the guidance of Clyde Lawrence. The Electrifying Crown Seekers, 5/2, GOS, 11:15a: Keep an ear peeled for this Marrero, La.-based group’s rendition of “Walk Around Heaven,” featuring a soloist whose falsetto voice won’t preclude him from topping out on the tune’s highest-register notes. Ellis Marsalis, 4/25, JAZ, 1:20p: The legendary modern jazz pianist and patriarch of the Marsalis family still holds court Friday nights at Snug Harbor. He recently recorded The Last Southern Gentlemen, his first full-length album with his son, trombonist Delfeayo Marsalis.

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Gal Holiday picks: Shooter Jennings, Crawfish Bread from Panorama Foods

Elton John, 5/2, ACU, 4:50p: The Rocketman has been recording, touring and making a case for the extended shelf life of rhinestone-bedecked velvet suits since 1961. Encore Academy, 4/24, KID, 12:40p: Students at this local pre-K through 7th grade charter school learn their musical ropes via five different instruments before the end of 4th grade. Eric Lindell, 4/30, BLU, 4:15p: Once a California skate-punk, Lindell had more success as a blue-eyed soul and bluesman after moving to New Orleans. His tight backing band explores the slightly country-influenced edges of Louisiana roots rock. Erica Falls, 5/1, JAZ, 12:30p: This soulful New Orleans R&B vocalist has sung with Allen Toussaint and Irma Thomas, but her chops— and songwriting skills—warrant recognition on their own merit. Ernie Vincent & the Top Notes, 4/24, BLU, 11:15a: Guitarist Vincent was the wah-

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JAZZ FEST A-Z wah man on the ‘70s soul collectors classic “Dap Walk,” and he played some memorable gigs with Ernie K-Doe at the Mother-in-Law Lounge. He has been energized by his new, young lineup of the Top Notes. Estelle, 5/1, CON, 3:30p: British songstress Estelle hit the bigtime in 2008 with her Grammy-winning, double platinum Kanye West collaboration “American Boy.” Her new album True Romance is built around the themes of “passion, courage, bullshit and true romance.” Eulenspiegel Puppet Theater, 4/26, KID, 3p: The long-running Eulenspiegel features marionettes, shadow puppets and huge parade puppets in its live music-centric performances. Family Ties SA&PC , 4/25, PAR, 4:15p: This popular Social Aid and Pleasure Club is based downtown, generally strutting down Basin Street on its annual Sunday parade. Favor, 4/24, CON, 11:10a: In 2010, New Orleans rapper Spit became Favor. Though he now raps about his Christian faith, his flow remains tight, poetic and compelling. Feufollet, 5/3, FDD, 12:25p: The young Cajun band’s En Couleurs won a Grammy nomination and made OffBeat’s Top 20 for 2010. They’re currently touring in support of their March release, Two Universes. Fi Yi Yi & the Mandingo Warriors, 4/30, J&H, 3:10p: The Fi Yi Yi tribe of Mardi Gras Indians uses African instead of the traditional American Indian themes. Big Chief Victor Harris marched for 25 years with legendary Indian Tootie Montana. First Division SA&PC, 4/26, PAR, 4p: An esteemed branch of the historic Young Men Olympian, Jr. Benevolent Association. First Emanuel Baptist Church Mass Choir, 4/25, GOS, 5p: This choir is based in the Central City church of the same name and is one of the most celebrated in the city. Flow Tribe, 4/26, ACU, 11:15a: “Backbone cracking music” is the chosen genre of this party-friendly New Orleans funk/rock band, which adds Red Hot Chili Peppers and hip-hop to the Meters on its list of funk influences. Franklin Avenue Music Ministry, 4/26, GOS, 5p: One of New Orleans’ largest and most powerful church choirs and a former winner for Best Gospel Group in OffBeat’s Best of the Beat. Fredy Omar con su Banda, 5/3, J&H, 3p: Once proclaimed the “Latin King of Frenchmen Street” by OffBeat, Omar is a Honduras-born singer with a sizzling band. He’s played Jazz Fest every year since 1998. Free Agents Brass Band, 4/30, J&H, 1:45p: Bass drummer Ellis Joseph formed this band in September 2005 with other musicians who’d returned to New Orleans after Katrina before their regular bands did. Don’t miss their moving hit, “Made It Through the Water,” a modern riff on the spiritual “Wade In the Water.” The Furious Five SA&PC, 4/26, PAR, 12:30p: This acclaimed division of the Young Men Olympian, Jr. Benevolent Association is largely credited with changing the dance style of the SA&PC community’s annual parades, although its members look to Rebirth for providing the music that inspired them to innovate. Gal Holiday and the Honky Tonk Revue, 5/1, FDD, 1:30p: Big-voiced Maryland native Vanessa Niemann fronts one of the city’s leading Western swing bands. Galactic featuring Macy Gray, 5/1, ACU, 3:25p: On their recent tour, these jamband scene stalwarts funked up with

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JA ZZ FEST BI BLE 2 015

JAZZ FEST A-Z Hozier

horn jams, soul shouter tunes, surprise rock covers and reimagined Mardi Gras anthems. Here, their high-energy funk rock gets offset by Gray’s deep, velvety voice and blues sensibility. Geno Delafose & French Rockin’ Boogie, 4/24, FDD, 3p: Originally the drummer in his late father John Delafose’s band, Geno took to the accordion and became a popular bandleader specializing in country-styled zydeco, when not raising horses and cattle at his Double D Ranch outside Eunice. George Porter, Jr. & the Runnin’ Pardners, 5/3, ACU, 11:15a: As a founding Meter and a jamming partner to just about everybody, bassist Porter is one of the cornerstones of New Orleans funk. The band’s latest disc Can’t Beat the Funk applies fresh spins lesser-known nuggets from the Meters catalogue. Gerald French & the Original Tuxedo Jazz Band with guests, 5/1, ECO, 3p: The late drummer and colorful WWOZ personality Bob French led this band for 34 years, schooling young talents like Shamarr Allen and Kid Chocolate. When he retired from the band, French passed the torch to his nephew Gerald, also a drummer. Germaine Bazzle, 5/2, JAZ, 1:30p: Locally prized jazz singer can caress a ballad or scatsing an uptempo number with the best. Her history includes a stint playing bass on Bourbon Street with Alvin “Red” Tyler. She has logged 50 years as a teacher. GIVERS, 4/25, GEN, 3:25p: This Lafayettebased indie-pop five-piece creates shimmering melodies that have a way of splintering off into unusual rhythms. The long-awaited follow-up to In Light is due out later this year. Glen David Andrews, 5/3, BLU, 1:25p: This singer/trombonist is a brass traditionalist and a testifying R&B vocalist who honed his entertaining chops in Jackson Square. His autobiographical release, Redemption, incorporates gritty rock and dark lyrics to show a new side of Andrews’ artistry. Go-Getters SA&PC, 4/24, PAR, 3:30: A parading branch of the Krewe of Zulu. The Gospel Inspirations of Boutte, 4/24, GOS, 11:15a: These Gospel Tent regulars, formed in 1979 by David Diggs Jr. and Kevin Drake, perform music of the spirit. Not related to the local Boutte singing family, the ensemble’s name derives from their hometown of Boutte, La. GrayHawk presents Native Lore and Tales, 4/24, KID, 3p: This Houma, La., resident shares stories from his Choctaw heritage and beyond. Grayson Capps, 4/24, LAG, 5:35p: Southern roots rock gets an emotional update from singer/songwriter Capps, whose South Alabama heritage is as audible in his music as the decade he spent living and performing in New Orleans.

JAZZ FEST BIBLE 2015

Gregg Stafford & His Young Tuxedo Brass Band, 5/2, ECO, 5:40p: Trumpeter Stafford made his Bourbon Street performing debut in 1970. He has led the Young Tuxedo Brass Band for nearly three decades. Grupo Sensacion, 4/30, J&H, 11:30a: Jaime Perez and Yenima Rojas founded this energetic, pan-Latin ensemble in 2006 after working together in Ritmo Caribeno. Both their members and their influences span a variety of Latin American countries. Guitar Slim, Jr., 5/3, BLU, 11:10a: Slim learned from two masters: His dad Eddie “Guitar Slim” Jones, who cut the blues standard “The Things That I Used to Do,” and Stevie Ray Vaughan, with whom he toured in the ’80s. Gurrumul, 5/1, BLU, 2:35p: The indigenous Australian singer and multiinstrumentalist Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu, whose delicate voice has earned him multiple awards and even more critical praise, also plays drums, keyboard, guitar and didgeridoo, despite being born blind. Hardhead Hunters Mardi Gras Indians, 5/1, J&H, 3:05p: This Mardi Gras Indian tribe hails from the 7th Ward. Helen Cox High School Choir, 4/30, GOS, 12:10p: These young singers from Jefferson Parish are reportedly the first high school gospel choir from their neck of the woods to land a gig in Jazz Fest’s Gospel Tent. Helen Gillet, 5/2, LAG, 12:45p: This Belgium-born cellist and singer performs avantgarde jazz and French chansons with gusto. She’s become a cornerstone of the city’s music scene in recent years, lending her skills to multiple improvisational projects. She released a new solo album, Bangkok Silver, in March.

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Dana Abbott picks: Galactic with Macy Gray, Crawfish Beignets from Patton’s

Henry Gray, 5/2, BLU, 11:10a: Hailing from just outside Baton Rouge, Gray is a key architect of the Chicago blues piano sound. In addition to playing with Howlin’ Wold for a dozen years, he recorded with the likes of the Rolling Stones, Buddy Guy, James Cotton, Robert Lockwood, Jr. and many others. Herbert McCarver & Pinstripe Brass Band, 5/1, J&H, 4:15p: One of the best young bands playing traditional brass band music in town, the YPS represents a new generation of the Original Pin Stripes, founded by McCarver’s father. High Steppers Brass Band, 5/1, J&H, 11:25a; 5/1, 12:30p: This young local brass band mixes traditional New Orleans

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JAZZ FEST A-Z brass sounds with plenty of hip-hop influences. Higher Heights Reggae Band, 4/30, J&H, 5:40p: Performing an array of Studio One classics and other hits, this New Orleans-based reggae act is a staple of Frenchmen Street’s small but growing reggae scene. Hobgoblin Hill Puppets, 5/3, KID, 2:45p: Humor and satire are priorities in performances by this Louisiana-based puppetry group, which features handcarved and sculpted puppets. Honey Island Swamp Band, 4/24, ACU, 12:40p: Formed in San Francisco by Katrina exiles who’ve since returned to town, the HISB is a hard-driving rock band with roots in R&B, country and funk. The Honorable South, 5/1, GEN, 11:20a: Headed by Charm Taylor, this fivepiece ensemble calls their sound “electric soul rock ‘n’ roll.” Their latest album is Faithful, Brave and Honest. Hot 8 Brass Band, 4/26, J&H, 5:35p: The storied Hot 8 is a study in survival, having lost three members in shooting deaths. Formed in 1995 by Bennie Pete, Jerome Jones and Harry Cook, the band has endured, adding elements of hip-hop, funk and jazz to traditional brass band sounds. Hot Club of New Orleans, 5/1, LAG, 5:15p: Sexy, swinging and full of energy, these long-running practitioners of Stephane Grapelli era swing have been luring Frenchmen Street fans onto their feet for years. Hozier, 4/24, GEN, 3:20p: The Irishborn singer/songwriter Andrew HozierByrne’s cavernous voice packs enough blues vocabulary and soul into his acoustic guitar and vocal performances to bring down just about any house of worship.

JAZZ FEST BIBLE 2015

Ironing Board Sam

Idlewild String Confederation, 4/30, LAG, 4:35p: Dobro, banjo, acoustic bass and a pair of guitars give this local country bluegrass six-piece a warm acoustic sound. The Iguanas, 4/30, FDD, 6p: With Tex-Mex rock ‘n’ roll as their base, the Iguanas can swing freely into jazz, country, garage and Caribbean music. Their rock-heavy 2014 release is Juarez. Irma Thomas, 4/26, ACU, 3p: The “Soul Queen of New Orleans” richly deserves that title, with a 50-plus year recording career. While she still plays “It’s Raining,” “Time is on My Side” and the other early hits, she continues to introduce new material. The Gospel Soul of Irma Thomas, 5/1, GOS, 3:50p: If you heard 1993’s Walk Around

Heaven, you know how stirring Thomas can be as a gospel singer. She has a personal rule against singing gospel during a secular set, but her sacred side feeds into everything the Soul Queen of New Orleans sings. Ironing Board Sam, 5/3, BLU, 12:15p: Samuel Moore’s decade-spanning career as an electric blues keyboardist and singer began with a heavy gospel and boogie-woogie influence before veering towards the blues. He’s worked with the Music Maker Relief Foundation since 2010. Irvin Mayfield & the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra, 4/25, AM, 12:30p; 4/26, JAZ, 1:45p: Mayfield is a performer and a crusader for jazz, having brought his Jazz Playhouse to the Royal Sonesta on Bourbon Street. The NOJO is his artistic base and provides an outlet for his compositional talents. Karen Celestan

interviews Mayfield about his new book, Jazz Playhouse, the day before the set. Irvin Mayfield School of Music Ambassadors, 4/24, KID, 5:15p: Students aged 8 – 17 from the Irvin Mayfield School of Music perform repertoire reflecting their studies in jazz, classical and world music. ISL Circus Arts Kids, 4/30, KID, 5:15p: Students from the International School of Louisiana in New Orleans make up this young group of acrobats, stilt walkers and clowns. Ivan Neville’s Dumpstaphunk with guest Art Neville, 4/25, ACU, 3:05p: The well-travelled keyboardist makes some of the deepest funk of his career with this band, which features double bass guitars, giving it one of the fattest bottoms in town. He’s joined by his keyboard playing uncle Art. J. Monque’D Blues Band, 5/1, BLU, 12:20p: The song and album title “Chitlin Eatin’ Music” best describes the output of this longtime harmonica wailer and Uptown character. Jambalaya Cajun Band with special guest D.L. Menard, 5/1, FDD, 12:20p: This group was founded in 1977 by fiddler Terry Huval. They’re joined by Menard, who’s often called the “Cajun Hank Williams.” James Andrews & the Crescent City Allstars, 4/26, BLU, 11:15a: Nicknamed “Satchmo of the Ghetto,” trumpeter Andrews (the grandson of Jessie Hill and brother of Trombone Shorty) has gone in a funky, expansive direction with his Allstars, although Louis Armstrong remains a key influence. James Rivers Movement, 5/1, JAZ, 12:15p: Perhaps the city’s only jazz/funk saxophonist who doubles on bagpipes, Rivers was also known for playing a longtime (now

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JAZZ FEST A-Z discontinued) Sunday brunch at the Hilton, and for scoring Clint Eastwood’s The Bridges of Madison County. James Singleton, 4/26, AM, 4:30p: T.R. Johnson interviews the Astral Project bassist, one of the city’s most prominent and influential improvisers. Singleton’s latest recording is Shiner, recorded live at Snug Harbor with Mike Dillon, Larry Sieberth, Tim Green, Mark Southerland and Skerik. Jamil Sharif, 4/24, ECO, 12:25p: This local trumpeter studied with Ellis Marsalis at NOCCA and went on to do a number of soundtracks, including the Ray Charles biopic Ray, for which he was music coordinator. Jarekus Singleton, 5/1, BLU, 3:55p; 5/2, AM, 1p: Rising star Mississippi blues guitarist Singleton combines elements of modern and traditional blues with hiphop influenced vocals. He sits down with interviewer Scott Jordan the day after his set. Jason Marsalis, 4/24, NOC, 1:20p; 5/3, JAZ, 1:30p: The youngest musical Marsalis brother began as a vibraphonist but spends more time these days behind the drums. In both situations, he expertly matches agile displays of technique with a deep sense of groove. Javier Gutierrez & Vivaz!, 5/2, J&H, 2:55p: Afro-Caribbean rhythms meet Latin jazz and Flamenco in this spirited, New Orleans-based quintet. Javier’s Dance Company Presents Across the Border, 5/3, KID, 4:10p: Dancers from Javier’s Dance Studio in Slidell perform under the tutelage of Javier Juarez, Melissa Juarez and Muriel Santana. Jean Knight, 5/2, BLU, 1:30p: See New Orleans Classic R&B Divas. Jeff Floyd, 5/3, CON, 2:05p: This oldschool Southern soul singer graduated from

JAZZ FEST BIBLE 2015

Jarekus Singleton performing in his church choir to recording with Stax Records alum William Bell. He’s best known for his hit “I Found Love (On a Lonely Highway)” Jeffery Broussard & the Creole Cowboys, 4/26, FDD, 11:15a: Once a member of the funky Zydeco Force, singer/ accordionist Broussard turns to old-school Creole and zydeco with this group. Jeremy Davenport, 4/25, JAZ, 2:40p: Schooled as the featured trumpeter in Harry Connick, Jr.’s band, the St. Louis native has carved out a solo career with a tender tone to both his playing and singing on romantic standards and originals. Jermaine Landrum and the Abundant Praise Revival Choir, 5/2, GOS, 5:50p: The popular Rev. Jermaine Landrum leads the

choir affiliated with Holyghost Headquarters Ebenezer Baptist Church in New Orleans. Jerry Lee Lewis, 5/2, ACU, 3:05p: Known as the Killer for his over-the-top ivory attacks, the piano powerhouse behind “Great Balls of Fire” still lives up to his nickname, as evidenced by strong recent recordings like Last Man Standing and 2014’s Rock & Roll Time. Jesse McBride presents the Next Generation, 5/1, JAZ, 1:25p: New Orleanstrained pianist McBride honors the second 50 years of New Orleans jazz and the legacies of artists including Harold Battiste, Ellis Marsalis, James Black and Ed Blackwell. Jewel Brown with Gregg Stafford’s Jazz Hounds, 4/25, ECO, 4:20p: Featured vocalist Jewel Brown joins traditional New Orleans jazz trumpeter Stafford, who made

his Bourbon Street performing debut in 1970 and also leads the Young Tuxedo Brass Band. Jimmie Vaughan & Tilt a Whirl Band feat. Lou Ann Barton, 4/24, BLU, 5:45p: Strat master and co-founder of the Fabulous Thunderbirds, Vaughan’s recent repertoire has focused on little-known blues and R&B tunes that inspired him when he was first coming up. Barton pitches in on vocals as she did on his last two releases. Jimmy Buffett and the Coral Reefer Band, 4/26, ACU, 5p: Key West’s Parrothead-in-Chief serves up laidback songs about Gulf Coast boozing, burger-eating and loving, with a side of not-so-thinly veiled weed humor. Jimmy Cliff, 4/24, CON, 5:40p: One of the most influential reggae artists of all time, Cliff’s message-driven songwriting and buoyant sense of rhythm shine through his latest, the Tim Armstrong-produced “Rebirth.” Jo “Cool” Davis with guest Helen Durieux, 4/26, GOS, 12p: A Jazz Fest perennial, this New Orleans gospel singer shares the stage with Pastor Helen Durieux. Joe Hall & the Cane Cutters, 4/30, FDD, 11:25a: This traditional zydeco accordionist was mentored by Bois Sec Ardoin before venturing out on his own. Joe Krown Trio feat. Walter “Wolfman” Washington and Russell Batiste, Jr., 4/25, BLU, 1:15p: Three instrumental powerhouses join forces in this organ/guitar/drums trio that has become a full-time band, cutting three CDs, and writing some fine originals including their anthem, “You Can Stay But That Noise Gotta Go.” John Boutté, 5/3, JAZ, 2:40p: A local favorite with a high and haunting voice, Boutte is an inspired, passionate interpreter of

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JAZZ FEST A-Z John Legend

songs, and has started making more of a mark with his original songs—notably his “Treme Song,” the theme of the HBO series. John Lawrence and Ven Pa’ Ca Flamenco Ensemble, 5/3, LAG, 11:30a: This long-running flamenco ensemble led by guitarist Lawrence usually features saxophonist Rob Wagner with Dave Sobel on percussion, along with dancers.

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Sam Price picks: Jimmy Cliff, Mango Freeze from WWOZ

John Legend, 4/25, CON, 5:30p: Legend boasts a powerful, gospel-steeped voice, classical piano skills and a charismatic stage presence, which, along with his savvy as an arranger, give him a substantive edge over many of his chart-topping pop peers. John Lisi and Delta Funk!, 4/25, BLU, 11:10a: These busy Frenchmen Street regulars bill their sound as new-school blues. Lisi’s weapons of choice range from Stratocaster to dobro to mandolin to steel guitar. John Michael Bradford, 4/24, JAZ, 11:15a; 4/25, NOC, 1:20p: Though not yet out of high school, award-winning trumpeter John Michael Bradford performs with many of New Orleans’ most prominent jazz ensembles. He’s slated to graduate from NOCCA this year. John Mooney & Bluesiana, 4/26, BLU, 1:25p: Once a protégé of the late blues great Son House, this blazing blues guitarist has been a local fixture since the mid-‘70s, when he arrived from the Mississippi Delta and began sitting in with Professor Longhair and Earl King. John P. Kee & New Life, 4/25, GOS, 3:50p: Hailing from Charlotte, N.C., the New Life Fellowship Church choir is headed up by Pastor Kee, whose music career began at age 14. John Rankin and Friends, 4/25, LAG, 12:50p: Rankin’s innovative and expansive solo guitar work gets kicked up a notch courtesy of talented pals Don Vappie, Tom Fischer, Washboard Chaz, Todd Duke and Phil DeGruy. Johnette Downing and Scott Billington, 5/3, KID, 12:40p: This local duo, comprised of children’s author and guitarist Downing and Grammy-winning producer Billington, presents a medley of Louisiana roots music dubbed “Swamp Romp.” Johnny Sansone, 4/24, ACU, 11:20a: A multi-instrumentalist who draws from swamprock, blues and zydeco, Sansone has two aces in the hole: his songwriting and his gut-shaking harmonica solos. Sansone’s latest, Once It Gets Started, features drummer Stanton Moore and singer Maggie Koerner. Johnny Sketch and the Dirty Notes, 5/1, ACU, 12:25p: Fronted by a cellist turned guitarist, they’re a funky rock band with a few

JAZZ FEST BIBLE 2015

gonzoid touches whose 2013 CD 2000 Days shows off their (slightly) more serious side. The Johnson Extension, 5/2, GOS, 2:50p: New Orleans spiritual leader and matriarch Rev. Lois Dejean leads four generations of family members in sacred song. Jon Cleary and the Absolute Monster Gentlemen, 4/26, BLU, 12:20p: Since moving over from the UK in the ’80s, Cleary’s earned a place in the frontline of New Orleans blues singers and keyboardists. Jonathon “Boogie” Long, 4/24, ACU, 1:25p: This soulful Baton Rouge-based blues guitar slinger has opened for B.B. King and performed with Dr. John, Kenny Neal and many others. The Jones Sisters, 4/30, GOS, 1p: Grade school-aged sisters Kayla, Kiera, Dalia and Dejon Jones comprise this gospel quartet, which first performed when the youngest sister was only 2. Joseph Torregano Quartet, 4/30, ECO, 11:20a: A staple on the local traditional jazz scene for decades, clarinetist Torregano also taught many of the city’s finest players, including Christian Scott and Victor Atkins. Judy Stock, 4/26, KID, 1:50p: Playing folk music on a variety of instruments, Stock, an early childhood specialist, works lessons about literacy into her performances. Julio y Cesar Band, 4/25, J&H, 11:20a: These local brothers do Latin-American music on twin classical guitars, and have lately expanded from duo to band. Juvenile and Mannie Fresh Together, 4/25, CON, 2:05p: Back in the ’90s, producer, rapper and musician Mannie Fresh produced repeated hits for Juvenile’s then-running crew, the Hot Boys. Both artists have since gone to successful solo careers, but expect a few throwbacks in their reunion set. Kacey Musgraves, 5/3, FDD, 5:45p: In addition to her songwriting skills and chops on guitar, harmonica and mandolin, this rising country star has the honor of being the only artist at Jazz Fest who owns a pair of light-up cowboy boots. Kai Knight’s Silhouette Dance Ensemble, 4/25, KID, 12:40p: New Orleans troupe that aims to teach young African-American woman a positive image and self-expression through dance. Kalpana the Storyteller, 4/30, KID, 1:50p: A seasoned professional storyteller, Kaplana shares stories, myths and anecdotes emanating from her Indian heritage. Kat Walker Jazz Combo, 5/1 KID, 3p: Watch your kids learn the art of scat singing before a live band, live-action jazz karaoke style. Keep-N-It Real SA&PC, 4/24, PAR, 1:55p: This young Bayou St. John-based parade club features solid dancers and some of the best brass bands in town.

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JAZZ FEST A-Z Keith Frank & the Soileau Zydeco Band, 5/3, FDD, 1:40p: Frank leads his harddriving zydeco band, which formed in 1990. Keith Urban, 4/24, AM, 1:30p; ACU, 5:20p: It wasn’t until Mannie Fresh passed on Urban’s early gangster rap demo that he gave up his first musical dream and opted to become a massive country pop star and “American Idol” judge. He kept the last name just in case. Keith Spera interviews the New Zealand-born crooner before his set. Kelly Love Jones, 4/30, LAG, 1:55p: This soulful singer/songwriter and guitarist writes world music-influenced songs with uplifting themes. Kenny Brown Band, 4/30, LAG, 3:05p: A purveyor of North Mississippi Hill Country blues, slide guitarist Brown developed his sound under the tutelage of R.L. Burnside in the ’70s. Kenny Garrett, 4/25, JAZ, 5:50p: Armed with a far-reaching creative drive, a propensity for fiery solos and an audible affection for funk, this acclaimed saxophonist and bandleader has also recorded with the likes of Miles Davis, Chick Corea and Roy Haynes. Kenny Neal, 4/24, BLU, 4:05p: Local guitar-slinger and multi-instrumentalist Neal’s brand of laid-back swamp blues landed him an induction into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame. Kent Jordan, 4/24, JAZ, 2:50p: The flute-playing member of New Orleans’ Jordan family musical dynasty has a lyrical style that’s given him cred in both the jazz and classical worlds. Kermit Ruffins & the Barbecue Swingers, 5/2, CON, 2:45p: One of New Orleans’ most beloved trumpeters and personalities, Ruffins digs swingin’, smokin’ and partyin’ … traditional style. Kermit Ruffins’ Tribute to Louis Armstrong, 5/3, ECO, 4:20p: Green laws, the more-fun sibling of blue laws, mandate that when a contemporary reefer man revisits the work of the original reefer man, the music shall begin at 4:20. Kevin Naquin and the Ossun Playboys, 4/30, FDD, 11:15a: Spirited accordionist Naquin has Cajun music in his blood on both sides, thanks to his grandfathers, accordionist Hadley Fontenot and fiddler Edius Naquin. Kevin Stylez, 4/26, CON, 11:20a: Katrina forced this velvet-voiced young singer/songwriter to evacuate to Austin, where he developed his neo-soul sound and began writing songs like “Listen,” a response to the murder of Trayvon Martin. Khari Allen Lee & Gregory Agid: A Tribute to Alvin Batiste and Harold Battiste, 5/3, JAZ, 12:20p: Saxophonist Lee is joined by clarinetist Gregory Agid as they perform the music of Alvin Batiste and Harold Battiste. Agid counts Alvin Batiste as his main musical mentor. Khris Royal & Dark Matter, 5/2, CON, 11:10a; NOC, 4:35p: Merging funk grooves with ethereal forays into electronica-based jazz motifs has made this NOCCA and Berklee-trained saxophonist a local favorite across multiple genre scenes. Kid Chocolate’s Onward Brass Band, 4/24, NOC; 5/3, ECO, 1:45p: Brown, a New Orleans Jazz Orchestra mainstay, plays the NOCCA Pavilion April 24. The following weekend, he picks up the baton for latest incarnation of the traditional New Orleans brass band Paul Barbarin revived in the ‘60s. Kid Simmons’ Local International Allstars, 4/24, ECO, 11:20a: An early devotee of George “Kid Shiek” Cola, trumpeter Simmons has been active in traditional jazz since his arrival in New Orleans in 1966 and cut his teeth in Harold

JAZZ FEST BIBLE 2015

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JAZZ FEST A-Z Keith Urban

Dejean’s Olympia Brass Band and the Young Tuxedo Brass Band. KID smART Student Showcase, 4/30, KID, 12:40p: This organization brings arts initiatives to a range of public schools in Orleans and Jefferson Parishes, and its student groups have been a fixture at the Kids’ Tent. Kidd Jordan and the Improvisational Arts Quintet: 4/24, JAZ, 12:20p: The master improviser and saxophonist returns to the format he founded decades ago with Alvin Fielder and Clyde Kerr, Jr. Kim Carson and the Real Deal, 5/3, LAG, 3p: A longtime New Orleans local who now resides in Houston, Carson is a classic-model honky-tonk angel, able to charm with bawdy humor and then break hearts with a ballad. Kim Che’re, 4/26, GOS, 12:50p: This local gospel singer (via New York) has worked as Minister of Music for groups including New Home Full Gospel Ministries, Beacon Light of Hammond and Greater Mount Calvary Church. She’s contributed to the Gospel Music Workshop of America since 1978. Kinfolk Brass Band, 5/2, PAR, 4p: Formed in 2006, the Kinfolk are true to the traditional brass-band sound and perform “Bourbon Street Parade,” “I’ll Fly Away” and other standards along with their originals.

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Alex McMurray picks: The Iguanas, Cracklins from Fatty’s Cracklins

Kristin Diable, 5/1, ACU, 11:20a; AM, 1:30p: This deep-voiced Baton Rouge native made a name for herself in New York City’s singer/songwriter community before returning to New Orleans. NPR likened her singing on 2015’s Create Your Own Mythology to that of a lighter hearted Amy Winehouse. She sits down for an interview with Brett Milano before her set. Kumbuka African Drum & Dance Collective, 4/24, J&H, 11:20a: Founded in 1983 and based in New Orleans, this troupe brings African music and dance to grade schools throughout Louisiana. Members range from ages 9 to 55. Kyle Roussel, 5/1, JAZ, 11:10a; 5/3, NOC, 1:25p: NOCCA grad Roussel’s piano style ranges widely, spanning the jazz, R&B, funk, gospel and classical worlds. He’s worked with artists including Delfeayo Marsalis, the Dirty Dozen, Khris Royal and Christian Scott. His electronic project performs at the NOCCA Pavilion.

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La Santa Cecilia, 4/24, AM, 2:30p; FDD, 4:25p: Hailing from Los Angeles, this Grammy-winning Mexican-American fourpiece rocks out to their own unique mix of cumbia, bossa nova, boleros and more. Dan Sharp interviews the band before their set. Lady & Men Rollers SA&PC, 5/1, PAR, 12:30p: This Uptown-based social aid and pleasure club danced to the sounds of the Hot 8 at their 2014 annual Sunday parade. Lady Jetsetters SA&PC, 5/2, PAR, 5:40p: Uptown’s Lady Jetsetters Social Aid and Pleasure Club recently celebrated their 25th anniversary. Lagbaja, 4/24, CON, 3:55p: Traditional Yoruba drumming by multiple players create the grooves that drive the mix of Afrobeat, jazz and high life saxophonist Lagbaja has dubbed “Africano.” Landry Walker Charter High School Gospel Choir, 4/30, GOS, 1:50p: A 40plus member gospel choir from the West Bank school whose brass band recently won $10,000 in the Class Got Brass competition. The Larry Garner Blues Band, 4/24, BLU, 12:20p: Years of moonlighting at Baton Rouge hotspot Tabby’s Blues Box inspired this former Dow Chemical employee to leave his day job. The guitarist went on to earn international acclaim, particularly in Europe. Larry Sieberth featuring Mehnaz Hoosein, 5/2, JAZ, 12:20p; AM, 3p: Pianist Sieberth describes this project as “world beat in the style of Tabla Beat Science meets Weather Report.” It features Indian pop singer Mehnaz Hoosein, plus Mike Dillon, Doug Belote, Calvin Turner and Jimmy Robinson. Snug Harbor’s Jason Patterson interviews Sieberth after his set. Lars Edegran & the New Orleans Ragtime Orchestra, 4/24. ECO, 1:40p: Formed in 1967 by Swedish-born pianist Lars Edegran, this band plays rags, cakewalks and other classic pieces from the original ragtime era. The Last Straws, 4/26, ECO, 11:20a: This local seven-piece has been playing traditional New Orleans jazz for more than 50 years. Leah Chase, 4/26, JAZ, 1:20p: A classically trained opera singer who turned to jazz, Chase is also the daughter of two of New Orleans’ most famous restaurateurs. Lenny Kravitz, 5/3, ACU, 3:50p: Psychedelic rocker Lenny Kravitz warms up the main stage for Trombone Shorty, who credits the guitarist with much of his onstage

JA ZZ FEST BI BLE 2 015

JAZZ FEST A-Z Lenny Kravitz

charisma. Kravitz’s latest release, “Strut,” arrived last year. Leo Jackson & the Melody Clouds, 4/24, GOS, 1p: This family group was formed in 1965 and is now led by founder Leo Jackson’s son. It’s known for its rousing vocals and synchronized steps. Leroy Jones & the New Orleans-Helsinki Connection, 4/30, ECO, 1:45p; AM, 4p: Danny Barker protégé Jones and his trumpet join trombonist Katja Toivola and musicians from their respective hometowns for a modern take on traditional New Orleans jazz. The bandleaders sit down for a talk with Michael Gourrier after the set.

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Kelcy Mae picks: Alison Krauss & Union Station, Fried Green Tomatoes from Cajun Nights Catering

Leroy Thomas & the Zydeco Runners, 5/1, FDD, 11:15a: Like his famous dad, Leroy “The Bull” Thomas, Leroy Thomas began his music career as a drummer. After teaching himself accordion, he joined The Bull’s band, then became a leader himself. Lil Ed and the Blues Imperials, 4/30, AM, 3p; BLU, 5:45p: Chicago slide guitarist Lil Ed Williams and his band have been a staple of the Windy City blues scene for 24 years. Ethnomusicologist David Kunian interviews him before his set. Lil’ Buck Sinegal Blues Band, 4/30, BLU, 1:35p: Sinegal once led an R&B band that included a young Stanley “Buckwheat” Dural on organ. The blues guitarist seems to slip effortlessly into soulful grooves. Lil’ Nathan & the Zydeco Big Timers, 4/24, FDD, 6p: This young accordion player from Lafayette scored a regional hit with “That L’Argent,” a hip-hop flavored zydeco tune about the power of money. His dad is Nathan Williams of the Zydeco Cha Chas. Little Freddie King Blues Band, 4/26, BLU, 12:10p: The Mississippi Delta-born King is a rocking juke-joint bluesman, a cousin of Lightnin’ Hopkins, one of the snappiest dressers you’ll see onstage, and a true Fest perennial. Little Maker, 4/25, LAG, 2:15p: Empress Hotel’s Micah McKee and friends delve into rock’s folk and jazz heritage to arrive at their violin and horn-driven orchestral pop sound. Lost Bayou Ramblers, 4/25, FDD, 2:55p: This hard-touring young Cajun band is steeped in tradition but has always been open to rock influences, which take center stage on their most recent album, Gasa Gasa Live. Louis Ford and his New Orleans Flairs, 4/30, ECO, 5:45p: A Preservation Hall regular, multi-reedist Ford and his group specialize in traditional New Orleans jazz and big band-era classics.

JAZZ FEST BIBLE 2015

Louis Prima, Jr. and the Witnesses, 4/24, AM, 3:30p; ECO, 5: 35p: Louis Prima’s son, singer Louis, Jr., walks the line between rock and the sound of the golden age of jazz. WWOZ’s Sally Young sits down with Prima for an interview before his set. Louisiana Repertory Jazz Ensemble, 4/26, ECO, 1:45p: Fred Star leads this local traditional jazz septet with a focus tight arrangements of tunes by Sam Morgan and other music from the turn of the century. Loyola University Jazz Ensemble, 4/30, JAZ, 11:15a: Students from Loyola’s jazz program—the oldest in the city—make up this group. Luke James, 4/25, CON, 3:50p: This New Orleans-born singer/songwriter has written hits for Britney Spears, Chris Brown and Justin Bieber. He also appeared in Beyonce’s “Run the World” video. Luke Winslow-King, 4/26, LAG, 2:05p: A Michigan native who studied music at UNO, Winslow-King is both a performer and musicologist, combining the sound of early 20th century New Orleans with the street smarts of a modern songwriter. Luther Kent & Trick Bag, 5/1, GEN, 1:55p: Southern-fried soul man has had a few musical incarnations including a Bobby Bland tribute show and a short ’70s stint fronting Blood, Sweat & Tears, though he’s best known for leading the funky Trickbag which returned in 2013 after a few years’ hiatus. Lyle Henderson & Emmanu-EL, 4/30 GOS, 2:40p: A former radio DJ at R&B station FM98 and gospel station WYLD, Lyle Henderson also coordinates the gospel brunches at the House of Blues. Maggie Koerner, 5/1, LAG, 2:15p: This soulful singer’s powerful pipes fronted Galactic for the past two years. She’s currently working on a new solo album. Magnolia Sisters, 4/24, LAG, 3:05p: Boasting multi-instrumental expertise on fiddle, accordion, banjo, guitar and percussion, this quartet specializes in the music of Southwest Louisiana. Major Handy and the Louisiana Blues Band, 5/3, FDD, 11:15a: Blues and zydeco expert Handy hails from Lafayette, where he developed his accordion, bass, piano and singing chops. Mannie Fresh, 4/25, CON, 2:05p; AM 4:30p: Holly Hobbs interviews this nationally acclaimed, locally born and bred rapper and producer. See Juvenile and Mannie Fresh Together for more info. Marc Broussard, 5/2, GEN, 1:55p: The Lafayette singer/guitarist grew up around vintage swamp-pop, but has since found his niche with a mix of soulful roots music and adult-contemporary pop. He’s opened

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JAZZ FEST A-Z tours for both the Dave Matthews Band and Maroon 5. Marcia Ball, 5/2, ACU, 12:15p; AM, 12:30p: A Jazz Fest perennial, the singer/ pianist from Texas was recently nominated for the Pinetop Perkins Piano Player of the Year award at the 2014 Blues Music Awards. Gwen Thompkins interviews Ball and Dennis McNally after the set. Mariachi Jalisco US, 5/2, 11:20: Baton Rouge-based alumni of Cuba’s Mariachi Real Jalisco reunite to perform music from their hometown of Havana. Mark Braud’s New Orleans Jazz Giants, 4/24, ECO, 2:55p; 4/26, 1:10p: The leader of the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, this trumpeter and vocalist leads a different cast of traditional jazz players for a change of pace. Mark Brooks and Friends with guest Yolanda Windsay, 4/25, ECO, 12:35p: After studying with Alvin Batiste at Southern University, bassist Brooks went on to work with the likes of Dr. John, the Neville brothers and Lou Rawls. He’s joined by jazz vocalist Windsay, the daughter of Topsy Chapman. Maurice “Mobetta” Brown, 4/24, JAZ, 1:30p: A former resident of New Orleans, this soulful, hip-hop influenced trumpeter has collaborated with a wide range of artists including Talib Kweli, Roy Hargrove, De La Soul, Diddy and Aretha Franklin. Maze featuring Frankie Beverly, 5/3, 5:40p: A now-perennial last-set headliner at Congo Square, this classic Philadelphia soul group’s connection with New Orleans goes back to at least 1981, when their live album was made at the Saenger Theater. McDonogh 35 High School Gospel Choir, 4/30, GOS, 5p: Thursdays at Jazz Fest traditionally feature high-school choirs in the Gospel Tent. This Treme School has been a regular. The choir and her director Veronica Downs-Dorsey were the recipients of OffBeat’s Best of the Beat Award in 2014 for Best Gospel Choir. McMain Secondary School Drama Troupe, 5/1, KID, 12:40p: Students aged 12 – 18 perform comedy and drama, directed by Diana Boylseton. McTeggart Irish Dancers of Louisiana, 5/3, KID, 11:30a: Students from this local coed Irish dance school show off their moves. Mem Shannon and the Membership Band, 4/30, LAG, 5:40p: Inspired to play the blues by B.B. King, this local guitarist and singer made a splash when he incorporated recorded conversations from his previous cabbie gig into his first major album. Men Buckjumpers SA&PC, 4/30, PAR, 1:40p: The Original New Orleans Lady Buckjumpers and Men Buckjumpers recently celebrated their 30th anniversary parade. Men of Class SA&PC, 4/30, PAR, 4p: This Uptown-based social aid and pleasure club has been parading for 10 years and counting. Meschiya Lake & the Little Big Horns, 4/30, BLU, 3p: Once a Royal Street performer, now a big name in the local traditional jazz scene, Lake and her big voice are getting more attention worldwide. Her latest album Fooler’s Gold mixes vintage sass with great storytelling and a gorgeously raw New Orleans feel. The Meters, 5/3, ACU, 1:55p: A rare reunion for the four godfathers of New Orleans funk—Art Neville, Leo Nocentelli, George Porter, Jr. and Joseph “Zigaboo” Modeliste. Mia Borders, 4/24, GEN, 12:25p: An energetic and soulful songwriter from New Orleans, Borders sings evocative confessionals shot through with plenty of funk and edge. Midnite Disturbers, 5/2, J&H, 1:40p: It took drummers Kevin O’Day and Stanton Moore to corral a dozen of New Orleans’ busiest players into one wild brass band. Ben Ellman, Kirk Joseph, Trombone Shorty, Big Sam,

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JA ZZ FEST BI BLE 2 015

JAZZ FEST A-Z Mulligan Brothers

Matt Perrine, Skerik and Mark Mullins should all be familiar names to Fest-goers. Mikayla, 4/26, LAG, 11:30a: “NeoSoulPop” is how this New Orleans-based singer, songwriter and ukulelist describes her music. Miss Claudia – Delicious! 4/24, KID, 4:10p: This children’s performer returns with a storytime-meets-musical-theater hybrid, focused on teaching principles like sharing. Miss Claudia also owns a vintage clothing store on Magazine Street. Mississippi Rail Company, 5/2, ACU, 11:15a: Roots rock and R&B drive the spirited sound of this New Orleans four-piece, which released a new single every month in 2014. Mohawk Hunters Mardi Gras Indians, 5/2, PAR, 1:30p: When he’s not sewing or masking, this tribe’s Big Chief, Tyrone Casby, serves as the Principal of the Youth Study Center at Orleans Parish Prison. His tribe is joined by Big Chief Trouble and Trouble Nation. Monogram Hunters Mardi Gras Indians, 4/26, PAR, 11:30a: Big Chief Tyrone “Pie” Stevenson recently returned to the Indian nation after a 15-year break. Known for his sewing prowess, he recently came out in black feathers in recognition of the things and people he’s lost through the years. Monty Alexander and the HarlemKingston Express, 4/30, JAZ, 5:30: This Jamaica-born, New York-bred pianist earned early acclaim for his work with Dizzy Gillepsie, Ray Brown and other jazz luminaries. His innovative work as a leader blends reggae and ska with modern jazz. Morning Star Missionary Baptist Church Mass Choir, 4/26, GOS, 5:55p: The members of this large local church choir range in age from teenagers to septuagenarians. Mr. Okra, truck near J&H, 4/24, 12:20p, 1:40p, 2:40p, 4:05p, 5:25p; 4/25, 12:20p, 1:40p, 2:40p, 4p, 5p; 4/26, 12:15p, 1:15p, 2:40p, 3:50p, 5:15p: The last of New Orleans’ singing fruit vendors, this beloved local celebrity was recently immortalized with his own “Mr. Okra In Your Pocket” toy. Ms. Ruby Wilson’s Tribute to Bessie Smith feat. Bryan “Breeze” Cayolle, 5/2, ECO, 4:20p: Born in Texas, based in Memphis and known as the blues queen of Beale Street, Wilson has become a crusader for health since recovering from a recent stroke. The Mulligan Brothers, 5/3, LAG, 3:40p: This Americana-meets-country trio emphasizes on strong melodies and original narratives. Their eponymous 2013 album earned high marks from critics in their hometown of Mobile, Ala. New Orleans Hip-Hop Experience - DJ Jubilee featuring Partners-N-Crime, Keedy Black, DJ Mike Swift, Jimmy Clever, T-Ray and the Violinist, 4/24, CON, 12:10p: Members of

JAZZ FEST BIBLE 2015

the local hip-hop and bounce scenes show off their skills. N.O. Quarter Shanty Krewe, 4/25, KID, 1:55p: “Avast heaving me buckos!” Learn to translate that gem and more pirate lingo in this sea shanty workshop for small seafarers. Narcisse/Movement Project, 5/2, NOC, 12:20p: Local dance school Dancing Grounds presents the work of artists under the direction of Maritza Marcado-Narcisse. Nathan & the Zydeco Cha Chas, 4/25, FDD, 6p: Nathan Williams sprung from his brother’s club, El Sid O’s in Lafayette, to become one of zydeco’s biggest names—and to write its two greatest hog songs, “Zydeco Hog” and “Everything on the Hog is Good.” Native Nations Intertribal, 4/24, NAT, 12p, 1:20p, 4p; 4/25, NAT, 12p, 1:10p, 3:45p; 4/26, NAT, 12p, 1:10p, 2:30p: The late Barry Langley of Louisiana’s Coushatta Tribe founded this Native American dance troupe and educational collective, which performs Northern and Southern Plains-style dances. The hoop dance is particularly fun to watch. Naughty Professor, 5/3, LAG, 2:10p: This New Orleans-based six-piece plays a blend of funk, soul and rock that’s earned them a solid following on Frenchmen Street’s jamband scene. New Birth Brass Band, 4/24, CON, 235p: Formed in the mid-’80s and led by bass drummer Cayetano “Tanio” Hingle, this band has made CDs with both Allen Toussaint and George Porter, Jr. Horn men Glen David Andrews and Trombone Shorty are alumni.

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DJ Soul Sister picks: Christian McBride Big Band, Trout Baquet from Baquet’s Li’l Dizzy’s Café

New Generation SA&PC, 5/3, 1:45p: The New Generation Social Aid and Pleasure Club’s annual Sunday parades roll through Uptown. New John Robicheaux Society Orchestra, The feat. Wendell Brunious and Tom Hook, 4/24, ECO, 4:15p: Before ragtime and jazz came of age in New Orleans there was John Robicheaux, and his European ballroom dance-inspired music. Pianist Hook arranges material from Robicheaux’s historic library for some of the Crescent City’s most skilled trad jazz players. New Leviathan Oriental Fox-Trot Orchestra, 4/25, ECO, 11:15a: A multigenerational, always entertaining large ensemble that plays only ’90s music—as in the 1890s, when the shipboard dance music and early jazz they favor was first created. New Look SA&PC, 4/26, PAR, 4pm: Kids aged 3-16 make up this branch of the Young Men Olympian, Jr. Benevolent Association.

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JAZZ FEST A-Z The New Orleans Black Chorale, – Tribute to Moses Hogan, 4/25, GOS, 1:55p: In 1980, the New Orleans Philharmonic presented “Symphony in Black,” an homage to the role the city’s African-American population played in developing our culture. Today’s choral group grew out of the Edwin B. Hogan-led singing ensemble that accompanied the orchestra. New Orleans Classic R&B Divas feat. The Dixie Cups, Wanda Rouzan, and Jean Knight, 5/2, BLU, 1:30p: An all-star, all female revue featuring “Chapel of Love” hitmakers The Dixie Cups with Knight, of “Mr. Big Stuff” fame and Rouzan, a 50-year veteran of the local music scene known as “The Sweetheart of New Orleans.” New Orleans Cottonmouth Kings, 4/26, ECO, 4:15p: This swing jazz sextet is a regrouped version of the New Orleans Jazz Vipers, carrying on their tradition of unamplified New Orleans jazz. New Orleans Gospel Soul Children, 5/1, GOS, 5:55p: This long-standing local gospel group delivers energetic renditions of gospel standards. New Orleans Klezmer Allstars, 4/25, LAG, 3:45p: Innovators of a funked-up localized take on Jewish traditional music, this band’s past and present members include scions of the city’s jazz and funk scenes. New Orleans Mardi Gras Indian Rhythm Section, 5/1, PAR, 3:50p: Eric “Yeti” Boudreaux, Monk Boudreaux’s younger brother, founded this high-caliber Mardi Gras Indian drummers ensemble. New Orleans Nightcrawlers, 4/30, J&H, 4:10p: This funky brass band represents the genre’s adventurous edge and includes familiar faces from Bonerama and Galactic. Their last album, Slither Slice, combined funk, hip-hop, Indian chants and a general spirit of rejuvenation. New Orleans Spiritualettes, 5/3, GOS, 11:10a: Founded a half-century ago by stillcurrent leader Ruby Ray, the Spiritualettes are the longest-active female gospel group in New Orleans. The New Orleans Suspects, 4/26, ACU, 12:25p: Radiators bassist Reggie Scanlan and Neville Brothers drummer “Mean” Willie Green are the backbone of a funky all-star band that also includes Dirty Dozen guitarist Jake Eckert, keyboardist CR Gruver and saxophonist Jeff Watkins, who was James Brown’s late-career bandleader. New Orleans Youth Buck Jumpers, 5/1, KID, 4:10p: The next generation of New Orleans’ second liners shows the Kids’ Tent how to strut. New Wave Brass Band, 4/24, J&H, 12:40p: Snare drummer Oscar Washington is at the helm of this updated traditional New Orleans brass band. Nicholas Payton Trio with Vicente Archer and Bill Stewart, 4/24, JAZ, 4:10p: This outspoken trumpeter recently showed the world through music what he means when he says, “I don’t play the J-word. I play BAM—Black American Music” with #BAM: Live at Bohemian Caverns. Another live disc, Sketches of Spain, was the formidable follow-up. Ninevah Baptist Church Mass Choir, 4/26, GOS, 1:45p: Minister Hezekiah Brinson, Jr. leads this contemporary gospel choir from Metairie, La. Ninth Ward Hunters Mardi Gras Indians, 4/26, PAR, 2p: Big Chief Robbe, who has led four Indian tribes, created this Lower Ninth Ward-based group in the 1940s. Ninth Ward Navajo, 4/26, PAR, 2p: Big Chief Derrick Magee made waves a few years back when he featured a variety of biblical scenes in his beadwork.

JAZZ FEST BIBLE 2015

Gwen Stefani of No Doubt

No Doubt, 5/1, ACU, 5:25p: Gwen Stefani’s ska-pop-punk hybrid is best known for ‘90s hits like “Just a Girl,” despite their highly underrated acting debut on the “Homerpalooza” episode of “The Simpsons.” NOCCA Allstar Alumni Jam feat. Donald Harrison, Jr. The Passing of the Torch, 4/26, JAZ, 4:10p; 5/3, JAZ, 4p: Graduates of the world renowned New Orleans Center For Creative Arts secondary school include Harrison, Harry Connick, Jr., Terence Blanchard, Nicholas Payton, Trombone Shorty and the Marsalis brothers, among others. NOCCA Allstar Alumni Jazz Jam: The Ellis Marsalis Legacy, 5/3, 4p: NOCCA grads honor the legacy of pianist and educator Ellis Marsalis.

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Lynn Drury picks: Ryan Adams, Crawfish Bread from Panorama Foods

NOCCA Presents Carnival of the Animals, 4/25, KID, 4:25p: NOCCA students recreate Romantic composer Camille SaintSaens’ multi-movement suite, hopefully as a medley with “They All Ask’d For You.” NOCCA Presents the History of the second Line, 4/25, NOC, 12:30p, 3:15p; 4/30, NOC, 4:10p: Students from the New Orleans Center For Creative Arts secondary school explain how and why the city’s second line parade tradition came to be. Norbert Susemihl’s New Orleans AllStars and Wanda Rouzan, 5/3, ECO, 5:40p: German trumpeter Susemihl has been focused on traditional New Orleans jazz since the late ‘70s, cutting records with a litany of important figures in the Crescent City jazz scene from Willie Humphrey to Jason Marsalis. The O’Jays, 5/3, CON, 3:45p: The soul-soaked R&B trio behind “Love Train” and “Backstabbers” features original members Eddie Levert and Walter Williams, plus Eric Grant, who replaced the late William Powell. Ole and Nu Style Fellas, 5/3, 4:15p, PAR: The Ole and Nu Style Fellas hit the Fairgrounds fresh off their 2015 annual Sunday parade. OperaCréole, 4/26, AM, 12:30p; KID, 4:10p: This vocal ensemble focuses on lost or rarely performed operatic and classical music, spotlighting, in particular, the contributions of African-American and Creole artists throughout New Orleans’ history. Peggy Scott LaBorde interviews members of the group before their set. Orange Kellin’s New Orleans Deluxe Orchestra, 5/1, ECO, 5:40p: The clarinetist

moved from Sweden to New Orleans in 1966. Four years later, he played at Louis Armstrong’s 70th birthday show. His group plays classic early jazz by King Oliver, Jelly Roll Morton and others. Original Big 7 SA&PC, 5/1, PAR, 5p: The Original Big 7s formed in 1995 in the St. Bernard housing development. Today, the Big 7 Cultural Heritage Division provides a creative and social center for the community’s youth. Original CTC Steppers SA&PC, 5/3, PAR, 4:15p: Named for their tradition of parading over the Industrial Canal, the CTC (Cross The Canal) Steppers hold one of the season’s most popular Sunday parades. Original N.O. Lady Buckjumpers SA&PC, 5/3, PAR, 1:30p: The Original New Orleans Lady Buckjumpers and Men Buckjumpers recently celebrated their 30th anniversary parade. Original Pigeon Town Steppers SA&PC, 5/2, PAR, 3p: This social aid and pleasure club holds its annual parade every Easter Sunday. Original Pinettes Brass Band, 5/2, PAR, 3p, J&H, 4:10p: The first and possibly only all-female brass band, the Pinettes recently won Red Bull’s Brass Band battle under the Claiborne bridge. Otra, 4/26, J&H, 1:35p: New Orleans bassist Sam Price founded this funky, often cerebral Afro-Cuban rhythm-based ensemble. Ottertrail Native American Dance Troupe, 4/30, NAV, 12p, 1:10p, 2:30p; 5/1, 12p, 2:30p, 3:55p; 5/2, 12:15p, 1:15p, 2:25p; 5/3, 12:05p, 1:15p, 2:40p: This awardwinning powwow singing and dance group began with a focus on the music of Southern tribes but has grown to encompass performers from across the country. Palmetto Bug Stompers, 5/3, ECO, 11:15a: Heavy-hitters like trumpeter Will Smith join the inimitable Washboard Chaz Leary in his traditional New Orleans jazz ensemble. Paloma Faith, 5/1, ACU, 1:45p: Retro British songstress Faith sings songs with the kind of big, swaggering melodies that Amy Winehouse loved, using the high range of her mezzo soprano voice to dramatic effect. Panorama Jazz Band, 5/1, LAG, 1:40p: Influenced by styles from around the globe, this hip band comprised of top local instrumentalists blends New Orleans jazz traditions with klezmer, Latin and Balkan sounds. Pastor Jai Reed, 5/2, GOS, 1p: This New Orleans Baptist minister is a soulful singer in the Stevie Wonder tradition, doing gospel with a contemporary R&B influence. Pastor Marvin Sapp, 5/2, GOS, 1p: This chart-topping gospel singer got his start with Commissioned before launching his successful solo career in the ‘90s.

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JAZZ FEST A-Z Pastor Terry Gullage & the Greater Mt. Calvary Voices of Redemption, 4/24, GOS, 5:05p: From a young age, Elder Terry Gullage knew he had a gift for music. He leads the choir from this church in Marrero. Pat Casey & the New Sound, 4/30, JAZ, 1:30p: Bassist Casey leads this group of young and talented local players through a mix of jazz, funk, Afro-Cuban and Brazilian-inspired music. Patrice Fisher & Arpa with special guests from Brazil, 5/1, LAG, 12:40p: This Latin jazz harpist has been a Jazz Fest mainstay for three decades, earning fans around the country like Rolling Stone critic David Fricke. Paul Sanchez & Minimum Rage with special guests the Write Brothers, 4/24, FDD, 1:40p: Since parting company with Cowboy Mouth, Sanchez has focused on songwriting, making him a great match for local songwriting heroes Alex McMurray, Spencer Bohren and Jim McCormick, who round out the Write Brothers. Paulin Brothers Brass Band, 4/30, ECO, 12:30p: Ernest “Doc” Paulin founded this band in the 1920s, and his sons now perform strictly traditional brass band music, complete with the longstanding black-and-white uniforms and spiffy white caps. Peter Harris, 4/26, JAZ, 12:15p: Modern jazz bassist Harris has been expanding his horizons in recent years, showcasing a number of strong original compositions on 2013’s selfproduced “The Jackal.” The Pfister Sisters, 4/30, ECO, 3p: Inspired by the close harmonies and lively personalities of New Orleans’ Boswell Sisters, the Pfisters have a sound and look that harkens back to the 1930s. Philip Manuel Swings the Beatles, 4/30, JAZ, 4p: This local, smooth-voiced R&B singer who grew up on the same block as the Neville Brothers tackles the Fab Four’s catalog, infusing a bit more jazz into the mix. Pierre, Curtis and the Samba Kids, 4/25, KID, 5:15p: New Orleans’ best-known samba expert leads a children’s version of the popular Afro-Brazilian group. Pine Leaf Boys: Louisiana Music, 5/3 FDD, 4:10p: This young band has spearheaded the latest revival of Cajun music, bridging new and traditional music and snagging four Grammy nominations. Leader Wilson Savoy is the son of Cajun music’s first couple Marc and Ann Savoy. Pitbull, 4/26, CON, 5:30p: Having given up his reggaeton roots for bigger sales as crossover club music hitmaker, first generation CubanAmerican rapper Pitbull is big on shout-outs to ladies, shots, booties and “Mr. Worldwide” (that’s him). Pocket Aces Brass Band, 4/25, PAR, 4:20p: This Bridge City brass-hop band began as a few friends who got together for an annual Mardi Gras jam before expanding to a full-time touring outfit. They’re currently recording their first album. Preservation Hall Jazz Band, 5/2, BLU, 5:55p: With its 50th anniversary in the rearview mirror, the New Orleans music institution’s profile is higher than ever thanks to heavy touring, a Foo Fighters collaboration and a career-spanning boxed set. PresHall Brass, 5/1, ECO, 4:20p: The newest addition to the Preservation Hall family, this contemporary brass band usually features bass drummer Tanio Hingle, trumpeter Will Smith and Kerry “Fat Man” Henry on the snare. Prince of Wales SA&PC, 5/3, PAR, 1:30p: Uptown’s Prince of Wales is among the oldest parade clubs in the city. Their annual Sunday second line struts through the Irish Channel. Puppet Arts Theatre, 5/2, KID, 3p: The work of this Prague-trained, Mississippi-based puppetry whiz is regularly featured on PBS.

JAZZ FEST BIBLE 2015

The Radiators, 5/3, GEN, 2:05p: Groupiespawning fish-head rockers the Rads are back (again) after calling it semi-quits with a 2011 farewell tour. Expect a massive show of support for this long-beloved locals. Raw Oyster Cult, 4/25, ACU, 12:25p: Something of a Radiators 2.0, this band features 3/5 of the Rads (Dave Malone, Camile Baudoin, Frank Bua) plus Papa Grows Funk’s John Gros and Johnny Sketch & the Dirty Notes’ bassist Dave Pomerlau. Ray Abshire Cajun Band, 4/26, LAG, 12:45p: A Louisiana Folk Artist Hall of Famer, Abishire’s accordion career began in the late ‘60s with the Balfa Brothers. Today, his bandmates include his sons Travis and Brent. The Raymond A. Miles Singers, 5/1, GOS, 2:45p: The untimely death of young New Orleans gospel legend Raymond A. Myles devastated the music and church communities in the ‘80s, but these devoted followers of his work keep his spirit alive. The Rayo Brothers, 4/24, LAG, 1:50p: These young Louisiana folk rockers recently released their first album, “Gunslinger.” They also happen to share DNA with the famous Cajun band Les Freres Michot and the lost Bayou Ramblers. Real Untouchable Brass Band, 4/24, PAR, 3:30p, 4:25p: Alumni of Southern University’s Human Jukebox marching band put their funk and hip-hop-influenced spin on modern brass band music. Rebirth Brass Band, 4/26, CON, 3:30p: Now entering its fourth decade, Grammy in hand, the Rebirth was one of the first bands to modernize and funkify the New Orleans brass band sound. Their latest album “Move Your Body” shines a light on their original compositions. Resurrection Baptist Church Choir of Schertz, TX, 4/25, GOS, 2:45p: Singers from this large Texan church focus on the tenets of “connecting, growing, serving, sharing and worshiping.” Rev. John Wilkins, 5/1, BLU, 1:25p; AM, 3:30p: The sounds of Mississippi Hill Country and Memphis blues meet gospel in music from this pastor, whose congregation included the late Otha Turner. Tom Piazza interviews Wilkins following his set.

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Dick Deluxe picks: Jerry Lee Lewis, Oyster Patties from Patton’s Caterers

The Revelers, 4/24, FDD, 11:15a: A new Acadian supergroup made up of founding members of Jazz Fest perennials the Red Stick Ramblers and the Pine Leaf Boys. The Revivalists, 4/25, GEN, 1:45p: New Orleans band has solid songs for the rock ’n’ rollers and free-flowing grooves for the jamband crowd. Following the release of their Ben Ellman-produced second album, City of Sound, lead singer David Shaw hit the road with Galactic. Revolution SA&P, 4/30, PAR, 1:40p: One of the biggest parade clubs, the Revolution SA&PC is known for mind-blowing dance moves and multiple costume changes along their annual Sunday parade route. This year, they celebrated their 20th anniversary. Richard Comeaux Pedal Steel with the River Rats, 4/25, LAG, 11:30a: Cajun country pedal steel staple and River Road alum Comeaux debuts his latest lineup. Rising Dragon Lion Dance Team, 4/25, KID, 1:35p: Marrero-based traditional Vietnamese lion dancers display a colorful and

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JAZZ FEST A-Z acrobatic part of Vietnam’s cultural heritage. Often performed at festivals and holiday events, some say the dance wards off evil spirits. Robert “Bilbo” Walker and the California Dolls, 4/30, BLU, 12:35p: Known for dazzling displays of Chuck Berry-esque guitar work, Walker – a Clarksdale, Miss., native who spent time in Chicago before relocating west –is also prone to showing off his penchant for one-handed playing. The Robert Cray Band, 4/25, BLU, 5:45p: Blues guitarist Cray is renowned for his ability to innovate within the blues idiom without losing sight of the traditions in which the music is based. His latest is 2014’s In My Soul. Robin Barnes, 4/25, CON, 11:20a: This R&B vocalist first sang in the choirs at St. Phillip and St. David Catholic Churches, and later with her family’s jazz band the Soul Heirs. Rockin’ Dopsie, Jr. & the Zydeco Twisters, 5/1, FDD, 5:55p: One of the few rubboard players to lead a zydeco band, Dopsie Jr. plays it wilder than his accordionist dad, and his sets are guaranteed party-starters. The Rocks of Harmony, 4/26, GOS, 11:10a: New Orleans gospel in its purest form, this all-male group has been singing praises and spirituals for half a century. Roddie Romero & the Hub City All Stars, 5/2, FDD, 2:50p: This eclectic Cajun, zydeco, swamp pop and rock ‘n’ roll band is built around accordionist/guitarist Romero and pianist Eric Adcock. Their expansive double album The La Louisianne Sessions was nominated for a Grammy. Roland Guerin, 5/1, CON, 11:20a: After an educational stint with Alvin Batiste’s Jazztronauts, Guerin developed a versatile and innovative version of a six string bass guitar.

JAZZ FEST BIBLE 2015

Snarky Puppy

a 12-piece group with four singers, four percussionists, horns and rhythm to spare. Ryan Adams, 4/25, GEN, 5:20a: Prolific as both a songwriter and producer, Adams’ altcountry roots have blossomed into a variegated mix of rock, pop and Americana. His latest is 2014’s eponymous Blue Note release. Sasha Masakowski, 5/1, LAG, 3:45p; 5/3, NOC, 4:10p: The daughter of Astral Project guitarist Steve Masakowski has emerged as one of the city’s brightest young jazz vocalists, with a lively style that touches on torch songs and samba. She presents her Hildegard project with Chris Hines at the NOCCA Pavilion. Savoy Family Cajun Band, 4/26, FDD, 1:35p: Marc and Ann Savoy have done as much as anyone to celebrate and preserve Cajun music and culture. This group teams the couple with their sons Wilson (of Pine Leaf Boys) and Joel. Scene Boosters SA&PC, 5/1, PAR, 12:30p: The Scene Boosters traditionally roll with the Original Pinstripe Brass Band during their annual Sunday parades. Sean Johnson & The Wild Lotus Band, 4/24, LAG, 12:40p: This harmonium player and vocalist performs kirtan music, blending call and response mantras with the funk and soul-drenched sounds of New Orleans. Second Line Jammers SA&PC, 4/30, PAR, 12:30p: This social aid and pleasure club teamed up with the Undefeated Divas SA&PC for their 2015 Sunday parade. Seminoles Mardi Gras Indians, 4/25, PAR, 3:10p: Big Chief Keith “Keitoe” Jones leads this Ninth Ward-based tribe. Semolian Warriors Mardi Gras Indians, 4/24, J&H, 2p: Big Chief Yam, aka James

The Roots of Music Marching Crusaders, 4/30, PAR, 12:30p: This group aims to support, teach, and protect at-risk youth through music education while preserving and promoting New Orleans’ musical heritage. Songwriter Ani DiFranco is on the board of directors. Rosie Ledet & the Zydeco Playboys, 5/1, FDD, 2:55p: Known as the Zydeco Sweetheart, singer/accordionist Ledet has long been zydeco’s premier female bandleader. She’s also a master of the lyrical double entendre, as evinced by her local hit “I’m Gonna Take Care of Your Dog.” The Royal Southern Brotherhood, 5/2, BLU, 3p: Jimmy Vaughn’s son Tyrone Vaughn, teams up with Cyril Neville, Bart Walker, Charlie Wooton and Yonrico Scott for a jamfriendly foray into Southern rock.

Royal Teeth, 4/24, GEN, 1:40p: This young indie rock outfit’s melodic yet danceable pop, highlighted by the pure vocals of Nora Patterson, has been racking up national buzz for the couple of years. The RRAAMS, 5/2, KID, 5:15p: The River Road African-American Museum Society in Donaldsonville presents an educational program for kids. Ruby and the Rogues, 4/30, LAG, 11:30a: Singer/songwriter Ruby Rendrag performs with Michael Ennis on cajin and other percussion and Suki Kuehn on cello. Rendrag also manages Music Shed Studios. Rumba Buena, 5/3, CON, 12:30p: This popular New Orleans Latin band is

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JAZZ FEST A-Z Harris, created this Uptown gang after stints with the Creole Wild West and the Wild Magnolias. The Sensational Chosen Voices, 5/1, GOS, 12:05p: Formed as the Angelettes Spiritual Singers in 1974, this gospel group is still led by founder Kathleen McGowanMcGriggs and in the words of one of their CD titles, they Never Lost the Faith. Shades of Praise, 5/1, GOS, 5p: This gospel choir is integrated across race, gender and denomination, and had its first scheduled performance on September 12, 2001; they’ve since been dedicated to spreading a message of hope. Shamarr Allen & the Underdawgs, 4/30, CON, 12:35p: Jazz-funk-hip-hop trumpeter Allen resists categorization, having performed live with Willie Nelson and written the local anthem “Meet Me on Frenchmen Street.” These days he’s better known for shouting out his cell phone number from the stage and taking text requests. Shirley Caesar, 4/26, GOS, 3:45p: Nicknamed “The First Lady of Gospel Music,” this singer has won 11 Grammys, 18 Dove awards and an NAACP Achievement Award. Shooter Jennings with Waymore’s Outlaws, 5/1, FDD, 4:25p: Though his initial tastes leaned more toward southern rock than country, Waylon Jennings’ son Shooter has been performing a mix of country standards, his dad’s hits and his own music with the Outlaws, Waylon’s original band. Shovels & Rope, 4/25, FDD, 4:20p: Folk meets indie rock in married couple Carrie Ann Hearst and Michael Trent’s music, which recently them a Best Emerging Artist accolade at the 2013 Americana Music Honors & Awards. Single Ladies SA&PC 4/25, PAR, 12:45p: The Single Ladies SA&PC have been parading through Uptown for nearly 20 years. Single Men SA&PC, 4/25, PAR, 12:45p: The Single Men SA&PC was established in May 1995. Smitty Dee’s Brass Band, 4/25, PAR, 4:15p: This band was formed in 1991 by former Olympia Brass Band sousaphonist Dimitri Smith. They play regularly at Preservation Hall the Creole Queen riverboat. Snarky Puppy, 4/24, JAZ, 5:40p: Graduates of the University of North Texas’ famous music program, this innovative and sprawling instrumental outfit posits itself as a backing band for a wide range of artists from the worlds of jazz, R&B and beyond. They recorded a new “Family Dinner” album at Esplanade Studios over Mardi Gras.

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Matt Perrine picks: Sweet Crude, Meaty White Beans from Down Home Creole Cookin’

Sonny Landreth, 4/25, BLU, 4:05p: A thoughtful songwriter and scorching slide guitarist, Landreth can claim the likes of Clapton, Buffett, Hiatt and John Mayall as collaborators and fans. His first all-instrumental album Elemental Journey was released to much acclaim in 2013. Sons of Jazz Brass Band, 5/1, PAR, 4p: This local brass band provides the soundtrack for parades by the Ladies of Unity and Revolution Social Aid & Pleasure Clubs. Soul Rebels, 5/2, CON, 1:25p: After the huge international success of their Rounder debut Unlock Your Mind, this funk-inspired brass band released Power = Power, an OkayPlayer mixtape of reimagined hip-hop hits. New arrangements of D’Angelo and Marvin Gaye have popped up in recent live shows. Southern University Baton Rouge Jazzy Jags, 5/2, LAG, 11:30a: Student group from

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the Southern University of Baton Rouge. The school’s modern jazz program was designed by the late Alvin Batiste. Spencer Bohren & the Whippersnappers, 4/30, BLU, 11:25a: A singer, guitarist and musicologist with a flair for traditional blues and gospel, Bohren spotlights his pedal-steel prowess on his new disc Tempered Steel. Square Dance With the Swamp Lilies, 4/30, KID, 3p: Local string band the Swamp lilies provide the music as Square Dance NOLA gets kids and parents up and dancing. St. Joseph the Worker Music Ministry, 5/3, GOS, 1p: The choir of this New Yorkbased church plays a key role in the church community’s daily activities. Stephanie Jordan Big Band, 4/30, JAZ, 2:40p: This popular New Orleans jazz singer hails from the esteemed Jordan family (her father is the award-winning saxophonist Kidd Jordan). In 2012, her big band performed a critically acclaimed tribute to Lena Horne at the Fair Grounds. Stephen Foster’s Foster Family Program, 5/2, KID, 11:30a: No relation to the early American composer, this family foundation is dedicated to music education in New Orleans. Steve Riley & the Mamou Playboys, 4/30, AM, 1p; FDD, 2:55p: The venerable band is equally capable of playing straight-up Cajun music or going progressive. Some recent gigs have even included a ten-minute jam on Neil Young’s “Down By the River” in French. Michael Tisserand interviews Riley before the set. Steve Winwood, 5/3, GEN, 3:55p: Before his Clapton collaboration and “Back In the High Life” era, this British singer and multi-instrumentalist reportedly had a taste for Dixieland jazz, prog rock and more, though that shouldn’t stop you from singing along to “Higher Love” like it’s 1986. Stooges Brass Band, 5/3, AM, 4:15p; J&H, 5:35p: One of the busiest brass bands on the second line circuit, and one of the best. They’ve also performed in Pakistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan as musical ambassadors on US Embassy tours, as well as throughout Europe. Matt Sakakeeny interviews members of the band after their set. Storyville Stompers Brass Band, 5/3, J&H, 12:20p: This traditional New Orleans brass band formed in 1981, and it performs a number of rarely-played vintage jazz tunes. Its membership includes some of the top players in town, and it’s always in demand for parades. Sturgill Simpson, 4/30, GEN, 3:35p: Rising star singer Simpson draws inspiration from Outlaw Country and ’70s rock for his earthy sound, which is currently making waves in Nashville and beyond. Sunpie & the Louisiana Sunspots, 4/34, BLU, 2:40p: Bruce “Sunpie” Barnes is dedicated to the Creole music traditions. With the Louisiana Sunspots, he plays a slightly urban version of zydeco with an emphasis on the R&B elements. Sweet Cecilia, 4/30, LAG, 12:40p: Sisters Laura Huval and Meagan Berard, along with their cousin Callie Guidry make up this trio of multi-instrumentalist Louisiana roots rockers from Acadiana. Sweet Crude, 4/26, FDD, 12:20p: New Orleans indie rock septet Sweet Crude plays an energetic brand of percussion-driven rock sung in French. With energetic dancing crowds at every live show, Sweet Crude is about having fun. The Swing Setters, 5/2, KID, 1:50p: Professional New Orleans jazz musicians including singer Jayna Morgan, clarinetist Gregory Agid and drummer Gerald French play a blend of Crescent City jazz classics and kids’ tunes.

JA ZZ FEST BI BLE 2 015

JAZZ FEST A-Z

T.I., 5/2, CON, 5:45p: Despite some trouble with the law rapper and part-time actor T.I. has been proving he’s got substance to back up his style in recent years, helping with post-Katrina clean-ups, producing a docu-series about the challenges faced by women in hip-hop and recording “New National Anthem,” a statement about the shooting of Michael Brown. Tab Benoit, 5/3, BLU, 4p: The Bayou guitar slinger is equally adept at swamp grooves and sizzling blues. As a Voice of the Wetlands founder he has also been one of the most outspoken advocates for wetlands preservation. The Taj Mahal Trio, 5/2, FDD, 4:20p: The legendary, world music-influenced blues guitarist and singer performs with his touring trio. Tank and the Bangas, 4/25, GEN, 11:20a: This unique local act’s combination of soul, hip-hop, spoken word and rock has earned an increasingly sizeable following in recent years and was the recipient of OffBeat’s Best of the Beat Award for Best Emerging Artist in 2014. Tasha Cobbs, 4/30, GOS, 3:45p: Atlanta singer, minister and EMI recording artist Cobbs had her first big wave of success with 2013’s Grace, which charted in Billboard’s Top 10 Gospel albums for a year. Tauk, 4/30, ACU, 11:20a: New York funk quartet Tauk takes cues from prog rock, giving their jams a distinct sound. TBC Brass Band, 4/25, ACU, 11:20a: If a brass band on Bourbon Street ever stopped you in your tracks, it was probably TBC Brass Band, who also dominate the streets of Sunday second line parades. The group’s sometimestragic story was told in a recent documentary, From the Mouthpiece on Back. Tedeschi Trucks Band, 4/24, ACU, 3:20p: Soulful, earthy and steeped in the blues, this award-winning 11-piece ensemble is led by husband and wife, Derek Trucks (slide guitar) and Susan Tedeschi (vocals). The Terence Blanchard E-Collective, 5/1, NOC, 1:05p; 5/2, JAZ, 5:45p: The Grammy Award-winning trumpeter and well-known film score composer creates ambitious conceptual pieces including the Katrina-inspired A Tale of God’s Will and Champion: An Opera in Jazz. His new project adds funk, blues and R&B into the mix. Blanchard also performs solo at the NOCCA Pavilion. Terrance Simien & the Zydeco Experience, 4/30, CON, 2:05p: One of zydeco’s ambassadors and one of its most energetic performers, Simien plays his 29th consecutive Jazz Fest this year. Terry “Harmonica” Bean, 4/25, BLU, 12:10p: Specializing in Delta and Hill Country blues, this harp and guitar player has a knack for writing new songs that sound straight out of the canon. The Word, 4/30, ACU, 1:45p: Pedal steel guitarist Robert Randolph, MMW keyboardist John Medeski and the North Mississippi Allstars make up this improv-focused, gospel-meetsjazz supergroup, which recently announce plans to release a new album, Soul Food in May. Third World, 4/30, CON, 5:30p: This eclectic roots reggae act has been expanding its palette since 1973. Toots Hibbert, Stephen and Damian Marley, Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespear appeared on the ensemble’s 2011 release, Patriots. Tim Laughlin, 4/26, ECO, 3p: Clarinetist Laughlin’s compositions fit within the classic idiom, but his skill in bringing traditional New Orleans jazz into the 21st Century gives them a more modern feel; his Fest set will focus on originals from Isle of Orleans. Tipitina’s Interns directed by Donald Harrison, Jr., 4/25, JAZ, 11:15a: Student interns from Tipitina’s show off what they’re

JAZZ FEST BIBLE 2015

learning under the tutelage of the “King of Nouveau Swing.” Tom McDermott & Friends, 4/24, LAG, 4:20p: McDermott is a virtuoso pianist who plays everything from New Orleans and blues to Caribbean and jazz. He’s collaborated with a wide range of singers over the years. Tommy Malone, 4/25, GEN, 12:30p: Singer Songwriter Tommy Malone is not only one a great songwriter but superb guitarist and vocalist. He has been on the cover of OffBeat with the band Tiny Town and the subdudes. His CD Natural Born Days was nominated for a Best of the Beat Award. Tommy Sancton’s New Orleans Legacy Band, 5/1, ECO, 1:45p: This clarinetist served as Time Magazine’s Paris bureau chief for 22 years. As a child, he took music lessons from Preservation Hall Jazz Band’s George Lewis, an experience he documents in the book Song for My Fathers. Tonia Scott & the Anointed Voices, 4/24, GOS, 12:05p: Choir formed at Ebenezer Baptist Church in New Orleans. They appeared as Ray Charles’ hometown choir in the biopic Ray and were also seen in the films The Skeleton Key and Last Holiday. Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga, 4/26, GEN, 5:15p: Golden-voiced jazz crooner Bennett recently teamed up with the Mother Monster for the American Songbook-centric recording, “Cheek to Cheek.” The outfits she wears when performing with Bennett tend more toward Cher homages than her usual alien-esque ensembles. Tony Hall and the New Orleans Soul Stars’ Tribute to James Brown, 4/25, CON, 12:30p: This local soul ensemble has been performing JB birthday tributes at Jazz Fest for nearly a decade. Topsy Chapman & Solid Harmony, 5/3, ECO, 12:30p: Once a singing waitress on Bourbon Street, Topsy Chapman appeared in the musical One Mo’ Time and now appears at home between European tours. Solid Harmony is a five-woman group with a gospel-inspired vocal blend. Treme Brass Band, 4/25, ECO, 5:40p: Long-running brass band known for its Carnival anthem “Gimme My Money Back” and the usual second-line finales at its sets. The memory of late bass drummer “Uncle” Lionel Batiste remains close to these players’ hearts.

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Seva Venet picks: Jerry Lee Lewis, Chocolate Azteca Gelato from La Divina

Trey Songz, 5/3, CON, 5:30p: Charttopping R&B hitmaker blends hip-hop and a bit of ’70s soul into the music on his latest album, Chapter V. Tribute to Jelly Roll Morton feat. David Boeddinghaus and Dr. Michael White, 4/26, ECO, 5:35p: Pianist (and Banu Gibson’s longtime musical director) Boeddinghaus teams up with clarinetist and historian White for a set that’s likely to be fun, educational and hopefully a little bawdy. Tribute to Lionel Ferbos featuring the Palm Court Jazz Band and friends, 4/30, ECO, 4:20p: The traditional New Orleans jazz house band from Creole singer/trumpeter Ferbos’ longtime headquarters honor their former leader, who died last year at 103. Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue, 5/3, ACU, 5:45p: A street-parade trombonist when he was barely out of diapers, Troy Andrews came into his own with a pair of stylish, confident albums (2010’s Backatown and 2011’s For True) and live performances that oozed charisma and musicality. His former boss and mentor, Lenny Kravitz warms things up at

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JAZZ FEST A-Z Tank and the Bangas

3:50 p.m. for Shorty’s closing set. Keep an eye out for a Kravitz cameo. Trumpet Mafia, 4/30, JAZ, 12:20p: Skilled local trumpeter Ashlin Parker, of Irvin Mayfield’s NOJO, brings a hip-hop sensibility to the modern jazz-rooted approach of his forwardthinking, multi-trumpet ensemble. Tyronne Foster & the Arc Singers, 4/25, GOS, 5:55p: These Jazz Fest regulars formed in 1987 when Foster started working with St. Joan of Arc Youth and Young Adult Choir. In 1992, they opened their ranks to singers from all denominations. TYSSON, 5/2, GEN, 11:20a: Bandleader and prolific songwriter John Michael Rouchell fronted the nationally popular alt rock band MyNameIsJohnMichael before transitioning to this new rock project comprised of local players. Undefeated Divas and Gents SA&PC, 5/2, PAR, 3p: This downtown club paraded with the Young Fellaz Brass Band at their 2015 annual Sunday parade. University of New Orleans Jazz Allstars, 5/1, JAZ, 11:30a: Student group from UNO’s jazz program, which was established by Ellis Marsalis in 1989. Untouchables SA&PC, 4/26, PAR, 12:30p: The fourth division of the Young Men Olympians, Jr. Benevolent Association. Uptown Swingers SA&PC, 4/25, PAR, 5:40p: Hailing from way Uptown, this parade club recently celebrated its 10th anniversary. Uptown Warriors, 5/2, PAR, 12:30p: One of the younger Mardi Gras Indian tribes. Val & Love Alive Mass Choir, 5/3, GOS, 5:10p: Few things sound more spirited than 100 school-age kids singing praises. Valentine Bemiss-Williams directs this large choir. Valley of Silent Men SA&PC, 5/2, PAR, 4p: This Uptown parade club has been hitting the streets for three decades. Versailles Lion Dance Team, 5/3, KID, 1:35p, 3:50p: “Strength, endurance, motivation and respect” are the calling cards of this local performance group, specializing in traditional Vietnamese lion dance. Victor Goines and the Faubourg Quartet present Charlie Parker with Strings, 4/26, JAZ, 2:45p: Versatile, agile and endlessly lyrical on both sax and clarinet, New Orleans native Goines came into his own with Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra in the ‘90s. His arranging skills get top billing here as he brings Bird to life with the help of a string section. Vieux Farka Toure, 4/25, BLU, 2:35p: The son of Malian guitar icon Ali Farka Toure,

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guitarist Vieux began his musical life as a drummer and it shows, particularly when he unleashes his nimble and dizzingly fast finger workouts. Vintage Trouble, 5/2, GEN, 3:20p: This ‘50s and ‘60s R&B-inspired rock quartet is as edgy as it is soulful. On the road this spring, they opened for Paloma Faith, who will have closed out Acura the evening before their set. Hint, hint. VIP Ladies SA&PC, 4/30, PAR, 4p: This Uptown social aid and pleasure club usually rolls with all women and children at its annual Sunday parade. Voice of the Wetlands Allstars, 5/1, BLU, 5:35p: Guitarist and activist Tab Benoit leads a troupe of environmentally conscious musical heavyweights, with Cyril Neville, Anders Osborne, Big Chief Monk Boudreaux, Cajun fiddler Waylon Thibodeaux and more. Voices of Peter Claver, 4/25, GOS, 1p: This adult choir is based at St. Peter Claver Church on St. Philip Street. Walter “Wolfman” Washington & the Roadmasters, 5/3, CON, 12:35p: A local institution, the Wolfman puts plenty of hot guitar and tasty horns into his brand of funkified blues. Wanda Rouzan, 5/2, BLU, 4:10p: See New Orleans Classic R&B Divas. Warren Storm - Willie Tee & Cypress, 4/25, FDD, 1:35p; AM, 4:30p: Drummer Warren Storm and long-time musical partner Willie Tee perform their brand of classic swamp pop. Washitaw Nation Mardi Gras Indians, 4/25, PAR, 1:50p: This Indian tribe takes its name from a group of multi-cultural yet traditionally black Americans who claim Native American sovereignty over their nation. Watson Memorial Teaching Ministries Choir, 5/2, GOS, 12:05p: This large, energetic choir founded by Thomas Benjamin Watson more than three decades ago sings a mostly contemporary gospel repertoire. Wayne Toups, 4/24, ACU, 1:45p: This Crowley singer/accordionist was one of the first Cajun/zydeco artists to sign with a major label in the ‘80s. While his band draws strongly from rock onstage, Toups has also embraced his roots, most recently on a trio album with Wilson Savoy and Steve Riley. We Are One SA&PC, 4/24, PAR, 1:55p: We Are One Social Aid and Pleasure Club is based Uptown. The Wee Trio, 4/25, JAZ, 12:15p: After recording the music of David Bowie through a

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JAZZ FEST A-Z jazz filter in 2012, this New Orleans and New York-based trio became a hot commodity at major jazz clubs nationwide. Wendell Brunious and the New Orleans Allstars, 4/26, ECO, 12:30p: Trumpeter Brunious took over as the leader of the Preservation Hall Jazz Band in 1987 and remained a Hall regular for many years (his nephew Mark Braud is the current leader). Brunious has played regularly with Lionel Hampton, Linda Hopkins and Sammy Rimington. West Bank Steppers, 5/2, PAR, 4p: Representing the best bank, the West Bank Steppers are based in Algiers. White Cloud Hunters Mardi Gras Indians, 5/1, J&H, 12:40p: The White Cloud Hunters’ smooth-voiced Big Chief Little Charles Taylor counts his uncle, Thomas Sparks Sr., Big Chief of the Yellow Jacket Mardi Gras Indian gang, as a key mentor. The Who, 4/25, ACU, 5p: Roger Daltrey and Pete Townsend revisit gems from the band’s 50-year history, including hits from “Tommy,” “Quadrophenia” and “My Generation.” Widespread Panic, 4/30, ACU, 3:45p: Athens’ famous neo-hippies return with three-plus hours of extended jams for their massive following. Helpfully, Acura will double as a lost-and-found for your missing stoner roommate/child/ride home from 3:45 -4pm on April 30. Wilco, 4/24, GEN, 5:20p: Longtime Fest favorites Wilco hit the Fairgrounds as a band, although their individual members have been touring with unique solo projects in recent months. Nels Cline pitched in on New Orleans Airlift’s P3 installation “Space Rites,” while Jeff Tweedy hits the road this spring with his son. Wild Apaches Mardi Gras Indians, 4/24, PAR, 4:30p: Big Chief Ray Blazio leads the Wild Apaches Mardi Gras Indians tribe. Wild Mohicans Mardi Gras Indians, 4/25, PAR, 1:50p: A family tribe founded in 1996 by Big Chief Kentrell and Big Queen Zen, the Mohicans added Wild Man Ivory to their crew after his near-death experience in combat in North Korea left him determined to mask Indian upon his return home. Wild Red Flame Mardi Gras Indians, 5/2, PAR, 12:30p: This tribe made its Jazz Fest debut last year with Big Chief Thunder and the Cherokee Hunters. They’re joined by the Uptown Warriors tribe. Wild Squatoulas, 4/26, PAR, 11:30a: This Mardi Gras Indian tribe has gotten multiple musical shout-outs from the likes of Big Chief Monk Boudreaux. Wild Tchoupitoulas Mardi Gras Indians, 5/3, PAR, 2:45p: Allen Toussaint recorded the original eponymous album by the tribe led by Big Chief Jolly. Today, their call and response remains influenced by that early funk-steeped disc, which featured appearances by members of the Meters and the Neville brothers. The Wimberly Family Gospel Singers, 5/2, GOS, 6p: This Marrero family group has been singing traditional gospel for nearly four decades. Woodenhead 40th Anniversary Celebration, 5/2, LAG, 5:15p: Marking 40 years as a unit, this local instrumental rock quartet features guitarist Jimmy Robinson, pianist Fran Comiskey, bassist Paul Clement and drummer Mark Whitaker. The Write Brothers, 4/30, AM, 2p: Paul Sanchez, Spencer Bohren, Jim McCormick and Alex McMurray sit down with OffBeat’s John Swenson, who profiled the new band for the magazine’s March issue.

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Xavier University Jazz Ensemble, 4/24, LAG, 11:30a: Student group from one of New Orleans’ great jazz training grounds. Young Audiences Brass Band Throwdown, 4/24, KID, 11:30a: Members of varying local school brass bands show off their skills at this Kids Tent favorite. Young Audiences Performing Arts Showcase, 5/1, KID, 11:30a: This top arts education and integration program offers a review of its latest work. Young Band Nation Blues Project, 4/25, KID, 11:30a: Bluesman Doug Gay makes it his mission to turn young musicians on to New Orleans’ R&B heritage, and this group performs vintage nuggets along with some recent hits.

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Gaynielle Neville picks: The Meters, Crawfish Monica from Kajun Kettle Foods

Young Cherokee Mardi Gras Indians 5/1, PAR, 1:40p:Young Cherokees recently made a splash with their suits at Uptown Super Sunday. Young Fellaz Brass Band, 5/3, PAR, 4:15p: One of the city’s newer brass bands, the Young Fellaz add plenty of youthful swagger to traditional brass-band instrumentation. Young Guardians of the Flame, 4/26, KID, 11:30p: Big Queen Cherice Harrison Nelson, co-founder of the Mardi Gras Indian Hall of Fame, tailors this educational look at Indian culture to a kids’ audience. Young Hunters Mardi Gras Indians, 5/2, J&H, 12:35a: Coming out from the Carrollton section each year since 1995, this tribe is led by Big Chief “Bird.” Young Magnolias Mardi Gras Indians , 4/25, PAR, 1:500p: Eric Yetti Boudreaux’s flexible rhythm section frequently backs Gerard “Lil Bo” Dollis and his Young Magnolias during pre-Mardi Gras Indian practices Uptown. Young Men Olympia Aide SA&PC: 4/26, PAR, 4p: The Aide or first division of the Young Men Olympian Jr. Benevolent Association handles the governing responsibilities for the organization. Young Pinstripe Brass Band, 4/26, J&H, 11:20a; PAR, 12:30p: Formed in 2009 and led by fourth-generation musician Herbert McCarver IV, the group puts a funk and hiphop spin on the brass band sound. Young Seminole Hunters Mardi Gras Indians, 4/30, J&H, 12:50p: These Ninth Ward newcomers to the Indian scene profess to connect today’s generation with historic tribes. Yvette Landry Band, 4/30, FDD, 1:30p: Singer/guitarist Landry is part of the Cajun supergroup Bonsoir Catin, and her own sets are solid, swinging honky tonk with Richard Comeaux on pedal steel guitar. The Zion Harmonizers, 4/26, GOS, 2:40p: This venerable group has been a Jazz Fest favorite since the beginning. Sadly its leader Sherman Washington recently passed. Washington coordinated the first Gospel Tent in 1969. The group’s history goes back to 1939 when the first lineup was formed in the Zion City neighborhood. Zulu Gospel Male Ensemble, 5/1, GOS, 11:15a: Local New Orleans vocal group performs gospel music through an R&B and soul filter.

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photo: nunu zomot

JAZZ FEST FOCUS

Tony Hall

Tony Hall and the New Orleans Soul Stars’ Tribute to James Brown (First Jazz Fest Weekend) Saturday, April 25, Congo Square, 12:30 p.m.

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ou can’t fake the funk,” declares Tony Hall of his and the New Orleans Soul Stars’ keeping it real attitude when performing the music of the late great James Brown. Hall, a monster musician who boasts some mighty creds and presently plays bass and sings with Dumpstaphunk—what’s funkier than funk spelled phunk?—has been leading this band on guitar and vocals for eight years for its annual celebration of Brown’s birthday on May 3, 1933. “It’s rehearsed. It’s not thrown together,” promises Hall. “If you’re really going to play that stuff, you have to really know the music and play it correctly.” Okay, so the big question is who is the James Brown of the band? “I am,” Hall announces with a laugh. “Tony Hall—I am James Brown. I’m not a dancer, but I can do ‘the James Brown’ and I do a split a couple of times.” Hall, who has been in bands since he was nine years old, switching from drums to bass when he was 16, remembers playing a couple of Brown’s hits during one of his first live performances. “I was a special guest drummer with my uncle [vocalist] Curley Moore, and we did ‘I Got the Feeling’ and ‘Cold Sweat.’” “I’m all about James Brown,” declares Hall, remarking on his musical innovations. “Before [Brown], there was doo-wop and the Motown sound, but there wasn’t no strong back beat. You

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never had the drums and bass in your face until James showed up.” With a few adjustments, the seven-piece band works primarily on the James Brown band’s original arrangements. “We’re not getting away from where it is, we’re just adding some things to it,” Hall explains. The group includes saxophonist Jeff Watkins, who spent 12 years— 1994 through 2006—with Brown. “All these guys lived this music,” says Watkins of Hall and the Soul Stars. “Any one of them could have been in a slot in the [James Brown] band.” “Roderick Paulin is killin’ it,” praises Hall of the saxophonist. “He’s got the personality. He’ll grab the microphone and get the crowd hyped up.” “Roderick is awesome—he has a very Maceo Parker-ish tone,” agrees Watkins. Renard Poche holds the duel assignments of guitarist and trombonist. Watkins describes his approach to the trombone as very “Fred Wesley-ish.” Drummer Raymond Weber gets down on the funk and, Hall notes, a fun spirit when he enthusiastically introduces the band and adds vocal punctuation ala the Famous Flames’ vocalist Bobby Byrd. Rounding out the Soul Stars are trumpeter Tracy Griffin and bassist Vitas Jones. “James is the original funk master,” Hall declares. “He inspired people like Prince—Prince wants to be James Brown. He’s doing those James Brown grooves. That’s something that’s lived on.” —Geraldine Wyckoff www.OFFBEAT.com

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Angelique Kidjo

Angelique Kidjo (Festival International de Louisiane) Thursday, April 23, Scene Stabil Drill International Stage, 9:45 p.m.; (First Jazz Fest Weekend) Sunday, April 26, Congo Square, 1:55 p.m.

uilding physical bridges requires labor, some creative engineering and a determination to connect two worlds that may not seem connectable. When it comes to cultural bridges— like the ones Angelique Kidjo has dedicated her career to building—the same basic requirements apply. That fact was evident when the singer trekked through Kenya and her native Benin with a six-track recorder, working with eight women’s choirs to incorporate their sounds into the music she’d written for her Grammy-winning 2014 album, Eve. Though she dedicated the project to “the beauty and resilience” of “the women of Africa,” many of the vocalists she recorded didn’t have experience working with the kinds of jazz and pop-based song structures she used. Yet together, they found ways to bridge the divide. Kidjo faced a new challenge with her latest project, Sings: How to make songs from her catalogue—a hybrid of international influences buoyed by strong and often innovative rhythms—work in the classical context of the 110-piece Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra. “Even musical worlds that seem so far apart are able to find a common ground,” she said in a recent email, explaining her willingness to proceed with the potentially difficult collaboration. Unlike previous projects that hinged on honoring particular groups or exploring cultural concepts, she said Sings was pure “musical adventure.” www.OFFBEAT.com

Kidjo had long dreamed of singing with an orchestra, and when she had the chance to perform with Luxembourg’s philharmonic in 2011, she leapt at it—and was rewarded with a swell of love from the audience. “I was called back to the stage five times,” she recalled. When it came to recording with the orchestra, Kidjo had to rethink her compositions from the inside out. “Everything changes. On most of the songs, there are no percussion, so for once, the groove is not leading the music,” she said. “I don’t feel like the orchestra is ‘backing me up.’ I am just one voice among many beautiful melodic lines that the strings and the winds are creating. Sonically, it is a totally different experience. You are surrounded by the sound. It carries you. You feel like a bird flying on a musical wave.” The waves were choppy at times. The track “Ominira,” for example, is based on a Brazilian rhythm in which percussion plays a key role. Arranged for the orchestra without percussion, the tempo suddenly didn’t work—so the group got creative, devoting more time and determination until they discovered Kidjo could create what she called “syncopations and rhythmical tensions” with her voice. In the end, “Ominira” became one of Kidjo’s favorite tracks on the album. In a larger sense, it serves as a reminder that even disparate ideas can often be connected. “This is what excites me in doing music and breaking new ground.” she said. —Jennifer Odell JAZZ FEST BI BLE 20 15

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Monty Alexander

Monty Alexander and the Harlem-Kingston Express (Second Jazz Fest Weekend) Thursday, April 30, Zatarain’s/WWOZ Jazz Tent, 5:30 p.m.

n the late ’50s, in Kingston, Jamaica, the steady diet of music feeding the young pianist Monty Alexander’s growing creative appetite came primarily from the radio. There was just one station for music in Kingston back then, transmitting a diverse juxtaposition of sounds: classical music alongside American pop, jazz and R&B. Alexander was particularly fascinated by the music of Louis Armstrong and the rhythm and blues coming out of New Orleans courtesy of artists like Professor Longhair, Huey “Piano” Smith and Clarence “Frogman” Henry. But the lack of separation between genres on the radio offered exposure to a much wider range of ideas. Things changed after “music business people” as he puts it “separated the idioms.” “When I heard music as a kid, it was just one wonderful world of song and rhythm,” he recalls. “So, maybe that’s how I navigate between the places.” The places in question are Kingston and Harlem, the namesakes of the project he’ll feature at Jazz Fest, and the origin of the music the band blends on 2011s Harlem-Kingston Express and 2014’s Harlem-Kingston Express, Vol. 2: The River Rolls On. Speaking from his home in New York, Alexander explains that New Orleans represents not only a physical “center point” between his two musical home bases, but also a figurative one. The Crescent City gave birth to the jazz in which Alexander has been steeped

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professionally for five decades, while early New Orleans R&B contributed to the development of ska and reggae in Jamaica. “I was already very young when I began listening to that kind of jazz— the swinging kind of jazz, the kind that makes you want to tap your foot to,” he says. “My heroes of jazz music were about that. It was about a release and revelation and celebration.” A devotee of Armstrong and Nat King Cole who also recorded with Jamaican music luminaries like Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare, Alexander’s elegant approach to melody and deep rhythmic mastery attracted players ranging from Frank Sinatra to Dizzy Gillespie to Modern Jazz Quartet vibraphonist Milt Jackson. But it’s Alexander’s work as a leader that shines the brightest. On his second Harlem Kingston Express recording, the pianist pairs lush yet open jazz arrangements of material by Jimmy Cliff, Bob Marley and Marvin Gaye with originals that combine billowing harmonics with the energetic drive of swing-based motifs with plenty of groove. “I like to say that kind of music makes the lower part of your body wanna move,” says Alexander, whose “express” travels frequently into Latin rhythms as well. Considering how he navigates the elements at work, seamlessly marrying different concepts without sacrificing their unique cultural flavor, he pauses. “Harlem is a destination. But my roots are total Jamaican,” he concludes. “I play my life.” —Jennifer Odell www.OFFBEAT.com

JAZZ FEST FOCUS

Cecile McLorin Salvant

Cecil McLorin Salvant (Second Jazz Fest Weekend) Friday, May 1, Zatarain’s/WWOZ Jazz Tent, 4:20 p.m.

y the time Carmen McRae comes to the final lyric of “Trouble Is a Man” during a performance on the ’60s show “Jazz Casual,” she’s relayed the gamut of emotions experienced by the song’s protagonist—a woman whose love interest has failed to keep his promises. “Trouble is a man I love,” she finally sings, lengthening the word “I” in a way that implies regret, pain, anger, frustration and eventually, the tenderness she can’t let go of. “She just brings everything, all the meaning out into that song,” says Cecile McLorin Salvant, the 25-year-old singer who, since winning the 2010 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition, has been hailed repeatedly by critics as a bright new light in vocal jazz. “I sing that song by myself at home—I’ve never performed it live—but it’s really informed and touched and moved me just as a person.” Born in Miami to parents of French and Haitian descent, Salvant transitioned from classical voice and piano to jazz while living in Paris. And if her Grammy-nominated U.S. debut WomanChild is any indication, it was the right move. Salvant’s impressive technical chops are matched by an uncommon devotion to great storytelling. She inhabits the characters about which she sings, conveying their emotions and narratives as much by careful phrasing and use of her expansive range as by language. www.OFFBEAT.com

“Anytime I sing, I try to really get to the sense of the lyrics,” she says. “That is something that’s really important to me, and it comes from extensive Carmen McRae listening, but also Billie Holliday and Abby Lincoln and all these singers who were able to make you feel beyond the music what the story is.” This year, Salvant is channeling that energy into telling her own stories. She’s currently working with a new batch of original compositions, most of which center around love—and not the warm and fuzzy kind. “They’re about yearning for love and lost love and love that is not mutual,” she says, adding that her trio—pianist Aaron Diehl, drummer Lawrence Leathers and bassist Paul Sikivie—helped her feel comfortable getting more personal. Still, the stakes are probably high for a singer with Salvant’s propensity for exhuming the core meaning out of a song and expressing it through her voice, as if by osmosis. Now, with each new song about some painful aspect of love, the real-world experience is buried within her own heart. “It’s not a story, it’s me speaking in my voice—and that’s hard to share,” she admits. “You’re afraid of what the reactions can be.” Salvant’s new work, along with a handful of jazz standards, are due out on a sophomore Mack Avenue Records release in August. —Jennifer Odell JAZZ FEST BI BLE 20 15

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Christian McBride

Christian McBride Big Band (Second Jazz Fest Weekend) Sunday, May 3, Allison Miner Stage, 3:15p Zatarains/WWOZ Jazz Tent, 5:35 p.m.

sked to describe the musical common denominator he shares with Dianne Reeves and Jeffrey Osborne, bassist Christian McBride responds without hesitation. “Soul,” he says, the timbre of his deep voice adding a layer of emphasis to the word. “Classic soul music.” In recent years, McBride’s live performances have focused heavily on post-bop material taken from a pair of releases featuring his trio (Out Here) and quintet (People Music). But over the course of his career, the prolific three-time Grammy Award winner has never shied away from juggling multiple projects. He held down a weekly DJ gig in Brooklyn for much of the past year—a new interest he credits in part to WWOZ and Hustle Party DJ Melissa “Soul Sister” Weber. And since unveiling his first large ensemble recording (2012s The Good Feeling), he’s presented intermittent, yet reliably swinging performances of the Christian McBride Big Band. Various guests have appeared on those gigs, but few combinations promise to walk the line between jazz and soul like that of McBride with Reeves and Osborne. Growing up in Philadelphia, McBride says he had every solo album released by Osborne—the sultry voiced crooner behind ’80s hits like “I Don’t Really Need No Light” and “On the Wings of Love.” The bassist also loved Osborne’s recordings with the longrunning ’70s R&B/funk act L.T.D.,

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whose coordinated dance moves and orange jumpsuits during a 1978 “Soul Train” appearance are almost as classic as their music. Such listening experiences left the bassist, in his words, “trying not to be too much of a fan-boy” when Osborne tapped him decades later to play on 2013s A Time For Love. “It’s a jazz album,” McBride notes. “People think that’s unusual, but it’s not. Almost every soul singer of Jeffrey Osborne’s generation has experience singing jazz. Up until the late ’70s, the thread between jazz and soul was very blurred.” Reeves, an innovative improviser with unmatched technical agility, also sings with one foot in the world of soul and R&B, particularly on her latest album, the emotion-loaded, Grammy-winning Beautiful Life, which draws on the work of Marvin Gaye and Bob Marley, among others. Some of the material from that album—along with tracks from Osborne and McBride’s A Time For Love collaboration—turned up in a 2013 performance of the Christian McBride Big Band that featured Reeves and Osborne. There were still a few surprises. “Working out the repertoire, Jeffrey I think assumed we were going to stick closely to his album. But I said, ‘You got to give me one L.T.D. tune,’” McBride says, laughing. “I was so happy he was so cool and gracious and flexible to let me arrange ‘Back in Love Again’ for my big band.” Bring on the “Soul Train.” —Jennifer Odell www.OFFBEAT.com

photo: erika goldring

JAZZ FEST FOCUS

Amanda Shires

Amanda Shires (Second Jazz Fest Weekend) Thursday, April 30, Fais Do-Do Stage, 4:25 p.m.

hen it comes to writing and music, Amanda Shires has many talents. She is a fine fiddle player, expressive vocalist, and an excellent songwriter and wordsmith. Besides her musical work, she is also close to completing her Masters in Poetry from the Sewanee School of Letters, so she is used to working on her writing. “When I have time, I write and rewrite and rewrite,” she says on the phone from the road where she is opening up for the Gregg Allman Band. “I rarely write something all the way through and say it’s done. That’s the kind of writing I do. Sometimes when you’re writing, you want to get the story there and shape of it and the flow of it, and you can get some really beautiful things. And there are some things that you know you have to fix. Like anybody who enjoys writing, we want our words to mean what we say and be precise.” Shires’ songs have that certain precision both of word and delivery. Songs such as “Bulletproof,” where the narrator receives a kind of gris-gris charm that might make her impervious to bullets and fantasizes if it works with other weapons and thinks to “try out the throwing stars/bring out the switchblades.” Shires holds back just a moment before she sings the final words of each line as if she and the audience should be surprised at what being bulletproof could offer. Her songs fit well in the Americana www.OFFBEAT.com

rock ’n’ roll vein, but sound modern without being too clean. Her voice has the slightly flat accent of her native Lubbock and Mineral Wells, Texas where she lived and learned violin until she moved to Nashville in 2009. “I decided to be a songwriter, and moved to Nashville and decided to try to be my own artist and not be dependent on work as a fiddle player for other people’s bands. I got a job waiting tables and just told myself I was going to write and get gigs and play music, and then I recorded [her first record] Westcross Timbers. Once I did that, I quit my waiting job. I mean, I liked waiting tables, but that wasn’t what I wanted to do with my life.” Her voice also has a slight quiver and an intimacy, almost like it is right beside you or whispering in your ear on both wild romantic rockers like “Wasted and Rolling” or more macabre tales of “Deep Dark Below.” It makes the music sound familiar even if a listener hasn’t heard it before. She says that this is a part of her purpose in making the music. She states, “I think the spirit of people making music or writing is connection. I appreciate connection. I want to be out there making new friends and looking around the room, and hopefully by being open and talking to folks, that comes across. When I look out across the audience, I feel like I can be friends with each one of these people. I think it comes across.” —David Kunian JAZZ FEST BI BLE 20 15

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Becky Fos

Becky Fos First Jazz Fest Weekend, Tent U, Congo Square

estbank hairdresser Becky Fos’ attempt at making “real money” (she went to court reporting school 2009-2014) surprisingly led to a real career in art and a brand-new gallery on Magazine Street. “Everyone said court reporting was a great job,” Fos, who has a young son, remembers. “Good for stay-at-home moms. You can spend a lot of time with your kid. Just go take a deposition and go home, transcribe, make a lot of money.” But despite the fact that Fos excelled in school and types 225 words a minute, she was never passed the test to get her license. “I got so nervous my hands would start to shake,” Fos said. “You’re typing in this itty-bitty box with black keys and my fingers would graze the wrong key. I tried beta blockers, I tried everything.” So Fos started painting to relieve stress. With cheap supplies from Michael’s, Fos and her son would spread boards and acrylic paints on the kitchen floor and go at it for hours. “I thought, ‘This will help me in court reporting,’” Fos said. “And then people started trying to buy my art off of Facebook. ‘You can’t have this, it’s my family portrait.’” Working with a frame shop in Gretna, Fos got a kick out of framing the art she was painting on boards purchased for $30 by the 10-pack. One day, Terrance Osborne stopped by the same frame shop with some work that he needed framed and saw one of Fos’ smaller pieces, a purple-and-pink cow face.

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“When I went to pick it up, they said someone wanted to buy it,” Fos remembers. “And I said, ‘It’s not for sale. It’s for Jude’s room.’ But then I learned that it was Terrance who wanted it, and Terrance could have it. He traded me for a $3,000 giclée.” At that time, Osborne became somewhat of a mentor for Fos. He taught her how to price her work and encouraged her to take herself more seriously as an artist. “I have a bad issue with money,” Fos said. “You see, I painted Morgus, and this girl wanted it for her dad. ‘I really want Morgus for my dad for Christmas, because Morgus is his favorite. How much is it?’ So I said, ‘How much do you want to spend on it?’ She’s like, ‘A hundred?’ So I took $100. And when I told Terrance, he told me to stop or he wouldn’t help me anymore. And he really helped me. You tell people how much the art is, and they’ll either buy it, or they don’t.” So far, this strategy has been working pretty well for Fos, who will be an exhibiting artist at Jazz Fest this year for the first time during the first weekend at Congo Square. Fos is excited to be part of the Festival, and is working hard on getting her booth together. “My paintings are big, so they take up a lot of space,” Fos said. “I don’t like to paint small—I wish I did, my husband would like me to—but I have a ‘large’ problem.” That, it might seem, is a good problem to have. —Elsa Hahne www.OFFBEAT.com

Photo: elsa hahne

JAZZ FEST FOCUS

EATS

Crawfish Fiesta A pair of iconic Jazz Fest dishes rely on tasty critters.

uring the last four and a half decades, Jazz Fest devotees have developed specific rituals and habits that renew each year as soon as the gates open on the first day of the festival. Among the myriad of excellent food choices presented at Jazz Fest each year, two stand out thanks to their rarity the rest of the year and their reliance on one key main ingredient—crawfish. For lovers of Crawfish Bread and Crawfish Monica, there are only seven days each year when the Louisiana crustacean based dishes can be consumed, and those days tend to fly by in a haze of music, suntan lotion, and Miller beer. For Monica Davidson, the namesake of Kajun Kettle Foods’ creamy pasta dish, the years have flown by as quickly as the crew changes drum sets between bands. “This will be our 33rd year,” Davidson said. “We started in 1983, but that year we did a barbeque shrimp dish with oyster artichoke dressing because they wouldn’t let us do pasta.” Another vendor had locked down exclusive rights to serve pasta at Jazz Fest in 1983, so Kajun Kettle had to look elsewhere for inspiration. And it didn’t go well. “We made $.25, probably,” Davidson said. “That’s probably an upbeat estimate. The next year they said we could do pasta, so we started doing Crawfish Monica.” Since then, Davidson estimates that approximately 1 million servings of Crawfish Monica have been sold at Jazz Fest, with about 60 servings per minute flying out of the double booth during peak hours. “We’ve done a lot over the years, and a lot of it is because we have some very very loyal and wonderful fans that have been

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supporting us for a really really long time,” she said. “That’s just worth its weight in gold.” Davidson credits the company’s dedication to using only the highest quality ingredients each year and ability to maintain a consistently tasty sauce with Crawfish Monica’s success. For John Laborde of Panorama Foods, the ingredients of his signature crawfish bread are also the secret to his nearly three decades of success, even if he had a hell of a time getting the Jazz Fest organizers to see it that way. “I wrote a letter to the food director, who was Sally Cobb, and she said there were no openings,” Laborde said. “So I waited a year, and then I wrote her another letter. She responded and said that they didn’t have any openings, and that it was the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage festival, and that they try to do By Stephen Maloney

heritage food, and that my food was not heritage.” Not one to take no for an answer, Laborde set about to change Cobb’s mind. “I came back and I did my homework,” he said. “I kind of wrote a little term paper. I researched crawfish and how they got here, how they evolved. I researched bread through my French heritage, green onions, shallots, anything that was in it. I looked at the different kinds of cheeses, which went back to the French heritage, and I mailed it to her.” About one week later, Laborde said he got a call from Cobb. “She calls me up laughing and she says ‘You really are serious about this!’” he said. “I say ‘Yes I am! I just want you to try it, and after you try it, if you don’t like it, I’ll give up.’” That call resulted in a tasting in front of the jury that decides which food vendors get into Jazz Fest.

Laborde said he didn’t get an immediate yes, which seemed like the end of things until he got a call about three weeks before Jazz Fest saying he had made the cut. “The first time we went, we were just a small booth,” he said. “We opened up, and nobody came to the booth. Nobody knew what it was! So I started cutting up some pieces and started walking out into the crowd. People started tasting it and it started catching on and we ended up selling quite a bit the first year.” Like Davidson, Laborde credits much of his continued success to his dedicated fan base. “We have story upon story upon story,” he said. “We see people that we’ve seen for 29 years, and some that we’ve just met in the last few years. There’s a group from New York that comes both weekends, and they come to the booth every day. They start out with their Crawfish Bread, and we’ve gotten to know them. It’s like a reunion.” Laborde said people often bring him copies of family recipes since they know he loves to cook, but one longtime fan had a special request that no one could turn down. “There was a couple from Colorado, and they had just gotten married their first Jazz Fest,” Laborde said. “After they had been married about five or six years, the husband calls me in August. His wife was pregnant and craving Crawfish Bread, and he begged me to please ship him some. I did, and they sent me a picture of the baby!” With the next generation of Jazz Fest devotees already hooked on Crawfish Bread, the iconic festival staple, much like Crawfish Monica, won’t go anywhere anytime soon. Another Jazz Fest, another crawfish fiesta in the food booths. O www.OFFBEAT.com

EATS

photos: Elsa Hahne

Paul Gustings/Empire Bar

“I

don’t know how long I’ve been tending bar. Probably 35 years. I’ve been here at the Empire Bar for two years. And ... [suspense face] ... I’m still here! I picked David Doucet for this drink because whenever Beausoleil would go on tour, one of the first things David would do when he came back is come drink a Sazerac. He’s a great, big fan of a Sazerac. So a friend of mine, Amy Yockey, and I came up with this combination, infusing bourbon with pecans and Mexican chocolate. It’s a strong-tasting drink and Herbsaint doesn’t stand up to it, so I rinse the glass with Black Zambuca, which gives it a great taste, befitting David Doucet. You know, the first musician I thought of when you asked me to do this was James Booker, whom I knew. He used to play piano where the Charter House is

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now, when I worked there. He played there several times a week and he was nuts—completely crazy—but a great musician. Paranoid; every time someone walked into the bar, he thought they were out to get him. He’d go, under his breath: ‘They’re here for me; they’re here for me.’ Well, often they were! I don’t taste my own drinks. I go by smell and color. I put Herbsaint in here and I knew that wasn’t going to work. So I came up with something along the same lines, but stronger. How do I know that 11 drops of Peychaud’s is better than 10? Well, it’s not always 11 drops. It’s 11 drops at the middle of the bottle. At the beginning of the bottle, it’s 13, and at the end of the bottle, it’s nine, because the drops have different sizes. That’s just the way it is. People come in here. ‘I don’t like Sazeracs.’ Why? ‘I had one, and it

By Elsa Hahne

was terrible.’ So you don’t like Sazeracs? ‘No.’ Well, let me make you a drink... ‘Oh, this is really good.’ Yes, that’s a Sazerac. A lot of people don’t like gin because the only gin-drink they ever had was a gin and tonic, and they don’t like tonic. I really like it when people say, ‘Your drink sucks.’ Because I never know if they really like it, or if they’re just saying that because I made it for them. I’ve been accused of being brutally honest. I'll tell you what I think, and sometimes that’s not good. I’m a Leo. And I know lots and lots of Leos. I was born into a family of all Leos. I was married twice; both my wives were Leos. I’ve been engaged 13 times; 10 of those were Leos, and two of them were born on my birthday. What I drink? Bud Light. Everybody says, ‘You do what?’ Well,

that's what I drink. And if they don’t have Bud Light, I’ll drink Miller High Life, or PBR, or Schlitz, or whatever. It’s beer-beer. I really don’t care.” The Douce-Doucet 1 3/4 ounces bourbon, infused with pecans and Mexican chocolate, strained 1/8 ounce simple syrup 11 drops Peychaud’s Bitters Black Sambuca (rinse) 1 (2-inch) strip lemon zest Pour bourbon, simple syrup and bitters over ice. Stir. Coat the inside of a rocks glass with Black Sambuca. Strain drink into glass. Rub zest along the rim, twist it over the drink to release oils, and then discard. www.OFFBEAT.com

FRENCH Café Degas: 3127 Esplanade Ave., 945-5635 La Crepe Nanou: 1410 Robert St., 899-2670 Crepes à la Cart: 1039 Broadway St., 866-2362

GERMAN Jaeger Haus: 833 Conti, 525-9200

ICE CREAM/CAKE/CANDY Aunt Sally’s Praline Shop’s: 2831 Chartres St., 944-6090 Kupcake Factory: 6233 S. Claiborne Ave., 267-3328 La Divina Gelateria: 3005 Magazine St., 3422634; 621 St. Peter St., 302-2692 Tee-Eva’s Praline Shop: 4430 Magazine St., 899-8350

AMERICAN

INDIAN

The American Sector: 945 Magazine St., 528-1940 Brown Butter Southern Kitchen: 231 N Carrollton Ave., 609-3871 Ma Momma’s House: 5741 Crowder Blvd., 244-0021 Poppy’s Time Out Sports Bar & Grill: 1 Poydras St., 247-9265 Port of Call: 838 Esplanade Ave., 523-0120

Nirvana: 4308 Magazine St., 894-9797

BARBECUE

JAPANESE/KOREAN/SUSHI/THAI

The Joint: 701 Mazant St., 949-3232

COFFEE HOUSE Addiction Coffee House: 909 Iberville St., 475-5900 Café du Monde: 800 Decatur St., 525-4544 Joose Heaven: 841 Fulton St., 309-6673 Morning Call Coffee Stand: 56 Dreyfous Dr., (504) 300-1157, 3325 Severn Ave., Metairie, 885-4068

CREOLE/CAJUN Chartres House: 601 Chartres St., 586-8383 Cochon: 930 Tchoupitoulas St., 588-2123 Galatoire’s: 209 Bourbon St., 525-2021 Gumbo Shop: 630 St. Peter St., 525-1486 K-Paul’s Louisiana Kitchen: 416 Chartres St., 524-7394 Mulate’s: 201 Julia St., 522-1492 New Orleans Creole Cookery: 508 Toulouse St., 524-9632 Olivier’s Creole Restaurant: 204 Decatur St., 525-7734

DELI Stein’s Market and Deli: 2207 Magazine St., 527-0771

FINE DINING Antoine’s: 701 St. Louis St., 581-4422 Bombay Club: 830 Conti St., 586-0972

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Ye Olde College Inn: 3000 S. Carrollton Ave., 866-3683 Warehouse Grille: 869 Magazine St., 322-2188

NEIGHBORHOOD JOINTS

Basin Seafood and Spirits: 3222 Magazine St., 302-7391 Crazy Lobster Bar & Grill: 1 Poydras St. 569-3380 Deanie’s Seafood: 841 Iberville St., 581-1316; 1713 Lake Ave., 831-4141. LeBayou Restaurant: 208 Bourbon St., 525-4755 Pier 424 Seafood Market: 424 Bourbon St., 309-1574 Royal House Oyster Bar: 441 Royal St., 528-2601

Backspace Bar & Kitchen: 139 Chartres St., 322-2245 Biscuits and Buns on Banks: 4337 Banks St., 273-4600 Cake Café: 2440 Chartres St., 943-0010 City Diner: 3116 S I-10 Service Rd E, 8311030; 5708 Citrus Blvd., 309-7614 Cowbell: 8801 Oak St., 298-8689 Dat Dog: 601 Frenchmen St., 309-3362; 5030 Freret St., 899-6883; 3336 Magazine St., 324-2226 Parkway Bakery and Tavern: 538 Hagan Ave., 482-3047 Phil’s Grill: 748 Camp St., 309-7702; 3020 Severn Ave., Metairie, 324-9080; 1640 Hickory Ave., Harahan, 305-1705 Sammy’s Food Services: 3000 Elysian Fields Ave., 948-7361 Tracey’s: 2604 Magazine St., 897-5413

PIZZA Mid-City Pizza: 4413 Banks St., 483-8609 Midway Pizza: 4725 Freret St., 322-2815 Pizza Delicious: 617 Piety St., 676-8482 Slice Pizzeria: 1513 St. Charles Ave., 525-7437 Theo’s Pizza: 4218 Magazine St., 894-8554; 4024 Canal St., 302-1133; 1212 S Clearview, 733-3803

SEAFOOD

SOUL Praline Connection: 542 Frenchmen St., 943-3934

STEAKHOUSE La Boca: 870 Tchoupitoulas St., 525-8205

WEE HOURS Buffa’s Restaurant & Lounge: 1001 Esplanade Ave., 949-0038 Clover Grill: 900 Bourbon St., 523-0904 Mimi’s in the Marigny: 2601 Royal St., 872-9868

IRISH The Irish House: 1432 Saint Charles Ave., 595-6755

ITALIAN Adolfo’s: 611 Frenchmen St., 948-3800 Little Vic’s: 719 Toulouse St., 304-1238 Chiba: 8312 Oak St., 826-9119 Mikimoto: 3301 S. Carrollton Ave., 488-1881 Seoul Shack: 435 Esplanade Ave., 417-6206 Sukho Thai: 4519 Magazine St., 373-6471; 1913 Royal St., 948-9309 Wasabi: 900 Frenchmen St., 943-9433

MEDITERRANEAN Byblos: 3218 Magazine St., 894-1233 Mona’s Café: 504 Frenchmen St., 949-4115

MEXICAN/CARIBBEAN/SPANISH Barú Bistro & Tapas: 3700 Magazine St., 895-2225 Juan’s Flying Burrito: 2018 Magazine St., 569-0000 El Gato Negro: 81 French Market Place, 525-9846

MUSIC ON THE MENU Banks Street Bar & Grill: 4401 Banks St., 486-0258 Buffa’s: 1001 Esplanade Ave., 949-0038 Chickie Wah Wah: 2828 Canal St., 304-4714 Dmac’s Bar & Grill: 542 S Jefferson Davis Pkwy, 304-5757 Gattuso’s: 435 Huey P Long Ave., Gretna, 368-1114 Hard Rock Café: 125 Bourbon St., 529-5617 House of Blues: 225 Decatur St., 412-8068 Howlin’ Wolf’s Wolf Den: 907 S. Peters St., 529-5844

Debbie Davis hits the

Spot

What is that? I don't have a name for this, it's the roast beef sandwich I used to get growing up in the Northeast where there are Jewish and Italian delis everywhere. That's a tall sandwich! You almost have to be like a snake and unhook your jaw to eat it. And they'll even make it bigger than this, which is bordering on perverse. How did you find out about Stein's? Someone recommended their bagels. The owner said, "I'm not sure you're going to like the roast beef, it's kind of rare today." He did not have to say anything more than that. I bought a halfpound, brought it home and ate it all in one sitting. I need my roast beef to be red on the inside. I remember the first time I ordered a roast beef sandwich in New Orleans [at a place that must not be named] and I have shoes that are Stein's Deli choosier than their roast beef. It was brown all 2207 Magazine St. the way through; it was like eating a wallet. (504) 527-0771 —Elsa Hahne www.OFFBEAT.com

Photo: ELSA HAHNE

Commander’s Palace: 1403 Washington Ave., 899-8221 The Country Club: 634 Louisa St., 945-0742 Kingfish: 337 Chartres St., 598-5005 Mr. B’s Bistro: 201 Royal St. 523-2078 Restaurant R’evolution: 777 Bienville St., 553-2277

Le Bon Temps Roule: 4801 Magazine St., 895-8117 Little Gem Saloon: 445 S. Rampart St., 267-4863 Maison: 508 Frenchmen St., 289-5648 Mid City Lanes Rock ‘N’ Bowl: 4133 S. Carrollton Ave., 482-3133 Palm Court: 1204 Decatur St., 525-0200 Rivershack Tavern: 3449 River Rd., 834-4938 Southport Hall: 200 Monticello Ave., 835-2903 Snug Harbor: 626 Frenchmen St., 949-0696 Three Muses: 536 Frenchmen St., 298-8746

DINING OUT 1000 Figs “Do one thing and do it well.” When Theresa Galli and Gavin Cady left their fine dining jobs to start the Fat Falafel food truck in December 2012, they adopted this oft-repeated mantra in their quest to elevate the simple chickpea fritter to new heights. Less than two years after its debut, the duo behind the Fat Falafel opened 1000 Figs as a brick and mortar home for their fantastic falafel. Located in Faubourg St. John just a hop, skip and a jump from their former curbside spot in front of Swirl Wine Bar and Market, 1000 Figs represents the most successful local transition of a food truck into a permanent location. Still the cornerstone of the menu, the falafel is as superb as it ever was, with a crunchy shell surrounding a creamy interior. While available as a sandwich or on a platter, the best way to enjoy these golden orbs of goodness is in the falafel feast for two—a bountiful banquet of dips, sauces, fresh and pickled vegetables offering a kaleidoscope of colors that’s as much a feast for

www.OFFBEAT.com

the eyes as it is for your taste buds. Start with the soft flatbread as the foundation and perhaps a smear of creamy hummus or baba ghanouj, followed by crunchy carrot slaw, and then perhaps a dollop of zhuog, a spicy purée of cilantro and chiles. The contrast of colors, textures and flavors can be seen and tasted with each bite. Not to be forgotten are the golden fresh-cut French fries dusted with sea salt, a perfect pairing with the falafel, especially when dipped in toum, a potent Lebanese garlic sauce. Far from a one-hit wonder, 1000 Figs offers an assortment of fare beyond falafel, satisfying every dietary discipline. A simple salad of roasted beets and barley tossed in pesto and topped with feta bridges the gap between vegetarians and carnivores. Non-believers can opt for a braised lamb sandwich dressed with yogurt and cucumber salad or smoked chicken salad on semolina bread that would benefit from a restrained use of butter before hitting

Photo: renee bienvenu

EATS

the flat top griddle. Offal enthusiasts will applaud the rich and meaty lamb heart kebabs, a recent special turned menu fixture. With only a handful of tables and half dozen stools at the counter looking out the window onto Esplanade, the limited seating can result in significant wait times, especially during dinner. A brisk takeout service is an option for those on a time crunch, but others need only walk next door to Swirl for a bottle of wine or two, and the hostess will call when your table is ready. It’s a meal worth waiting for. —Peter Thriffiley 3141 Ponce de Leon, (504) 301-0848, Tues– Sat: 11 a.m.–9 p.m., www.1000figs.com

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REVIEWS

Reviews When submitting CDs for consideration, please send two copies to OffBeat Reviews, 421 Frenchmen Street, Suite 200, New Orleans, LA 70116

CDs reviewed are available now at 421 Frenchmen Street in the Marigny 504-586-1094 or online at LouisianaMusicFactory.com

Mayfield’s Statement of Purpose Irvin Mayfield New Orleans Jazz Playhouse (Basin Street Records) Trumpeter Irvin Mayfield has taken a typically contrarian approach to the death of the music business. Instead of compressing

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his music into the tiniest package technically possible and distributing it for free on the Internet, Mayfield has gone in the opposite direction, releasing a collector’s item 7-CD package of music accompanied by a lavish coffee table book. And Irvin Mayfield really knows how to

make a great coffee table project. Where most artists have been cut off at the knees by the disappearance of seed money for projects, Mayfield has run his various operations like the wily executive he is, partnering with public and private industry to actualize his various ideas and promoting jazz as a viable entertainment alternative at a time when public opinion polls list jazz as the least popular genre of music in the United States. Priced at $119, this set is not out of line for a 7-CD collection, but instead of putting it in a plastic CD jewel case or LP-sized box, the seven discs are tucked into the covers of the book. Think of the book as the most luxurious set of liner notes you’ll ever encounter. The set is organized around seven days of music in Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse, located on the ground floor of the Royal Sonesta Hotel. Each day highlights the regularly scheduled performers at the Playhouse as well as standing for a day during the run of Mayfield’s favorite charity operation, “The Love Sessions,” an annual week-long event that culminates on the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, August 29th. The book includes beautiful photographs by Gordon Parks and Herman Leonard, reproductions of Blue Dog paintings by George Rodrigue, who Mayfield says inspires him to play, photographs of food and drink available at the Playhouse, menus and posters from the club and from Mayfield’s career, beautiful photographs of the performers, from the sage of New Orleans jazz Ellis Marsalis to contemporary burlesque queen Trixie Minx, and much more, all on expensive paper, all suitable for framing. It is a luxury item well worth adding to the bill of every hotel guest at the Sonesta, every music lover with a Big Chief pass to the New Orleans

Jazz and Heritage Festival. It is also a great collection of music by an outstanding group of musicians. The New Orleans Jazz Playhouse Revue is a septet augmented by special guests over the course of the week. There’s too much here to review in great detail but I’ll offer highlights: Disc 1: “Angola (for Ernest Gaines).” This soulful Mayfield composition features outstanding solos from trombonist Vince Gardiner, saxophonists Jason Marshall and Derek Douget, Mayfield and pianist John Chin. “Keep On Pushing.” This Curtis Mayfield classic is a great medium for the hypnotic groove Irvin Mayfield’s band can lay down. Vocalists Jamison Ross and Michael Watson harmonize beautifully on this track. “Li’l Liza Jane.” Uplifting New Orleans traditional Mardi Gras Indian songs get a spirited treatment from drummer/vocalist Gerald French, who plays the Playhouse every Monday night with the Original Tuxedo jazz band. Disc 2: “Old Wyne.” The first of several compositions by the late great drummer James Black. Mayfield’s rediscovery of Black’s www.OFFBEAT.com

REVIEWS catalog on this album is worth the price of admission by itself. “Buddy Bolden’s Blues.” Mayfield closes with another party tune, this one featuring Don Vappie on banjo. Disc 3: “St. James Infirmary Blues.” This early 20th century song, originally about the Yellow Fever plague, took on new meaning after Katrina. Sasha Masakowski really nails it and Vince Gardner contributes a hair-raising trombone solo. “They All Ask’d for You.” Bassist/ vocalist George Porter Jr. joins the fray for this joyous romp through a classic from the Meters and elsewhere. Disc 4: “Harlis Laughing.” A mesmerizing Harold Battiste composition gives the band members another chance to lay out in superb fashion. Vince Gardiner leads off with a trombone solo of impressive power, swing and tonal grace. Mayfield plays one of his best solos on the record. Disc 5: “Marzique Dancing.” Another great piece by Battiste with a nuanced performance from the band on a gorgeous arrangement. John Chin sounds like he’s literally dancing across the keyboards. Derek Douget’s tenor floats like high cloud formations, swept along by the rhythm section’s tradewinds. You can tell how much respect Mayfield has for Battiste by the trumpet solos he brings to these songs. “Jasmine.” One of the most important things Mayfield does on this record is call attention to the great New Orleans drummer and composer James Black, who never got a real chance to present himself to the public. This killer tune gets an expressive vocal from Michael Watson and an absolutely devotional muted trumpet solo from Mayfield. Disc 6: “Pretty One.” Another transcendent theme from James Black, this previously unrecorded gem unfolds magnificently in this clever arrangement. Mayfield leads off with a lengthy, statement-of-purpose solo before the band members trade variations on the theme. Disc 7: “When My Dreamboat Comes Home.” Looking at the title, I figured this was a toss. Then I listened to it. The tune can be as cornball as they come, but this band elevates it to a level of hipness that has to be experienced to be believed, www.OFFBEAT.com

really the essence of the New Orleans experience. Mayfield says that whenever they play this people dance. I believe it. “Magnolia Triangle.” The package finishes up with one more James Black tune, one of his best-known compositions. The band negotiates the tricky theme with merry aplomb. Everybody gets a chance to blow on this funk-drenched and pertinently polychromatic vehicle. This band could easily do an album of Black compositions, an album of Battiste arrangements, an album of traditional jazz, an album of New Orleans R&B, an album of Mayfield’s own songwriting and a ballads album. And that’s kind of what this musical week-long session breaks down to. —John Swenson

Hildegard Hildegard (Independent) Hildegard, the new Sasha Masakowski/Cliff Hines led project, comes out of gigs at Gasa Gasa in a series Maskakowski organized called “Progression.” The songs have a lot of prog, as in prog rock, in them, as well as arty experiments. There are tempo changes and unorthodox time signatures. Hines’ guitar ranges through a variety of sounds, from light strumming to bombastic chords to frenzied shredding, even using a voice box in “Austria” (Think Frampton Comes Alive, but that’s the only similarity between that record and this one.) He does a great job of juxtaposing different textures and riffs against each other. The whole band conjures JAZZ FEST BI BLE 20 15

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REVIEWS up some wild and processed tones that put the songs in a sound world all their own. What unifies the record is Masakowski’s voice and the rhythms. Although cloaked in effects, Masakowski’s voice is still recognizable in its lightness on “Siren Song” and the way it swoops its way around a melody on “Karma.” And beneath the density of the music there is some of the Brazilian and subtle Latin rhythms for which Masakowki is known. But rather than a jazz record, this is a club record, a record that has both loud dance tracks and more mellow, kick-back-on-the-cushions music. This is music that demands big speakers and open spaces to appreciate it properly. Hildegard might be a leap for those who simply think of Hines as rock guitarist and Masakowksi as a jazz/ Brasilian singer, but it is a leap they make successfully. —David Kunian

The Revelers Get Ready (Independent) The Revelers’ second full-length effort and first all original affair should dispel any remaining association with its previous incarnation the Red Stick Ramblers. With its swamp pop focus and Cajun-zydeco forays, the group represents South Louisiana music much more comprehensively than the venerable Cajun western swing aggregation did. But instead of just following familiar footsteps, the Revelers establish their own voice within the framework. Five of the six members wrote/co-wrote a minimum of two tunes each, with accordionist Blake Miller contributing four Cajun dancehall and zydecoflavored numbers, including the sentimentally stirring “Pus Whiskey.” Eric Frey’s “Just When I Thought I Was Dreaming” has the trappings of classic swamp pop. Chas Justus’ “Single Jeans” rocks with great buzzcutting guitar licks. Whether it’s swamp pop or Cajun, every song fits the South Louisiana paradigm well. Diversity and deepness characterize the arrangements, such as Miller’s Tex-

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Mex stylings on “In the Proof” and the several rides he and saxophonist Chris Miller (a historically unusual combination) take together. There’s even a ska section on “Toi, tu veux pus me voir” while “Please Baby, Please” throttles with elements of crunchy rural zydeco. Other things also contribute to the Revelers’ adherence to the framework, such as Glenn Fields emerging as a singing drummer in the tradition of Warren Storm and Clint West. But unlike many a swamp pop band equipped with a single vocalist, the Revelers’ four alternating vocalists keep the proceedings shifting and flowing. Like its previous incarnation, the Revelers couldn’t be ambassadors of South Louisiana music without being groove bound and dance compelling. Fortunately, some things never change. —Dan Willging

Royal Southern Brotherhood Don’t Look Back: The Muscle Shoals Sessions (Ruf Records) Though Don’t Look Back refers to the banjo-propelled, reggae-tinged title track, it could also be Royal Southern Brotherhood’s philosophy these days with the departure of blistering guitarists Mike Zito and Devon Allman. Their shoes are capably filled, however, with newest members Bart Walker and Tyrone Vaughan (son of Jimmie Vaughan) who brings more of a funk and rhythmic edge. While it rocks in the Royal Southern Brotherhood (RSB) tradition, at

the same time, there isn’t the feeling of songs belonging to any particular member, such as a Zito or an Allman, as it did on RSB’s sophomore effort heartsoulblood. The arrangements are highly interactive with various parts—Neville’s mesmerizing world rhythms, Walker and Vaughn’s guitars and Charlie Wooten’s fluid, sometimes melodious bass lines— darting in and out. While there are plenty of all-out guitar assaults, in other places, Walker and Vaughan riff off each other in call-andresponse fashion. Additionally, Walker shades in different sounds with banjo and mandolin.

Interestingly, Don’t Look Back was recorded at FAME Studios, Muscle Shoals, Alabama whose hit bound reputation was built by the likes of Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett and Otis Redding. Although the experience was admittedly somewhat spiritual, living together in a rented house only deepened RSB’s cohesiveness—something that’s really felt here. Although you couldn’t escape these grooves if you wanted to, there’s a sensitive and cerebral side as well with personal testimonies (“Better Half”) and messages for mankind (“Penzi”). The soul breezy “It’s Time For to Love” calls for brotherhood and

A Bottomless Creek of Dreams Johnny Sansone Lady On the Levee (Shortstack Records) In 2009, Anders Osborne put together an acoustic band with John Fohl and Johnny Sansone to woodshed new material in a series of shows at Chickie Wah Wah. The collaboration was a dramatic success that led to the songs from Osborne’s powerful American Patchwork album, but it yielded an unintended consequence in rekindling Sansone’s career as well. Sansone is a powerful writer—his “Poor Man’s Paradise” is one of the best songs about Louisiana ever written—but something about the work with Folh and Osborne has unleashed a torrent of creativity from Sansone. His best album—2011’s The Lord Is Waiting & the Devil Is Too, was just the start. Once It Gets Started followed in 2013. Now comes Lady On the Levee, produced by Osborne, whose presence defines every album he makes. It’s more than a sound, more like a vision of music. With Fohl’s extraordinary guitar work featured prominently, Lady… takes Sansone’s career to the next logical step, backed by the Osborne/Fohl band augmented by Jefferey Bridges on bass, Rob Lee on drums, Joe Cabral on baritone saxophone and Ivan Neville on keyboards. Sansone jumps out with the powerful boogie of “OZ Radio” (guarantee you’ll be hearing a lot of this one). Sansone’s howling, rip-through-the-plaster voice and deep grooved harmonica riffs are the main attractions, but hard core fans will appreciate the wit and wisdom of his character songs, Louisiana stories like the title track, “Gertrude’s Property Line” and “One Of Us,” (“he ain’t no tourist attraction/he’s one of us”). Maybe they’ll even wonder who the cautionary tale “Unnecessary Pain” was written about. He’s got a quiet side too, beautifully expressed on the spare acoustic self-analysis, “I’m Still Here.” Sansone displays another aspect of his writing talent on the easy grooving R&B ballad “Lightning Rhodes,” a song that would not be out of place on a Bobby Charles album. In one of this album’s best moments, Sansone’s partner from the Voice of the Wetlands All Stars Big Chief Monk Boudreaux throws in a taste of his magic at the end of the monochromatically dark, deep swamp scale of “Tomato Wine.” That is some bottomless creek of dreams. —John Swenson www.OFFBEAT.com

REVIEWS unity for all. And that fits too, because for RSB, moving forward is the only way to go. —Dan Willging

Marc Stone Poison & Medicine (Louisiana Red Hot Records) New York City-born bluesman Marc Stone has parlayed two decades of performing in his adopted hometown of New Orleans, in addition to countless hours of sharing Deep South musical gems on his weekly “Soul Serenade” show on WWOZ, into an impressive rootsmusic pedigree that’s on fine display on Poison & Medicine, his hot-offthe-press Louisiana Red Hot Records debut. Evoking sounds spanning the Southern musical spectrum from gospel to R&B throughout its nine tracks—all originals save the Sterling Mangee/Jesse Stone composition “7th Ave. (Oh She Was Pretty)”—the album immediately grabs the listener’s ear with Stone’s haunting, Delta-blues guitar riff that introduces the album on the opener “I Tried,” which grooves along to a deep, devil-inside bassline courtesy Sam Price (Honey Island Swamp Band, Otra) and stellar drum-kit and hand-percussion rhythms by Garland Paul (Honey Island Swamp Band) expertly accented by Patrick Williams’ harmonica. Like his first album, 2010’s Trickeration & Rascality (Threadhead Records), Stone’s sophomore studio effort shines in a constellation of contributions from local musicians, with standouts including the late, great Tim Green’s saxophone on three tracks as well as Mike Dillon’s delicate vibraphone flourishes lifting Stone’s solid slide-guitar action on “Whatever You Do.” Highlights here include “When You’re Bad,” a catchy number coming across as some sort of glorious Elton John/ Walter “Wolfman” Washington mash-up, “Come to Me” and its “Let It Bleed”-era Rolling Stones vibe, and lyricism such as “I left diamonds on the floor / And they were swept away from me the moment I stepped offshore” and “Down here we’re never poor” (on “Lost Love Lounge”). Though it slips www.OFFBEAT.com

a bit when the sound ventures into popish territory and the words rely on well-worn blues clichés, Poison & Medicine possesses catchy hooks, compelling introspection and songs that are simply fun to sing along to, marking perhaps a watershed moment in the already locally adored and internationally indemand 45-year-old Stone’s career. —Frank Etheridge

Khari Allen Lee & the New Creative Collective Our Great Awakening (Independent) The spiritual nature of saxophonist Khari Allen Lee’s musical and philosophical state of mind is immediately revealed on the album’s opening, title track, “Our Great Awakening.” Pianist Michael Pellera begins the tune, a Lee original, with quiet elegance as its emotional impact intensifies with drummer Geoff Clapp’s tasteful use of mallets. Lee takes it further as he pleads, cries, prays and rejoices tonally on his alto. A rush of notes emanate from his sax while Pellera’s piano becomes the river that runs through it. Our Great Awakening was recorded live last year at Snug Harbor, and though it might seem odd to say, it sounds like it. That element goes beyond the onstage introductions and song descriptions, which, though heartfelt and informative, are fortunately separate “Interlude” tracks so can be avoided when downloading. It’s the warmth of the room and audience, the compatibility of the musicians, and even the mix of the tune JAZZ FEST BI BLE 20 15

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REVIEWS selection—new compositions from Lee and bassist David Pulphus, creative endeavors, lovely ballads and a touch of funk—that would have a familiar flavor to regulars at the Frenchmen Street jazz mecca. Lee celebrates both the “divine feminine” and the “divine masculine” as he describes aspects of our world in two tunes. First comes the soothing ballet-feel of “Song for the Goddess.” Naturally, it is energized by Pellera’s brilliant, demanding piano and brought home by Lee’s lovely saxophone. Pulphus contributes the other gender-oriented cut, “Will I Ever See My Father Again?” He gets the opening solo on a tune

that rhythmically gets a funkier treatment. Allen even does some honkin’. Khari Allen Lee, a member of Irvin Mayfield’s New Orleans Jazz Orchestra and trombonist Delfeayo Marsalis’ Uptown Jazz Orchestra, is a dynamic blower and compelling figure on this city’s jazz scene. Our Great Awakening lives to rouse the soul. —Geraldine Wyckoff

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way. Prime example would be what pianist McDermott and trumpeter Clark do with “Swanee River/Old Folks at Home,” a song usually Temptation Rag saddled with old-timey backporch (Vaper Records) associations. But theirs jumps right along, with Clark doing some playful The wonder of a good jazz duet wah-wah effects with his mute, is that it can make you hear the McDermott adding a strong bassline most timeworn tunes in a different and taking a jaunty solo. Toward the end McDermott throws in a Bright Lights of Ecstasy quote from “Camptown Races” and Clark answers it right back, a good example of their instinctive Bobby Womack communication here. and Robert Ashton Both players are well-versed in this Bobby Womack: My Story 1944-2104 material. McDermott was a Duke (John Blake Publishing) of Dixieland before going solo, and Clark is the current leader of that Womack opens his as-told-tomemoir stripped down to his skivvies band. They work similar magic on “Tennessee Waltz”—which, for and hunted by his wife with a gun. a change, is not done as a waltz He plays dead after the gun goes and taken to Cuba instead of off, and then runs when his wife Tennessee. Likewise, McDermott leaves the scene. “I bumped into puts the traditional “Make Me a cops scoping the neighbourhood Pallet on the Floor” into a James [sic] for housebreakers and other Booker-inspired boogie groove, and likely fuck-ups.” Two pages after that, a Cleveland Clark finds the joy in a melody that’s usually lowdown and gritty. “Bugle childhood “so ghetto” that the rats Boy March” is another tune that “walked past and said, ‘How you everybody knows—at least they doin’ man?’” sets the scene. Turn the pages, though, and a weirdness know the military lick that kicks it off—and one that found its way into seeps in—no payoff, no slam-bang in-the-spotlight “I made it” moment. many early jazz bands’ repertoires. Womack grew up broke, got into singing but still couldn’t get laid, Their version is similarly loose and married the widow of his best friend Sam Cooke (she’s the one with the lively, suggesting how those 1910’s gun), slept with his stepdaughter (who went off with his brother Cecil soldiers might have heard it when and became a star alongside him), barely dodged bullets, stuck his nose they got to Storyville on leave. In into nose candy, said goodbye to Janis Joplin right before she said hello contrast, the hymn “What a Friend to the dealer with her fatal dose, hung out with the Rolling Stones (but We Have in Jesus” stays close to its they wouldn’t let him use the limo)—and through all of it, no payoff, no church origins. Here Clark savors the pleasure—only hard times. original melody instead of messing Informative, even with all the British-isms thrown in—but frustrating. Nowhere can you intuit the man who grabbed “Sweet much with it. McDermott gets an elegant Caroline,” stripped it down to its gospel roots with his own gospel moment on his own classicallyroots, pumped it full of climaxes, and ran with elation towards inspired piece, “Waltz for a Late some bright light of ecstasy. As his 2014 Jazz Fest set demonstrated, he deserves his legacy. But Autumn,” and the pair does a stately funeral march on “Flee As a you need “Sweet Caroline” and the other records to know that. Bird.” The duo’s approach to these —Andrew Hamlin

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mostly-familiar pieces is respectful but not overly reverent, and full of unmistakable New Orleans ambiance. —Brett Milano

Kevin Clark & Tom McDermott

Spencer Bohren Seven Birds (Valve Records) Another keeper from the great Spencer Bohren. Bohren is well known for his singing and guitar work but he has amassed a really impressive songbook over the years, and Seven Birds is a useful addition. The itinerant troubadour has a huge following in Europe, where most of this record was recorded, but this is pure Americana—folk and blues. Songs of travel and longing, desperation, loneliness and finally resolve. Did I mention parrots? The title song is about parrots, and not the Jimmy Buffet kind. These are renegade parrots, and their tale is told here by a master storyteller. “According to persistent legend, a truck carrying a load of green parrots turned over on the Interstate highway near New Orleans sometime in the late 20th century and spilled its colorful cargo into New Orleans mythology,” Bohren explains. “The song ‘Seven Birds’ was inspired by the activities of these birds and their similarities to the activities of my son, Tucker, and his teenage friends during high school.” “Seven Birds” was cut with a German roots music band whose terse, economical style fits the folk/ blues contours of Bohren’s writing perfectly. “Ghost Train” starts things off impressively, with Bohren’s atmospheric vocal and the band’s www.OFFBEAT.com

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Extraordinary Musical Conversation Aurora Nealand and Tom McDermott City of Timbres (Independent) In addition to being an advanced conceptualist and historian, pianist Tom McDermott is a musician’s musician, one of the most adept accompanists in New Orleans. His ability to bring out the best in his collaborators has been proven over and over again, but even that history didn’t prepare me for the extraordinary musical conversation with multi-instrumentalist Aurora Nealand represented on this album. McDermott’s musical imagination is matched here by a player of such virtuosity in Nealand that even his most outside-thebox thinking is instantly realized. The pieces cover a wide range of McDermott’s ideas, and Nealand brings fresh, often startling perspective to all of it. “Alemán Remixeada,” a slow tango from The Crave reimagined as a hyperkinetic disklavier track with a new melody inspires mysterious, otherworldly harmonization from Nealand, a truly unique vocalist. McDermott has a knack for waltz time, and we get a couple of good ones here. “Opulence,” the aptly titled French waltz last heard on Bamboula, reappears as a vehicle for Aurora’s delicate side. The introspective “A Valsa Entre Quartos,” a piano solo based on McDermott’s conception of a Brazilian waltz, is followed by Nealand’s hypnotic, ethereal “Memory Made and Mistook,” which rides an extraordinary accordion pulse to its dramatic climax. Tom Waits’ “Picture In a Frame” gets a nuanced vocal from Nealand cushioned by antique piano accompaniment from McDermott. Nealand is a masterful interpreter of Sidney Bechet material and she brings a spirited version of his “Tropical Moon” to this session with Michael Skinkus adding percussion. Skinkus also plays Brazilian pandeiro on “Casa Denise,” a piece from McDermott’s Choro De Norte album. McDermott plays a low down blues piano part behind Nealand’s expressive vocal on “Moanin’ Low” before bringing his own inimitable style to the solo section. Nealand follows with a brilliant soprano sax solo. The pair mix it up with a piano/clarinet exchange on the gutbucket “Make me a Pallet on the Floor.” On “Four Hands are Louder Than Two,” Nealand plays the theme on piano and McDermott joins in for the four-handed boogie. “Mississippi Dreamboat,” another idea from Nealand, has McDermott interpolating Beethoven’s Pathetique Sonata as the piano accompaniment. Nealand’s irrepressible talents take on additional contours with “La Ultima Noche Que Pasé Contigo, a Cuban bolero which features her accompanying McDermott’s vocal en espanol. McDermott’s overriding vision involves the way New Orleans music interacts with other aspects of the Afro-Caribbean musical diaspora, and the final track, “Visions of Saint Lucia,” explores the connection between McDermott’s French West Indian mazurka composition and Nealand’s New Orleans clarinet style. McDermott added a bonus track 20 seconds after the final fade, a 10 second glimpse of his mother playing part of Grieg’s Piano Concerto in 1944. She passed away in February, but her spirit clearly flourishes in her son’s work. —John Swenson www.OFFBEAT.com

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REVIEWS stark accompaniment setting the right tone for an album that explores the dark side of the human psyche. Fred Neil’s classic “Blue on the Ceiling” is one of several excellent covers, including “I’ve Been Delayed” and an outstanding solo reading of the Paul Sanchez song “Jet Black and Jealous,” a far different reading from the one recorded for the Write Brothers album. “Midnight Delta” evokes a rural Mississippi

landscape, “Disappearing Nightly” describes the lonely ritual of a traveling musician and “What’s in Your Pocket” is a talking bluesstyle catalog of the contents of a wanderer’s pocket, that is to say, everything he needs. “Skin a Cat” was co-written with Clark Vreeland and “The Party’s Over” is a song about a woman who finally gets fed up with a longstanding relationship. A few songs were recorded in New Orleans with help from

Bohren’s bandmate in Rory Danger and the Danger Dangers, Aurora Nealand, on voice and accordion. Her arrangement of the traditional folk song “500 Miles” closes the album on a spectral note. Nealand’s opening verse turns the gentle, open melody into a nightmarish vision. She is able to suggest terror and wonder simultaneously in her unconscious warble, and seems truly lost as she speculates about how far she is from home.

When Bohren takes over on the second verse he sounds positively sepulchral, as formal as a death mask, like Johnny Cash singing on his Rick Ruben-produced end-of-life album. Bohren, a true conjurer, is adept at the hairraising performance, but here with Nealand he delivers the kind of post-apocalypse dread that lies at the heart of American literature. —John Swenson

The Melatauns Knuckle Sandwich (Independent) No band can cover the whole varied history of rock ‘n’ roll from current times back to the beginnings with Louis Jordan, Fats Domino, Elvis, and others. The Melatauns do better than most, and in and of themselves, do a great job. This second record has tight horn-driven riffs, swinging J&M studio sound, and some more modern touches. No matter what, the band is unmistakably New Orleans. The personnel includes the cream of the Frenchmen Street and downtown scene with Pat Ricks, Robert Snow, Dominick Grillo, Bruce Brackman, and Anthony Donato making up the core of the band, with guest spots from Charlie Halloran, Special Man Jimmy Horn, and C. Wayne McAlister adding their distinctive spice to this coubillion. The band stays loose enough so that both the musicians and the audience can find the groove, but tight enough so that it doesn’t fall to pieces. Their subject matter is also distinctly New Orleans, with a sweet mid-tempo number about the local girls on bicycles in the Vieux Carre filled with vivid details called “Evette,” the swamp pop sway of “Strange,” and the parade rhythms of the Mardi Gras cut “Outta Be In the Quarter.” But it’s not all a time machine back to the good old days as the distorted, almost punk of “Lies” and “The Poo Poo Song” illustrate. Although all the Melatauns are serious musicians, this is a light hearted album to, as Snow has said, “satisfy their rock ‘n’ roll habit.”

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REVIEWS Given the songs and playing here, this should satiate it for at least a little while. —David Kunian

Gayla Marie Gypsy Love (Independent) Something about the 21st century has made Louisianians restless indeed.

Take Gayla Marie, for example—she’s been to Nashville, Austin, and even Hollywood trying to establish herself as a triple singing/songwriting/acting threat, and despite being very good at all three (you may have seen her in an episode of “Treme”), she now finds herself back where she started—geographically, anyway. Her Emmylou-meets-Bogguss drawl, often assembled in gorgeous

Kermit Ruffins does Kermit Ruffins Kermit Ruffins & the Barbecue Swingers #imsoneworleans (Basin Street Records) The title of the album is actually also the name of the first and last cuts of trumpeter and vocalist Kermit Ruffins & the Barbecue Swingers’ latest CD, “I’m So New Orleans.” Okay, got it. The opener is a typical, swinging, good-spirited Ruffins tune with a strong intro by drummer Jerry Barbarin Anderson. It’s also good to hear the trumpeter teamed with a trombonist once again, with Haruka Kikuchi up to the challenge. In Ruffins’ lyrics on both cuts, one can learn more about the real musicians and nature of this city than, perhaps, watching episodes of the HBO Treme series. He tells of his love for Danny Barker, Uncle Lionel and Fats Domino, and then at the end, when he revisits the subject, he reveals that he didn’t come out of the 9th Ward until he was 15 years old and when he was 12 years old, his grandfather used to give him a Miller pony when they watched the television show “Sanford & Son.” Okay, got it. With pianist Yoshitaka “Z2” Tsuji, a wizard throughout the album, onboard, it makes perfect sense for Ruffins to dig into Professor Longhair’s “Tipitina.” As a gritty singer with a laugh in his voice, Ruffins boasts just the right vocal attitude for the classic number. He pushes the trumpet solo by strongly repeating a phrase, sending the whole tune upwards. “Mexican Special” is a spectacular remake of Ruffins’ and the Frazier brothers’—bass drummer Keith and tuba man Phil—composition first recorded on the Rebirth Brass Band’s 1989 release Feel Like Funkin’ Up. The tempo is slowed down from the street beat of the original to a swaying Caribbean rhythm. Ruffins flutters his trumpet while guest Dexter Daily enhances the island flavor on steel drums. Ruffins again returns to past Rebirth favs for “Put Your Right Foot Forward,” which he co-wrote with Phil Frazier. It’s modernized here, including a strong bass line by Kevin Morris that keeps its timeless message fresh for another generation. The tune also goes from the streets to the stage with an expanded version of the Barbecue Swingers with guests guitarist June Yamagishi and vocalist Britney Chauntae. Ruffins’ love of family is also in evidence as he brings in his daughter, Kaylin Orleans Ruffins, for a duet on “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.” Her pure tone and rhythmic instincts take this number beyond sentimentality. Think Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga. Kermit Ruffins does Kermit Ruffins on #imsoneworleans, and that’s so New Orleans. —Geraldine Wyckoff www.OFFBEAT.com

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harmonies, is now gracing straight country ballads that sound more Tennessee than Thibodaux, but lyrically they tell tales more complex than the trailer park. What happens when the conquering hero returns home conquered? Okay, Gayla may start her third album with a story of an “Ex Con” who gets a little too familiar with his daughter, but many of her characters, as if taking a cue from the abused, leave home to seek better lives. Naturally, they don’t find it out there—“Star” ends about as you might figure, and “Old Lady Chandler” is not a portrait of proud matriarchy. But that combination of

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emotional maturity and backwoods beauty, the latter set off by a gentle and usually drummer-less mix of shimmering guitars, is what’s special about Gypsy Love: the pain of a failed dream set against the solace of the already known. (Not for nothing do her simple pledges of love carry spiritual titles like “Eternally” and “I Would Die for You.”) It’s a perfect listen for survivors engaging in a little reflection on a lazy late afternoon, and also a suggestion that a welltraveled love, like a hard-won philosophy, is a little sturdier for it. —Robert Fontenot

Louie Ludwig with the Moss Pickers Elevation 13 (Independent) Musical bon vivant and unreconstructed hippie that he is, NOLA scene vet Louie Ludwig has always been a folkie more in function than form: his muse has wandered all over the place, often with surprisingly successful detours,

REWIND

The Radiators Law of the Fish (Epic) Ed Volker hits REWIND for a look back at the release of Law Of The Fish by the Radiators on Epic Records in 1987 which introduced “fishhead music” to a national audience. “I put it on a couple of days ago and was impressed with what a wonderfully complete production it was, seamless in a lot of ways. We rehearsed for about a week and a half with the producer Rodney Mills before going into the studio. We had stars in our eyes. The larger issue was that, against all odds, we somehow got a major label record deal, something we wanted but didn’t imagine we’d really get, and it was like going to school. The producer was great as far as helping us fine tune the songs so they would fit into a four minute format, but... as I listen back I don’t get much feeling from some of my vocals. Now, somebody else might get a lot of feeling from them, but I hear myself boxed in. On “Suck The Heads,” the producer didn’t know what to do with that song, on a number of different levels. Rodney famously said ‘The cowbell has no place in rock music.’ He didn’t realize that everybody in New Orleans is born with a cowbell in their crib. We recorded in early summer. It was Friday, we’d been recording since morning and it was noonish. We ate on Veterans Blvd., heavy fried food or something. When we came back, on “Love Is a Tangle” I’d echoed what Reg was playing with my left hand, doing octaves with my right, basically playing the percussion part on piano. After eating all that greasy, hot food in the hot weather I came up with a really cool organ part. A Booker T-ish come Jimmy Smith kinda organ part that fit and was a lot more soulful than the tiddly winks thing I had been doing. I had problems with my singing. I was kind of pitchy, I couldn’t hear it, and once I heard it... I totally was a cowardly, craven dog. It shriveled my singing. It sort of broke something in me—that experience. It took a while for me to get back to the place where, ‘why give a crap about that? So you got to make a ‘Hollywood movie’ and got to realize how really freaking ugly you are compared to the icons. But when you’re living your life, when you’re back in the street—just be yourself, man.’ The other point of that was... it gave me a much deeper appreciation of how to craft music. Before, I used to believe in holy inspiration, and whatever lyrics I wrote, I would never touch ‘em, you know, ‘that was the word from God’ that I was given. So the experience kind of broke a lot of pieces of me but it showed me how to put things together. That was very instructive. I got over the cringing over my vocal thing and went on to craft my own music.” —Paul Sanchez www.OFFBEAT.com

REVIEWS but his guitar is set to kill fascists just as sure as Woody Guthrie’s, just with a decidedly post-Reagan ironic smirk. Ludwig’s latest, however, a collaboration with the definitively old-timey Donaldsonville quartet the Moss Pickers, has freed his muse by curbing his roving eye—in making a straight folk album, and one steeped in bluegrass-flavored Americana at that, Louie’s wry outlook has transformed into a cosmic sense of humor as funny as anything you’d find in, say, the Book of Job. Dark and fatalistic but relentlessly humanist, he nearly approaches John Prine territory through what in lesser hands would be mere protest songs. He sets the tone early with “(Why Do) Crows (Always Seem to Come Out on Rainy Days),” and bookends that with the relatively comforting reassurance of “You’ll Make It Through Somehow,” but in between sits a suite of songs caught between pain and revenge, a polemic for the eternal resilience of truth. You don’t see it so much in the failed romance of “Highway 61 Memories” or the character portrait of “Old Tennis Shoes,” but like the footwear in both, everything here is a metaphor for something else, whether it be the placid imperturbability of nature when fracked (“Once Upon a Mountain”) or the coal industry that ruins lives in the process (“Snake”) or the seeming randomness of violence (“Nobody”) or even “Death and the Devil,” cast here as two hit men out for Louie’s body and soul (“It’s a mystery what them two distinguished gents could ever want with me”). He’s past offering solutions, but that makes him an even more perfect fit for this genre: serene, timeless, trusting in the universe’s ability to balance out the spreadsheet. It’s uncommon music for the common man. —Robert Fontenot

Devon Allman Ragged & Dirty (Ruf Records) Following on the heels of New Orleans-born Royal Southern Brotherhood’s considerable success and coming at a time of raised visibility due to his father, Gregg, entering the twilight of his legendary www.OFFBEAT.com

career as the Allman Brother’s Band ship sails into the mystic, Devon Allman, 42 and long an accomplished musician of lone-wolf mentality, ventured far from his familiar Southern studios in Memphis and Mamou and headed to Chicago to record Ragged & Dirty. Placing his guitar and vocal talents in the capable hands of Grammy-winning producer Tom Hambridge (Buddy Guy), Allman hired a crack band of players wellversed in the frenetic electric boogie of Chicago blues: bassist Felton Crews (Charlie Musselwhite), guitarist Giles Corey (Billy Branch) and keyboardist Marty Sammon (Buddy Guy). Though dogged a bit by easy use of blues clichés of no-good women and poker games, Allman dives into waters dark yet pristine, deep but buoyant, over the course of the album’s dozen tracks as he delivers the revelation of an artist in full, self-assured command. The opening track “Half the Truth” warms up with typical blues fare about a no-good woman before Allman lets his Gibson rip at the 1:20 mark with a howl so fierce, so strong, it demands attention. A delicate side surfaces in “Leavin’” with soothing acoustic-guitar strumming as Allman proclaims, “Leavin’ but I don’t know where.” A seemingly odd cover choice of the Spinners’ soul classic from 1972, “I’ll Be Around,” proves an ideal vehicle for Allman’s silkysmooth vocal side. The standout here is the sprawling, nine-minute instrumental “Midnight Lake Michigan,” a blistering guitar serenade to devils and angels as brilliant as it is haunting—a duality realized only in artists of the highest caliber, of which Devon Allman now stands as one. —Frank Etheridge JAZZ FEST BI BLE 20 15

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These listings are abbreviated. For complete daily listings, go to offbeat.com. These listings were verified at the time of publication, but are of course subject to change. To get your event listed, go to offbeat.com/add-new-listings or send an email to listings@offbeat.com.

AF African AM Americana BL Blues BU Bluegrass BO Bounce BB Brass Band BQ Burlesque KJ Cajun CL Classical CR Classic Rock CO Comedy CW Country CB Cover Band DN Dance DX Dixieland DB Dubstep EL Electro FO Folk FK Funk GS Gospel GY Gypsy HH Hip-Hop HS House IN Indian Classical ID Indie Rock IL Industrial IR Irish JB Jam Band

MJ Jazz Contemporary TJ Jazz Traditional JV Jazz Variety KR Karaoke KZ Klezmer LT Latin MG Mardi Gras Indian ME Metal RB Modern R&B PO Pop PK Punk RE Reggae RC Rockabilly RK Rock RR Roots Rock SS Singer/ Songwriter SK Ska PI Solo Piano SO Soul SW Spoken Word SP Swamp Pop SI Swing VR Variety ZY Zydeco

TUESDAY APRIL 21

Banks Street Bar: NOLA County (FO) 9p Blue Nile: Balcony Room: Open Ears Music Series feat. redrawblak (MJ) 10:30p Bombay Club: Josh Paxton (JV) 8p Bullet’s Sports Bar: Trumpet Black and guest (JV) 7p Chickie Wah Wah: Trent Pruitt (VR) 5:30p, Detention feat. Members of Naughty Professor (FK) 8:30p Crazy Lobster: AC and the Heat (VR) 5p Crescent City Brewhouse: New Orleans Streetbeat (JV) 6p d.b.a.: Treme Brass Band (BB) 9p Dmac’s: Chip Wilson (SS) 8p Dos Jefes: Tom Hook and Wendell Brunious (JV) 9p Funky Pirate: Blues Masters feat. Big Al (BL) 8:30p Gasa Gasa: Jordan Prince, Ruts, Biglemoi (ID) 9p Hi-Ho Lounge: Songwriter Showdown (SS) 9p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Comedy Beast (CO) 8:30p Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse: Eric Benny Bloom’s Wicked Swinging Band (JV) 8p Kerry Irish Pub: Jason Bishop (FO) 9p Little Gem Saloon: Messy Cookers (JV) 8p Little Tropical Isle: Mark Pentone(RK) 5p, Frank Fairbanks (RK) 9p Maison: Gregory Agid, the Loose Marbles (JV) 6p Maple Leaf: Rebirth Brass Band (FK) 10:30p Mulate’s: Lee Benoit (KJ) 7p Old Arabi Bar: Open Mic with Valerie Sassyfras (SS) 8p

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One Eyed Jacks: Attrition with DJ Sneauxball (IL) 10p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall-Stars feat. Shannon Powell (TJ) 8p Siberia: Makin’ Trivia (VR) 7p, Barb Wire Dolls, the Bills, Big Pig, Burn Barbie (PK) 9p Snug Harbor: Steve Masakowski Quintet with Rick Margitza (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Andy J. Forest (JV) 4p, Aurora Nealand and the Royal Roses (JV) 6p, Smoking Time Jazz Club (JV) 10p St. Roch Tavern: Jerry Giddens (VR) 7p Steamboat Natchez: Duke Heitger’s Steamboat Stompers (TJ) 11:30a & 2:30p, DUKES of Dixieland (DX) 6p Trinity Episcopal Church: Organ and Labyrinth (CL) 6p Tropical Isle Bayou Club: Cajungrass Duo (KJ) 4p, Cajun Drifters (KJ) 8:30p Tropical Isle Original: the Hangovers (RK) 5p, Jay B. Elston Band (RK) 9p

WEDNESDAY APRIL 22

AllWays Lounge: Patrick Shuttleswerth, Valerie Sassyfras, Blind Texas Marlin (VR) 10p Bacchanal: Jesse Morrow (JV) 7:30p Bamboula’s: Christopher Johnson Trio, Benny D Band, Mem Shannon Band (VR) 4p Banks Street Bar: Major Bacon (BL) 10p Bistreaux: Aaron Lopez-Barrantes (SO) 7p Bombay Club: Kris Tokarski (JV) 8p Buffa’s Lounge: Open Mic Night (SS) 7p Carousel Bar: Amanda Ducorbier Jazz Band (JV) 8:30p Celebration Hall: TBC Brass Band (BB) 10p Check Point Charlie: T-Bone Stone and the Happy Monsters, Some Kind of Nightmare (VR) 7p Chickie Wah Wah: John Rankin (SS) 5:30p, Mark McGrain CD-release party (VR) 9p Crazy Lobster: Ken Swartz and the Palace of Sin (VR) 5p d.b.a.: Washboard Chaz Blues Trio (BL) 7p, Walter “Wolfman” Washington and the Roadmasters (BL) 10p Dmac’s: Zac and Trent (VR) 8p Dragon’s Den: Dancehall Classics with DJ T-Roy and Bayou International Sound (RE) 10p Funky Pirate: Blues Masters feat. Big Al (BL) 8:30p Gasa Gasa: Groove Therapy (SO) 9p Hi-Ho Lounge: the Slackers (SK) 9p House of Blues (the Parish): IAM (HH) 8p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Hazy Ray Trio (VR) 8:30p Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse: Dana Abbott (JV) 5p, Irvin Mayfield’s NOJO Jam (JV) 8p Kermit’s Mother-in-Law Lounge: Kid Merv (JV) 7p Kerry Irish Pub: Patrick Cooper (FO) 9p Lafayette Square: Flow Tribe, Sweet Crude (VR) 5p Legends: Big Deal Burlesque (BQ) 8p Little Gem Saloon: Kyle Cripps (JV) 5p, the Listening Room (JV) 6p, Mario Abney and friends (JV) 8p Little Tropical Isle: Jay B. Elston (RK) 5p, Reed Lightfoot (RK) 9p Maison: Jazz Vipers, James Jordan and the Beautiful Band (JV) 6p Maple Leaf: Oak Street Block Party, 12p; Hook Line and Dine Extravaganza feat Flow Tribe, Frogs and Friends, Crawfish Boil (VR) 8p Mulate’s: Lee Benoit (KJ) 7p

Old Point Bar: Open-Mic Night with Kim Cantwell (SS) 6:30p One Eyed Jacks: MarchFourth with Cirque D’licious (BQ) 10p Palm Court Jazz Café: Lars Edegran and Topsy Chapman with Palm Court Jazz Band (TJ) 8p Polo Club Lounge: David Boeddinghaus (JV) 6p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall All-Stars feat. Mark Braud (TJ) 8p Republic: Peter Hook and the Light (VR) 9p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: Gal Holiday and the Honky Tonk Revue (CW) 8p Sandbar: Jazz at the Sandbar feat. Rick Margitza (JV) 7p Siberia: Sword and Backpack Game Night (VR) 6p, Mothership, Dirty Streets, Felix (RK) 9p Snug Harbor: Uptown Jazz Orchestra (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Sarah McCoy and the Oopsie Daisies (JV) 4p, Shotgun Jazz Band (JV) 6p, Antoine Diel and the New Orleans Power Misfits (JV) 10p Steamboat Natchez: Duke Heitger’s Steamboat Stompers (TJ) 11:30a & 2:30p, DUKES of Dixieland (DX) 6p Three Muses: Leslie Martin (JV) 5p, Salvatore Geloso (JV) 7p Tropical Isle Bayou Club: La Maniere des Cadiens (KJ) 4p, Brandon Moreau and Cajungrass (KJ) 8:30p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Jezebels Chill’n (RK) 5p, Debi and the Deacons (RK) 9p Vaso: Angelica Matthews Band, Jeff Chaz Blues Band (VR) 6p

THURSDAY APRIL 23

Armstrong Park: Soul Rebels, Kermit Ruffins and the BBQ Swingers (VR) 4p Bacchanal: the Courtyard Kings (JV) 7:30p Bamboula’s: Hot and Spicy, Messy Cookers, Smoky Greenwell Band (VR) 2p Banks Street Bar: Gal Holiday and the Honky Tonk Revue (CW) 10p Blue Nile: Stanton Moore Trio, DJ Kevvy Kev (FK) 9p Botanical Garden: Threadhead Thursday feat. Leroy Jones Quintet, Jimmy Carpenter Band, Marc Stone Band, Paul Sanchez and Minimum Rage (VR) 6p Buffa’s Lounge: Tom McDermott and Aurora Nealand (JV) 8p, Mack Potts, Doyle Cooper and friends (VR) 11p Bullet’s Sports Bar: Jeff Chaz and the NOLA Blues Band (BL) 7p Café Beignet (Musical Legends Park): Steamboat Willie Jazz Band (TJ) 10a Café Istanbul: Michaela Harrison (JV) 8p, Momma Atlas feat. Alysia Harris and Jasmine Mans (VR) 9:30p Café Negril: Soul Project (FK) 9p Carousel Bar: Antoine Diel Jazz Quartet (JV) 5p, Nayo Jones Experience (JV) 8:30p Carrollton Station: Eric Lindell and Co. (BL) 10p Chickie Wah Wah: Phil deGruy (VR) 5:30p, Seth Walker (VR) 9p, Jon Cleary and the Absolute Monster Gentlemen (FK) 10p Covington Trailhead: Rockin’ the Rails feat. Luther Kent (VR) 5p

Crazy Lobster: the Spanish Plaza 3 (VR) 5p d.b.a.: Colin Lake (SS) 7p, Hill Country Picnic Preview feat. Kenny Brown, Alvin Youngblood Hart and Eric Deaton (BL) 10p Dos Jefes: Loren Pickford (VR) 9p Dmac’s: Sturmlandia (VR) 8p, Kim Carson and John Thomas Griffith (VR) 9:30p Dragon’s Den: Simple Sound Retreat (FK) 9p Funky Pirate: Marc Stone Duo (BL) 4p, Blues Masters feat. Big Al (BL) 8:30p Gasa Gasa: the Doldrums, Moon King (ID) 9p Hi-Ho Lounge: Krewe of Ragnorak Fundraiser (VR) 9p Hilton Riverside Hotel: Jazz and Heritage Gala feat. George Benson, Irvin Mayfield and the Jazz Playhouse Revue (JV) 7p House of Blues: Of Mice and Men, Crown the Empire, Volumes (ME) 6:30p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Comedy Gumbeaux (CO) 8:30p Howlin’ Wolf: Earphunk, Naughty Professor (FK) 10p Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse: Joshua Starkman and Davy Mooney (JV) 5p, James Rivers Movement (JV) 8p Kerry Irish Pub: Beth Patterson (FO) 9p Le Bon Temps Roule: Soul Rebels (BB) 11p Little Gem Saloon: Monty Banks (JV) 5p, Mykia Jovan (JV) 8p Little Tropical Isle: Allen Hebert (RK) 5p, Mike Berger (RK) 9p Louisiana Music Factory: Smoky Greenwell (BL) 12p, the Write Brothers (RR) 1p, Davis Rogan (VR) 2p, Jimmy Carpenter (VR) 3p, Johnny Sansone (BL) 4p, Billy Iuso (RR) 5p, New Orleans Suspects (FK) 6p Maison: Jon Roniger, Shotgun Jazz Band, Jesse Smith Project (JV) 5p Maple Leaf: Oteil Burbridge, Eric Krasno, Johnny Vidacovich (FK) 10:30p Margaritaville: Lynn Drury (FO) 3p, Casey Saba (VR) 6:30p Mulate’s: La Touche (KJ) 7p Ogden Museum of Southern Art: After Hours feat. Sweet Crude (KJ) 6p Old Point Bar: Just Honey and the Wingmen (CR) 8p One Eyed Jacks: Fast Times ‘80s and ‘90s Night (VR) 10p Palm Court Jazz Café: Duke Heitger and Tim Laughlin with Crescent City Joymakers (TJ) 8p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall All-Stars feat. Louis Ford (TJ) 8p Publiq House: Band of Heathens (VR) 9p the Rat at Tulane: Jazz at the Rat feat. the Bridge Trio (JV) 7p Rivershack Tavern: John Lisi Duo (BL) 8p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: Geno Delafose, Chubby Carrier, Terrance Simien, Sunpie and the Louisiana Sunspots (ZY) 7p Saenger Theatre: Bill Burr (CO) 8p Siberia: Rev. Spooky LeStrange and her Billion Dollar Baby Dolls (BQ) 6p, Attrition presents Covenant, the Labyrinth (IL) 9p Snug Harbor: Chris Thomas King (BL) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Sarah McCoy and the Oopsie Daisies (JV) 4p, Miss Sophie Lee (JV) 6p, Jumbo Shrimp (JV) 10p

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LIVE LOCAL MUSIC Steamboat Natchez: Duke Heitger’s Steamboat Stompers (TJ) 11:30a & 2:30p, DUKES of Dixieland (DX) 6p Three Muses: Tom McDermott (PI) 5p, Luke Winslow King (JV) 7:30p Tipitina’s: Dr. John and the Nite Trippers, New Breed Brass Band (FK) 9p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Miss Maggie Trio (RK) 5p, Debi and the Deacons (RK) 9p Tropical Isle Original: the Hangovers (RK) 6p, Late As Usual (RK) 9p Vaso: Bobby Love and Friends, Ed Wills and Blues4Sale, Willie Lockett and the Blues Krewe (VR) 5p Vaughan’s Lounge: Corey Henry and Treme Funktet (FK) 9:30p

FRIDAY APRIL 24

Bamboula’s: Chance Bushman’s Rhythm Stompers, Smoky Greenwell Band (VR) 2p Banks Street Bar: the N’awlins Johnnys (RC) 10p; Lynn Drury (SS) 8p Blue Nile: Flow Tribe (FK) 10p Buffa’s Lounge: Lucas Davenport (JV) 5p, Roamin’ Jasmine (JV) 8p, Ben Hunter and Joe Seamons with Ben Fox (JV) 11p Bullet’s Sports Bar: Original Pinettes Brass Band (BB) 7p Café Beignet (Musical Legends Park): Steamboat Willie Jazz Band (TJ) 10a Café Istanbul: Barry Stephenson (JV) 8p, Lee Lee Alcorn and the Nu Groove, Apache Hunters Mardi Gras (MG) 10p Carousel Bar: Robin Barnes Jazz Band (JV) 5p, Lena Prima Band (JV) 9p Carrollton Station: Grayson Capps Rock N Roll Band, the Hurricane Hunters (RR) 10p Chickie Wah Wah: Michael Pearce (BL) 6p, the Write Brothers (RR) 8p, Lisa LeBlanc (VR) 11p Civic Theatre: Lettuce (FK) 10p Club Caribbean: Reggae Invasion (RE) 10p, Mad Cobra (RE) 11:30p d.b.a.: Tuba Skinny (JV) 6p, Eric Lindell (BL) 10p, Honey Island Swamp Band (RR) 2a Davenport Lounge (Ritz-Carlton): Jeremy Davenport (JV) 9p Dmac’s: Vincent Marini (VR) 7p, Live Oak (VR) 9p Dos Jefes: Mitch Woods and the Rocket 88s (BL) 10p Dragon’s Den: Up Up We Go (JV) 7p, Africa Brass (AF) 10p; Upstairs: Fuck Yeah Comedy (CO) 8p, Latin Night (LT) 10p Four Points Sheraton French Quarter: the DeSantis Duo (JV) 6p Funky 544: LC Smoove (RB) 2p Funky Pirate: Marc Stone Duo (BL) 12p, Mark and the Pentones (BL) 4p, Blues Masters feat. Big Al (BL) 8:30p Gasa Gasa: Ghost-Note: A Snarky Puppy Project feat. Robert “Spud” Seawright and Nate Welsh, Naughty Professor (FK) 9p Hi-Ho Lounge: the Transplanted Roots (FO) 7p, Debauche, Slow Burn Burlesque (GY) 10p House of Blues (the Parish): Jon Cleary and the Absolute Monster Gentlemen, the Revelers CD-release show (RB) 10p House of Blues: Anders Osborne, Con Brio (RR) 9p Houston’s Restaurant: Hansen presents Garden District Trio (JV) 6:45p Howlin’ Wolf: Dumpstaphunk, Rebirth Brass Band, the London Souls, Gravity A (FK) 10p Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse: Piano Professor Series (JV) 6p, Leon “Kid Chocolate” Brown (JV) 9p Joy Theater: the Meter Men with Page McConnell, Earphunk (FK) 10:30p Kermit’s Mother-in-Law Lounge: Guitar Slim Jr. (BL) 9p Kerry Irish Pub: Patrick Cooper (FO) 5p, Beth Patterson (FO) 9p Le Bon Temps Roule: Joe Krown (PI) 7p

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Little Gem Saloon: Evan Christopher’s Clarinet Road (JV) 8p, Marc Stone’s Blues Throwdown (BL) 10p Little Tropical Isle: Reed Lightfoot (RK) 5p, Mike Berger (RK) 9p Maison: Leah Ruckers, Messy Cookers (JV) 4p, Brass-A-Holics, Big Easy Brawlers (BB) 10:30p Maple Leaf: Oteil Burbridge, Sonny Landreth, Johnny Vidacovich (FK) 10:30p, Skerik, Oteil Burbridge, Johnny Vidacovich (FK) 2:30a Margaritaville: Back Porch Review (RR) 5p, Bicycle Jones (CW) 8p Mulate’s: La Touche (KJ) 7p New Orleans Jazz Market: Big Beat Gala (JV) 7:30p Old Arabi Bar: Jambeloozia (VR) 9p One Eyed Jacks: Benjamin Booker, Yelephants, DJ Gris Gris (VR) 8p Palm Court Jazz Café: Lucien Barbarin with Palm Court Jazz Band (TJ) 8p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall Brass Band feat. Daniel Farrow (TJ) 8p, Midnight Preserves feat. Preservation Hall Jazz Band with guests (TJ) 11:59p Republic: Cowboy Mouth, Marc Broussard (RK) 9p, the Floozies, Snarky Puppy (EL) 11:59p Rivershack Tavern: Russell Batiste and friends (VR) 10p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: Tab Benoit, Kermit Ruffins, Pelican 212 (VR) 8:30p Saenger Theatre: Gov’t Mule, Soul Rebels (RK) 8:30p Saturn Bar: Valparaiso Men’s Chorus (FO) 11p Seahorse Saloon: Po Boyz Organ Group with Simon Lott (FK) 10:30a, Po Boyz Organ Group (FK) 5:30p Siberia: Psycho Out DJs Suzy Q and Nommo (VR) 6p, Katey Red, Peach Kelli Pop, Sea Battle, First, DJ Pompeii (VR) 9p Snug Harbor: Ellis Marsalis Quintet (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Andy J. Forest (JV) 4p, Washboard Chaz Blues Trio (JV) 6p, New Orleans Cottonmouth Kings (JV) 10p, Barry Stephenson (JV) 2a St. Roch Tavern: James Jordan and the Beautiful Band (RB) 9:30p Steamboat Natchez: Duke Heitger’s Steamboat Stompers (TJ) 11:30a & 2:30p, DUKES of Dixieland (DX) 6p, the Revivalists, SS Otto Focus (VR) 9p Three Muses: Matt Johnson (JV) 5:30p, Davis Rogan (JV) 9p Time Out: Robin and friends (VR) 3p Tipitina’s: the Greyboy All-Stars, Grupo Fantasma (LT) 9p, the M&Ms (VR) 2a Tropical Isle Bayou Club: Brandon Miller and Louisiana Inferno (KJ) 5p, T’Canaille (KJ) 9p Tropical Isle Original: Down River (RK) 1p, the Hangovers (RK) 5p, Late As Usual (RK) 9p Vaso: Bobby Love and Friends, Angelica Matthews Band (VR) 3p, Ed Wills and Blues4Sale, New Creations Brass Band (VR) 9p

SATURDAY APRIL 25

Banks Street Bar: Norco Lapalco (RK) 10p Blue Nile: Fest Mob feat. Steven Burnstein, Will Bernard, Johnny Vidacovich and others (FK) 11:59p Blue Nile: Washboard Chaz Blues Trio (BL) 7p, Soul Rebels (FK) 11p Buffa’s Lounge: A2D2 feat. Arsene Delay and Antoine Diel (VR) 5p, Leslie Cooper and Music Street Jazz Band (VR) 8p, Alexandra Scott and Josh Paxton (VR) 11p Café Istanbul: Michael O’Hara the Sheik (VR) 9p Carousel Bar: Tom Hook’s Prima/Jordan Tribute fear. Cristina Perez (JV) 9p Carrollton Station: Dash Rip Rock, the Painted Hands (RC) 10p Check Point Charlie: My Next Blackout, Jack Hinson Band, Jeb Rault (VR) 4p JAZZ FEST BI BLE 20 15

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LIVE LOCAL MUSIC Chickie Wah Wah: Carolyn Wonderland (VR) 9p, Joe Driscoll and Sekou Kouyate (VR) 11:30p Civic Theatre: Father John Misty, Luluc (FO) 10p Club Caribbean: Dancehall Explosion (RE) 10p Crazy Lobster: the River Gang (VR) 11a, the Neon Shadows (VR) 4p Creole Cookery: Mark Weliky Trio (JV) 11a d.b.a.: John Boutte (JV) 7p, Dirty Dozen Brass Band (BB) 10p, Royal Fingerbowl (VR) 2a Dmac’s: Kenny Triche (BL) 9p Dos Jefes: Sunpie and the Louisiana Sunspots (ZY) 10p Dragon’s Den: the Loose Marbles (JV) 7p; Upstairs: Talk Nerdy to Me (BQ) 7p Fat Catz: Ka-Nection Band (FK) 7:30p Four Points Sheraton French Quarter: the DeSantis Duo (JV) 6p Funky 544: LC Smoove (RB) 2p Funky Pirate: Marc Stone Duo (BL) 12p, Mark and the Pentones (BL) 4p, Blues Masters feat. Big Al (BL) 8:30p Gasa Gasa: Mississippi Rail Company, Andrew Duhon (RK) 10p Hi-Ho Lounge: Hustle feat. DJ Soul Sister (FK) 11p House of Blues (the Parish): the London Souls, Ed Williams’ RumpleSTEELskin (SO) 9p House of Blues: Cherub, Mystery Skulls, ForteBowie (EL) 10p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Hot 8 Brass Band (BB) 10p, Sunshine Becker and friends (VR) 2a Howlin’ Wolf: Dead Feat (VR) 10p Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse: Bill Summers and Jazsalsa Jazz Fest Party (JV) 9p Joy Theater: the Meter Men with Page McConnell and Warren Haynes, Earphunk (FK) 10:30p Kermit’s Mother-in-Law Lounge: Neisha Ruffins (JV) 8:30p Kerry Irish Pub: Mark Carson (FO) 5p, Amy Nemanich and Paul Ferguson (FO) 9p Little Gem Saloon: Kermit Ruffins and the BBQ Swingers (JV) 8 & 10p, John Thomas Griffith (RK) 11p, the Funky Drummer (FK) 1a Little Tropical Isle: Jay B. Elston (RK) 5p, Reed Lightfoot (RK) 9p Maison: Smoking Time Jazz Club (VR) 7p, Greyboy All-Stars (FK) 10p, Pimps of Joytime, Vinyl (FK) 2a Maple Leaf: New Orleans Suspects 2nd Annual LEAFOPOTOMUS feat. Eric McFadden, Papa Mali, Roosevelt Collier, Jennifer Hartswick, Big Chief Juan Pardo (FK) 10:30p, Big Lil’ Baby Jesus Peasant Party (FK) 2:30a Margaritaville: Lucky Lee (VR) 2p, Double Dee (RK) 5p, Songwriters in the Round feat. John Frinzi, Matt Hoggatt and Brendan Mayer (RK) 9p Morning Call City Park: Billy D. Chapman (JV) 10a Mulate’s: Bayou Deville (KJ) 7p New Orleans Jazz Market: Irvin Mayfield and the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra (JV) 8p Old Arabi Bar: Professor Longhair Tribute (VR) 9p One Eyed Jacks: Benjamin Booker, Babes, DJ Gris Gris (VR) 8p, Dumpstaphunk (FK) 2a Palm Court Jazz Café: Brian O’Connell and Wendell Eugene with Palm Court Jazz Band (TJ) 8p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall Brass Band feat. Daniel Farrow (TJ) 8p, Midnight Preserves feat. Preservation Hall Jazz Band with guests (TJ) 11:59p Publiq House: Givers (VR) 9p Republic: Bonerama Gets the Led Out, Pink Talking Fish (VR) 9p Rivershack Tavern: Bryan Lee (BL) 10p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: Eric Lindell, the Iguanas, Big Sam’s Funky Nation (VR) 8:30p Saenger Theatre: Treme Threauxdown feat. Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue with Allen Toussaint, Ivan Neville and New Breed Brass Band (FK) 9p

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Seahorse Saloon: Po Boyz Organ Group with Simon Lott (FK) 10a & 5:30p Shamrock: Shamarr Fest feat. Shamarr Allen and the Underdawgs, Hot 8 Brass Brand, TBC Brass Band, Free Agents, New Creations (FK) 10p Siberia: New Orleans Drag Workshop Fundraiser feat. Vockah Redu, Bella Blue, DJ Rusty Lazer (BQ) 7p Snug Harbor: Bria Skonberg Quartet (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Tuba Skinny (JV) 2p, Ecirb Muller’s Twisted Dixie (JV) 6p, Dominick Grillo and the Frenchmen St. All-Stars (JV) 10p, Barry Stephenson (JV) 2a Steamboat Natchez: Duke Heitger’s Steamboat Stompers (TJ) 11:30a & 2:30p, DUKES of Dixieland (DX) 6p, Fiya Water III feat. Oteil Burbridge, Ivan Neville, Eric Krasno and many others (VR) 9p Three Muses: Chris Peters (JV) 5p, Debbie Davis (JV) 6p, Shotgun Jazz Band (JV) 9p Tipitina’s: Galactic, Con Brio (VR) 9p, Robert Randolph and the Family Band (VR) 2a Tropical Isle Original: Down River (RK) 1p, the Hangovers (RK) 5p, Late As Usual (RK) 9p Vaso: R N R Jazz Group, Angelica Matthews Band (VR) 3p, Soul Company Band, New Creations Brass Band (VR) 9p

SUNDAY APRIL 26

AllWays Lounge: Russell Welch Hot Quartet (TJ) 9p Banks Street Bar: Ron Hotstream and the MidCity Drifters (CW) 7p Blue Nile: Worship My Organ feat. Marco Benevento, Skerik, Robert Walter, Adam Dietch and DJ Logic, DJ Kevvy Kev (FK) 9p, Eric Krasno, Stanton Moore and Wil Blades, DJ Kevvy Kev (FK) 2a Buffa’s Lounge: Some Like It Hot! (TJ) 10:30a, Buffa’s Lounge: Dapper Dandies (JV) 5p, Swamp Donkeys (JV) 8p, Heidijo and friends (VR) 11p Café Istanbul: Paul Sanchez and Minimum Rage (RR) 9p Carousel Bar: Antoine Diel and Misfit Power (JV) 9p Carrollton Station: Will Kimbrough (SS) 8p Chickie Wah Wah: Gal Holiday and the Honky Tonk Revue (CW) 6p, Bill Kirchen and Paul Cebar (VR) 8p, 22nd Annual Big Blues Harmonica Show (BL) 11p Civic Theatre: Slayer (ME) 9p d.b.a.: Little Freddie King (BL) 6p, Rebirth Brass Band (BB) 10p, Bonerama (SI) 2a Dmac’s: Michael Pearce (BL) 11a Dragon’s Den: Church feat. DJ Unicorn Fukr (EL) 10p Funky Pirate: Mark and the Pentones (BL) 6p Gasa Gasa: Eric Lindell (BL) 9p Hi-Ho Lounge: NOLA Comedy Hour Open Mic (CO) 8p, Zach Deputy (VR) 10p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Hot 8 Brass Band (BB) 10p, Vinyl (VR) 1:30a Howlin’ Wolf: Dead Feat (VR) 10p Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse: Germaine Bazzle and Peter Harris Trio (JV) 8p Joy Theater: An Evening with the Word (VR) 10p Kermit’s Mother-in-Law Lounge: Kermit Ruffins and the BBQ Swingers (JV) 5:30p Kerry Irish Pub: Vincent Marini and the One Tailed Three (FO) 8p Little Gem Saloon: New Orleans Swinging Gyspies (JV) 10a, Beyond Jazz feat. Nick Payton, Wil Blades and Mike Clark (JV) 8p, Shamarr Allen and the Underdawgs (FK) 10p Little Tropical Isle: Frank Fairbanks (RK) 5p, Mark Parson (RK) 9p Maison: Nyce, Brad Walker (JV) 4p, Turkuaz, Street Legends (FK) 10p

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LIVE LOCAL MUSIC Maple Leaf: Joe Krown Trio feat. Russell Batiste and Walter “Wolfman” Washington (RB) 10p, Maple Leaf Bar All-Stars feat. Ivan Neville, Jon Cleary, Tony Hall, Raymond Weber, Derwin Perkins (FK) 11p, Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey with Horns (FK) 2a Morning Call City Park: Billy D. Chapman (JV) 10a Mulate’s: Bayou Deville (KJ) 7p One Eyed Jacks: Sweet Crude, Tank and the Bangas (VR) 8p, Eric Krasno, Adam Deitch and Kofi Burbridge with the Shady Horns (VR) 2a Palm Court Jazz Café: Lucien Barbarin and Gerald French with Sunday Night Swingsters (TJ) 8p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall All-Stars feat. Wendell Brunious (TJ) 8p, Midnight Preserves feat. Preservation Hall Jazz Band with guests (TJ) 11:59p Republic: James Brown Dance Party, the Nth Power (VR) 9p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: Tab Benoit, Sonny Landreth, Kenny Neal (VR) 8p Seahorse Saloon: Po Boyz Organ Group (FK) 10a, Po Boyz Organ Group with Simon Lott (FK) 5:30p Siberia: Woozy, Chipper Jones, Corduroi, Sharks Teeth (RK) 6p, Honey Island Swamp Band, Happy Talk Band, DJ Yourcousindmitri (VR) 9p Snug Harbor: Allen Toussaint (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Jazz Band Ballers (JV) 2p, Aurora Nealand and the Royal Roses (JV) 6p, Pat Casey and the New Sound (JV) 10p Steamboat Natchez: Duke Heitger’s Steamboat Stompers (TJ) 11:30a & 2:30p, DUKES of Dixieland (DX) 6p Three Muses: Raphael Bas (JV) 5p, Linnzi Zaorski (JV) 8p, the Mumbles (BU) 11:30p Tipitina’s: JJ Grey and Mofro, Pimps of Joytime (FK) 9p Tropical Isle Bourbon: BC and Company (RK) 1p, Rhythm and Rain (RK) 5p, Debi and the Deacons (RK) 9p Tropical Isle Original: the Hangovers (RK) 5p, Late As Usual (RK) 9p Vaso: Willie Lockett and the Blues Band, Soul Company Band, Troy Turner Blues Band (VR) 4p

MONDAY APRIL 27

Bacchanal: Helen Gillet (JV) 7:30p Banks Street Bar: South Jones (RK) 9p Blue Nile: Frequinox, DJ Kevvy Kev, Ronkat and Brian J. (FK) 9p Buffa’s Lounge: Antoine Diel (JV) 8p Café Istanbul: Alexandra Scott and her Magical Band (FO) 9p Carrollton Station: Mia Borders, Jesse Morrow (SS) 7p Chickie Wah Wah: the Little Things (VR) 5:30p, Alexis and the Samurai (ID) 7p, Joe Driscoll and Sekou Kouyate (VR) 10p Circle Bar: Richard Bates (VR) 6p, Eric Lindell (BL) 10p Civic Theatre: Joan Armatrading (JV) 9p Crazy Lobster: the Insta-Gators (VR) 5p d.b.a.: Tin Men (VR) 2p, Luke Winslow King (JV) 5p, South Memphis String Band (VR) 8p, Glen David Andrews (JV) 11p Dmac’s: Blues Monday feat. Danny Alexander (BL) 8p Dragon’s Den: Swamp Donkeys (JV) 9p Fat Catz: Ka-Nection Band (FK) 1p Funky Pirate: John Lisi and Deltafunk (BL) 8:30p Hi-Ho Lounge: Bluegrass Pickin’ Party (BU) 8p House of Blues: WWOZ’s 27th Annual Piano Night (PI) 7p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Wes Williams Band (VR) 9p Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse: Gerald French and the Original Tuxedo Jazz Band (JV) 8p Kermit’s Mother-in-Law Lounge: Bobby Love and friends (JV) 7p

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Kerry Irish Pub: Kim Carson (FO) 8:30p Little Gem Saloon: Hidden Gem Fest feat. Alexandra Scott, Margie Perez, the Upstarts, Jon Roniger Gypsyland, the Mumbles, Lynn Drury (VR) 6p Louisiana Music Factory: Swamp Donkeys (JV) 12p, Smoking Time Jazz Band (JV) 1:30p, Spencer Bohren (VR) 3p, Tuba Skinny (TJ) 4:30p, Papa Mali (VR) 6p Luthjen’s Dance Hall: Luthjen Sessions feat. Evan Christopher and Joe Ashlar (JV) 8p Maison: Chicken and Waffles, Aurora Nealand and the Royal Roses (JV) 5p, DRKWAV, Yojimbo (FK) 10p Maple Leaf: John “Papa” Gros, Brian Stoltz, Eric Vogel and Russ Broussard (FK) 10p Margaritaville: Adam Pearce (RK) 3p, Ched Reeves (RK) 6:30p Mulate’s: La Touche (KJ) 7p Old Point Bar: Romy Kaye Jazz Trio (JV) 7p One Eyed Jacks: Dazed on Toulouse: Rock of All Ages with DJ Matt Scott (VR) 10p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall Jazz Masters feat. Leroy Jones (TJ) 8p Rare Form: Snake and the Charmers (VR) 7p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: Amanda Shaw and the Cute Guys (KJ) 8p Snug Harbor: Charmaine Neville Band (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Sarah McCoy and the Oopsie Daisies (JV) 4p, Dominick Grillo and the Frenchmen St. All-Stars (JV) 6p, Jazz Vipers (JV) 10p Steamboat Natchez: Duke Heitger’s Steamboat Stompers (TJ) 11:30a & 2:30p, DUKES of Dixieland (DX) 6p Three Muses: Monty Banks (JV) 5p, Miss Sophie Lee (JV) 7p Tipitina’s: Instruments A Comin’ (VR) 8:30p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Rhythm and Rain (RK) 5p, Way Too Early (RK) 9p Tropical Isle Original: Graham Robertson (RK) 5p, Whiskey Bay (RK) 9p Vaso: Krawdaddy’s Band, Super Jam (FK) 6p

TUESDAY APRIL 28

Banks Street Bar: NOLA County (FO) 9p Blue Nile: Fantastic Four, Polyrhythmics (FK) 9p, the Whip feat. Stanton Moore, Corey Henry, Robert Walter and others, DJ Kevvy Kev (FK) 2a; Balcony Room: Open Ears Music Series feat. Rob Mazurek and Black Cube SP, Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey (MJ) 10:30p Café Istanbul: New Orleans Helsinki Connection (JV) 7p, Dayna Kurtz and guest (VR) 10p Chickie Wah Wah: Anders Osborne, John Fohl and Johnny Sansone (VR) 8p Circle Bar: Laura Dyer Jazz Trio (JV) 6p, the Iguanas (FK) 10p Columns Hotel: John Rankin (VR) 8p Crazy Lobster: AC and the Heat (VR) 5p d.b.a.: Palmetto Bugs Stompers (JV) 5p, Treme Brass Band (BB) 8p, Funk and Chant with John “Papa” Gros and Big Chief Monk Boudreaux (FK) 11p Dmac’s: Vincent Marini (VR) 8p Dos Jefes: Tom Hook and Wendell Brunious (JV) 9p Dragon’s Den: the Salt Wives (FO) 10p; Upstairs: Pretty Party, Painted Hands (RK) 10p Euclid Records: Alexandra Scott (SS) 4:30p, Bible Belt Sinners (VR) 5p Foundation Gallery: Make Music NOLA Benefit feat. String Remedy (VR) 5:30p Funky Pirate: Blues Masters feat. Big Al (BL) 8:30p Gasa Gasa: Tysson, Hildegard CD-release (ID) 9p Hi-Ho Lounge: Patrick Cooper (FO) 7p, Songwriter Showdown (SS) 9p House of Blues: Slash feat. Miles Kennedy and the Conspirators, Like a Storm (RK) 8p Howlin’ Wolf: Michael Jackson vs. Stevie Wonder feat. members of Lettuce and Snarky Puppy, the Nth Power, the Magic Beans (VR) 9p JAZZ FEST BI BLE 20 15

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LIVE LOCAL MUSIC Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse: Davy Mooney Band feat. Jamison Ross, Barry Stephenson and Rex Gregory (JV) 8p Kerry Irish Pub: Mark Appleford (FO) 8p Little Gem Saloon: California Honeydrops (SO) 9p, Cha Wa feat. Spyboy Honey (MG) 10p, Honey Island Swamp Band, Papa Mali (RR) 11:30p Little Tropical Isle: Mark Pentone (RK) 5p, Frank Fairbanks (RK) 9p Louisiana Music Factory: Aurora Nealand and Tom McDermott (JV) 12p, Ken Swartz (BL) 1p, Little Freddie King (BL) 2p, Funk Monkey (FK) 3p, Jeanne Bogino book signing (VR) 3p, Big Chief Juan Pardo and the Golden Comanche (MG) 4p, Harold Washington Jr. poster signing (BR) 4p, Kristin Diable (VR) 5p, Zeke Fishhead (VR) 6p Luthjen’s Dance Hall: Luthjen Sessions feat. Evan Christopher and David Torkanowsky (JV) 8p Maison: the High Beamens, Gregory Agid (JV) 4p Maple Leaf: Luther Dickinson, Cody Dickinson, Johnny Vidacovich (FK) 8p, Rebirth Brass Band (FK) 10:30p Mulate’s: Lee Benoit (KJ) 7p Old Arabi Bar: Open Mic with Mike Darby (SS) 8p One Eyed Jacks: Dragon Smoke (VR) 10p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall-Stars feat. Shannon Powell (TJ) 8p Ralph’s on the Park: Joe Krown (PI) 5p Snug Harbor: Dr. Lonnie Smith with Donald Harrison Band (JV) 8 & 10p Three Muses: John Saavedra (VR) 5p, Gal Holiday and the Honky Tonk Revue (CW) 7p Tipitina’s: Ministry, Sixxis (VR) 9p Tropical Isle Bayou Club: Cajungrass Duo (KJ) 4p, Cajun Drifters (KJ) 8:30p

WEDNESDAY APRIL 29

Bamboula’s: Christopher Johnson Trio, Benny D Band, John Lisi Band (VR) 4p

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JAZZ FEST BIBLE 2015

Banks Street Bar: Major Bacon (BL) 10p Blue Nile: Ivan Neville Piano Sessions Vol. 5 (PI) 9p, the Creator Ensemble feat. Skerik, Alecia Chakour, John Medeski and others (FK) 11:59p; Upstairs: the Main Squeeze (FK) 11p Buffa’s Lounge: Open Mic Night (SS) 7p Café Istanbul: Leslie Blackshear Smith’s CDrelease (VR) 9p Carousel Bar:Amanda Ducorbier Jazz Band (JV) 8:30p Chickie Wah Wah: John Rankin (SS) 5:30p, Pat McLaughlin and friends (VR) 9p, Shinyribs (VR) 11:30p Civic Theatre: Breaking Benjamin (RK) 9p d.b.a.: the Iguanas (FK) 7p, Walter “Wolfman” Washington and the Roadmasters (BL) 10p, Bayou Gypsies (VR) 2a Dmac’s: the Pentones (BL) 8p Dragon’s Den: Dancehall Classics with DJ T-Roy and Bayou International Sound (RE) 10p Funky Pirate: Blues Masters feat. Big Al (BL) 8:30p Hi-Ho Lounge: Justin Bieber’s Girlfriend feat. Yojimbo and Skerik, Jacob Fred’s Jazz Odyssey (FK) 9p House of Blues: Walk the Moon, the Griswolds (RK) 9p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Hazy Ray Trio (VR) 10p Howlin’ Wolf: Megalomaniacs Ball feat. Steel Punk with many special guests (VR) 9p Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse: Dana Abbott (JV) 5p, Irvin Mayfield’s NOJO Jam (JV) 8p Joy Theater: Kung Fu presents the Royal Scam (VR) 10p Kermit’s Mother-in-Law Lounge: Kid Merv (JV) 7p Kerry Irish Pub: Tim Robertson (FO) 9p Lafayette Square: Marcia Ball, Lynn Drury (VR) 5p Little Gem Saloon: the Listening Room (VR) 7p, Glen David Andrews (JV) 8p, Little Freddie King (BL) 10p Little Tropical Isle: Jay B. Elston (RK) 5p, Reed Lightfoot (RK) 9p

Louisiana Music Factory: Basin Street Records presents Jason Marsalis (JV) 12p, Irvin Mayfield (JV) 1p, Kermit Ruffins (JV) 2p, Rebirth Brass Band (BB) 3p, Talk That Music Talk book signing (VR) 3p, Woodenhead (RR) 4p, Colin Lake (VR) 5p, Royal Southern Brotherhood (VR) 6p Luthjen’s Dance Hall: Luthjen Sessions feat. Evan Christopher, Brian Seeger and Roland Guerin (JV) 8p Maison Dupuy: Sippin’ in the Courtyard feat. Ted Long’s Trio (MJ) 5p Maison: Moonshine and Caroline, Jazz Vipers (JV) 4p, Freeman Fest feat. Derrick Freeman and friends (FK) 10p Maple Leaf: Oak Street Block Party, 12p; Johnny Vidacovich, Ivan Neville, June Yamagishi and George Porter Jr. (FK) 10:30p Mulate’s: Lee Benoit (KJ) 7p Oak Street Block Party: Oak Street All-Stars, Leftover Salmon, the Nth Power, Eddie Roberts’ West Coast Sounds, Kung Fu Sonic Bloom, the Heard, Hard Proof (VR) 12p Old Point Bar: Bob Green and the Green River Band (CR) 8p One Eyed Jacks: Suwannee Family Band feat. Adam Deitch, Eric Krasno, Oteil Burbridge, Nigel Hall, Kofi Burbridge and the Shady Horns, Jennifer Hartsick Band, Hard Proof (VR) 10p Palm Court Jazz Café: Lars Edegran and Topsy Chapman with Palm Court Jazz Band (TJ) 8p Polo Club Lounge: David Boeddinghaus (JV) 6p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall All-Stars feat. Mark Braud (TJ) 8p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: Creole Stringbeans, Roddie Romero and the Hub City All-Stars (SI) 7:30p Saenger Theatre: Bob Dylan (FO) 8p Sandbar: Jazz at the Sandbar feat. Christian Scott (JV) 7p

Siberia: Mistress Kali’s Cabinet of Curiosities Burlesque (BQ) 6p, Lachlan Bryan and the Wildes, Gal Holiday and the Honky Tonk Revue, Gregory Good (CW) 9p Snug Harbor: Marcia Ball, Joe Krown and Tom McDermott (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Chris Christy (JV) 4p, Shotgun Jazz Band (JV) 6p, Antoine Diel and the New Orleans Power Misfits (JV) 10p Steamboat Natchez: Duke Heitger’s Steamboat Stompers (TJ) 11:30a & 2:30p, DUKES of Dixieland (DX) 6p Three Muses: Leslie Martin (JV) 5p, Miss Sophie Lee and Leslie Martin (JV) 7p Tipitina’s: St. Paul and Broken Bones, King James and the Special Men (RB) 9p Tropical Isle Original: Debi and the Deacons (RK) 5p, Late As Usual (RK) 9p Truck Farm: Chaz Fest (RK) 12p Vaso: Angelica Matthews Band, Jeff Chaz Blues Band (VR) 6p

THURSDAY APRIL 30

30-90: Shamarr Allen and the Underdawgs mixtape-release party (FK) 11p Armstrong Park: Rockin’ Dopsie, N’awlins Johnnys (VR) 4p Banks Street Bar: Lachlan Bryan and the Wildes from Australia with Vanessa Niemann (FO) 9p, Dave Jordan and the Neighborhood Improvement Association (RR) 10p Blue Nile: Willie Sugarcapps feat. Grayson Capps, Will Kimbrough, Sugarcane Jane and Corky Hughes (FK) 10p Botanical Garden: Royal Southern Brotherhood, Neville Jacobs (VR) 7p Buffa’s Lounge: Tom McDermott and Aurora Nealand (JV) 8p, Josh Paxton (PI) 11p

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LIVE LOCAL MUSIC Bullet’s Sports Bar: Jeff Chaz and the NOLA Blues Band (BL) 7p Café Istanbul: Michaela Harrison (JV) 8p, Axial Tilt: A Grateful Dead 50th Anniversary (VR) 10p Carousel Bar: Antoine Diel Jazz Quartet (JV) 5p, Anais St. John Quartet (JV) 8:30p Carrollton Station: Eric Lindell and Co. (BL) 10p Champions Square: Slipnot, Hatebreed (VR) 8p Check Point Charlie: Johnny Angel and Helldorado, We’re Only In It for the Honey (VR) 7p Chickie Wah Wah: Phil deGruy (VR) 5:30p, Alejandro Escovedo(VR) 8p, Krewe of Blenders Party feat. Charlie Wooten Jazz Fest All-Stars (VR) 11p Chophouse: Amanda Walker (JV) 6:30p Circle Bar: Rockin’ Robin, the Kentucky Sisters (SS) 6p, Alex McMurray Band (RK) 10p Covington Trailhead: Rockin’ the Rails feat. James Andrews and the Crescent City All-Stars (VR) 5p Crazy Lobster: the Spanish Plaza 3 (VR) 5p d.b.a.: Jon Cleary (PI) 7p, King James and the Special Men (RB) 10p, Cedric Burnside Project (VR) 2a Dmac’s: Noisewater (VR) 7p, Kim Carson’s Honky Tonk Band (VR) 9:30p Dos Jefes: Jenna McSwain Trio (JV) 9p Dragon’s Den: Andrew Price/Jesse Smith Duo, Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey, Haas/Lott/Price Trio (MJ) 10p Funky Pirate: Marc Stone Duo (BL) 4p, Blues Masters feat. Big Al (BL) 8:30p Generations Hall: Shorty Fest feat. Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue, Ivan Neville, Big Chief Monk Boudreaux and the Golden Eagles, Corey Henry and Treme Funket and many others (VR) 7p House of Blues: Kermit Ruffin’s Big Easy Trumpet Battle Royale feat. the BBQ Swingers, Wendell Brunious, Leroy Jones, James Andrews, Kid Chocolate, Trumpet Black, Shamarr Allen (JV) 9p Howlin’ Wolf: the Revivalists All in the Family Experience feat. Rebirth, Sister Sparrow and the Dirty Birds and others (VR) 9:30p Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse: Playhour (JV) 5p, James Rivers Movement (JV) 8p Joy Theater: Royal Family Ball feat. Soulive and Lettuce (FK) 9p Kerry Irish Pub: Vincent Marini and the One Tailed Three (FO) 9p Le Bon Temps Roule: Soul Rebels (BB) 11p Little Gem Saloon: Evan Christopher’s Clarinet Road (JV) 8p, Blue Plate Special feat. John Medeski, Terence Higgins, Will Bernard, Kirk Joseph (JV) 10p Little Tropical Isle: Allen Hebert (RK) 5p, Mike Berger (RK) 9p Maison: Jon Roniger, Kristina Morales (JV) 5p, Pimps of Joytime, Monophonics (VR) 10p, Fiya Powa feat. George Porter Jr., Ivan Neville, Stanton Moore, Karl Denson and others (FK) 1a Maple Leaf: Oteil Burbridge, Marco Benevento, Skerik, Johnny Vidacovich (FK) 10:30p Mulate’s: La Touche (KJ) 7p New Orleans Museum of Art: International Jazz Day Jazz Brunch with Terence Blanchard and Poncho Sanchez (JV) 10a Old U.S. Mint: Kidd Jordan and Hamiet Bluiett with Alvin Fielder, Darrell Lavigne, Brian Quezergue and Don Paul (JV) 9p One Eyed Jacks: Galactic (FK) 8p, Fast Times ‘80s and ‘90s Night (VR) 10p, Worship My Organ (FK) 2a Palm Court Jazz Café: Duke Heitger and Tim Laughlin with Crescent City Joymakers (TJ) 8p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall All-Stars feat. Lucien Barbarin (TJ) 8p Publiq House: Dirty Dozen Brass Band, California Honeydrops (VR) 9p Rivershack Tavern: Bill Davis (VR) 8p

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Rock ‘n’ Bowl: L’il Nathan and the Big Tymers, Chris Ardoin and Nu Step, Beau’s High Rollers (ZY) 8p Seahorse Saloon: Po Boyz Organ Group with Simon Lott (FK) 10a & 5:30p Siberia: the Salt Wives (FO) 6p, Keith Frank and the Soileau Zydeco Band, CC Adcock and the Lafayette Marquis, DJs Quintron and Pasta (VR) 9p Snug Harbor: Christian Scott Octet (JV) 8 & 10p Steamboat Natchez: Duke Heitger’s Steamboat Stompers (TJ) 11:30a & 2:30p, DUKES of Dixieland (DX) 6p Three Muses: Tom McDermott (PI) 5p, Luke Winslow King (JV) 7:30p Tipitina’s: St. Paul and Broken Bones, Downright, DJ Logic (VR) 9p, Leftover Salmon feat. Bill Payne and Col. Bruce Hampton (VR) 2a Tropical Isle Bayou Club: Cajun Drifters (KJ) 4p, Brandon Moreau and Cajungrass (KJ) 8:30p Vaso: Bobby Love and Friends, Ed Wills and Blues4Sale, Willie Lockett and the Blues Krewe (VR) 5p Vaughan’s Lounge: Corey Henry and Treme Funktet (FK) 9:30p

FRIDAY MAY 1

Banks Street Bar: No Doubt’s Tragic Kingdom Tribute feat. Social Set, Daria and the Hip Drops (RK) 10p; Billy Iuso (FK) 1a Blue Nile: Big Sam’s Funky Nation (FK) 10p, the Main Squeeze (FK) 11:59p Bombay Club: David Boeddinghaus (JV) 6:30p, Linnzi Zaorski (JV) 9p Buffa’s Lounge: Alexandra Scott and her Magical Band (FO) 5p, Davis Rogan (PI) 8p, Sherman Ewing and friends with Jimbo Walsh (VR) 11p Bullet’s Sports Bar: Original Pinettes Brass Band (BB) 7p Café Istanbul: Axial Tilt: A Grateful Dead 50th Anniversary (VR) 10p Carousel Bar: Robin Barnes Jazz Band (JV) 5p, Lena Prima Band (JV) 9p Carrollton Station: John Mooney and Bluesiana (BL) 10p Check Point Charlie: Bottom Dollars, Angela Everwood, J. Monque’d Blues Band (VR) 4p Chickie Wah Wah: Michael Pearce (BL) 7p, Luke Allen Trio (RK) 9p, the Deslondes (CW) 11:30p Civic Theatre: Primus and the Chocolate Factory (RK) 10p Club Caribbean: Reggae Invasion (RE) 10p, Chaka Demus and Pliers, the Yellow Dub Squad Band, King Hopeton (RE) 11:30p d.b.a.: Soul Rebels (BB) 10p Dos Jefes: Panorama Jazz Band (JV) 10p Dragon’s Den: Up Up We Go (JV) 7p; Upstairs: Fuck Yeah Comedy (CO) 8p, Buena Vista Social Latin Dance Night (LT) 10p Funky Pirate: Marc Stone Duo (BL) 12p, Mark and the Pentones (BL) 4p, Blues Masters feat. Big Al (BL) 8:30p Gasa Gasa: Flow Tribe, Joe Krown Trio (FK) 10p Hi-Ho Lounge: the Transplanted Roots (FO) 7p House of Blues: Blackberry Smoke, the Temperance Movement, Ben Miller Band (RK) 8:30p Howlin’ Wolf: 13th Annual Bayou Rendezvous (VR) 9p Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse: Piano Professor Series (JV) 6p, Leon “Kid Chocolate” Brown (JV) 9p Joy Theater: Joe Russo’s Almost Dead (RK) 9p, the New Mastersounds with Zigaboo Modeliste (FK) 2a Kermit’s Mother-in-Law Lounge: Guitar Slim Jr. (BL) 9p Kerry Irish Pub: Chip Wilson (FO) 5p, Hurricane Refugees (FO) 9p Le Bon Temps Roule: Tom Worrell (PI) 7p Little Gem Saloon: Meschiya Lake and the Little Big Horns (JV) 8p, Stanton Moore Trio (JV) 11p, Pimps of Joytime (FK) 11:59p JAZZ FEST BI BLE 20 15

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LIVE LOCAL MUSIC Little Tropical Isle: Reed Lightfoot (RK) 5p, Mike Berger (RK) 9p Maison: Messy Cookers, Dirty Dozen Brass Band (VR) 7p Maple Leaf: 9th Annual James Brown Birthday Tribute feat. Tony Hall, Jeff Watkins, Raymond Weber, Renard Poche, Roderick Paulin, Tracy Griffin, Vitas Jones (FK) 10:30p Mardi Gras World: FiyaFest (VR) 12p Margaritaville: Back Porch Review (RR) 5p, Bicycle Jones (CW) 8p Mulate’s: La Touche (KJ) 7p New Orleans Museum of Art: Keith Burnstein (PI) 5:30p Old Arabi Bar: Brother Tyrone (VR) 9p One Eyed Jacks: Maggie Koerner, David Shaw, the Cardinal Sons (VR) 8p, Dr. Klaw, Bear Creek All-Stars (VR) 2a Palm Court Jazz Café: Butch Thompson and Clive Wilson with New Orleans Serenaders (TJ) 8p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall Brass Band feat. Daniel Farrow (TJ) 8p, Midnight Preserves feat. Preservation Hall Jazz Band with guests (TJ) 11:59p Publiq House: Toubab Krewe Orchestra feat. Benyoro, Raja Kassis’ Human Being, Weedie Braimah (VR) 9p Republic: Six Strings Down with Tab Benoit and Anders Osborne, Samantha Fish, Luther Dickinson (VR) 9p Rivershack Tavern: Wooten Gang (VR) 10p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: Kermit Ruffins, Bonerama, Rockin’ Dopsie Jr. (VR) 8:30p Seahorse Saloon: Po Boyz Organ Group with Simon Lott (FK) 10a & 5:30p Siberia: Bubblegum Lounge with DJs Robin Rubbermaid and Anthony (VR) 6p, Rory Danger and the Danger Dangers, ABBAnoon Delight, Electro Mahala, DJ Rusty Lazer (VR) 9p

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Snug Harbor: Ellis Marsalis Quintet (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Andy J. Forest (JV) 4p, Washboard Chaz Blues Trio (JV) 6p, New Orleans Cottonmouth Kings (JV) 10p, Dr. Sick and the Late Greats (JV) 2a Steamboat Natchez: Duke Heitger’s Steamboat Stompers (TJ) 11:30a & 2:30p, DUKES of Dixieland (DX) 6p, Boatlive 2015 feat. Soulive (FK) 9:30p Three Muses: Royal Roses (JV) 5:30p, Glen David Andrews (JV) 9p Tipitina’s: the Funky Meters (FK) 9p, Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe feat. Roosevelt Collier (FK) 2a Tropical Isle Bayou Club: Brandon Miller and Louisiana Inferno (KJ) 5p, T’Canaille (KJ) 9p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Way Too Early (CW) 1p, Jay B. Elston Band (CW) 5p, Debi and the Deacons (RK) 9p

SATURDAY MAY 2

AllWays Lounge: Alexandra Scott, Erin Miley and Meschiya Lake (FO) 9p Banks Street Bar: Egg Yolk Jubilee (BB) 10p Blue Nile: Wimbash All-Stars (FK) 10p Bombay Club: David Boeddinghaus (JV) 6:30p, Hal Smith Trio (JV) 9p Buffa’s Lounge: Marc Stone (BL) 5p, St. Cecilia’s Asylum Chorus (GO) 8p, Leslie Cooper and Music Street Jazz Band (JV) 11p Café Istanbul: Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao Fight Party with Barry Stephenson (VR) 8p Carousel Bar: Tom Hook’s Prima/Jordan Tribute fear. Cristina Perez (JV) 9p Carrollton Station: Andrew Duhon Trio (RR) 10p Champions Square: GoHard Festival feat. DJ Snake, Zeds Dead, Big Gigantic, Tchami, Rae Sremmurd, GTA, Destructo, Wax Motif (EL) 4p

Check Point Charlie: Taylor Hogg, Lynn Drury, Woodenhead (VR) 4p Chickie Wah Wah: Helen Gillet and friends with Mark Sutherland (VR) 9p, Toubab Krewe and friends (VR) 11:30p Civic Theatre: Primus and the Chocolate Factory (RK) 10p Club Caribbean: Dancehall Explosion (RE) 10p d.b.a.: Meschiya Lake and the Little Big Horns (JV) 6p, George Porter Jr. and his Runnin’ Pardners (FK) 10p, Lost Bayou Ramblers (KJ) 2a Dragon’s Den: the Loose Marbles (JV) 7p, the Medians (VR) 10p; Upstairs: Talk Nerdy to Me (BQ) 7p, Doombalaya (VR) 10p Funky Pirate: Marc Stone Duo (BL) 12p, Mark and the Pentones (BL) 4p, Blues Masters feat. Big Al (BL) 8:30p Gasa Gasa: Lost Bayou Ramblers, Cardinal Sons (VR) 10p Hi-Ho Lounge: Hustle feat. DJ Soul Sister (FK) 11p House of Blues (the Parish): Pimps of Joytime, the California Honeycrops, Kung Fu (SO) 10p House of Blues: Blackberry Smoke, the Temperance Movement, Ben Miller Band (RK) 8:30p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Hot 8 Brass Band, Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey (FK) 11p Howlin’ Wolf: Anders Osborne, Particle (VR) 11p Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse: Thomas Pol feat. Wessell “Warmdaddy” Anderson (JV) 8p Joy Theater: Joe Russo’s Almost Dead (RK) 9p Kermit’s Mother-in-Law Lounge: Neisha Ruffins (JV) 8:30p Kerry Irish Pub: Speed the Mule (FO) 5p, Mark Hessler and friends (FO) 9p Le Bon Temps Roule: Big Pearl and Big Chief Alfred Doucette (VR) 11p Little Gem Saloon: Nayo Jones (JV) 8p, Leo Nocentelli’s Meters Experience (JV) 10p, Los Poboycitos (LT) 11p

Little Tropical Isle: Jay B. Elston (RK) 5p, Reed Lightfoot (RK) 9p Maison: Rebirth Brass Band, Naughty Professor (FK) 7p, the Motet (FK) 2a Maple Leaf: Jon Cleary and the Absolute Monster Gentlemen (FK) 10:30p, Electro Rage with Terence Higgins, DJ Logic, Roosevelt Collier, Doug Wimbish (FK) 2:30a Morning Call City Park: Billy D. Chapman (JV) 10a Mulate’s: Bayou Deville (KJ) 7p One Eyed Jacks: Black Joe Lewis, Kristin Diable (VR) 8p, Break Science (VR) 10p Palm Court Jazz Café: Palm Court Jazz Band with Brian O’Connell (TJ) 8p Pontchartrain Vineyards: Jazz’n the Vines feat. Swingaroux (JV) 6:30p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall Brass Band feat. Daniel Farrow (TJ) 8p, Midnight Preserves feat. Preservation Hall Jazz Band with guests (TJ) 11:59p Publiq House: Robert Walter’s 20th Congress, Talk (VR) 9p Rivershack Tavern: Gal Holiday and the Honky Tonk Revue (CW) 10p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: Eric Lindell, Mingo Fishtrap, the Iguanas (VR) 8:30p Saenger Theatre: Nevilles Forever: A Celebration of the Neville Brothers and their Music (FK) 8p Seahorse Saloon: Po Boyz Organ Group with Simon Lott (FK) 10a & 5:30p Siberia: Boil Up Boogie Down feat. Bonsoir Catin, Feufollet, the Deslondes, plus Hawk’s Crawfish (FO) 7p Snug Harbor: Jason Marsalis Vibes Quartet (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Antoine Diel and the New Orleans Power Misfits (JV) 2p, Panorama Jazz Band (JV) 6p, Davis Rogan (JV) 10p, Dr. Sick and the Late Greats (JV) 2a

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LIVE LOCAL MUSIC Steamboat Natchez: Duke Heitger’s Steamboat Stompers (TJ) 11:30a & 2:30p, DUKES of Dixieland (DX) 6p, Fiyawrapper River Rage feat. GZA, Fyre Dept, Soul Rebels, DJ Logic VR) 9p Three Muses: New Orleans Nightingales, (JV) 5p, Shotgun Jazz Band (JV) 9p Time Out: Andre Bohren (RR) 12p Tipitina’s: Zappa Plays Zappa (CR) 9p, Galactic (FK) 2a Tropical Isle Bourbon: Way Too Early (RK) 1p, Rhythm and Rain (RK) 5p, Debi and the Deacons (RK) 9p Tropical Isle Original: Down River (RK) 1p, the Hangovers (RK) 5p, Late As Usual (RK) 9p Vaughan’s Lounge: Debauche (GY) 9p

SUNDAY MAY 3

Banks Street Bar: Ron Hotstream and the MidCity Drifters (CW) 8p Blue Nile: Funky But Better feat. Big Sam Williams and others (FK) 10p, Marco Benevento (FK) 11:59p Bombay Club: Tom Hook (JV) 8p Buffa’s Lounge: Some Like It Hot! (TJ) 10:30a, Tyler Clements (JV) 3p, Dr. Sick and the Late Greats (VR) 7p, Smoking Time Jazz Club (JV) 10p Café Istanbul: James Singleton, Johnny Vidacovich, Brian Haas and Mark Southerland (JV) 9p Carousel Bar: Luther Kent Jazz Band (JV) 9p Chickie Wah Wah: Gal Holiday and the Honky Tonk Revue (CW) 6p, Susan Cowsill Covered in Vinyl Series (VR) 9p d.b.a.: Jon Cleary (RB) 7p, Stanton Moore Trio (FK) 10p, Frequinox (VR) 1a Dragon’s Den: Church feat. DJ Unicorn Fukr (EL) 10p Gasa Gasa: Colin Lake (BL) 9p Hi-Ho Lounge: Azzfest feat. BateBunda, Yojimbo, DJ Rusty Lazer (VR) 9p House of Blues: George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic, DJ Soul Sister (FK) 9p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Hot 8 Brass Band (BB) 10p Howlin’ Wolf: Funky Bats After Fest Crew Party feat. Good Enough for Good Times, A Town Get Down (VR) 7p; the Motet performs Mixtape 1975, 17th Annual Zigaboo Modeliste’s Funk Revue (VR) 10p Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse: Germaine Bazzle and Peter Harris Trio (JV) 8p Kermit’s Mother-in-Law Lounge: Kermit Ruffins and the BBQ Swingers (JV) 5:30p Kerry Irish Pub: Paintbox with Dave James and Tim Robertson (FO) 8p Louisiana Music Factory: Jazz Vipers (TJ) 12p, Kim Carson (VR) 1:30p, Washboard Chaz Blues Trio (BL) 30, Luke Winslow-King (JV) 4:30p, Eric Lindell (BL) 6p Maple Leaf: Joe Krown Trio feat. Russell Batiste and Walter “Wolfman” Washington (RB) 10p, call club (FK) 11p, Marco Benevento, Dave Dreiwitz, Andrew Borger (FK) 2a Mulate’s: Bayou Deville (KJ) 7p One Eyed Jacks: Eric Lindell (BL) 10p Palm Court Jazz Café: Lucien Barbarin and Butch Thompson with Sunday Night Swingsters (TJ) 8p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall All-Stars feat. Wendell Brunious (TJ) 8p, Midnight Preserves feat. Preservation Hall Jazz Band with guests (TJ) 11:59p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: Tab Benoit, Sonny Landreth, Samantha Fish (VR) 8p Seahorse Saloon: Po Boyz Organ Group with Simon Lott (FK) 10a, Po Boyz Organ Group (FK) 5:30p Siberia: Today Is the Day, Lazer/Wulf, Gristnam, Sinister Haze (ME) 9p Snug Harbor: Herlin Riley All-Stars (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Pfister Sisters (JV) 2p, Kristina Morales and Bayou Shufflers (JV) 6p, Pat Casey and the New Sound (JV) 10p

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Steamboat Natchez: Duke Heitger’s Steamboat Stompers (TJ) 11:30a & 2:30p, DUKES of Dixieland (DX) 6p Three Muses: Raphael Bas (JV) 5p, Linnzi Zaorski (JV) 8p, Barry Stephenson (JV) 11:30p Tipitina’s: Dumpstaphunk, New Orleans Suspects (FK) 9p Tropical Isle Bayou Club: Brandon Moreau and Cajungrass (KJ) 4p, Brandon Miller and Louisiana Inferno (KJ) 8:30p Tropical Isle Bourbon: BC and Company (RK) 1p, Rhythm and Rain (RK) 5p, Debi and the Deacons (RK) 9p Vaso: Willie Lockett and the Blues Band, Ed Wills and Blues4Sale, Soul Company Band (VR) 4p

MONDAY MAY 4

Bacchanal: Helen Gillet (JV) 7:30p Banks Street Bar: South Jones (RK) 9p Blue Nile: Nth Power (FK) 10p Bombay Club: Jenna McSwain (JV) 8p Buffa’s Lounge: Antoine Diel (JV) 8p Chickie Wah Wah: the Little Things (VR) 5:30p, Alexis and the Samurai (ID) 7p, Ed Volker’s Lost Radio (VR) 9p Crazy Lobster: the Insta-Gators (VR) 5p d.b.a.: Luke Winslow King (JV) 7p, Glen David Andrews (JV) 10p Funky Pirate: John Lisi and Deltafunk (BL) 8:30p Gasa Gasa: Instant Opus Music Series (MJ) 9p Hi-Ho Lounge: Bluegrass Pickin’ Party (BU) 8p Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse: Gerald French and the Original Tuxedo Jazz Band (JV) 8p Kermit’s Mother-in-Law Lounge: Bobby Love and friends (JV) 7p Kerry Irish Pub: Kim Carson (FO) 8:30p Maple Leaf: George Porter Jr. and his Runnin’ Pardners (FK) 10p Mulate’s: La Touche (KJ) 7p Palm Court Jazz Café: Tom Fischer with Palm Court Jazz Band (JV) 8p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall Jazz Masters feat. Leroy Jones (TJ) 8p Rare Form: Snake and the Charmers (VR) 7p Snug Harbor: Charmaine Neville Band (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Sarah McCoy and the Oopsie Daisies (JV) 4p, Dominick Grillo and the Frenchmen St. All-Stars (JV) 6p, Jazz Vipers (JV) 10p Steamboat Natchez: Duke Heitger’s Steamboat Stompers (TJ) 11:30a & 2:30p, DUKES of Dixieland (DX) 6p Three Muses: Miss Sophie Lee (JV) 7p Tropical Isle Bayou Club: Cajungrass Duo (KJ) 4p, Cajun Drifters (KJ) 8:30p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Rhythm and Rain (RK) 5p, Way Too Early (RK) 9p Vaso: Krawdaddy’s Band, Super Jam (FK) 6p

TUESDAY MAY 5

Banks Street Bar: NOLA County (FO) 9p Bistreaux: Aaron Lopez-Barrantes (SO) 7p Blue Nile: Balcony Room: Open Ears Music Series (MJ) 10:30p Bombay Club: Josh Paxton (JV) 8p Bullet’s Sports Bar: Trumpet Black and guest (JV) 7p d.b.a.: Treme Brass Band (BB) 9p Funky Pirate: Blues Masters feat. Big Al (BL) 8:30p Hi-Ho Lounge: Songwriter showdown (SS) 7p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Comedy Beast (CO) 8:30p Little Tropical Isle: Mark Pentone(RK) 5p, Frank Fairbanks (RK) 9p Maison: Gregory Agid Quartet (JV) 6p Maple Leaf: Rebirth Brass Band (FK) 10:30p Mulate’s: Lee Benoit (KJ) 7p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall-Stars feat. Shannon Powell (TJ) 8p Snug Harbor: Mitch Woods Club 88 (BL) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Andy J. Forest (JV) 4p, Aurora Nealand and the Royal Roses (JV) 6p, Smoking Time Jazz Club (JV) 10p

Steamboat Natchez: Duke Heitger’s Steamboat Stompers (TJ) 11:30a & 2:30p, DUKES of Dixieland (DX) 6p Tropical Isle Bayou Club: Cajungrass Duo (KJ) 4p, Cajun Drifters (KJ) 8:30p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Jay B. Elston Duo (RK) 5p, Jezebels Chill’n (RK) 9p Vaso: Private Dance Party (VR) 9p

WEDNESDAY MAY 6

Buffa’s Lounge: Open mic night (JV) 8p Chophouse: Amanda Walker (JV) 6:30p Crescent City Brewhouse: New Orleans Streetbeat (JV) 6p Davenport Lounge (Ritz-Carlton): Jeremy Davenport (JV) 9p d.b.a.: Tin Men (RK) 7p, Walter “Wolfman” Washington and the Roadmasters (BL) 10p Dragon’s Den: Reggae night with DJ T-Roy 9p Hi-Ho Lounge: Teacher appreciation night (SS) 7p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Hazy Ray Trio (VR) 8:30p Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse: Lady Sings the Blues featuring Dana Abbott (JV) 5p Lafayette Square: Earphunk, Meschiya Lake (VR) 5p Maison: The Jazz Vipers (JV) 6p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall All-Stars feat. Mark Braud (TJ) 8p Spotted Cat: Antoine Diel and the New Orleans Power Misfits (JV) 10p

SPECIAL EVENTS APRIL 29 Silverbacks Improv Theatre will celebrate its third anniversary by offering a free audience appreciation show featuring improv games at Theatre 810 in Lafayette. SilverbacksImprov.com MAY 1 The annual Zoo-to-Do at Audubon Zoo features live music, fine cuisine and cocktails and benefits the Gator Run. AudubonInstitute.org

FESTIVALS APRIL 22-26 Festival International de Louisiane in downtown Lafayette features more than 100 musical acts on multiple stages. FestivalInternational.com APRIL 24-26, 30, MAY 1-3 The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival is seven days of exciting music, food, art and culture at the Fairgrounds. Look for OffBeat’s Jazz Fest Bible at the gates. NOJazzFest.com APRIL 29 ChazFest returns to Bywater’s Truck Farm (3020 St. Claude Ave.) for a day of music, food and drink. ChazFestival.com APRIL 30-MAY 2 The Alex River Fete in downtown Alexandria features live music, arts and crafts, kids’ activities, dragon boat races and more. Facebook.com/AlexRiverFete MAY 1-3 The Breaux Bridge Crawfish Festival presents musical performances by Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys, Wayne Toups, Geno Delafose and many others and offers all the crawfish you can eat. BBCrawfest.com MAY 23 The daylong Little Walter Music Festival is held at the Alexandria Riverfront Ampitheater and features performances by blues, gospel and zydeco greats. AlexandriaPinevilleLa.com/ LittleWalter JAZZ FEST BI BLE 20 15

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BACKTALK

Pete Townshend

talks back

ifty years ago The Who came screaming out of London with a sound for the ages. Lead singer Roger Daltrey acted out the aggressive youth anthems written by guitarist Pete Townshend, songs that reflected the band’s status as the public face of the fashion conscious, R&B loving hipsters who called themselves Mods. The anthems were “Can’t Explain,” “The Kids Are Alright” and “My Generation,” in which Daltrey stutters the infamous line “I Hope I die before I get old.” For drummer Keith Moon and bassist John Entwistle, the line was prophetic, but Townshend and Daltrey have survived, and both have grown as artists over the years. They’ll bring their current version of The Who to the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival April 25. The 50th anniversary tour, which began last year, is an overview of the band’s career, touching on most of the hits and some deep tracks. I’ve been watching The Who carefully since 1966 (I wrote one of the first books on the band’s history in 1979). From what I’ve seen of the shows so far, Townshend is in vintage form, really carrying the band’s sound with his guitar playing, and Daltrey continues to set the standard by which all rock vocalists must live up to. They are ably backed up by great drummer Zak Starkey, who holds up his end admirably by ignoring the fact

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that there’s no replacing Keith Moon and not letting that stop him, and the virtuoso player Pino Palladino, whose mastery of Entwistle’s brawny, melodically intricate bass lines is a fairly astonishing accomplishment in its own right. This is anything but a nostalgia show. The Who are, I’m extremely happy to say, still able to peel the paint off the wall in live performance. It’s the band’s first American festival appearance since Woodstock, when Tommy was still in the news. It very well may turn out to be their last if we’re to take Daltrey’s words that it’s “the beginning of a long goodbye” to heart. Outdoors in daylight, the show will not be required to synch with the elaborate visual accompaniment that enhances the band’s arena performances, so they’ll be able to let it rip and, as Townshend suggests below, add some content specifically designed for the occasion. I’ve interviewed Pete Townshed numerous times over the years and he always proved to be a good conversationalist. This time around, the interview that follows took the form of an email exchange. I highly recommend that you read a copy of Townshend’s memoir Who I Am in order to better understand what went into The Who and the events that shaped the music of the era. You and Roger enjoy one of the most remarkable relationships in popular music

By John Swenson

JF1 The Who Saturday, April 25 Acura Stage, 5 p.m.

history, a creative partnership that has endured over the course of 50 years. Of course you’ve had some famous dust ups, but not the outright splits in direction that the Beatles, Stones, Zeppelin, Kinks, etc. have experienced. Does that longevity surprise you in any way? How do you account for it? Has the fact that you’ve survived your dear friends Keith and John brought you closer together? I think I’ve changed more than Roger, but that’s because he didn’t need to change. He made the most important changes in our early days when he stopped throwing his weight around. It was tough for him, because it’s easier to scare people into doing what you want than to argue your case. Now he argues, and he is often very clear, and very right. I have come to value his input so much more in the past 15 years. It is a surprise that we work together still, and do it so well, and it’s easy to talk about love or familiarity. But in fact, each of us has had to travel a long way and make real concessions and compromises to get where we are today. Losing Keith was something I didn’t handle properly, but when John died I was determined not to make the same mistakes again, and to dramatize what was quite normal: some people die when they are relatively young, and whatever the circumstances of John and www.OFFBEAT.com

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" I have had some fun times in New Orleans challenging the place to weird me out, but I always won… it was always me that was the weirdest." Keith’s deaths, my reaction must always be that of a friend and ally, and be totally accepting and forgiving. That doesn’t mean I don’t get angry about losing Keith and John, I do. But if they were alive today Roger and I may well have taken different pathways. As we grow older our friendships evolve in different ways. How has your friendship with Roger changed? We still don’t see much of each other socially. It’s in our work that it’s changed. Roger feels he can be completely honest with me, and does so without needing to feel he has to play any games. I’m not sure he completely trusts me as a thinker, or even as a creative, but he trusts that I will listen to him. He has spent a long time being ignored, I think—that doesn’t happen anymore. Do you still feel the “Vacant Chair,” to borrow Steve Winwood’s beautiful sentiment? (Winwood wrote the song about his close friend Keith Moon after Moon died.) Do you ever dream of fallen partners? No. But it is a lovely way of expressing that loss... How do you and Roger consult on set lists and arrangements? Has his (or your) voice changed over the years to the point where you have to adjust the keys in certain arrangements to make them easier to perform? We consult very little. Roger’s voice and his physical journey through a show come before his emotional needs as a singer. So he works out the list. I don’t mind what we play but there are some things we play that I could do without. Not keen on “A Quick One While He’s Away” for example. We’ve been playing that in the UK, and Roger loves it. But he seems to think it’s funny, which of course it isn’t. His childhood was very different to mine. When The Who was in its early stages, you played a number of songs by New Orleans artists, like Jessie Hill’s “Ooh Poo Pah Doo.” And of course you recorded Benny Spellman’s Allen Toussaint-penned “Fortune Teller” (although you might have picked that one up from the Stones). At one point, there were some YouTube videos of this stuff circulating. How did you come to

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know these records? Were you aware that this was specifically New Orleans R&B, and it had its own unique musical genealogy? Do you think the Afro-Caribbean rhythms are deeply ingrained somewhere in your writing, or Roger’s singing? New Orleans music was something I found first, but Keith’s friend Ray Tolliday had quite a few tracks. The Mods heard these songs at The Scene Club. I had albums by New Orleans R&B stars. I always felt it was nice and slow… by the way I first heard “Fortune Teller” by a band called Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders. When you started out, were you aware of the impact New Orleans music had on early rock ’n’ roll? Yes. I grew up in Acton, and heard Ken Colyer’s band locally near Hounslow where my friend Jimpy lived. His band was called the Crane River Band, and they played all the Louis Armstrong marching songs. Ken had actually gone to New Orleans in the Merchant Navy, and come back with stories about Louis Armstrong. Before The Who, John Entwistle and I had a jazz band called The Confederates, and we played all those songs. Later, when I made the connection that a lot of skiffle (that grew out of Trad Jazz in the UK) was based on country blues, I started looking further, and found Snooks Eaglin and a few others from New Orleans itself. Your father was a big band leader, so I’m assuming he was pretty well versed in traditional jazz as well as swing. Did he communicate that to you at all? Did you have a strong sense of the music he was playing? Do you think this informed your artistic conception? Obviously, rock ’n’ roll began as a kind of cultural alternative to jazz, but really they share a lot of common roots, especially as dance music. I think rock ’n’ roll related to, and grew partly out of New Orleans jazz, but not the beautiful sophisticated music my father played. That was music for smooching. He did like Louis Armstrong, but when I later started to go back a few steps to Bix Beiderbecke, I left him I think. He and I loved Wes Montgomery, and listened to his albums together. But R&B was hard to listen to. Some of the New Orleans artists were unschooled and sang out of tune. Neither my father nor I liked that

much. Later, and these days of course, I came to love that rawness and naivety. I seem to remember you making mention of trad jazz players in passing, and it’s something that I think shows itself in some of your solo work. Then there’s the sort of “Cobwebs and Strange” bit where the bunch of you are playing trombones and such in the studio on a lark. Am I making too much of this, or is there a trace element of traditional New Orleans music in your creative well? Oh yes, if I had been able to blow anything other than a mouth organ I would have written more jazz-like material (I love what my old friend Robert Wyatt does when he adds sax to his albums). When you first read about New Orleans, did you fantasize about the city and its history? When you came here, did the city live up to your vision of it? Ray Davies was obviously fascinated by the place and even came to live here. He was shot during that stay, but the experience made for a fascinating book, Americana. Have you read it? Have you ever talked to him about New Orleans music, especially in its relation to English Music Hall music? I’ve read Americana, and loved it, but I am a Ray Davies fanatic. I’ve never spoken to Ray about anything at all. I’m not afraid it would burst a bubble, but he is a little shy I think. And I am a bit star-struck around him—more than I am with Mick Jagger or Keith Richards. I have had some fun times in New Orleans challenging the place to weird me out, but I always won… it was always me that was the weirdest. It will be great to visit the city and be sober. Your memoir Who I Am was tremendously revealing, and made me think of some of the self-reflective writing on The Who By Numbers and your solo albums. The letter to your eight year old self is an awesome idea. There’s a real literature developing among the rock culture writings that you, Keith Richards, Ray Davies, Patti Smith and others have produced. Was it difficult to decide what to include and what to leave out? As a former editor, are you happy with the result? Did the project offer you perspective on your work and how it fits into a larger whole? www.OFFBEAT.com

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KTA

"Roger is a scream. He will never lower the key of the really hard songs. He feels the need to strive, and I think it works even if there is the occasional vocal crack."

I think I included everything and my editors decided what to leave out! I am happy with the result but some friends were hurt either because they were left out, when others were included, or because the sections I wrote about them were cut down and our stories were at odds. I’ve spent a lot of time trying to make amends. Michael Cerveris has become an important contributor to New Orleans cultural life in recent years. I first saw him in the Broadway production of Tommy, which I wasn’t sure I was going to like, but I was really impressed with his performance. It seems like Roger really came into his own as a vocalist on the Tommy album, and it’s hard for me to separate him from the role, but Michael brought something of his own to it. Did you select him for the role? If so, how did you find him? I didn’t find him. He was in the La Jolla cast when I first went to see a rehearsal. He responded incredibly well to my idea to try to get him to do a kind of Stanislavsky version of a rock star. We did a lot of gigs together in clubs and dives. We had great times together when the show was on in New York and he introduced me to a lot of new music. He’s a real musicologist, as I’m sure you know. I was really impressed with the recent production of Quadrophenia, which I saw on Cable TV. I’ve always thought this was your greatest work, something that encompassed your storytelling ability, social commentary, symphonic aspirations and the essence of each member of The Who really effectively. To say it holds up is an understatement. In fact it was obviously difficult to perform live at the outset and has only grown larger through the excellent film and subsequent Who stage productions, even without all the original members. John Entwistle’s bass lines still sound incredible even though he’s no longer playing them. It’s an extraordinary thing. Thank you. It has proved to be easier to perform than expected, but to answer your question above we do lower the keys of some songs here and there. Roger is a scream. He will never lower the key of the really hard songs. He feels the need to strive, and I think it works even if there is the occasional vocal crack.

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Obviously you and Roger are The Who, but the supporting players in the band are hardly anonymous entities and really bring new life to the arrangements. Please tell the readers about what you ask from them and what you think they bring to the stage. Oh dear, at the moment I allow our musicians to do what they like, really. We do rehearse, and I expect them to know the music, but we don’t jam any more. I miss Rabbit on stage. We used to stretch out, but he has been lost along the way. Pino and Zak are real hot-shots, and the band members brought in from Roger’s touring solo band are excellent. If I ever do a solo tour you will see all the old Pete Townshend lags come out— Jody Linscott, Billy Nicholls, Rabbit, Pino, Simon Phillips, Peter Hope-Evans, Jon Carin… these are some of the best people on the planet and some of them are as irritating as hell, but they have a magic about them that sets me on fire. How much preparation is required to mount a tour of this scope? Are you planning anything specific or special for the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival show? We’ll play something, not sure what… we are rehearsing next month. I’m guessing you must have many unfinished ideas or bits of inspiration that have been floating around. Do you archive this kind of work-in-progress material? Do you have a regular working method that you try to adhere to when you’re not on the road? Has that changed much over the years? I use studios. This is where my process comes together. I record myself, with no rules and little discipline. I don’t care what I sound like. This has not changed since I made my first demo (“Can’t Explain”) on an old tape machine back in early 1964. I am archiving at the moment. It’s funny listening to my demos from 1965. Sometimes I record absolute rubbish because I wanted to try out a new microphone, or tape machine. Sometimes that rubbish turned out pretty well. You have always been able to articulate the struggle for spiritual enlightenment in your writing and performance. Do you feel a difference in how the audience has responded to that aspect of your art over the years?

Spiritual enlightenment is really a posh way of saying ‘live life.’ I think I always knew that, and left our audience to go its own way. But my personal journey has been a circle. I am now living every day looking for the daily message, and sometimes it comes in very strange forms. I think the audience has an investment now in whether we are happy, not whether we are spiritually landed or fit and well. The good news is that I am happy. For Life House/Who’s Next and Quadrophenia, you developed a way to use synthesizer technology to expand your musical vocabulary. Most of the other uses of that technology back then sounded mechanical, or perhaps a better word is inhuman, but you were able to use the technology with a warmth and emotional expressiveness that not only enhanced your work, but charted a way forward. Today, EDM has actually eclipsed rock in popularity, and I think you were a pioneer in showing the way forward with electronics. Do you think that’s a fair assessment of your influence? I’m proud of what I did, but I was hugely supported, and guided. Tim Souster, Roger Powell, Ron Geesin and many others steered me when I started with electronics and rapid tape editing in 1971. My father-in-law, the orchestral composer Ted Astley, bought himself an EMS synthesizer (I think he bought two in fact), so I saw quickly how effective synthesis could be utilized to emulate orchestral textures. Today I love how broad the spectrum of electronic music is, so much that is now software I used to dream about—I still have my old gear, and I love it, but I also love KYMA, MAX, REAKTOR and other software synth and sound manipulators. Years ago I learned to write some code (for the Fairlight CMI) and later wrote Hypercard code for my little Mac computer. I’m not great at code, but if you do even a little you quickly see how amazing it is that skilled coders are able to do almost anything one can imagine. I love the concept of “The Internet of Things.” I can see now how music–visual–installations could be controlled and modified from anywhere in the world. I’ll be able to tour from my bed. So expect more interference…. O www.OFFBEAT.com