OffBeat Magazine September 2016 by OffBeat Magazine

THE FOOD ISSUE

The New Raw Oyster Cult

Reggie Scanlan Marc Broussard Corinne Bailey Rae Magnetic Ear

Eric Krasno Aaron Neville

LOUISIANA MUSIC, FOOD & CULTURE—SEPTEMBER 2016 Free In Metro New Orleans US $5.99 CAN $6.99 £UK 3.50

Luke Winslow King

... on eating his heart out.

BLAST FROM THE PAST

No More Crying Today

“Interview with Aaron Neville”

Luke Winslow-King finds solace in songwriting. Page 40

LETTERS

MOJO MOUTH

FRESH

Five Questions with Rick Delaup of the New Orleans Burlesque Festival; Brad Walker and Sturgill Simpson; Louie Ludwig’s “Blame It on the Storm;” Tony Dagradi’s Jazz Underground series; Sex Sells and more.

OBITUARY

Adam Orzechowski of Trinity mixes up Rye Humor for Theresa Andersson.

OFFBEAT EATS

Pete Fountain

LUCKY LIKE THAT

Reggie Scanlan’s off the road but not off the stage.

EAR SAY

AARON NEVILLE’S POETRY

REWIND

Eric Krasno and the New York/New Orleans connection.

FEELING BRAVE

REVIEWS

Marc Broussard is recreating the spirit of soul.

Guy Gelso of Zebra is In the Spot at Legacy Kitchen and Peter Thriffiley reviews McClure’s Barbecue. Aaron Neville, Luke Winslow-King, New Orleans Suspects, Smoky Greenwell, Paul Sanchez, Bruce Daigrepont, the Cookers, Kayla Woodson and more.

Magnetic Ear attracts a new crowd.

BAYOU SOUL

Restaurants offering boutique oysters are creating a new raw oyster cult.

IN THE SPIRIT

Jo “Cool” Davis

OBITUARY

BEYOND THE GULF Page 36

Mannie Fresh hits rewind on Juvenile’s 1997 album Solja Rags, which he produced for Cash Money records.

LISTINGS

BACKTALK with Aaron Neville

By Kalamu Ya Salaam, March 1990 Eric Krasno turned much of Aaron Neville’s poetry into song. In our 1990 interview, Kalamu Ya Salaam asked Aaron Neville about writing poetry: “That’s right, I write poetry, but I haven’t had any of it published yet. Well actually, ‘Yellow Moon’ is one of my poems… I write them as poems, but I also have a rhythm in mind.” For more, this issue can be purchased at offbeat.com/ issues/march-1990/.

Corinne Bailey Rae’s new power.

www.OFFBEAT.com

SEPTEMBER 2016

Letters

“Of course there’s no way to convey the urine/beer/crawfish/patchouli smell of the place and/or the way your shoes will stick everywhere you walk!” —Tom Sacco, Des Moines, Iowa

Louisiana Music, Food & Culture

September 2016 Volume 29, Number 10 Publisher and Editor-in-Chief Jan V. Ramsey, janramsey@offbeat.com Managing Editor Joseph L. Irrera, josephirrera@offbeat.com Consulting Editor John Swenson

Follow Your NOLA The following letter is in response to Sam D’Arcangelo’s web post, “’Follow Your NOLA’ Takes Over a New York City Subway Station,” talking about the New Orleans Tourism Marketing Corporation’s New York marketing campaign. I’ve traveled to NOLA 20 (?) times. I’m a white guy but I have a way of blending where I travel (usually alone). I’ve even been stopped on the street in the Quarter and asked for directions. But these ads seem really homogenized (white!) to me. Of course there’s no way to convey the urine/beer/crawfish/patchouli smell of the place and/or the way your shoes will stick everywhere you walk! I’m also a 35-year vet of ad copywriting. What seems to be missing is the mascot—the gator mentioned in the ads… —Tom Sacco, Des Moines, Iowa

Michael James Joseph I cannot begin to describe the loss to the Joseph family, which I can only claim to be part of by their love and inclusion of myself and so many others in Michael’s world of friends. I am proud and happy to call him brother and now heartbroken for his passing, and for the grief of his parents and family. A great musician and composer, seeker of understanding, knowledge and wisdom, Mikey Joe will be remembered as the kindest, gentlest man amongst us, and exemplified the meaning of “brother” to all who knew him. —Bob Cleary, New Orleans, Louisiana For us, he’ll always be just around the next corner—with a sly grin, his bowler hat and his horn, ready to play on. Fair winds, following seas and full tankards, mate! —John Swallow, New Orleans, Louisiana

Dwindling Resources I am writing to share some thoughts regarding your [Jan Ramsey] recent editorial [Mojo Mouth] in the August issue entitled “Dwindling Resources.” The majority of my

professional “day gig” career has been in areas of media content development and advertising and public relations. My business and the relevance of my skill set have also been reduced significantly by the evolving technologies, and I believe most people on the creative side can say the same. I have been a supporter of and contributor to WWOZ since 1981. The station and its mission was the most powerful incentive in the production of an album of my life’s work—knowing that it would receive some local airplay, regardless of its content or lack of appeal to a more commercial audience. The station provides this incentive to local artists, “anchors” (along with OffBeat) our music scene, and I truly believe is a huge factor in the recent influx of musicians (for better or worse) that we have experienced since Katrina. The daily Livewire broadcast is tops on my list of recommendations to music enthusiasts coming to the city. I believe WWOZ is missing one of its greatest opportunities to generate financial support that perhaps the new regime there might consider if it does not break the rules for a non-profit organization. If there were programming during the day (especially on Saturdays, and I know that the current Saturday shows would be very difficult to move or replace) that featured the music of artists appearing at venues the same night, I believe that the venues could be convinced to provide significant and consistent financial support to this effort, and to the continued production of the Livewire music calendar. Just a tune or two—and maybe a short prerecorded interview with the artist that would run to preview that night’s shows. The show hosts are already gracious and generous to have artists make live appearances to promote shows, but these appearances are limited and most often arranged by the artists themselves. I am sure that many of the music venues in town already support the station, but a consistent and ongoing flow of support from them is waiting to be developed. —Dave Ferrato, 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.

SEPTEMBER 2016

Food Editor Elsa Hahne, elsahahne@offbeat.com Listings Editor Katie Walenter, listings@offbeat.com Contributors Frank Etheridge, Robert Fontenot, Elsa Hahne, Jeff Hannusch, Holly Hobbs, Tom McDermott, Amanda Mester, Brett Milano, Jennifer Odell, John Swenson, Peter Thriffiley, Dan Willging, John Wirt, Geraldine Wyckoff Cover Elsa Hahne (photo), Asia Strong (make-up) Art Director/Food Editor Elsa Hahne, elsahahne@offbeat.com Web Editor Sam D'Arcangelo, sam@offbeat.com Web Associate Writer Mary Graci, mary@offbeat.com Copy Editor Theo Schell-Lambert, theo@offbeat.com Advertising Sales Jennifer Forbes, jennifer@offbeat.com Camille A. Ramsey, camille@offbeat.com Carver Rayburn, carver@offbeat.com Advertising Design PressWorks, 504-944-4300 Business Manager Joseph L. Irrera Interns Natalie Barman, Jasmine Bethune, Emma Dugas, Justin Gordon, Ian Monroe 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 © 2016, 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

Nervine

By Jan Ramsey

’m always nervous this time of year because we’re now approaching the so-called “heart” of the annual hurricane season. Everyone in New Orleans who lived through Katrina has the same feelings that I do, I would venture to guess. The newcomers who haven’t been in New Orleans during a run-of-the-mill (if there is such a thing) hurricane anticipatory period probably can’t relate. I’ve lived and worked in this city for the majority of my life, and even when I was a little girl, I can remember the anxiety in the air when the end of the summer rolled around. We went through Hurricane Betsy, and the big hackberry tree in front of our house fell on the

SEPTEMBER 2016

roof, but no one got hurt. We didn’t flood; our house was close to the river, but we waded through a lot of water for a couple of days (back then kids played outside in the street in the neighborhoods until the sun went down—and sometimes after—so we had fun getting good and wet and dirty). Betsy hit when I was a freshman in high school, and there were a lot of kids in my school who lived in St. Bernard Parish who weren’t as lucky as us. Their houses were severely flooded, and it was terrible to hear their stories about having no place to live. If you live in New Orleans, you’re going to face hurricane anxiety at some point. It’s just a fact; it’s part of your year, like Mardi Gras or Christmas. The local weather

reporters love hurricane season because it makes no difference what the other news of the day is: It’s their

It breaks my heart to realize that most of them had no clue they’d ever have to deal with terrible flooding. show, and they manage to ramp up the drama (and the fear) whenever they can. Joseph won’t watch the local weather when there’s a tropical storm that could threaten us; he says they use scare tactics, and I kind of agree with him. We’re leery enough as it is, people.

But at least we have some warning when a tropical storm or hurricane is imminent. Not so all the poor folk in Louisiana who experienced flooding from torrential rain and overtopping rivers that went down in the past couple of weeks. It breaks my heart to realize that most of them had no clue they’d ever have to deal with terrible flooding. It’s really devastating for those people who had no flood insurance. Brings back all those Katrina nightmares. I guess the moral of this story is that if you live in southern Louisiana, at some point your butt is going to be kicked by Mother Nature. Best to take it all philosophically. It’s an integral part of life that we deal with every single summer. Stay safe. O

www.OFFBEAT.com

FRESH

OffBeat.com

Five Questions with Rick Delaup

SWEET TWEETS Rick Delaup with Rita Alexander the Champagne Girl

ick Delaup fell in love with New Orleans’ mid-century burlesque culture, when clubs flourished on Bourbon Street and top-notch production was the industry standard. Wanting to restore classic burlesque for a modern-day city, he now spearheads the New Orleans Burlesque Festival, which takes place September 15–18. Also the brains behind Bustout Burlesque and Bad Girls of Burlesque— recurring events which take place at the House of Blues—Delaup is one of the city’s preeminent experts on the rich cultural history of this style of performance. How did you become involved with burlesque culture? I started working on a documentary about New Orleans burlesque. I got interested in doing that because I come from a film background, and I was interviewing a lot of the people who performed on Bourbon Street. What were the shows like? They had huge neon signs outside these clubs, and the dancers had a lot of glamour, like Hollywood stars. It was fun and creative, and had a lot of quality entertainment, and it wasn’t like that when I started going to Bourbon in the ’80s, so I wanted to see all of that come back. Can you tell us about the showcases at this year’s festival? There are going to be five different shows over the weekend. They’re all different and they all feature performers from all over the world. To get into the showcases, there’s an application process and we pick the top performers. It’s a real chance for people who live here to see what’s going on everywhere else. What else do folks have to look forward to this year? We have parties—free parties, open parties, closed parties, after parties—that give people a chance to mix and mingle with all of the glamorous ladies. We also bring in Rita Alexander—the Champagne Girl—who was a star on Bourbon Street in the ’50s and ’60s. She lives in Las Vegas now but comes to the festival every year and signs her old publicity photos, so that’s pretty cool. What’s the highlight of the festival, for you? The big highlight at the festival is the competition, where seven people from all over compete for the title of Queen of Burlesque. They perform with the accompaniment of a live jazz band. We have a celebrity panel of judges every year. —Amanda Mester

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@HarryConnickJR Want a best friend? #cleartheshelters @ctkmusic (Chris Thomas King) We are dry and ok. Fortunately, our neighborhood was spared. But there is devastation all around us. @BasinStRecords Everyone: If you didn’t flood this time consider yourself lucky and go buy flood insurance now. It’s not expensive. @JEMingledorff (Jason Mingledorff) James Brown has a number of songs where he seems to be obsessed with taking something to a bridge. @nolasuspects (New Orleans Suspects) Our good friends Beth James and Dave Malone have started a GoFundMe to raise money to help their neighbors clean... @jeffalbert No matter what, there is always something to learn. @SouthernbeLLSU When life gives you lemons... #LouisianaFlood

www.OFFBEAT.com

Photo: JOSHUA BRASTED

Yellow Claw at Lollapalooza

SOUNDCHECK

FRESH

OUT OF THE NORM

SEX SELLS

Jazz Underground

Local Novelty Stores Gear Up for Southern Decadence

hen a jazz series begins with an event entitled “Celebrating Coltrane,” it’s obviously on the right track. The Jazz Underground program, taking place at Loyola University’s Nunemaker Auditorium, consists of four unique shows. It kicks off on September 22, 2016, just one day before the late, great saxophone genius John Coltrane’s birthday, September 23, 1926. “To me that’s a very important show because he was so instrumental in my development and my whole perspective on music and on life period,” offers Tony Dagradi, who organizes the series and is a professor of jazz studies at Loyola. Dagradi will be joined by fellow saxophonists Derek Douget and Khari Allen Lee with each of the reedmen selecting tunes as their personal remembrances. The rhythm section, with pianist Michael Pellera, bassist Chris Severin and drummer Geoff Clapp, are up for the challenging Coltrane tribute as well. “His music became our music; our music became his music,” said piano giant McCoy Tyner in an interview several years ago. Tyner played and recorded with the legend during the saxophonist’s immensely creative years between 1960 and 1966 and is heard on some of Trane’s masterpieces including A Love Supreme and My Favorite Things. In keeping with Dagradi’s concept of putting together programs that are “out of the norm,” on October 27, Jazz Underground presents the extremely uncommon pairing of pianists Ellis Marsalis and David Torkanowsky. Just as the title of the excellent 1982 video states, “Piano Players Rarely Ever Play Together”—Marsalis and Torkanowsky have only performed face to face once before with Peter Martin switching in and out with the two of them. “I thought that it would be special to have them on a stage together,” Dagradi says, in something of an understatement. Though Marsalis and Torkanowsky differ stylistically, they do share a love of the spectrum of jazz. Each will sit at a grand piano—the instruments’ curves meld together like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle—to play off and with each other for a night of certainly memorable music. Looking forward, on November 17, Jazz Underground presents an evening of “All Ellington,” featuring Loyola’s impressive musical faculty. The last show of the season, the 2nd Annual New Orleans All Star Jam is on February 9, 2017. Featuring a myriad of this city’s finest jazz musicians, Dagradi looks to replicate what happens at a jam session in a concert setting. Dagradi wants to give a shout out to the community telling folks how wonderful Nunemaker Hall is as a venue for jazz. “It’s just one of the most pleasant places to hear music,” he declares, boasting its superior acoustic qualities. He also believes many people will appreciate the shows’ early 7:30 p.m. start times. —Geraldine Wyckoff

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o the uninitiated, the urethral probe illuminated in a display case inside Le Sex Shoppe requires explanation. A skinny, shiny silver metallic cylinder, its design holds the vibe of violence, with the look of a barbaric toothpick crossed with a syringe gone mad. Such a hot new item in the sinfully profitable sex-toy trade originated from “sounding” medical procedures that proved to pack quite the gratifying side-effect in patients. Still, the uninitiated need some hand-holding by the buoyant, informative Le Sex Shoppe manager, JJ Jenkins, who’s run the store for the nine months since it opened in the back of the Vapor Room. Jenkins, who has worked for its parent Herb Import Company for seven years, explains and then keeps her silent smile when asked: “You stick that up there?” This Labor Day Weekend will be the first Southern Decadence at Le Sex Shoppe, though Jenkins reports business was solid for Pride in early summer. “People wanted to adorn themselves for Pride,” Jenkins says. “It’s New Orleans; there’s a lot of parading around. So we sold a lot of masks. We had a lot of people coming in looking for leather goods, especially now that [former French Quarter shop] Second Skin is no longer.” Le Sex’s biggest sellers are “sexual stimulants” and lubes, with the store adhering to higher German/Swiss–standards, glycerin-based and paraben-free. The store also stocks Happy Kitten Rope, bondage rope made in jute, hemp and cotton by the New Orleans–based business. “We do go for high-end inventory and local vendors,” says Jenkins. “That’s just who we are and how we like to do business.” A steamy, glittering celebration of gay culture held annually since 1977, Decadence last year reported a record attendance above 180,000. “We’re not a sex shop,” Josh Duffy says of his store Bourbon Pride, located in the heart of the French Quarter’s fabled gay-friendly “Fruit Loop” and where a lot of the Decadence festivities center. “It’s a pride shop. And by pride I mean anything that helps boost your gay pride.” Approaching its fifth Decadence, Bourbon Pride carries “things to help you have sex, not sex things themselves,” Duffy says, noting that’s mostly lubes. The small, rainbow-bright shop is filled with T-shirts boasting everything from artful typography labels of “homeaux” and “lesbeaux” to one of Jesus declaring, “I said I hate figs.” Asked for his most absurd Decadence story, Duffy recalled: “This older guy came in wearing just black-leather chaps. He bends over the counter, spreads it wide, and invites anybody in. Like, gross. He cleared out the whole shop in a second. You save that for a bar. It’s not something for retail.” —Frank Etheridge www.OFFBEAT.com

FRESH

LOUIE LUDWIG

Blame It on the Storm

f you’ve lived in New Orleans your whole life, you’ve probably noticed that there have been three major tectonic shifts in the mainstream (i.e., white) culture of the city over the past century, and we’re not talking about the face the tourism bureau puts forth to the world—you know, that “Big Easy” swampy misdirection that’s finally been reassigned to South Louisiana proper. In the early twentieth century, the city was thought of by outsiders as a sleepy, sweaty, sultry antebellum remnant, the era of mint juleps, slow drawls and Tennessee Williams plays. But after World War II that slowly began to be replaced with the “yat” culture of Irish and Italian immigrants, the suburban-era New Orleans that you probably remember from your childhood, the Crescent City of A Confederacy of Dunces, oil money and a French Quarter that slowly replaced sexy jazz with straight sex. Ever since Katrina, however, there’s been a completely unexpected diaspora. Call it The Big Indie: a lifestyle choice for young and middle-aged wanderers, many of whom came to the city to help save it after the storm and fell in love with its still-beating boho heart. Of course, as happens with these things, the hipster influx also indelibly wound up changing the city’s culture, often against its will. The city’s fierce belief in tradition is sometimes at odds with its open-door policy. And that’s where Louie Ludwig comes in. The little note that accompanied this single by long-time local singersongwriter Ludwig puckishly identifies it as “our national anthem,” and like so many of his songs, it deals with life in pre- and post-K New Orleans. That befits Louie, an unrepentant progressive who seems to still believe in folk music as a shared instrument of communication; his wry lefty wit marks him as sort of the New Easy’s Phil Ochs. In that tradition, he cleverly but pointedly sketches out everything that’s happened to the city culturally, covering a whole lot of ground in three short verses and a bridge and taking less than three minutes to take on gentrification, the rising cost of living, charter schools, the death of Charity, even Airbnb and what it does to historic, wonderfully ratty old neighborhoods like the Bywater. (He even manages to get in a dig at people who are triggered by the very name Katrina: “I feel so sorry for women born with that name.”) While it should be noted that he’s already gone on record as being okay with the invasion of the chill in his ironic redneck anthem “Let’s All Hate on the Hipsters”—“We didn’t drink no Ketel and tonic/ Didn’t say things all ironic/ Not that we’d remember anyway”—this new song, again ironically scored with nothing but jazzy guitar and trumpet, shines a cold light on how folks use tragedies to advance their own little agendas, intentionally or otherwise. New Orleans isn’t protected by any magic culture defense system: Like any city, it’s simply the sum of a bunch of people, and while you can bring the business (and those tourists) back, the vibes can change forever. For better or for worse? That remains to be seen, but Ludwig’s characterization of twentyfirst century New Orleans as “Brooklyn South” feels a little too reductive. With a city this welcoming, you never know what you’re going to end up with. —Robert Fontenot

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HORN SECTION

New Orleans Brass Lifts Country Crooner Sturgill Simpson

“H

e recorded [A Sailor’s Guide to Earth] with horns and then wanted his own guys to hit the road with,” saxophonist Brad Walker explains of sudden megawatt star Sturgill Simpson and his smash sophomore album. “He didn’t want a Nashville horn section; he specifically wanted a New Orleans horn section. His wife went to Tulane and he’s come down here to hang out a lot. So he knows this is where you come to get a good horn section that can do the type of loose and dirty shit he’s looking for.” With years of playing New Orleans, from Bourbon Street’s Swamp Room to Tipitina’s, Walker explains that Simpson contacted him based on a recommendation from a mutual connection. “I get a text from Sturgill. Very humble. He said, ‘Hey I’m a Nashville songwriter and looking for a very New Orleans horn section to do a world tour. Is that something you’d be interested in?’ “Over the next few months, we went through this process and finally Sturgill says to me, ‘It’s time to turn it loose. Get the guys you enjoy making music with, guys you enjoying hanging out with, and let’s go.’” Walker recruited local players Scott Frock (King James and the Special Men, Delfeayo Marsalis), who he calls “the trumpet specialist in New Orleans,” and Jon Ramm of Magnetic Ear: “a great trombone player, solid musician, great ear, great dude to hang out with.” Walker states, “Sturgill has got all these amazing songs he’s written, but he’s not afraid to change them up and take chances. Like ‘A Little Light’ [from Simpson’s 2014 breakthrough album, Metamodern Sounds in Country Music]—that tune now has a breakdown in the middle where we apply a funky New Orleans streetbeat.” The capacity in Simpson’s catalogue for his horn section to shine arrived on “The Late Show with Jimmy Fallon” on July 28, when the band performed “All Around You,” with Walker framed perfectly by the camera as he blasted the intro to the song’s instrumental climax. “That was the coolest thing I’ve ever done in my musical career,” Walker explains by phone the following day. “It was nerve-racking. When they told me that was the song we were going to play, a sax-featured song, I was just like… ” Walker puts the high-profile gig with Simpson into perspective. “The coolest thing about all this is that we get a chance to represent what, to me, is the greatest music city in the world on a national and international stage with a really compelling artist. It’s a great honor to represent the music of this great city. We take it very seriously and represent it in the truest way we can.” Sturgill Simpson plays the Saenger Theatre on Friday, September 9. —Frank Etheridge www.OFFBEAT.com

IN MEMORIAM

Jo “Cool” Davis (1953–2016)

ospel singer, performer and Central City’s pride and joy Jo “Cool” Davis passed away at his home after coming back from the hospital on Friday, August 5, 2016. He was 63 and had been in poor health for the last several years. Davis suffered from diabetes and lost a leg to the disease 10 years ago. Davis was a native and resident of Central City and was a fixture at Tipitina’s, where he worked as a doorman for many years. “Jo was everybody’s buddy at the back door of Tip’s,” said Jan Ramsey, OffBeat Publisher. “He used to let me and my friends move up to the front of the stage during concerts by letting us in the side door. Gotta love Jo ‘Cool’!” He was involved in trying to revive the Dew Drop Inn with several benefit concerts he organized in the 1990s. The December 1999 cover of OffBeat featured Davis. Talking about gospel music, Davis made these comments: “When people say gospel music, they automatically think it means church. No, church is for worship. The ministers really were against gospel music for artists to get out and develop it. Gospel music and spiritual music are not the same. It’s more like they’re all first cousins. You have your church music—your anthems and hymns you sing in church. Then you have your guys like Al Green and the Mighty Clouds of Joy who went out and promoted gospel music. The true meaning of gospel music is good news from heaven and it’s about Jesus Christ.” Davis was often told he sounded like Sam Cooke. “Rev. Herman Brown told me a long time ago that I had the flavor of Sam Cooke but what people don’t understand is that I didn’t get into Sam Cooke singing gospel until I was in my forties. Deacon John told me one

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time, ‘You need to get into that Sam Cooke.’ So Fred LeBlanc of Cowboy Mouth made me a tape with Sam Cooke live and I said, ‘Man, this blows me away!’” A mainstay at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival’s gospel tent, Davis talked about being the first to perform gospel in nightclubs. “In my opinion, I took gospel further than [Andraé] Crouch and [Thomas] Dorsey because the fact is I took it into the clubs. You’ve got to understand something about New Orleans: It’s not a religious city. It’s

a partying city. You’ve got to put gospel into that band thing and they’ll pay attention to it.” Commenting on how he got his name Jo “Cool” Davis: “I always sang gospel but I also sang rhythm and blues with a group called Cool Enterprises. And they said, ‘You know something about you—you’re cool. You don’t jump. You can move a crowd by just standing there. You’re Jo Cool.’” Jo “Cool” Davis, with then–House of Blues talent booker Sonny Schneidau, started the popular House of Blues

Gospel Brunches every Sunday. Remembering Jo “Cool,” Sonny offered these comments: “‘Yeah, yeah, yeah... Alright, alright!’ That was Jo ‘Cool’ Davis. Always positive, always smiling, and unmistakably Jo. I met him when he started at Tipitina’s in 1982, a few years after we opened the club. He and I spent thousands of great nights together in the trenches. Jo wore many hats through the years… doorman, performer, emcee and promoter to name a few. He helped to give that building a face, a personality, a soul. There was never a better club doorman. Gracious, knowledgeable and welcoming, yet able to handle a sticky situation with ease. I pitied the drunken fool who crossed the line and found the sidewalk with Jo’s assistance! It was on my watch as Talent Buyer at Tip’s that he built the Holiday Gospel Extravaganza into a cherished annual event. When I moved to HOB, and was tasked with launching a weekly Gospel Brunch, there was only one man to call. Jo helped to program and co-hosted it for over two decades. His contributions were many and the lives he touched in a positive way are countless. Above all, he was a kind and generous man, always willing to help and give his time, a loving family man, a fun guy who relished a good laugh, and a tireless advocate for New Orleans, its culture and gospel music. Jo had a heart of gold. I will miss him a lot. He was Cool.” A funeral service was held at Trinity Episcopal Church on August 13. Davis is survived by his wife Evelyn, his daughter Charlene and his twin brother George. —Ed. www.OFFBEAT.com

IN MEMORIAM

Pete Fountain (1930–2016)

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Photo: ELSA HAHNE

ew Orleans clarinetist Pete Fountain passed away from heart failure on August 6, 2016. He was 86. Peter Dewey LaFontaine, Jr., was born in New Orleans on July 3, 1930. During his lifetime he played the clarinet on national television; for presidents and the Pope; and every Mardi Gras, accompanied by his Half-Fast Walking Club, for the entire populace of his hometown. He performed on over 100 recordings, including three gold albums. For 13 consecutive years, the readers of Playboy voted him the world’s top clarinetist and he was the personal favorite of both Lawrence Welk (who gave Pete his first national break) and Johnny Carson (who featured Pete countless times on his television show). More than any other musician, Pete Fountain was the soul of New Orleans, the essence of what makes this quirky place the greatest spot on earth. OffBeat Publisher Jan Ramsey interviewed Pete Fountain in 1991: “Pete, if nothing else, is downright lovable, all five feet five of him. He laughs as he talks, he’s got a humor that’s infectious; he is, as they say, a hoot… a true son of the city that he’s loved and lived in most of his life; a raconteur and, most of all, a consummate performer and artist who lives life for love of his music.” When asked where he grew up: “I was what you might call a ‘Firecracker Baby.’ I’d have been born on the Fourth of July, but my mother says the doctor wanted to go play golf, so she pushed me out a day early. I grew up on White Street between Dumaine and St. Ann around Orleans near [Bayou] St. John. I went to McDonough 28, then to Warren Easton, ’cause they were nearby and I used to walk to school. My daddy was

a truck driver for Dixie Brewery for 35 years. I could have taken over his route when he retired, but I wanted to play music. From Warren Easton High School I went to the ‘Conservatory of Bourbon Street.’ I was in my senior year at Warren Easton, ready to graduate, and working down on Bourbon Street every night.” How Fountain got interested in music: “I was eight, almost nine years old, and I had weak lungs. It sounds like one of those far-out stories, but it was doctor’s orders to give me a wind instrument, because my parents used to take me to the country—Biloxi, since that’s where my dad’s from and a lot of my aunts live there—just to breathe the country air to try to build up my lungs. I was a real anemic, sickly, skinny kid. And look at me now!” [laughs] Asked about how the Half-Fast Walking Club came about: “When we moved back to New Orleans in 1960 from California, we put together about ten couples and we all walked from around Audubon

Park to Canal Street. I’ve always wanted to do a walking corner club, like the Buzzards. So we put this thing together, and we walked all the way to Canal Street, and the guys were feelin’, I guess, too good, so we wanted to take a cab or the streetcar home, and the girls wanted to walk back. And that’s when we figured they had more stamina than we did. So the next year, we got rid of ’em! [laughs] “My wife, she’s the one that named the club. She said ‘What you going to call it? It’s put together in such a half-assed way…’ And I said, ‘You just called it, it’s the Half-Fast Walking Club.’ So that was it, and it’s just been a fun thing. It’s part of New Orleans now, it’s been 30 years we been walkin’…” Asked if he would do anything else, other than being a musician, what it would be: “Maybe I’d be a crazy artist. I could be a bum too. Definitely if I hadn’t gotten married, I’d be a bum, ’cause I’d take my clarinet and just play for food. [laughing] It’s in my will, it’s

gonna be on my epitaph: ‘Here lies Pete, with his dancin’ feet, who loved to live, and lived to eat. Then, right at the bottom… What the hell are you lookin’ at?’” Fountain received OffBeat’s Best of the Beat Lifetime Achievement Award in 2001, which was celebrated in our February Mardi Gras 2002 issue. At the time OffBeat asked Pete Fountain to “elucidate some of the superlatives he’s encountered in his seven decades of existence.” His responses: The best clarinetist you ever heard? “Benny Goodman and Irving Fazola.” Best trumpet player? “Al Hirt and Louis Armstrong.” Best singer? “Fran Warren, Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald.” Best song? “Moonglow.” The best roast beef po-boy? “Parkway Bakery.” The best meal? “At the White House.” The best party you ever attended? “They’re all good.” The best parade you were ever in? “In 1980, when I was Bacchus.” The best Mardi Gras costume you ever saw? “A guy nude with a leaf. That was funny to me and he got away with it. It was www.OFFBEAT.com

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“My wife, she’s the one that named the club. She said ‘What you going to call it? It’s put together in such a half-assed way…’ And I said, ‘You just called it, it’s the Half-Fast Walking Club.’” a very small leaf.” What’s the most beautiful sight you’ve ever seen? “The first time I saw my wife, Beverly, at the El Morocco Club on Bourbon Street. Her mother and dad brought her in. They’d just come from a ball and she was in a white dress. It’s funny how things hit you. It hit me.” After losing practically everything to Hurricane Katrina, undergoing heart surgery and a stroke, Fountain retired in April 2014. His protégé, clarinetist Tim Laughlin, wrote an open letter to Pete Fountain that was published in OffBeat’s August 2014 issue: “We all have our favorite Pete Fountain moments. Some only met you once. That was theirs. Others recall Lenfant’s in the ’50s with the Basin Street Six, or the ’60s and ’70s at your clubs on Bourbon Street. Of course, millions watched religiously during your two years with Lawrence Welk. Then there was your club at the Hilton Riverside Hotel, where a fresh-faced clarinet player met you on his 17th birthday. How about Mardi Gras Day—your day? The Tonight Show. French Quarter Fest, with Connie Jones’ All-Stars. Jazz Fest, since day one at Congo Square in 1968. Personally, I have too many; but if I had to choose, my favorite Pete moments were off the bandstand, with my good friend. Many see you as the always-swinging New Orleans clarinet player on stage, with Pouilly-Fuissé in his blood. Just a lucky few know you as that humble, funny, generous and loving man. I am blessed to be one of them. I am reminded of a movie quote that asks two important questions when looking back at one’s life: Have you experienced joy in your life? Has your life brought joy to www.OFFBEAT.com

others? Naturally, anyone who has heard you perform or knows you, or even met you once, can easily answer the latter. For the former, it is obvious that your wife Beverly, your children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and your many friends have given you endless joy. Katrina did a real number on us. When I spoke to you shortly after the storm, I heard the expected sadness in your voice. What I did not hear was any anger, bitterness or resentment, and I never forgot that. You not only lost a home you loved but you lost so many memories of a remarkable musical life. Fazola’s Albert System clarinet, personalized photos from Sinatra, Armstrong and Johnny Carson were ‘in the bay,’ as you would often say. My anguish was watching elders having to go through this, and having to start over. Many would have just given up, and did. Not Pete Fountain. You kept performing. You needed to perform and we needed to hear you. Hearing Pete Fountain play made us feel normal again. The clarinet did not define you the man, but it did help define New Orleans. In a moment in time when so much was taken from you, Katrina could not wash away your resolve. Thank you. The late, great clarinetist Kenny Davern once told me, ‘Pete is one of those clarinetists I could pick out of the crowd. That big, round sound. And I always knew where [beat] one was.’ Kenny nailed it. At age nine you began your own musical journey, taking the best from Fazola, Eddie Miller, Goodman, Bechet and others, and created your own sound and style, easily picked out of a crowd. That is why Goodman loved your playing. The first time I heard you on the radio in 1973,

I didn’t even know your name or that you were famous. I just knew what I heard drew me in to listen. Every note had a smile on it. It taught others and me not to copy but to create our own sound, something no one could take away from us. You didn’t follow trends. You were the trend. Your music had no agenda. It was all about joy. Pops recorded pop songs of the day and so did you. You created something so unique and wonderful: the Pete Fountain sound. Defining versions of ‘Just a Closer Walk,’ ‘Basin Street,’ ‘While We Danced at the Mardi Gras,’ ‘South Rampart Street Parade’ and many others, were and will be enjoyed by countless fans for a long time. During the ’80s and ’90s, you were likely New Orleans’ best ambassador. Your 59 total Tonight Show appearances were a reminder to the rest of the country how unique your town was. You made us proud to be from New Orleans. Since I was a teenager your club and office were always open for me to visit. You always had time to talk to me, every time asking if I needed reeds. Regardless, I always said yes and went home with a box in each pocket, looking forward to showing them off in band class. Recalling even if someone famous was backstage with you, you always pulled me over and told them, ‘Hey, meet a good clarinet player. This is Tim.’ You never introduced me as your protégé. You never had one. You treated me as a peer, even if I wasn’t. Not many folks out there know that in 1952 Louis Armstrong wanted you to join his All-Stars to replace Barney Bigard. You said you couldn’t because you had just gotten married and were still in the National Guard. When I

asked why that story was not in your book, you simply said you were asked to join a lot of bands. Not many know you were ‘42 Across’ in a nationally syndicated newspaper crossword puzzle, or were mentioned in a skit on Saturday Night Live in the ’90s, or were the answer/question ‘Who is Pete Fountain?’ on a Jeopardy clue. Remember—clarinet players don’t retire, they just keep looking for the perfect reed.” When Tim Laughlin heard that Fountain passed away he communicated this to OffBeat: “The music world has lost a faithful steward. The jazz world has lost a most unique storyteller. I lost a dear friend. Heaven now celebrates another joyful soul for their own. Humanity is eternally richer for the life of Pete Fountain.” OffBeat subscriber Robert Ingram emailed OffBeat: “As for many, I had my first introduction to New Orleans sounds through him—on the Lawrence Welk shows with my parents and on Johnny Carson.” Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards had these comments: “Mr. Fountain and his clarinet filled our streets, homes and hearts with music and joy. Throughout his extensive career, Mr. Fountain was always a proud ambassador for the City of New Orleans. Although he will be greatly missed, his warm and cheery disposition will live on in the music he left behind.” A funeral service was held at St. Louis Cathedral on August 17 and was followed by a jazz funeral. Fountain is survived by his wife, Beverly, and his three children, six grandchildren and five greatgrandchildren. —Ed. SEPTEMBER 2016

REGGIE SCANLAN

Lucky Like That Photo: ELSA HAHNE

Reggie Scanlan is off the road, but not off the stage.

igs keep coming for Reggie Scanlan. The veteran New Orleans bassist’s resume includes his recently, amiably ended seven years with the New Orleans Suspects. Back in 2011, the Suspects gave Scanlan a happy landing spot when he and his fellow road warriors in the Radiators ended their 33 1/3–year run. Scanlan’s current gigs include Monkey Ranch, a 1990s band that he, Suspects member “Mean” Willie Green, former Radiator Dave Malone and keyboardist John Gros revived following a 15-year hiatus. Another local supergroup, the new Monkey Ranch also features former Radiator guitarist Camile Baudoin.

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Despite his departure from the New Orleans Suspects in the spring of 2016 due to health issues, Scanlan continues to perform locally and nationally. His seamless moves from gig-to-gig, he’ll tell you, are simply good timing. “I’ve been extraordinarily lucky,” Scanlan said at the home he shares with his wife, Sally, and their three elegant Afghan hounds. “A lot of guys, they play rings around me, but they’re never in the right place, at the right time. Me, I’m the last guy standing.” Scanlan’s bass-playing career began when he was a Redemptorist High School student in a Creedence Clearwater Revival By John Wirt

tribute band. He soon worked with piano genius James Booker and, during the mid-1970s, he backed many of his blues heroes in the San Francisco Bay Area. In New Orleans, before and during the Radiators, Scanlan also appeared alongside classic New Orleans names Professor Longhair, Earl King, Eddie Bo and Snooks Eaglin. In 2016, Scanlan, 64, is still standing after four years of cancer battles. In March 2012, Dr. John Bolton performed the Whipple procedure on Scanlan, removing his pancreas, gallbladder and part of his duodenum. Succeeding procedures included radiation treatment in January 2016 to dissolve a tumor

off the musician’s spine. Because of the tumor and the bone damage both it and the radiation caused, Scanlan missed many shows with the New Orleans Suspects in 2015 and 2016, including OffBeat’s Lifetime Achievement Award presentation for the Radiators in January 2016. Scanlan’s absence on OffBeat’s January cover did not go unnoticed. His illness also affected the recording of the fourth New Orleans Suspects album, Kaleidoscoped. “The sessions started very relaxed, like we’ve typically done,” Suspects guitarist Jake Eckert said. “And then it came to a screeching halt because of Reggie’s health.” www.OFFBEAT.com

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“The Radiators, on a lot of different levels, was a fluke... Our rapport was really amazing from the first day, but we figured if we could stay together six months, pay our rent during that time, that was being successful.”

Not knowing what the future held, Kaleidoscoped co-producers Eckert and Jeff Watkins (the Suspects’ saxophonist) hoped to bring Scanlan back to the studio as soon as possible. Shortly before Jazz Fest, Scanlan returned to Eckert’s Rhythm Shack Studio to finish Kaleidoscoped. “We had to carry Reggie’s bass for him and sit him down in the chair,” Eckert said. “He wasn’t in his strongest physical condition. Amazingly enough, he played his ass off. It was emotional and it had a lot of meaning. We got in and hammered it out.” Kaleidoscoped will be released September 16. The band has scheduled album release shows October 14 and 15 at the Maple Leaf Bar. Scanlan left the Suspects in the spring following a round of farewell dates including Jazz Fest. His doctors at Ochsner Medical Center in Kenner insisted he give up the band’s long road trips. “My doctors are like, ‘You can’t do that anymore. It’s gonna kill you. You don’t sleep. You don’t eat what you’re supposed to eat. What happens when you’re in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of night, and something happens?’ Whatever my doctors tell me, I do it—because they’ve been right all along. But traveling in a van, that’s really the only thing I’ve retired from.” Working with Scanlan in the Suspects, Watkins said, was a joy. “When you throw five, six, eight personalities together, that’s often times way harder than the music. But Reggie is a friend and a good person. I’ll miss him for that.” Scanlan the musician, Watkins said, “thinks like a bass player, as opposed to someone who wants to lead the band from the bottom up. That makes everybody else’s job easier.”

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Basic Bass Scanlan first picked up a bass after not getting far with guitar, when some fellow Redemptorist students needed a bass player for their Creedence tribute band. They gave Scanlan an instrument and showed him how to play their repertoire. The CCR songs were a great way to learn the fundamentals. And Scanlan also understood bass more than he’d ever understood guitar. Still young and inexperienced, Scanlan performed with one of New Orleans’ legendary pianists, James Booker. The virtuosic Booker veered unpredictably from Mozart to Frank Sinatra to many spots between. It was a “kaleidoscopic” experience, Scanlan said. In 1975, Scanlan and his future wife, Sally, moved to the San Francisco Bay Area so she could attend the California College of the Arts. Scanlan knew no one there, but a friend, the late New Orleans music historian Tad Jones, provided a local blues promoter’s phone number. Scanlan’s Bay Area boss men included Charles Brown, Jimmy McCracklin and transplanted Louisiana and Texas bluesmen Matthew “Boogie Jake” Jacobs and Cleveland “Schoolboy Cleve” White. “I was awed by them,” the bassist said. “Next to Chicago, the Bay Area was probably the biggest blues scene in the country.” The West Coast blues artists he worked with preferred Scanlan’s old-school bass playing to the slap-bass style then emerging in the Bay Area. “So, immediately, I was working all the time,” he said. They also liked the young bass player’s professionalism. “You’re working for a guy,” Scanlan explained. “You do what he

wants. It’s not about whatever statement you want to make on your instrument. But if you can put some of yourself in it while you’re doing that, great.” The West Coast was an adventure for Scanlan. “You’d be playing at clubs where people were shooting each other and stabbing each other,” he said. “It was so crazy.”

A Call From Home In January 1977, Professor Longhair, then ascending in popularity following years of obscurity, phoned Scanlan in California. A tape of a jam session Scanlan participated in with Longhair at Jazz Fest producer-director Quint Davis’ house inspired the call. “Fess said, ‘Hey, look, man. My bass player’s leaving. I was listening to that tape. I like some of that stuff. You wanna be in the band?’” Scanlan was thrilled. “To me that was like getting a call from the Rolling Stones,” he said. “I couldn’t imagine a higher echelon guy calling me up. I was on the next plane to New Orleans.” Scanlan loved every minute of his year with Longhair. “I still miss him,” the bassist said. “He treated his band great. He was fair.” Longhair was a generous spirit, too. “I’d go to his house sometimes and he’d have all kinds of people, who didn’t have a place, staying with him. Fess believed in helping people.” Scanlan knew the good times with Longhair couldn’t last. When Allison Miner, a previous manager of Longhair’s, returned to the job, she fired the whole band, including the great saxophonist David Lastie. The band played its last date with Longhair on January 28, 1978. “It was low-rent move on Allison Miner’s part, but that’s the politics

of music,” Scanlan said without bitterness. “As a sideman, you really don’t expect to spend your whole life with somebody. Gigs come and go. You get as much as you can out of them when you’re having them, and then something else is happening.” In another example of good timing, the same day Scanlan played that last show with Longhair, he joined a Saturday afternoon jam session with singer, songwriter and keyboardist Ed Volker, singer-guitarist Dave Malone, guitarist Camile Baudoin and drummer Frank Bua—the future Radiators. “We figured we’d go over to Ed’s place and play a couple of blues tunes, drink some beer, have a nice afternoon,” Scanlan said. “As it turned out, it was a five-hour marathon. We stopped and were like, ‘Wait a minute. This is something different.’” Volker proposed the musicians regroup a few days later. If they could successfully learn his original song, “Red Dress,” Volker said, they should form a band. The following Monday, they learned “Red Dress” in about 30 minutes. “From that point on we didn’t look back,” Scanlan said. “We didn’t look forward, either.” For the next 33 years, the Radiators toured constantly. They released some two dozen albums. They even signed with a major record label, Epic. “The Radiators, on a lot of different levels, was a fluke,” Scanlan said. “Our rapport was really amazing from the first day, but we figured if we could stay together six months, pay our rent during that time, that was being successful.” “In the beginning, we put so much time into rehearsing and going through songs,” Scanlan said. “It was so busy. I didn’t www.OFFBEAT.com

really have time to think about, ‘Wow, I wish I was still in Fess’ band.’ I drew from that experience and treasured it, but there was too much music out there to explore.” The Radiators used the Grateful Dead as a business model. The band formed its own recording, publishing and merchandising companies. “We started them out of survival mode, because we figured nobody else would be interested,” Scanlan said. “We dismissed whatever the music world was and took our own path.” In a business characterized by temporariness, the Radiators endured for decades. And like the Grateful Dead, they developed a community-style following. “We went through periods where I didn’t think we were going to stay together,” Scanlan said. “But the band always won out over whatever anybody’s personal issues were. That’s how we operated the entire time.” In 2011, the Radiators finally reached the end of the longest gig any of them would ever have. Volker, then 62, was weary of the wear and hassle of traveling. “Ed felt like he didn’t have time to write, time to have a life,” Scanlan said. The Radiators bowed out with a six-month goodbye tour. “When it ended,” Scanlan said, “on some levels, it was like, ‘Jeez, I’m not gonna see a lot of friends anymore if I’m not traveling. I’m gonna miss playing these songs.’ At the same time, and I can’t speak for anybody else, I already had a band ready to roll. Two weeks later, I was on the road with the New Orleans Suspects. So, again, it was seamless.” It took serious illness to separate Scanlan from the Suspects. In November 2015, he told his bandmates about the tumor on his spine. With his www.OFFBEAT.com

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blessing, they opted to keep the band Suspects going. “We’d done hundreds of gigs all over the country,” Eckert said. “We’d gained all of these fans and finished our fourth album. A lot of serendipitous, positive things were happening. And Reggie’s point was do whatever you need to do, but make sure you keep the train rolling.” Scanlan will appear at the Suspects’ album release shows October 14 and 15 at the Maple Leaf Bar. Meanwhile, Charlie Wooton, former bassist with Royal Southern Brotherhood, is his official replacement. “Reggie plays the hell out the bass,” Eckert said. “Reggie has his style and nobody does it better. But Charlie’s very talented and ambitious. Everybody in the Suspects, each of us could be a band leader. It’ll be interesting to have Charlie, another strong musical personality, who can drive the bus.” “If it wouldn’t have been for the health issues, I’d probably still be doing it,” Scanlan said. “But now I’m involved in other stuff.” Along with Monkey Ranch, Scanlan’s post-Suspects projects include Bassonic, featuring bassist Albey Balgochian, spoken word performer Jane Grenier and drummer Raymond Weber. “Getting the Rads was lucky,” Scanlan said. “When the Rads broke up, the Suspects were there. When one thing ended, there was something else, just waiting there to be worked on. I’ve always been lucky like that.” O The New Orleans Suspects will play album-release shows for Kaleidoscoped (to be released September 16) on October 14 and 15 at the Maple Leaf Bar. SEPTEMBER 2016

MAGNETIC EAR

Ear Say Photo: ELSA HAHNE

Magnetic Ear attracts a new crowd.

Magnetic Ear at Vaughan’s, the night they recorded their new album, Live at Vaughan’s with Earl Scioneaux, far left.

axophonist Martin Krusche is sitting at the dining room table in his Ninth Ward home alongside saxophonist Dan Oestreicher, trombonists Wes Anderson IV and Jon Ramm-Gramenz, tuba player Steven Glenn and drummer Paul Thibodeaux, the musicians who these days comprise his long-running, ever-evolving band, Magnetic Ear. It’s early spring and they’ve just wrapped a rehearsal for the CD release party for their latest album, Live at Vaughan’s. Krusche, with some help from Oestreicher, is trying to pinpoint the elements that combined to make the recording feel like their strongest release to date.

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Topping the list is the fact that they cut the disc immediately after returning home from a tour in Germany during Oktoberfest, where their unusual sound—a jazz-based blend of brass band styles from New Orleans and Europe mixed with influences ranging from funk to West African music to Cuban music to rock—had the crowd rocking out on beer tent table tops and dancing along with the second line they led through the town of Oberammergau. “People lost their fucking minds,” says Oestreicher, who has some experience judging strong audience reactions given his years of work as Trombone By Jennifer Odell

Shorty’s baritone player. “It was like we were Justin Bieber or something.” Madonna might be a more apt pop star comparison, given Magnetic Ear’s propensity for reinventing itself. What began as an experimental jazz trio platform for Krusche’s notoriously knotty compositions has evolved over time into its own version of a New Orleans brass band. These days, the six-piece group toys with expectations about things like time and genre in complicated ways that push listeners to keep their ears and minds as flexible as their feet at a live show. The new disc moves gracefully between Cuban rhythms, ska

motifs, punched-up brass takes on Nirvana and Roger Lewis– inspired funk grooves. In most cases, those seemingly far-flung ideas are executed with a loose, New Orleans feel that belies the complexity of the compositions. In some cases, even the inspiration for the music is complex, like “Bavarian Second Line,” which Krusche wrote for the tour as a reimagined version of a German tune called “The Ox.” “We could not have made this record a year ago even. The trip to Germany was a big part of what helped us turn that corner,” says Krusche. Behind Krusche, a yellowed poster on the wall reflects how www.OFFBEAT.com

MAGNETIC EAR different Magnetic Ear was when it first began. Advertising the band’s “world premiere” circa 2004, the concert announcement lists just three musicians: Krusche on sax, Kirk Joseph on tuba and Kevin O’Day on drums. “It started as a trio but I was using harmonizer and effects to just bring sound to it and even second voices,” says the Munichborn saxophonist, who came to New Orleans via New York in 1995. “The harmonizer’s not smart so you can say, ‘Play major thirds,’ but you can also write something that works to a certain extent to that [effect]. Like ‘Handsome Ransom’ is a tune that’s made to work with the static interval. So I was looking for a horn section, basically, without having other horns. And then I started adding other horns, which first led me into the arranged jazz tune area.” Krusche speaks with a determined intensity that matches the way he plays and composes. Maybe it’s the passion that seems to drive him, but there’s also an almost poetic angle to whatever he’s expressing, be it a complicated chord progression or the mission statement for his sax repair business’ website. (“Imagine, for a moment, a saxophone without tone holes. Just mouthpiece and body…” the statement begins.) Krusche has a co-pilot of sorts in the New Orleans–born Oestreicher, whose raw delivery and quips often balance his bandmate’s seriousness like some kind of Munich/New Orleans yin and yang. “I remember how it happened,” Oestreicher says of Krusche’s move away from the harmonizer. “It specifically was a gig at Snug Harbor … right after Katrina, like 2006. And Martin had the music and Kirk couldn’t make the gig and he was like, ‘Well, I can’t get somebody as awesome as Kirk, so you can do the gig,” he says, laughing, “and then we’ll just get a regular tuba player who’s not famous.” In the years that followed, Krusche expanded the ensemble to a five-piece jazz combo with www.OFFBEAT.com

brass band leanings. That version of the group, which Krusche describes as “a jazz band with a tuba at the bottom,” appeared on 2009’s Live at the Saturn Bar. “We morphed more and more from there, and eventually moved into the brass band format for the first time,” Krusche recalls. “As soon as you’re a brass band where the paradigm’s not based on swing in the jazz sense but on

the groove, now you can play everywhere. It has everything to do with jazz in a way, historically, but it’s also totally not [jazz]. To be a brass band on tour now we’re out of the jazz ghetto.” The shift, which Oestreicher says he noticed on tour in 2009 when audiences began responding to shows like a gig at Berlin’s White Trash with Meschiya Lake differently than what the band was used to seeing.

“It was more of a party atmosphere,” he says, adding that the move away from straight jazz “was a natural progression.” They added a second trombone and Krusche discovered he could open things up, writing- and arranging-wise, with the new instrumentation in place. It allowed him to write as if he had a bigger ensemble to work with, though when they recorded 2010’s far-

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“I’m thrilled to see even under the most difficult circumstances, the music is holding it all together.”

reaching, guest-peppered Aliens of Extraordinary Ability, the core band remained capped at six players. “Over time, people come and go,” he says. “This particular cast, if it was up to me I would never change anything ever again. We grow together. We get better together.” They’ve had to. Krusche’s music is hard, even for Krusche, who likes the challenge of writing something as a way of forcing himself to set up and eventually reach a musical goal. “You write something you aspire [to be able to do] and now you’re forced to do it,” he says. “This is not where I’m coming from, I’m really coming from jazz. This whole business with the really up-tempo second line stuff that we’re doing right now, I had to grow into this. It requires a different set of skills than playing a good jazz solo.” His bandmates share his perspective on the thrill of learning by doing. Trombonist Anderson’s first gig with Magnetic Ear was at Bacchanal. “They had lead sheets and stuff but Magnetic Ear, it was always a mind-blowing thing. I was 20 or 21 and I’m looking over at Jeff [Albert] and he was showing me a couple of lines. I’m like, ‘Man, you gotta help me out. And he was like ‘Good luck!’” he says, earning smiles and knowing nods from the musicians around the table. “The vibe every time I came and played with Magnetic Ear stayed that way. I loved it because it was a chance for everybody to create—but within the foundation of something that was only grounded within the band. You have the sheets there but I had to depend on everybody to do their thing and be like, ‘OK, this is where I fit,’” he explains. Oestreicher adds that they’ve also all improved as individual musicians and as a band.

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“I used to get so exhausted from Magnetic Ear gigs, just mentally, physically. I would go home and be like, ‘I might have to quit, I just can’t do it, it’s beyond me.’ I look back on it now and it just doesn’t feel as hard and taxing.” When it came to making the leap from jazz ensemble to pocket brass band to the group’s current iteration, they employed the same ethic of setting a bar above their grasp and forcing themselves to reach, then surpass it. First, they wrote and recorded the studio album, Aliens, then used it as a learning tool from which they could spring forward again towards their next goal. “It takes a certain type of horn player to really be able to roll in this type of section where there’s no rhythm section player but then you learn a lot,” says Oestreicher. “You’re a better horn player because of it if you can adapt.” And they have adapted, both to the format and to the demands of playing music with sudden shifts in tempo, dynamics and feel. The band spent much of July performing the new album material for festival and club audiences in Germany and Switzerland—an experience that rejuvenated their communal spark and inspired Krusche to start thinking about new music and new gigs. Despite the amount of work and financial risk it took to book and manage the July tour, Krusche went into it with the same perspective he came home with: Magnetic Ear is truly at the top of its game in 2016. “As hard as [the tour] was, I’m thrilled to see even under the most difficult circumstances, the music is holding it all together,” he mused after returning to New Orleans this summer. “In those situations, you just say, ‘The music has to carry this.’ And it did.” O www.OFFBEAT.com

MARC BROUSSARD

Bayou Soul

Marc Broussard Bogalusa Blues & Heritage Festival Blues Stage Sept 24, 9p

olomon Burke’s soul classic “Cry to Me” inspired Marc Broussard’s eighth album, S.O.S.: Save Our Soul 2. Broussard’s studio interpretation of “Cry to Me”—and his choice of his father, guitarist Ted Broussard, as a session player—says much about the 34-year-old Cajun soul singer from Carencro. “Cry to Me” is one of the soul standards that Broussard, this year’s headliner at the Bogalusa Blues & Heritage Festival, grew up loving in southwest Louisiana. “Solomon was such a fantastic singer,” Broussard said. “And the song, it just hits me so hard. I obviously first heard it watching Dirty Dancing all those years ago. I recently discovered it again. I knew that it was the right song to lead this project.” Pairing himself with his father for “Cry to Me” was another natural choice. The elder Broussard’s decades in music include his work with the Boogie Kings, the Acadiana dance band that dates to 1955. Broussard loves working with his dad on stage and during the renovations the two of them are making on the singer’s house in Carencro. Broussard shares the house with his wife, Sonya, and their four children. It’s on the same street as the singer’s parents’ and brother’s homes. “I’ve been playing music with my dad my whole life,” Broussard said. “I saw ‘Cry to Me’ as a great opportunity to show my fans where I’m from and who I’m from. And my dad is such a good player. It’s really a no-brainer to call him in the studio.” “Cry to Me” joins S.O.S.: Save Our Soul 2 selections originally popularized by Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, Sam Cooke, Sam and Dave, Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin and Jimmy Ruffin. The

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album is a sequel to 2007’s S.O.S.: Save Our Soul, Broussard’s first collection of soul remakes. Broussard recorded S.O.S. 2 at Dockside Studio near Lafayette. His session players, including string players from the Acadiana Symphony Orchestra and New Orleans’ 504 Horns, reproduce the music’s original arrangements. “The songs produced themselves in the studio, because we had such a great template to work from,” Broussard said. “It’s so fun to do those old arrangements, because they’re just so good. Songs like ‘What Becomes of the Brokenhearted’ and ‘Twistin’ the Night Away,’ we had fun recreating their spirit. “The album is essentially a high fidelity version of those tunes. Not in any way updated, other than the way we recorded it. So the tones are a little bit richer.” S.O.S. 2 also features “Every Tear,” a more recent composition By John Wirt

by David Egan, the muchrecorded Lafayette songwriter, singer and pianist who passed away in March. “I’m really proud of it,” Broussard said of the Egan song, an album bonus track. Broussard originally planned to make S.O.S. 2 a collection of traditional blues material. “But once I settled on ‘Cry to Me,’ it was, ‘Naw. Let’s do another soul album. We’ll mess around later.’” Broussard plans to release S.O.S. albums annually, covering many genres along the way, including gospel and country music. Supporting charities is another component of the projected S.O.S. album series. Working through his SOS Foundation, Broussard will contribute 50 percent of S.O.S. 2’s profits to City of Refuge, he said, an Atlanta charity involved in housing, youth development,

health and vocational training. When he became an independent artist, one not signed to a record deal, Broussard said, “I saw the potential to do good with the amount of money that can be raised through record sales. I’m willing to put my money where my mouth is, and put my songs and my voice behind it, to help people who are suffering here in the U.S. “An artist in my position can effect change because of the numbers of interactions I have with my audiences. I want my fans to know that, moving forward, this is going to be a major part of the mission.” Broussard’s musical mission reached a national level in 2002 when he released his album debut, Momentary Setback. In 2004, Island Records released the then 22-year-old singer’s major label debut, Carencro. The most successful album of Broussard’s career, Carencro introduced his signature song, “Home.” Broussard and his dad share the song’s writing credit. “We still close every show with ‘Home,’” Broussard said. “It’s lightning in a bottle when you can catch a song like that.” Fourteen years after his album debut, Broussard is looking forward to his career’s continuing evolution. “I know I’m doing what I’m supposed to be doing. I know what I do for a living, making music, is having a positive impact on the world, in some small measure. I’ve spent all this time beating the streets and putting butts in seats. I’m on a mission. That’s the only way I can describe it.” O Marc Broussard performs at 9 p.m. Saturday, September 24, at the Bogalusa Blues & Heritage Festival in Cassidy Park, Bogalusa. www.OFFBEAT.com

Photo: GOLDEN G. RICHARD, III

Marc Broussard is recreating the spirit of soul.

ERIC KRASNO

Aaron Neville’s Poetry

Eric Krasno with Soulive & Lettuce Bear Creek Bayou Fest Sept 30–Oct 1

Photo: JAY SANSONE

Eric Krasno and the New York/New Orleans connection.

t might take a scorecard to keep track of how Brooklynite Eric Krasno, as well as his many cohorts, became and remain involved with the New Orleans music scene. The guitarist, bassist, record producer, composer, label owner and singer says that the connection goes back some 15-plus years, when he came to New Orleans with Soulive, one of the bands he cofounded, as the opening act for the Blues Brothers Tour at the House of Blues. “I immediately fell in love with the city,” says Krasno, who hit Vaughan’s his first night in town to catch trumpeter/vocalist Kermit Ruffins and

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the Barbecue Swingers. After the HOB gig, Jim Belushi, the brother of the late John Belushi, who was an original member of the Blues Brothers, took Krasno uptown to the Maple Leaf Bar. Soulive also played the Mermaid Lounge during that trip, so Krasno got a big and diverse helping of New Orleans’ musical menu. He was hooked. Krasno also met Ivan Neville during the same era (around 1999– 2000), when Neville was playing organ with guitarist Robben Ford. Soulive was touring as the opening act for Ford’s band. “He just fit right in with us,” Krasno remembers of Ivan. “He was in Ford’s band but he was hanging out with our band.” By Geraldine Wyckoff

Fast forward some dozen years. Aaron Neville’s manager, Marc Allan, a friend of Krasno’s who was aware of his producing talents, suggested that he produce the renowned New Orleans vocalist’s next album. Krasno was assigned to reenvision Neville’s poetry as songs. “My songwriting partner David Gutter, he and I had imagined doing that gig, even before we got the gig,” remembers Krasno. “We actually had a couple of tunes already that we were like, ‘Oh this is perfect for Aaron.’ We kind of put it into the universe.” “Be Your Man,” the impressive, soulful opening cut of Neville’s

new album, Apache, is one of those songs that Krasno and Gutter, a guitarist and singer with the group Rustic Overtones, wrote with Neville in mind prior to the start of their collaboration. The majority of the selections on the disc, however, were inspired by Neville’s poetry with Krasno and Gutter, revamping the words into lyrics and setting them into music. “The coolest thing was us imagining him singing a song and then hearing him singing it,” Krasno exclaims, the excitement of the moment still apparent in his voice. “It was literally like running through a finish line like, ‘Yes!’ The songs were based on the www.OFFBEAT.com

ERIC KRASNO

poems but sometimes they took on a life of their own.” The New York, well really Brooklyn/New Orleans connections continue on Neville’s album and beyond. The musicians called in for the session include many members of Soulive as well as its “brother band” Lettuce, which Krasno also co-founded. They include Krasno on bass and background vocals, Lettuce’s guitarist Adam Smirnoff, drummer Adam Deitch, saxophonist Ryan Zoidis and two members who are now New Orleans residents, trumpeter Eric “Benny” Bloom and singer/keyboardist Nigel Hall, who works as a background vocalist on Apache. Krasno, who produced Hall’s outstanding debut recording, Ladies & Gentlemen... Nigel Hall, which was released on Krasno’s Feel Music label, remembers bringing Hall down to New Orleans for the first time and “dragging him” all over town. Though he says that an overwhelmed Hall expressed his doubts about being up to all the action in the city, the vocalist and keyboardist soon made New Orleans his home. Lots of Lettuce/ Soulive musicians appear on Hall’s album as well and besides leading his own group, Hall often performs with keyboardist/vocalist and New Orleans transplant Jon Cleary. Krasno, who goes back and forth regularly between his home in Brooklyn and his place in New Orleans, appreciates the vibe of playing in the Crescent City. “In New Orleans you could be swinging or playing funk and the crowd would be dancing or be a part of it. They’d be contributing to the show. That was something we needed more of in New York so we have rallied our own scene.” Both Soulive and Lettuce will be performing at the Bear Creek www.OFFBEAT.com

SEPTEMBER 2016

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Bayou Music Festival, an event previously held in Florida that makes its New Orleans debut on Friday, September 30 and Saturday, October 1 at Mardi Gras World. Krasno, who’s played the event most years since its inception, calls the festival “a family kind of thing,” with a focus on musicians that are mixing it up on the evolving funk/soul scene. Soulive is among other musically like-minded groups performing the pre-festival event on Thursday, September 29 at the Joy Theater. Krasno also plays with another highly linked-up band, Dr. Klaw, which includes guitarist Ian Neville, the son of keyboardist/vocalist Art “Papa Funk” Neville, and bassist/ vocalist Nick Daniels, both of Ivan Neville’s Dumpstaphunk. He recently released an album under his own name, Blood from a Stone (Feel Music). Perhaps the big news on the disc is that Krasno, who’s renowned for writing music to be sung by other vocalists, takes the lead singer’s spot himself. “I was always writing for and producing other singers and I originally thought other people would sing on my record,” says Krasno, whose primary role has been as a guitarist and sometime bassist and helping out as a background vocalist. “I sang as a kid. I sang in a choir. The guitar was just way cooler.” His friends and fellow musicians encouraged him to step out and take the lead on vocals. “They said, ‘Hey man, these songs sound like you. You should just put this out.’ So I started performing more and booking little shows.” Those who prodded Krasno were right. The resulting product does sound like him, even if his voice isn’t necessarily familiar. It holds all the other elements of why his sound has been so successful. It contains that certain blend of

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“I love jumping into the head of Aaron Neville and then the next month jumping into the London Souls and making a rock record.” old-school meets the here-and-now as it incorporates and extends the roots of soul, funk and blues—and even a touch of country on the ballad “Please Ya”—while giving everything the benefit of technology and a modern edge. That’s exactly why Krasno was the right man for the job to produce and co-write tunes for Aaron Neville’s Apache. Neville, after all, will always musically embrace his old-school and New Orleans roots whatever the genre—rhythm and blues, doowop, gospel—and, says Krasno, he was up for a new direction. “I really wanted to hear Aaron sing over some soul tracks, some funk tracks,” Krasno continues. “When I explained that to him he got it. I told him I wanted to make a record as good as [Neville’s] Hercules and bring it into the future.” Krasno thinks that the tune “Hard to Believe,” written by himself, Neville and Gutter, came closest of Apache’s eleven cuts to capturing the feeling of Hercules. It’s oldschool, yet refreshed. “I kind of love all kinds of music,” Krasno declares. “That’s why being a producer is so appealing to me. I can go into different modes. I love jumping into the head of Aaron Neville and then the next month jumping into the London Souls and making a rock record.” Krasno was surprised to learn that previously Neville hadn’t really been involved in post-recording production of his products. “He wasn’t really around during the tracking and mixing. He loved being in the studio and offered input in the creative process. He was really excited about what was going on and we were already excited.” “First off, he’s the nicest guy in the world. He treated everyone so well and knew everyone on a first name basis. Everyone in the studio was his friend.”

It’s amusing to consider that Krasno had to sing the songs that, during a sleep-deprived retreat in Vermont, he and Gutter had transformed from Neville’s poems for the man who is considered by many as one of the greatest vocalists of all time. “It was nerve wracking to sing in front of him,” Krasno clearly remembers. In Brooklyn’s Studio G with Neville, the group “massaged” the material, in part, to bring them “into his world.” Krasno calls Gutter, who he first teamed with for Blood from a Stone, an amazing lyricist. “He’s the verse man,” Krasno declares, saying that he often focuses on the music. “A lot of times we jump back and forth. The best thing is that we push each other to make a song better. While Krasno started his album before his work on Apache, it was put on a back burner as Neville’s project took precedence. Meanwhile Krasno also went out to play bass with slide guitar master Derek Trucks, who is featured on a fine cut, “Curse Lifter” on Blood from a Stone. Krasno will feel right at home performing at the Bear Creek Bayou festival. He’s played at Mardi Gras World many times before, including at the Fiya Fest. Not only will the guitarist have his bros from New York with him for the Soulive and Lettuce shows, Ivan Neville’s Dumpstaphunk—filled with friends and fellow Dr. Klaw members—will be there too. The guitarist has also long been a regular at Jazz Fest, performing with the bands with which he’s affiliated. Eric Krasno credits the brilliant jazz saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist Yusef Lateef, with whom he studied in college, for his diverse musical path. Lateef advised: “Find your voice and speak that voice.” “He helped push me into being an artist rather than just a player.” O www.OFFBEAT.com

CORINNE BAILEY RAE

Feeling Brave Corinne Bailey Rae’s new power.

ew singers these days can get their worldview across with the timbre of their voice alone the way Corinne Bailey Rae can—warm, intimate, largely positive and humanist, her brand of neo-soul usually hints at the promise of joy, not mere sensuality, just around the corner. Her eponymous debut put that across quite well, along with the hit “Put Your Records On,” but her follow up album The Sea was indelibly colored by the sudden death of her first husband, saxophonist Jason Rae. Now, after six years, this British singer/songwriter and guitarist is back with original material, and she’ll be promoting her stunning new album, The Heart Speaks in Whispers, with a show at Champions Square on September 22nd. You’ve been compared to seemingly every chanteuse on the planet. How do you feel about that? I always take things as a compliment when they’re meant as a compliment. What I’ve been doing for the last three albums is building an identity as an artist, so when people recognize that, I’m flattered. Why six years? A lot of it was about touring behind The Sea for two years— Indonesia, Argentina, Brazil—and I felt like I was really investing in my career. And of course I did an EP of covers that led to a Grammy (Best R&B Performance in 2012 for Bob Marley’s “Is This Love”). I was able to build my own studio in Leeds so I could work whenever I wanted to, but then I came to Los Angeles to record for Capitol for seven weeks and I wound up staying for seven months, just because I loved the scene so much. I was able to meet some of the people on Kendrick Lamar’s record, and it was great to work with other black women for

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once who are really making their mark on the industry. You’ve said the writing process was more organic for this album as well. The songs came in a very subconscious way; I didn’t sit down to write them. I really just wanted to play my instruments, my guitar, my piano, and then sometimes I’d start something as simple as a hand clapping rhythm and the music would come through. I’ve always been happy to follow my instincts. The new studio in Leeds was probably a big help? Absolutely. I can sing vocals when I feel like it now. I like working late—2 and 3 a.m. It certainly fits your style... Very intimate. [Laughs] Night time is the right time. Besides being organic, the new songs also seem cosmic. Do you feel like you’re painting on a larger canvas now? By Robert Fontenot

I think that’s a really good observation. I know there’s a lot in there about the sun, the moon, the stars, seas, vibrations... I’ve been thinking about life and death and how we’re all connected to each other. We were born from somewhere, and we go somewhere after we die. We’re all connected, and we have so much information about the world that I think we often feel powerless. Writing gave me the permission to explore these ideas and realize no, we’re not powerless. We can change things because change is a natural state. People have power. And getting together is something we need to do. Would you consider this album the start of a new phase? I think so. I like to feel like I’m trying something new and different. I feel braver. I’ve been working smarter and faster and doing all these collaborations... When anything comes through you, you should go for it. I feel lucky, because I have the sort of voice that has its limitations, but it also has a lot of character, so whatever I do will always sound like me.

This album seems jazzier and more experimental than your first two. Was that intentional? Yes, definitely. It just happened that I started to get into [John Coltrane’s classic 1960 album] Giant Steps. I’d already heard it before, but I feel it more now, and when you add that to my other influences, like Stevie Wonder, it starts putting across different emotional twists and turns. As a result the record feels more...collage-y. How does the heart speak in whispers? How our bodies feel tells us things about ourselves and what we process; if we’re overworked, we’re tired. Things like that. I think we have natural intuitions that we don’t realize, and we should tune into that. You feel like the same person always in a very organic way; but I feel more expansive now. It’s a maturity thing. People are like trees, always growing and developing naturally. And our heart is the place we store our dreams and memories. So I’m the same person at heart. I still feel like a child all the way inside. O www.OFFBEAT.com

EATS

Beyond the Gulf Oyster hatcheries, changes in farming methods and restaurants offering boutique oysters are creating a new raw oyster cult. Text & Photo by Elsa Hahne

hen a couple of oyster lovers walked into Seaworthy, the new sustainable seafood restaurant and oyster bar in the CBD, recently and ordered some raw bivalves from the East Coast, Chef de Cuisine Daniel Causgrove found himself faced with an unexpected question: “Did you put salt on them?” No, he had not. “Those who are used to the traditional Gulf oyster might think the East Coast oysters are almost too salty,” Causgrove said. “But as I explained to them, that’s a bit of the Atlantic Ocean captured in there.” Raw oysters, served naked, offer the exceptional opportunity to sample the diversity of the maritime world. Whereas traditional Gulf oysters generally are meaty, buttery and low-brine, oysters from the East Coast can be quite salty, while West Coast bivalves tend to be less briny, more creamy, with various umami flavors (funk, if you will). Behind the bar at Seaworthy, nine different oysters are sorted into yellow baskets: three from the Gulf, four from the East Coast (actually, they’re all from Massachusetts) and two from the West Coast. In a market where there always was an abundance of oysters, but usually of one kind (like your standard P & J oyster), Seaworthy joins a growing group of local restaurants serving boutique oysters from across the United States as well as from different areas in the Gulf. “This is a very exciting time to be engaged in the culture of oysters,” Causgrove said. “Especially on the Gulf Coast. When we were developing this restaurant, we took great care to make personal contacts with the producers in Louisiana and Alabama. These oyster farmers are not harvesting and selling into a cooperative or a dock that sets the price—into this one, big oyster lot that’s then distributed in New Orleans. Instead, they create a consistent, delicious product at a better margin by selling directly to chefs.” Some of these oyster farms include Murder Point in Alabama and Grand Isle in Caminada Bay, Louisiana. There, oysters are grown in cages in areas with saltier water, off-bottom and protected from predators. These farmed oysters are “tumbled,” which means the cages are shaken at low tide to break up clusters and smoothen edges, forcing the oysters to develop deeper cups with more room for meat. “The reason Louisiana didn’t move towards off-bottom culture in the past is that the environment already is so good for growing wild oysters,” Causgrove explains. “There was always this incredible abundance. But with the recent challenges of coastal erosion and oil spills in the Gulf, some of the oyster leases just weren’t producing as well, so many moved to farming.”

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www.OFFBEAT.com

EATS

A Shucker’s Dozen Starting at the lemon and going clock-wise, as served at Seaworthy: (Gulf) Massacre Island, Dauphin Island, Alabama; Area 3, Chandeleur Sound, Louisiana (two); Navy Cove, Fort Morgan, Alabama (East Coast) Peter’s Point, Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts; Rocky Nook, Kingston, Massachusetts; Wellfleet, Massachusetts; Warren’s Cove, Plymouth, Massachusetts (two) (West Coast) Fanny Bay, South Puget Sound, Washington (two); Kusshi, Deep Bay, British Columbia (two)

Curious Oyster Company at Dryades Public Market on Oretha Castle Haley Boulevard has a rotating cast of both farmed and “wild” (albeit still cultivated) oysters on offer, usually four to six at any given time, including the Murder Points and Grand Isles. “We try to have a good representation from the Gulf, including your typical Area 3 from St. Bernard Parish and also the Point aux Pins,” manager Graham Stubbs said. “I love it when people come in here, ‘I’ll just have whatever,’ and I’ll go, ‘We’ll do Grand Isles and Murder Points; it’ll be like a Gulf Battle Royale.’” Stubbs has been with Curious Oyster Company since April, having recently moved here with his wife. Just how different Gulf oysters can taste came as a surprise: “I wasn’t familiar. I knew how great and grand oyster production had been in the Pacific Northwest and in the Chesapeake Bay area and Long Island, New York, but that Louisiana is producing more of these boutique-style oysters that are grown off-bottom was new to me—as it is to some folks who are even from New Orleans—that this is going on. It’s a wonderful addition to the local oyster business. With so much complexity in flavor, these oysters compete with the best oysters in the country.” Oysters are a representation of their geography, and each oyster carries what’s essentially a fingerprint in the way they look and taste, with flavors changing from area to area. Is the water moving fast? Is it deep and dark, cold or warm? Is there brackish water coming in? Are there rivers nearby? The variables are endless. To Stubbs, the sheer size of the traditional Gulf oyster was intimidating at first. “Frankly, I don’t know how some people are not intimidated,” he said. “I’ve had oysters as big as chicken breasts, and I’ve seen customers cut them into thirds with a fork and knife.” Louisiana is unique in that oysters, while delicious, were never considered a delicacy reserved for those with deep pockets. As a food, oysters have crossed socio-economic boundaries, available to everyone—as Oysters Rockefeller at Antoine’s, or as fried oyster poboys from the neighborhood corner store. With the new boutique oysters come higher profits for farmers, certainly, but also higher prices for customers. At Seaworthy, the Navy Cove oysters from Fort Morgan, Alabama cost $3 each on the halfshell, and it’s the same for the Massacre Some of the flavors you can think Island oysters from nearby Dauphin Island. about when tasting raw oysters: “When you can get 50 cents or 1 dollar Saltiness, acidity and sweetness; whether it’s fruity, for an oyster, compared to selling 10 for green (vegetal), earthy or nutty—even buttery; if the oyster that price, you understand why some are tends towards the mineral, metallic, funky or smoky. moving towards a hatchery system,” Dr. And don’t forget about texture: Earl Melancon, Jr., Distinguished Service Creamy or chewy? Soft or firm? Professor of Biological Sciences at Nicholls State University working with oysters said. “This is intensive aquaculture, but still less www.OFFBEAT.com

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than 10 percent of the oyster business in the Gulf, which relies on private oyster leases and wild harvest off of public grounds where it’s first-come first-get.” A recent innovation in oyster farming is the creation of a triploid as opposed to a diploid oyster. The triploid has three chromosome sets instead of two in each cell, rendering it sterile—an oyster that never spawns. This is why some farmed oysters, such as the Murder Point oyster, are consistent throughout the year, even in the summer. Diploid oysters lose about two thirds of their meat content and become thin and watery after spawning, whereas triploid oysters grow faster and thus can be harvested sooner. In France, the triploid is known as l’huître des quatre saisons—the four-season oyster. So is this why it’s now possible to eat raw oysters during the summer, in months without an “r” (May, June, July and August)? Yes, and no, said Dr. Melancon: “You never did have to stop eating oysters in the summer. But before we had refrigeration on boats and trucks, oysters would die on the boat or in the sack at the shop. It’s refrigeration that allows us to now source oysters from all over the country, year round.” Kerry Heffernan, Executive Chef at Seaworthy (and at Grand Banks, New York) is familiar with the risks of relying on a multitude of shipping connections. “For us, we especially If raw oysters aren’t your have to make sure the thing, you can find plenty of airport connections are cooked options at the upcoming tight,” he said. “You Louisiana Seafood Festival in can’t serve raw oysters City Park September 2–4: from across the country if Acme’s oyster po-boy; Drago’s you don’t have a reliable charbroiled oysters; Katie’s Restaurant’s Oyster Slessinger poshipping chain.” boy; Red Fish Grill’s BBQ oyster Of course, his personal po-boy; Royal House’s BLT oyster favorites are hyper-local—he po-boy and Voleo’s Seafood’s Cajun grows them himself. surf & turf po-boy with smothered “I have a house in Sag rabbit and fried oysters. Harbor where I grow them Enjoy! under my dock,” he said. “I’m part of an oyster club where I get babies and it takes me about three years to get a mature, edible oyster because I have low flow in my cove. I eat mine raw, with nothing on them.” Nobody seems to know exactly how it came to be in America that raw oysters often are served with ketchup and horseradish (as

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Above: Shuckers hard at work at the newly opened Seaworthy. Left: Oysters from Murder Point, Alabama and Grand Isle, Caminada Bay, Louisiana are farmed and offer two different tastes of the Gulf.

“cocktail sauce”) on a salty cracker, which further obfuscates the flavor. “I don’t think anyone has done a study on cocktail sauce on raw oysters,” said Liz Williams, founder of the Southern Food & Beverage Museum. “I would think cocktail sauce was something associated with cold seafood [such as a shrimp cocktail] and that the ketchup-horseradish combination followed from the different vinegar sauces, the various mignonettes, that were traditionally used. It’s just a guess, but I think the vinegar thing came about to potentially counteract any bacteria that might be there, before we had proper refrigeration, and it would be the same with lemon juice.” No matter how you like to eat them, there are more oysters on offer in New Orleans today than ever before. PJ Rosenberg, co-owner of the newly opened Bar Frances on Freret Street, plans to bring in oysters from all over the Southeast, from Texas to Virginia. He hopes to stay as local as possible while selecting oysters with great salinity and flavor to complement their food and drinks. But as far as varieties, Bar Frances will be taking it somewhat slow while they figure out what they and their customers like. They’ll start with just one. O Left: The author at one of her favorite oyster bars, Felix’s on Iberville Street, where it’s best to stand at the bar and have the shuckers serve you one oyster at a time, counting the shells at the end. This particular oyster was the largest she’s ever eaten. See the video at offbeat.com. Photo by Golden G. Richard, III. www.OFFBEAT.com

EATS

Raw Deals Slurp your way through happy hour with these dozen dozens for $12 or less, on most days of the week. Blind Pelican (Lower Garden District) 1628 St. Charles Ave.; (504) 558-9399 $3 (but only if you buy a drink) Monday-Sunday, 4-8p

Lüke (CBD) 333 St. Charles Ave.; (504) 378-2840; lukeneworleans.com $9 Monday-Sunday, 3-6p

Trenasse (CBD) 444 St. Charles Ave.; (504) 680-7000; trenasse.com $9 Monday-Sunday, 3-6p Bourbon House (French Quarter) 144 Bourbon St.; (504) 522-0111; bourbonhouse.com $12 Monday-Sunday, 4-6p

Brisbi’s (Lakefront) 7400 Lakeshore Dr.; (504) 3044125; brisbisrestaurant.com $6 Monday-Friday, 4-6p

Grand Isle (CBD) 575 Convention Center Blvd.; (504) 520-8530; grandislerestaurant.com $6 Monday-Friday, 4-7p

Superior Seafood (Uptown) 4338 St. Charles Ave.; (504) 293-3474; superiorseafoodnola.com $6 Monday-Sunday, 4-6:30p

Desire Oyster Bar (French Quarter) 300 Bourbon St.; (504) 553-2281 $12 Monday-Friday, 3-6p Curious Oyster Company (at Dryades Public Market on Oretha Castle Haley Blvd.) 1307 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd.; curiousoyster.co $12 Wednesday-Monday, 4-6p

Blue Crab (Lakefront) 7900 Lakeshore Dr.; (504) 2842898; thebluecrabnola.com $7.20 Tuesday-Friday, 4-6:30p

Red Fish Grill (French Quarter) 115 Bourbon St.; (504) 598-1200; redfishgrill.com $7.20 Monday-Thursday, 3-6p Kenton’s (Uptown) 5757 Magazine St.; (504) 891-1177; kentonsrestaurant.com $9 Monday-Sunday, 3-6p www.OFFBEAT.com

Your classic Louisiana Gulf oyster, shucked at Curious Oyster Company. SEPTEMBER 2016

No More Crying Today Luke Winslow-King finds solace in songwriting.

By Brett Milano Photography by Elsa Hahne

Luke Winslow-King I’m Glad Trouble Don’t Last Always album release party d.b.a Friday, Sept 30 10p

or songwriter Luke Winslow-King, 2014-2015 was the kind of year that nobody would ever want to live through. Never much of an outlaw type, he spent a few weeks in solitary confinement as the result of a low-level pot charge. He got out of jail and found himself at the start of a long and painful divorce. If you’re supposed to suffer to sing the blues, Winslow-King got his suffering out of the way in one go. The product of that year is his new album, I’m Glad Trouble Don’t Last Always (Bloodshot)— unlikely enough, an album more encouraging than depressive. As it turned out, the bad experiences did more than put him through the wringer: They also made him think of his priorities as an artist and what he wanted to put across. And when you’re locked up by yourself for 23 hours a day in Michigan, thinking is about all you’re able to do. “I sat myself down and thought about it: ‘You’re going to make a breakup album, what are you going to do?’ And I didn’t want to start moaning about the bad things that happened, that’s not very constructive. But when I hear a song like (Dylan’s) ‘It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue’ or the great Donny Hathaway songs—those were the ones that helped me through the breakup and made me feel like, ‘This is the worst feeling I’ve ever had in my life but it’s going to be okay, I’m going to be running through the sunshine eventually.’ Even for the members of my audience, I wanted to offer that. ‘Here’s the story of my own heartbreak, maybe this can help somebody else get through.’ That seemed more important than coming out with a depressed or angry album.” Until that point, most of Winslow-King’s life and career had gone rather well. Born in northern Michigan, he had musician parents who encouraged his talent from an early age. Though he grew up absorbing the same rock radio as everybody else, he had early opportunities to explore a deeper well of music. After taking some classical piano lessons, he gravitated to guitar and formed the Winslow-King Blues Band while still in his mid-teens. “We did some Hendrix covers, some Rolling Stones and a few Chicago blues things. So I got to play some rock ’n’ roll and get some stage chops when I was young.” At sixteen he studied jazz guitar at the Interlochen Center for the Arts, also in northern Michigan. “There were students from maybe 30 countries in my graduating class. It was a whole new thing, a world of art that I hadn’t seen before. That was where I got into bebop and avant-garde jazz, but I was also part of the folk music scene in northern Michigan, playing English and Irish fiddle tunes.” Dropping out of Western Michigan University after one semester, he joined a touring group playing Woody Guthrie songs, which set him on a course for his own music: “What I heard in Woody Guthrie was the playful approach he had, and the way his writing was so colorful—it shows a way to appreciate things around you, a particularly American kind of excitement.” That tour brought him to New Orleans for the first time. As a newcomer, however, he hadn’t learned one of the first lessons about New Orleans: Don’t go parking a car full of equipment on the corner of Ursulines and Rampart. The car predictably SEPTEMBER 2016

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“One of the first places I went to was Preservation Hall. I’d studied serious jazz in school, but to see the way they were playing it there—it felt like all my worlds had collided.”

got stolen when the band took a pit stop at a hotel on that corner. It was a turning point for Winslow-King, though; while he was stranded in town he realized he felt like sticking around. He already had a couple of friends to call on, notably John Boutté, who he’d met at a music festival at home. “One of the first places I went to was Preservation Hall. I’d studied serious jazz in school, but to see the way they were playing it there—it felt like all my worlds had collided. Here’s music that you can sing along with and take home with you, but there’s also so much improvisation involved. I always tell people that while I was stuck here for three weeks, that was enough time to fall in love with the place.” The car got recovered—still hotwired, so they drove it up to Canada without a key. The band finished the tour, and WinslowKing came back to town. Though still too young to get into clubs as a patron, he played his first local show at the Neutral Ground Coffee House and plugged into the still-developing Frenchmen scene, getting a regular gig at the Apple Barrel. “Knowing someone like John Boutté really helped a lot—he was a little concerned about me being 19 years old and never living in the city before. He taught me to be safe when I went out walking at night, and really became kind of an uncle to me.” Boutté also introduced him to some musical friends like Washboard Chaz, Paul Sanchez, Mike West and Shannon Powell, all of whom he hung out and played with in the early days. His first, self-titled album came in 2008, and over the course of three further albums he gradually evolved from a traditionally based sound to a more electric one, particularly after signing with the influential Bloodshot label three years ago. Forming a musically flexible band helped as well; the core of his band remains guitarist Roberto Luti, drummer Benji Bohannon, bassist Brennan Andes, and keyboardist Mike Lynch. And for six years there was onstage foil and co-lead singer Esther Rose, who later became his wife. “The first album was really a blend of the folk music I was into at that point, along with the classical music I had studied at school. I’d been playing in bars and on the street doing Taj Mahal songs, Mississippi John Hurt tunes. And I’d say that the stuff I was writing was a little more

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ethereal, because I hadn’t really discovered my own voice yet and I didn’t know how to dig into the grit of the bluesy stuff. I was trying to make prettier sounds, but I hadn’t grown up enough and didn’t have the mileage in my voice yet.” The rock influence isn’t new either; that just goes back to his teenage days playing bars. “To me that’s coming back to roots, it’s more the sound I did when I was younger. And I’d say the sounds I hear in New Orleans are becoming more a part of what I do, so I’m playing more electric guitar and slide. When I listen to an album like The Coming Tide (his Bloodshot debut from 2013)— that’s an album I like a lot, and we sold a lot of copies of it. But I hear the sound of my not having my voice together, not having the confidence to do that music in a way that adds something that I can be proud of. And some of that confidence came from falling on my ass a few times.” It got kicked rather severely in November of 2014, when he was back in northern Michigan and got arrested for carrying a small amount of marijuana. Though he only spent three weeks behind bars, most of that time was in solitary confinement due to a nut allergy. For much of that time he couldn’t listen to music, much less play it. “The amount of weed I had was usually something you’d get a $50 ticket for, but it was a really conservative town and the judge threw the book at me. And because I’m deathly allergic to peanuts they put me in a solitary cell, 23 hours a day by myself. I can’t even describe what that’s like—I remember that there was a blizzard outside, which just made it more surreal. For the first five days you’re not even allowed anything to read, so the food comes three times a day. Other than that it’s just you.” He did get to work on music halfway through the stay, but by then he’d already resolved to make some personal changes. “While I was there I quit smoking cigarettes, quit smoking weed and drinking alcohol, so it was a big mile marker in my life. And it’s not like I was in that hardcore a prison, but it gave me time to think about my priorities: ‘Do you want to be a singer, or do you want to smoke cigarettes?’ I figured I was only going to live once, so I decided to make those changes. And it was inspiring to me that my friends and colleagues in New Orleans www.OFFBEAT.com

COVER STORY

came together and helped get me out. After the first 10 days things started to loosen up—a friend of mine sent me some musical notation stickers so I was able to work on songs, just from what was in my head. I have a song called ‘Break Down the Walls’ that will be on my next album, that was written in jail and it came from a pretty sincere place. The other thing that happened was that after the tenth day, the commissary delivery brought me a headset and I was able to listen to the radio. I’ll tell you that ‘Mr. Bojangles’ never sounded so good.” The breakup with his wife happened soon after his release from prison. And while divorces are necessarily personal territory, it’s a subject Winslow-King discusses openly and one that he deals with explicitly over the course of the new album. And it’s a change his audience was bound to notice, since Esther was a key part of his band and well known to his listeners. And though it’s now a year down the line, the wound is still fresh. “I went into the jail term thinking I still had a good relationship. She was my musical partner for six years, we were married and I basically found out that she was cheating on me with a man I knew from around town— there was a lot of lying about it, and it seemed that everybody else around me knew. So, to be with someone every day and then to find out something like that? My first reaction was to do things that were a lot more destructive, but I sat down and calmed myself, and thought about what would be a more constructive way to deal. I’ve always tried to be honest and raw about what I was singing, but I’d never been hurt this bad before. I’d never had something so serious and so terrible happen that I had www.OFFBEAT.com

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Of course, the danger of writing a breakup album is that if it catches on, you’ll wind up having to relive it for the rest of your career.

to write songs about it. In the past I’ve made up a lot and told other peoples’ stories—which is fine, a lot of great writers do that. But for this one I didn’t have to wear anybody else’s shoes. When you write a song you either get to be yourself or somebody else, and I’m not very good at acting.” The song “Esther Please” was written early in the sequence, and is one of the album’s more tender tunes. But his being willing to go there—to put her name directly in a song title—set the tone for the kind of album he wanted to make. “I did think about trying to protect her and hide her identity. But you know, she never apologized—she actually called me on the phone, the only time I’ve spoken to her in the past year and a half, and said, ‘Don’t write any songs about me.’ It wasn’t a vendetta but I thought that was a great title for a song, and audiences seem to like it too. And look at how many songs there are with a woman’s name in the title.” Comparisons with classic breakup albums like Dylan’s Blood On the Tracks and Richard and Linda Thompson’s Shoot Out the Lights are inevitable (Winslow-King says he’s a fan of the former but doesn’t really know the latter). But neither of those albums was a raw outburst, and his isn’t either: Even his most messed-up times found his craftsman’s instincts intact. Consider “Louisiana Blues,” which briefly considers the possibility of blowing away his rival. “That’s actually a song I wrote a long time ago, but I reworked it for this album. It was deeply inspired by Howlin’ Wolf’s ’44 Blues’—I originally wanted to write about gun violence in Louisiana and how it’s gone on for so long, but the story changed as it went along.” Likewise, “Watch Me Go”—emotionally one of the album’s bottoming-out points—takes the soul-baring of classic R&B as its template. “That was inspired by Aretha Franklin’s ‘I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You’—the feeling of the piano and the Wurlitzer working together and the power-waltz feel—it’s not quite a doo-wop, six-eight thing but it almost makes you want to waltz in classic German style. Lyrically, that song is me wondering if we can still get back together; it came from one of those uncertain times in the breakup. Writing these songs kind of broke down a barrier for me—now I realize how personal my writing can be. Maybe in the future I’ll have that as a bar to set.” Of course, the danger of writing a breakup album is that if it catches on, you’ll wind up having to relive it for the rest of your career. “I’m fine with that. I’ve been through breakups before and written love songs for people I’m not in love with anymore; there were dozens for Esther. Now I have to sing them for someone else’s love, or for the idea of universal love. Doing the album, I feel I’ve been able to let go of a lot of anger and resentment and had to find that closure within myself. And the last song is ‘No More Crying Today,’ so now I know what it feels like to be alive. You get cut really deep, and what the pain shows is that you’re living. Even though it hurts, you have to be grateful for that understanding.” And in listening back to the album, he came up with the most unexpected epiphany of all. “Being from Michigan, I always hated Bob Seger. But now I can hear ‘Against the Wind’ and hear that line, ‘Wish I didn’t know now what I didn’t know then.’ That’s a pretty powerful line, and now I understand what it means.” O

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EATS

photos: Elsa Hahne

Adam Orzechowski/Trinity

“M

ost of my cocktails have a person in mind, in the background, but I’ve never created a cocktail for a musician before. This cocktail came about by me just playing around with stuff. Then to relate it to a strong lead vocalist who really has a nice, soft sound that’s smooth and relaxing, but can pick it up and keep a good pace. I started listening to Theresa Andersson about two years ago. My daughter just loves it. I play it for her and she dances around. She’s just shy of two years. I started this cocktail with gin, actually. Gin and Aperol. Gin was good, it was just too floral with the Aperol and I wanted something sharper so I went with rye. Aperol cuts the rye and you get that sweet and zesty from it, and then the radler softens the whole thing, away from that bitter note. A radler [“cyclist” in German] is beer and soda mixed together, more or less. This is www.OFFBEAT.com

basically malt liquor and grapefruit soda. The alcohol is pretty low, so this is an all-day drink. I just got this tattoo two hours ago [pointing to two raised cocktail olives on his forearm]. I went to Sailor’s Cross, up on Freret Street. They also did this one about a month and a half ago [pulling up pant leg]. That’s Yankee Doodle, an old comic, ’40s–’50s, like Captain America, just earlier and more distorted. I grew up in Connecticut and get Yankee comments all the time, so this made sense. And the olives, a good friend of mine, instead of saying ‘I love you,’ it’s ‘olive you.’ So I was just playing around with that. And then I thought about where I was putting it, and how often am I sitting at a bar like this [anchors elbows on counter]? Well, that’s going to look good, two olives sitting on the bar. I also thought about getting the Cheers logo tattooed on here, but that’s a little bit too obnoxious. Little fun tattoos are good.

By Elsa Hahne

I went to school for geology so I have a major appreciation for the sciences. I also have a major appreciation for the classics. I don’t know if you’ve seen our cocktail list yet, but the idea behind all of them is bastardized classics—everything on here. Something thrown in to add some excitement, but not too far off the beaten path. Like the Pearl, like La Perla [with tequila and sherry], but with added cardamom and ginger to add another kick and depth to it. What’s Up, Doc has gin, carrot juice, lemon and ginger beer—sort of a Moscow Mule, but with carrot. Me, I drink tequila. Straight up. I’ll have beers, but tequila and beers are about it. I’ll do cocktails on occasion. I went to the Catahoula Hotel on Friday or Saturday last week, and I was drunk by the end. They made something for me that had tequila, cold brewed coffee, Punt e Mes [Italian vermouth], cinnamon syrup and bitters. It was

one of the best things that have ever touched my lips.”

Rye Humor 1 ounce rye whiskey 3/4 ounce Aperol Stiegl radler Grapefruit twist Shake rye whiskey and Aperol with ice. Strain into a tall glass. Fill with fresh ice and top with radler. Serve with a grapefruit twist. SEPTEMBER 2016

FRENCH Café Degas: 3127 Esplanade Ave., 945-5635 La Crepe Nanou: 1410 Robert St., 899-2670

GERMAN Jaeger Haus: 833 Conti, 525-9200

ICE CREAM/CAKE/CANDY Aunt Sally’s Praline Shop’s: 2831 Chartres St., 944-6090 Bittersweet Confections: 725 Magazine St., 523-2626 La Divina Cafe e Gelateria: 621 St. Peter St., 302-2692 Sucré: 3025 Magazine St.,520-8311 Tee-Eva’s Praline Shop: 4430 Magazine St., 899-8350

INDIAN Nirvana: 4308 Magazine St., 894-9797

AFRICAN Bennachin: 1212 Royal St., 522-1230.

AMERICAN Barcadia: 601 Tchoupitoulas St., 335-1740 Brown Butter Southern Kitchen: 231 N Carrollton Ave., 609-3871 Poppy’s Time Out Sports Bar & Grill: 1 Poydras St., 247-9265 Port of Call: 838 Esplanade Ave., 523-0120 Primitivo: 1800 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd., 881-1775

BARBECUE The Joint: 701 Mazant St., 949-3232

COFFEE HOUSE Café du Monde: 800 Decatur St., 525-4544 Morning Call Coffee Stand: 56 Dreyfous Dr., (504) 300-1157, 3325 Severn Ave., Metairie, 885-4068

CREOLE/CAJUN Cochon: 930 Tchoupitoulas St., 588-2123 Cornet: 700 Bourbon St., 523-1485 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 Restaurant Rebirth: 857 Fulton St., 522-6863

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

FINE DINING Bombay Club: 830 Conti St., 586-0972 Broussard’s: 819 Conti St., 581-3866 Commander’s Palace: 1403 Washington Ave., 899-8221

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

NEIGHBORHOOD JOINTS 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 Live Oak Cafe: 8140 Oak St., 265-0050 Parkway Bakery and Tavern: 538 Hagan Ave., 482-3047 Phil’s Grill: 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 Ye Olde College Inn: 3000 S. Carrollton Ave., 866-3683

ITALIAN

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; 2200 Royal St., 948-9309 Wasabi: 900 Frenchmen St., 943-9433

LOUISIANA / SOUTHERN Fulton Alley: 600 Fulton St., 208-5593 Mondo: 900 Harrison Ave., 224-2633 Praline Connection: 542 Frenchmen St., 943-3934

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

PIZZA 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 Basin Seafood and Spirits: 3222 Magazine St., 302-7391 Crazy Lobster Bar & Grill: 1 Poydras St. 569-3380 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

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

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

VIETNAMESE Namese: 4077 Tulane Ave., 483-8899

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

Guy Gelso hits the

Adolfo’s: 611 Frenchmen St., 948-3800 Little Vic’s: 719 Toulouse St., 304-1238

JAPANESE/KOREAN/SUSHI/THAI

Warehouse Grille: 869 Magazine St., 322-2188

Spot

[of Louisiana Music Hall of Fame rock band Zebra, from 1975]

When did you eat here last? Someone just hired us to play our first wedding; two brothers from New Jersey who own the largest or second-largest porto-potty company in the United States, and they were big Zebra fans, so they hired us to play this wedding on the island of Anguilla down in the Caribbean, and we stopped here for lunch on our way to the airport. What did you have? I had the fish tacos and my wife had the fried chicken and waffles. Today, I might get the veggie burger melt, or the fish sandwich. I haven’t eaten meat in 20 years, trying to stay young.

Is it working? We’re a bunch of health nut vegetarians in Zebra, and we’re all original members. —Elsa Hahne Zebra performs at the Louisiana Seafood Festival on Friday, September 2 at 7:30 p.m.

Legacy Kitchen 759 Veterans Memorial Blvd. (504) 309-5231 www.OFFBEAT.com

Photo: ELSA HAHNE

Kingfish: 337 Chartres St., 598-5005 Mr. B’s Bistro: 201 Royal St. 523-2078 Restaurant R’evolution: 777 Bienville St., 553-2277

Howlin’ Wolf’s Wolf Den: 907 S. Peters St., 529-5844 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

McClure’s Barbecue My first visit to NOLA Brewing was in early 2010 for an impromptu brewery tour of what consisted of little more than a warehouse with two fermentation tanks and a conference room with mismatched chairs. Six years later, NOLA Brewing has expanded its base to cover the entire block of Tchoupitoulas between 7th and 8th Streets, adding a tap room where Neil McClure and his team serve a wide selection of regional barbecue fare along with a few house specialties. After starting as a pop-up at Dante’s Kitchen and opening as a restaurant on Magazine, McClure now plies his craft solely inside the tap room, where thirsty patrons praise his barbecue as a complement to the diverse list of beers, many of which are offered exclusively at the brewery. While brisket and pork are given top billing on the menu, the fat links of spicy chaurice sausage (the Creole counterpart to Spanish chorizo) and the delectably moist leg quarters of smoked

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chicken are the most consistent carnivorous crowd pleasers. Similarly delicious are ribs encompassed in a dark crust followed by a pink smoke ring that gives way to pork just barely on the right side of tender. Appropriately thick-cut slices of brisket were meltingly tender on one visit, but chewy and dry on the next. Available for your accenting pleasure are six sauces, each of which pays tribute to a barbecue region. Lily-white Alabama sauce is speckled with black pepper and adds a nice twang to the pulled pork, while ribs beg to be dunked in the NOLA East, sweet, spicy and salty with soy. A deep roster of side dishes includes beans loaded with pork, and leafy collard greens slow-stewed with a sweet and sour likker of vinegar and molasses. Macaroni and cheese achieves a level of creaminess not often found outside of a package of Velveeta, while chopped celery adds a welcome crunch to fork-tender spuds in potato salad that’s woefully under-seasoned. Hands down the best side dish is barbecue jambalaya, a moist medley of rice and morsels of meat. The extensive menu incorporates barbecue in other forms, such as tacos, nachos and poutine—a hangover cure of waffle fries, cheese curds and brisket (or pork) covered in gravy.

Photo: ELSA HAHNE

EATS

Wash it all down with one of more than a dozen beers on tap, such as a blonde infused with beet juice or one of the many sour beers. While the Tap Room caters to patrons of legal drinking age, minors are allowed if accompanied by an adult. A second-story rooftop bar is a perfect perch to watch ships pass along the river, but come Sundays, the best seats in the house will be downstairs where Saints fans hopefully will be celebrating many victories with brisket. —Peter Thriffiley 3001 Tchoupitoulas St.; Wed–Mon: 11a– 10p; (504) 301-2367; mccluresbarbecue.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

The Most New Orleans-Sounding Album He’s Ever Made

Aaron Neville Apache (Tell It Records) During his rain-drenched set at this year’s Jazz Fest, Aaron Neville quietly introduced a new song, “Stompin’ Ground”—a standout that found the singer back in “Hercules” territory, waxing streetwise about the spirit of his hometown. Neville’s albums always have one track like this—one gem of uncut New Orleans funk—but that’s usually it. Too often, Neville’s worked with producers (and that includes Don Was, who did the much-praised My True Story) who have squandered his voice either on glossy arrangements or shopworn cover tunes. Not the case this time. In Soulive leader Eric Krasno, Neville has finally found a hip producer who’s willing to let him take chances. Clearly using the great Toussaint-produced “Hercules” as a template (and directly quoting its riff on “Fragile World”), Krasno keeps the sound raw and funky, using the skilled Daptone crew as the band—not a string synthesizer in the house. In the past, Neville’s been willing to approach even the most familiar covers as though he wrote them, but this time he really did write everything, in collaboration with Krasno and Dave Gutter of Rustic

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Overtones (one track, “Make Your Momma Cry,” is reworked from a ’90s Neville Brothers album). In another smart move, Krasno gets Neville to sing in a soulful deeper register, usually saving the trademark falsetto for the ballads where it belongs. This comes out as the most New Orleans– sounding album he’s ever made, even if he had to go to New York to make it. Many of the tracks still find him in familiar romancer mode: “All of the Above” is a worthy addition to his stack of love pledges, though it’s likely the first with a trombone solo. “Be Your Man” puts the band’s retro tendencies to work, successfully evoking the vibe (and the fuzz guitar) of ’70s blaxpiolitation funk. And the joyful doo-wop homage “Sarah Ann” feels more personal than anything on My True Story, not least because he puts his beloved’s name right there in the title. But many of these tracks go a lot deeper: The tough “Ain’t Gonna Judge You” is built on righteous anger, not a familiar mode for him. The finale “Fragile World” is unlike anything he’s done before, a spoken sermon that looks directly at the gravest social ills, quoting Marvin Gaye (and oddly enough, Tears for Fears) to drive the point home. It ends the only way it can, with a prayer for peace and that falsetto coming down from the heavens one more time. —Brett Milano

The Cookers The Call of the Wild and Peaceful Heart (Smoke Sessions Records) Hard bop supreme is served up by the Cookers, a truly all-star ensemble that includes veterans

who helped develop and shape the sound. In order to understand the scope of these musicians’ experience and magnitude it’s imperative to call out their names: bassist Cecil McBee (trumpeter Miles Davis, saxophonists Pharoah Sanders and Wayne Shorter), trumpeter Eddie Henderson (lessons from Louis Armstrong, pianist Herbie Hancock), drummer Billy Hart (Davis, Hancock), tenor saxophonist Billy Harper (pianist Randy Weston, drummers Art Blakey, Elvin Jones and Max Roach) and pianist George Cables (saxophonist Sonny Rollins and trumpeter Freddie Hubbard). Trumpeter David Weiss, the youngest member, came up with the idea of putting these hefty musicians together with little notion that nine years later they would remain a unit. With the release of The Call of the Wild and Peaceful Heart, which, like 2014’s Time and Time Again, includes the band’s newest member, alto saxophonist Donald Harrison, the Cookers have put out five outstanding albums. The name of the album—also the disc’s first cut—tells a lot about the music. Penned by Harper, it rhythmically opens ever so slowly and peacefully. Later it explodes with the wild excitement of Harper’s tenor. It’s Harper’s pen at work again on the lovely ballad “If One Could Only See.” Cables’ gentle piano sets the soft mood with the purity of Henderson’s trumpet leading, as if singing, the tune. All of the original material is written by members of the Cookers, enabling each composer to bring that side of his musical personality to the project. Diversity defines the spirit of The Call of the Wild and Peaceful Heart

as it runs free while referencing musical touchstones from the past. The Cookers continue as master chiefs of the bandstand. —Geraldine Wyckoff

Gina Forsyth Copper Rooster (Waterbug Records) If you want to hear lots of fiddle tunes, go to a dulcimer festival. That’s what Gina Forsyth did, which served as the inspiration for her fulllength fiddle album. In her capable hands, she makes the fiddle sing its glorious melodies (“Rosin the Bow”) with superior tonality and masterful techniques like slides, shuffles, taters and bow hops. Though the proceedings are concentrated in bluegrass and clucking Appalachian hoe-downs, there’s also a Celtic tune (“St. Ann’s Reel”), a Cajun standard (“Don’t Bury Me”) and the humorous “It’s Moving Day” by old-time country musician Charlie Poole. A few songs are reprised from Forsyth’s Promised Land and out-of-print Fiddle EP releases but mostly with different arrangements and modified parts. Additionally, there’s rock-solid support from her Sweet Olive bandmates, producer Al Tharp and several other ringers. Since she allows her guests plenty of room for rides, the vibe is always a collaborative one. Perhaps the biggest guest surprise is Floridian Bing Futch, a dulcimer titan and finalist in this year’s International Blues Challenge. His presence on two tracks brings the concept full circle but even without him, this hard-driving, white-knuckled effort rivals any mountain music from those northern southern states. —Dan Willging www.OFFBEAT.com

REVIEWS

Luke Winslow-King I’m Glad Trouble Don’t last Always (Bloodshot) Luke Winslow-King’s fifth album is clearly a divorce/breakup album, and has everything you’d expect from an album of that nature. Song calling

his ex out by name? Check (“Esther Please”). Defiant “love me again or go away” song? Check (“Watch Me Go”). Song threatening to murder his rival? Check (“Louisiana Blues”). Emotional bottoming-out song? Check (“Heartsick Blues”). And yet, when you put it all together, this may be the least depressing and most encouraging breakup album you’ve ever heard. If he’d made this album a few years ago, it might have had a haunting, old-timey sound. But while he’s still informed by blues and gospel, his sound is now fully electric, and he’s never been more confident as a lead singer (which is partly a matter of necessity: the Esther in question was his vocal as

Fresh and Hungry New Orleans Suspects Kaleidoscoped (Independent) This is the fourth New Orleans Suspects album in as many years—and for a band whose members have been around the block a few times, they sound pretty fresh and hungry. The band’s already progressed from doing mostly covers on the debut to all originals on last year’s Ouroboros, but even that album sounded like a parade of styles: a groove song here, a Southern rocker there, a Mardi Gras workout or two. With Kaleidoscoped they take the next step, combining the styles into a full-fledged band sound. Many of these songs are still groove-based, but now it’s their own groove. The opening “Get It Started” combines bits of James Brown, the Meters and Dirty Dozen into a seamless whole. The song builds to a false ending before Jeff Watkins’ sax takes it to jazzier territory, yet the central riff never lets up. “You Got the Fire” and “Round Up Dem Suspects” respectively throw fresh spins on vintage local R&B and funked-up Indian chants; and you’ve always got to love a band that will write itself a theme song. Frequent touring partners Paul Barrere and Fred Tackett join in for “Dixie Highway,” but the arrangement is more slinky and sax-driven than anything Little Feat would come up with. It sounds like the Feats joining the Suspects, not the Suspects becoming the Feat. Guitarist Jake Eckert and keyboardist C.R. Gruver provide tasty solos when the time comes, but their solid rhythm work is really what makes this cook. As is the second-nature interplay of drummer Willie Green and bassist Reggie Scanlan—even a straight-ahead, slide-guitar rocker like “Creole Hannah” is full of syncopation. “Neighborhood Strut” is a funky finale that calls out the names of Uptown streets, and it sounds like they threw a couple downtown and Quarter streets in there as well. If so it makes sense, as the Suspects’ neighborhood is now the whole damn town. —Brett Milano www.OFFBEAT.com

SEPTEMBER 2016

REVIEWS well as romantic partner). Lovers of modern, soulful roots-rock will key right into the opening “On My Way” (which evokes Warren Haynes’ solo projects), and anyone who wishes Clapton would get a little grittier should go for “Watch Me Go.” Even the lyrically miserable “Heartsick Blues” has a lovely instrumental refrain, on violin and acoustic guitar, which adds the reassurance the singer can’t find. Tellingly, there aren’t any real ballads on the album, which goes for a more inspiring mood: It begins and ends with songs about getting over it, with two swaggering rockers (including the title track, a blues wailer whose lyrics could apply to any kind of hard times). The finale, “No More Crying Today,” is positively beatific, its lyrics reinforced by elegant slide guitar. It’s the kind of song that makes you want to break up with someone, just so you can feel this good afterward. —Brett Milano

Smoky Greenwell South Louisiana Blues (Greenwell Records) Harmonica ace Smoky Greenwell and guitarist Jack Kolb originally intended this to be a tribute to legendary Excello recording artist Lonesome Sundown. That explains the trio of Sundown covers heard here, including the swing-crazy “I Had a Dream Last Night” and the slow groover “Lonesome Lonely Blues,” featuring Joe Krown’s tinkling high ivories. But eventually Greenwell, Kolb and bassist David Hyde realized that they, too, are part of the indigenous tradition and hence, the broadened theme. Though the disc opens with Greenwell’s philosophical “Animal Angels,” the third tune, “Boogie Twist,” could have been the leadoff track since it’s so hairraising with slamming rides from Kolb, ex-Allman Brother

The King Bee Gets His Due Martin Hawkins Slim Harpo: Blues King Bee of Baton Rouge (LSU Press)

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Kayla Woodson Kayla Woodson (Independent) She’s from Waggaman originally, but like so many before her, Kayla Woodson journeyed to Nashville in order to make it as a country star, simultaneously enrolling in Belmont College’s music business program like her idol, Trisha Yearwood, and also getting noticed by Lady Antebellum in the process. If you like Lady A or Trisha, this five-song EP will probably be right

country-funky “Baby, Scratch My Back,” does the same, albeit in much livelier style. Following Harpo’s original recordings, young British acts rerecorded his songs in the mid-1960s and beyond. The Rolling Stones, the Yardbirds, the Kinks, Dave Edmunds, Van Morrison (then a member of Them)—all paid homage to Harpo. They also exposed his music to vastly larger, younger audiences. Through the decades that followed, Harpo’s songs, many written with the help of his wife, Lovell, achieved timeless status. Most of Harpo’s recording sessions happened at colorful producer J.D. Miller’s studio in Crowley, Louisiana. Subsections in the eight chapters of Blues King Bee of Baton Rouge give extensive detail about the sessions and the songs, grouping them into the months and years they were recorded. Miller’s deal with Nashville’s Excello Records led to national distribution for recordings by Harpo, Lightnin’ Slim, Whispering Smith and other Louisiana swamp-blues acts. The creation and production of Harpo’s music serves as the backbone for the Blues King Bee of Baton Rouge narrative. All the while, a large collection of supporting characters—including Miller, swamp-blues peers Lightnin’ Slim and Lazy Lester and Harpo band members—accompany the King Bee throughout the book. Because Harpo died in 1970 at 46, his band members survived him by decades. Hawkins expands upon the rare interviews Harpo gave during his lifetime through interviews with the musicians and Harpo’s family members and contemporaries. Interviewees include the musician’s stepson, William Gambler, who worked with Harpo and his band, guitarists Rudy Richard and James Johnson and drummer Jesse Kinchen. Hawkins possibly provides too much introductory material for Harpo’s entrance into the book. Even so, his thoroughly researched, painstakingly written and richly illustrated Blues King Bee of Baton Rouge instantly joins the relatively small list of essential books about post-1950 Louisiana musicians. The King Bee gets his due. —John Wirt

bookmark

Swamp-blues artist Slim Harpo has long been one of Louisiana’s least chronicled music stars. The new book by British writer Martin Hawkins changes that. At 416 pages, Slim Harpo: Blues King Bee of Baton Rouge is a major music biography. LSU Press will publish the book September 19. Hawkins applies a scholar’s detail and a fan’s affection to his exhaustively researched Harpo history. Working from the fragmentary information that exists about the late Baton Rouge musician, Hawkins tells Harpo’s story while simultaneously describing the hard world from which he came. Poverty, racial discrimination and a business that routinely treated its talent unfairly all figure in Harpo’s unlikely success story. Hawkins writes straightforwardly about the impoverished conditions Harpo and his contemporaries—including musicians Silas Hogan, Arthur “Guitar” Kelly, John W. “Big Poppa” Tilley and Buddy Guy—routinely experienced. And despite the hit records and growing fame Harpo gained in the late 1960s, he never gave up his physically strenuous day job. Born in 1924 on Belmont Planation in the West Baton Rouge Parish community of Mulatto Bend, Harpo grew up to be a singer, songwriter, guitarist and harmonica player of international significance. He wrote and recorded hits that reached high into the American pop and rhythmand-blues charts. They include 1961’s mournful country-blues ballad, “Rainin’ in My Heart.” A regional anthem, the song always fills south Louisiana dance floors. Another major hit for Harpo, 1965’s irresistible,

Johnny Neel (keys) and Greenwell (harmonica/sax). Still, it works as implemented. Greenwell’s best mouth organ performance is on “Pick It Up” where he practically works himself into a mind-numbing trance. While he’s one of the best harp players around, he’s also among the first tier of blues saxophonists, as evidenced by his commanding playing on Lee Allen’s rollicking “Walking with Mr. Lee.” Moreover, it’s just a fun disc— period. Greenwell’s drawly/talking vocals on “Two Headed Woman” are much more lighthearted than how Junior Wells sounded on the original, while Kolb leverages the chiming chords of Earl Hooker to bell-ringing infectious. And speaking of Kolb, his instrumental “The Hunch” is transformed into a funky Memphis strut with Neel’s behindthe-beat B3 squelchings. Greenwell’s best all-around effort yet. —Dan Willging

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REVIEWS up your alley, because there’s no Americana here: Kayla aims right for the CMA Awards podium by stitching together mid-tempo pop, adult alternative, mainstream dad rock and a little R&B, basically threading the needle between Kelly Clarkson and Lee Ann Womack on half these numbers. The other three may as well be Taylor Swift outtakes, empowering anthems about relationships in various stages of decay: “Fan for the Flame” is the warning shot, “Before It’s Too Late” is the last ditch attempt, “Last” the sad (but determined) resignation. As befits someone who’s been planning this ascension her whole life, she vocally sticks the landing every time; she’s got that twang that the industry loves. But as to what sets her apart from, say, another contestant on The Voice, the answer is: nothing yet. —Robert Fontenot

timbres and exploiting a wide range of dynamics in a very refreshing way. “Kournikova Bending Over,” “Pigeon, Pigeon,” “Nightmare Blues from Hell,” “I’ll Never Love an Udder”—Evans’ drollery extends to the song titles. The CD is almost unrelentingly comic, and this is its only drawback. Jazz lovers will listen with delight and occasional amazement, and enjoy the craziness. Evans is a singular player and composer. —Tom McDermott

James Evans’ Octuple Odyssey

Antoine Diel & Sam Kuslan

The Golden Whippet of Algiers (Jimmy Wizard Records)

In My Father’s House (Indpendent)

There have been dozens of interesting musicians moving to NOLA in the last few years, none more so than reedman/composer James Evans. His most accessible gigs are at the Palm Court Jazz Cafe, where he fits in at the far edge of traditional jazz. The Golden Whippet of Algiers is something altogether different. It’s a compliment to say this album of 13 originals is hard to compare to anything else. The swing-era maverick Raymond Scott comes to mind, or perhaps Spike Jones’ madcap artistry but with more smarts. It has Ellingtonian touches to the horn arranging, but you wouldn’t confuse it with the Duke: no piano here and 1950s–60s harmonic arranging but with banjo. Evans exploits the comic potential of his players: Charlie Halloran’s blatting trombone, Jason Marsalis’ woodblock, guitarist Georgi Petrov’s use of harmonics, the clarinets of Evans, Aurora Nealand and Gregory Agid playing at the very top of their registers. The pieces are constantly changing meter, inventing new

You’d be hard-pressed to find an album in 2016 that mixes two distinct styles of Christian music so bravely, if not flawlessly. Antoine Diel is not only classically trained but a big Mahalia Jackson fan to boot, and his collaboration with Sam Kuslan’s storefront church organ and New Orleans masters–style piano makes for strange bedfellows indeed: an operatic take on European Christian standards on the one hand, and full-on black gospel with a strong Crescent City flavor on the other. The two styles don’t necessarily blend, but they do seem at home next to each other, largely because Diel, like his idol before him, knows the sweet spot between the two traditions. It’s no coincidence that he covers three Mahalia Jackson standards in “Precious Lord, Take My Hand,” “It Don’t Cost Very Much” and “I’m Gonna Live the Life I Sing About in My Song.” For the rest of the album the styles split right down the middle, although “Precious Lord” manages to be plenty funky without a drumbeat of any kind, and “Just a

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SEPTEMBER 2016

REVIEWS

Mannie Fresh hits rewind on Juvenile’s 1997 album Solja Rags, which he produced for Cash Money Records.

Juvenile Solja Rags (Cash Money Records)

Joy

“E

verybody always wanna talk about 400 Degreez or Mind of Mannie Fresh… 400 Degreez has a mainstream following but Mind of Mannie Fresh has got a cult following, which is funny. I was just nuts at the time and that’s what happens when you let a producer in the studio without nobody to tell him he ain’t got no limits and I just kind of went crazy on it, it’s got like 32 tracks [laughs]. And the cool thing is, it came out alright. It was just me being me, just wanting to not take things so serious and have fun. And I’m not gonna lie, at the time of doing that album I felt like everybody was too gangsta anyway. I still feel that way, like why isn’t anybody having fun on these records? [laughs] But yeah, I’ve been thinking about Juve’s Solja Rags album lately, it kinda set up 400 Degreez. But what was so cool about Solja Rags is it kinda brought everyone together as a team. It gave Cash Money a sense of teamwork, like everybody put they own input in on doing this album… B.G. wrote parts, I wrote parts, Baby had stuff to do with it, all the little characters I created, the skits, all of that came together on that album and was all there when we started doing things bigger and better. It really was the foundation for all the things that would come in the years after, 400 Degreez and all the rest. And the whole city still know Ziggy [Ziggly Wiggly & Bulletproof] from doing skits on that album [laughs]. I did a lot of new things on Solja Rags. It was a rap album as opposed to a bounce album, which is what Cash Money had been doing up until that time. The first generation of Cash Money was all bounce records, so Solja Rags was one of the first rap albums that Cash Money ever made. And when Juvenile came, that just kinda turned the format to ‘it’s time to try rap beats instead of bounce beats.’ I was living in the 9th Ward at the time cutting

up cars [laughs]. I was trading car parts. Like if you had a Cutlass and needed a fender, I knew where to get you one, or a specific bumper or whatever you needed. And the cool thing about it, when that album came out, it made me sure that this is what I wanted to do. That I could do it. For a full-time job. And I decided it was time for all the side gigs to end. Making the album, there were some funny things about it. [Juve] had no idea at the time about counting bars or whatever, it was a challenge because he might have 13 bars and I was like, okay we need to do something to make this an even number [laughs]. But he had no idea about structuring songs so even that, that record taught him the whole structure of how a song is put together. But the thing I remember most is how the city embraced that album. The lead track ‘Solja Rag’ was so big it was crazy. Like I remember the first time we went to Houston with that record we were like, man, we are on to something. Because it was so big in New Orleans, but what meant even more to us was that it was poppin’ outside the city. People in Houston knew all the words. It was just like, wow, they really know all the words to this whole song. It was real cool. To me, Solja Rags will always be one of my favorite records that I’ve done.” —Holly Hobbs

“I was living in the 9th Ward at the time cutting up cars [laughs]. I was trading car parts. Like if you had a Cutlass and needed a fender, I knew where to get you one...”

Closer Walk With Thee” reverses the equation with a surprising stateliness and a few R&B touches. The real revelation here is a version of “How Great Thou Art” that couldn’t have come from anywhere but the Crescent City, replete with jazzfuneral double-time in the second half. One of Diel’s earlier albums placed its back cover at the street corner of New Orleans and Hope, which puts it somewhere between war-torn Gentilly and St. Roch; this collab is that dream made real. —Robert Fontenot

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Mannie Fresh will perform at the free Fried Chicken Festival in Lafayette Square on Sunday, September 25, along with the BrassA-Holics, John Boutté, Sweet Crude and Tank & the Bangas. For more info, go to friedchickenfestival.com.

Just Like That (Independent) Joycelyn Owens is best known as the featured female vocalist for Walter “Wolfman” Washington and his Roadmasters, and if you like the music of that shifting ensemble, you’ll feel right at home with her debut EP—nothing’s been reduced here but her first name. In fact, the band’s been augmented by, among others, Ivan Neville on organ and an expanded horn section. The only difference is that she locks down center stage on these four songs. Unfortunately, that approach doesn’t always work when showcasing a vocalist, and leaving the Wolfman’s signature mixture of funk, soul and blues intact also leaves that stage unnecessarily cluttered. Joy and the band all sound just fine, but there are too many times where it seems like she has to fight for attention over the big, brassy arrangements and endless solos, and that’s as true for her intriguing cover of the Hendrix deep cut “Night Bird Flying” as it is for the solid originals. It’s especially problematic because, at her best, Joy(celyn) is as approachable a blues-soul diva as Irma Thomas, with less pathos but more range, as warm yet uncompromising a voice as any of Malaco’s ’70s and ’80s

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REVIEWS females. Too bad “Nightbird” and “Prisoner” rock so hard she has to struggle to be heard. A more intimate setting would probably draw some deep, deep soul out of her. —Robert Fontenot

Georgi Petrov and Russell Ramirez Beware of the Cats (Independent) A pairing of a guitar and trombone in a duet format for

Rediscovering His Muse Paul Sanchez Heart Renovations (Independent) Songwriters need stories and much of the time it’s the story of their life that ends up getting told. A storyteller with a dull life doesn’t have much to work with. So a storyteller with a hard life is actually blessed. So it is with Paul Sanchez, whose seemingly endless trove of tales encompasses a world of grief and heartbreak, hope and redemption. A New Orleans story. It might be a hurricane, a death, the end of a marriage—it’s all material for a teller of tales who grew up studying the likes of Bob Dylan, Steve Goodman and Bruce Springsteen. In the latest episode things are particularly bad for our hero. But as long as he has his trusty guitar there’s just no stopping him from moving on. The starkness of his solitary voyage through these 20 songs is riveting, an ancient mariner’s tale, and Mark Bingham’s invisible production makes it all stand out like a classic etching. Sanchez has his friends to help with the reconstruction, songwriters like Steve Brennan, Vance DeGeneres, Mari Kornhauser, Lynn Drury. Though he doesn’t appear in the songwriting credits, Paul’s buddy from the Write Brothers, Alex McMurray, gets a significant thanks that needs no explanation. One song co-written with John Rankin, “The Good Life,” holds its place with particular resonance: “I thought growing old would take longer/ So many things I couldn’t wait to see/ But the years roll by and time it flies/ And it’s all catching up with me. Hope is a boat I’m here in the bow/ Looking to find what reminds me somehow/ The good life is now, the good life is now/ The good life is now.” Sanchez does a good bit of chronicling all the things that went wrong, especially in his marriage, on “Nowhere,” “Fly Away,” “Already Gone,” “Time to Move On,” “Happiness Would Be My Middle Name” and “Three Quarter Time.” He steeps in the memories, wallows in his misery, finally staring at the bloody wall of his lost hope in the title track. But like the ship’s captain that he will never stop being, Sanchez picks himself up and follows the wind, cursing the road in “Planes, Trains, Automobiles” but rediscovering his muse during his travels on the marvelous Celtic trilogy, “Getting Drunk In Ireland,” “Rain in Acadia” and “In Galway.” The emotions in these songs is close to the surface, raw and oozing grief, yet Sanchez screws up the courage to keep writing and keep getting up on stages and sharing these murderous tales on a nightly basis. It takes its toll, but it also points his way forward. Along the way he relies on his friends, and in one of the album’s best songs, “I Still Believe,” he pays tribute to those companions: “My friends are the kind of folks who feel like they don’t fit in/ The ones who learn the hard way not to care/ First we’re all fine then we’re fucked then we’re all fine again/ We’re lost when we’re not going anywhere … I still believe I still believe I still believe.” —John Swenson www.OFFBEAT.com

an entire album can certainly be considered unusual. The duo of Georgi Petrov—who’s heard on an acoustic, electric and squareneck guitar—and trombonist Russell Ramirez offer primarily quick takes (the tunes run from two to just over four minutes) on jazz classics such as the opener, “April in Paris.” The result is often tonally pleasant, like two talented friends jamming in a living room. Petrov and Ramirez are both familiar faces on the New Orleans scene often playing in traditional jazz groups. On Beware of the Cats, they lean towards more modern jazz composers, including pianist Horace Silver on his “Summer in Central Park.” The two capture the essence of romance that is at the heart of the song. Less successful is their take on saxophonist Dexter Gordon’s “Cheese Cake.” The Latin tinge works but Gordon’s deep passion and modern jazz push gets lost. That’s the case again on pianist Bud Powell’s “Dance of the Infidels,” on which Petrov and Ramirez begin the great standard with a too-long, unrelated intro. The best thing about these tunes is that they send you directly to YouTube to hear the originals. They fare better on the perhaps less familiar “Ray’s Idea,” best known as performed by trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie. They get it swinging despite the lack of drums and bass. Beware of the Cats is in format and direction as odd as its title. —Geraldine Wyckoff

The Bo-Keys Heartaches by the Number (Omnivore) Most interesting release: You’d have to call this country/ soul, performed in the noble tradition of the great Arthur Alexander, Joe Simon, Candi Staton, Jimmy Hughes and several swamp pop artists. Back in the ’60s there were three centers for the recording of country/ soul—Nashville, Memphis and East Texas/South Louisiana. This

one was recorded in Memphis, but it has all the dressings of the previously mentioned centers. Basically, producer Scott Bomar combed some classic country jukeboxes to locate material and had the Bo-Keys—a superior R&B outfit—translate the songs in the studio. The opener/title track, “Heartaches by the Number” has Don Bryant (the author of the classic “I Can’t Stand the Rain”) featured on vocals, and the performance here is the perfect blend of country and soul. The same can be said for the country weeper “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry,” (Percy Wiggins sings on this and the rest of the material) which strangely works done R&B style. (Swamp popper Tommy McLain did this Hank Williams classic back in the ’60s.) Speaking of swamp pop, the Bo-Keys do a slightly amped up version of “Wasted Days and Wasted Nights,” the last true national swamp hit, recorded by Freddy Fender in the mid-’70s. Other country standouts done R&B style include “Don’t Take Her (She’s All I Got),” “Last Date” and “The Longer You Wait,” which includes some tasty steel guitar. The only straight-up R&B track here is “Learned My Lesson in Love” which sounds like it was lifted from one of Syl Johnson’s Hi LPs. Not a bad track here period. A lot of listeners are going to be more than a trifle impressed with this CD. —Jeff Hannusch

The Taxpayers Big Decision Factory (Useless State Records) The Taxpayers get more press than most New Orleans rock SEPTEMBER 2016

REVIEWS bands, and that’s because they have more history, starting out as a Portland post-emo group of indie rockers who literally fell in love with The City That Care Forgot—romantic relationships were apparently involved—and gradually became bicoastal in nature. The music on their latest release is similarly bifurcated, but they aren’t torn between two cultures: Rather, the songs on this album veer, sometimes awkwardly, between an earnest, sweeping piano-based pop that lands stylistically somewhere between early Springsteen and Arcade Fire and a noise-punk scree that calls to mind a mix of Built to Spill and the Desaparecidos. Both approaches are absolutely appropriate and even thrilling at times, given the album’s loose concept: not just a portrait of the post-Katrina struggle of the band’s beloved adopted town,

but a harsh examination of America’s major cities in general and their seemingly inexorable slide into third-world chaos. It’s just that the damaged beauty of portraits like “Call Me Linda” sit oddly next to the industrial angst of a short burst of fury like “Roll Call” or “Brain Drain.” Then again, that may be baked into the design, if a track like “Goodbye, Balance” is any indication; intense sadness punctuated by occasional, seemingly random uprisings seems to be the blueprint of the New Normal anyway. And occasionally a mid-tempo pop-rock grinder like “Easy Money” or a tender folk ballad like “Fuck America” captures how the anger proceeds directly from the sadness and the beauty from the pain: “Only a world so desperate for meaning could swallow the lies.” —Robert Fontenot

Welcome to South Louisiana Bruce Daigrepont Bienvenue Dans le Sud de la Louisiane (Bayou Pon Pon) Bienvenue Dans le Sud de la Louisiane, Bruce Daigrepont’s first band record since 1999’s Paradis, consists of 14 finely crafted originals, with several having been performed live for years, some even before Katrina. Though the gate-bolting title track may roll out the red carpet to French Louisiana, the proceedings are really a portal into Daigrepont’s cultural perspective and his identity as a Cajun. Subject-wise, the songs range from crawfish boils, Cajun cooking and lending a helping hand to the late-night visiting uncle and scruffy, stubborn bachelors; the instrumental “D & D Special,” a familial reference, is quite the flame thrower. As a songwriter, Daigrepont can write with poignancy, as evidenced by the majestic “Si le Bon Dieu Veut” and the trill-ringing, bass-note clashing “Aujord’hui t’es Ici, Demain t’es Gone,” which were inspired by the loss of his parents. But he can also be funny, as on the recklessly rocking “Les Politiciens,” which casts politicians as crooks. If his accordion playing is impeccable and creative, his ultra-tight band matches his resiliency, whether it’s Daigrepont and fiddler Gina Forsyth’s telepathic interplay or drummer Mike Barras’ quick-pumping New Orleans beats. Stylistically, each track differs from its predecessor, giving the listening and possibly dancing experience beautiful ebb and flow. As a vocalist, Daigrepont is not afraid to let it out and he’s never afraid to wear his heart on his sleeve. He’s as real as they come. —Dan Willging

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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

THURSDAY SEPT 1

Banks Street Bar: the Big Easy Playboys (CW) 9p Buffa’s: Lauren Sturm (VR) 5p, Pfister Sisters (JV) 8p Chickie Wah Wah: Phil DeGruy (VR) 6p, Russell Welch Hot Quartet (JV) 8p, Charlie Wooton Project (VR) 10:30p Crazy Lobster: the Spanish Plaza 3 (VR) 5p d.b.a.: Settly and the Disappointments (RK) 10p Dragon’s Den: the Ill Vibe with DJ Matt Scott (VR) 8p; Upstairs: Vibe Wan Time (HH) 9p Kerry Irish Pub: Vincent Marini (FO) 8:30p Le Bon Temps Roule: Soul Rebels (BB) 11p Little Tropical Isle:Allen Hebert (RK) 5p, Frank Fairbanks (RK) 9p Maison: Good For Nothin’ Band, Sweet Substitute, Dysfunktional Bone (VR) 4p Maple Leaf: the Trio feat. Johnny Vidacovich and guests (FK) 11p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall Legacy Band feat. Gregg Stafford (TJ) 6p, Preservation Hall All-Stars feat. Louis Ford (TJ) 8p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: Geno Delafose (ZY) 8:30p Snug Harbor: James Evans record-release party (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Sarah McCoy and the Oopsie Daisies (JV) 4p, Miss Sophie Lee (JV) 6p, Jumbo Shrimp (JV) 10p Steamboat Natchez: Duke Heitger’s Steamboat Stompers (TJ) 11:30a & 2:30p, Dukes of Dixieland (DX) 7p Three Muses: Brett Richardson (JV) 5p, Meschiya Lake (JV) 7:30p Tropical Isle Bayou Club: Cajun Drifters (KJ) 5p, Nonc Nu and Da Wild Matous (KJ) 9p Tropical Isle Original: the Hangovers (RK) 5:15p, Late As Usual (RK) 9:15p Vaughan’s Lounge: Corey Henry and the Treme Funktet (FK) 10p W XYZ Bar: Keith Burnstein’s Kettle Black (SS) 5:30p

FRIDAY SEPT 2

Banks Street Bar: Banks Street Anniversary Party feat. Chris Zonada, Clockwork Elvis, Honey Tangerine, Egg Yolk Jubilee (VR) 7p

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Buffa’s: Andre Bohren (CL) 5p, Truman Holland and the Back Porch Review (VR) 8p, Haruka Kikuchi and the Big 4tune (JV) 11p Champions Square: Paint Da City White (VR) 10p Chickie Wah Wah: Michael Pearce (BL) 6p, Creole String Beans (VR) 8p, Ed Volker’s Do-Rad-Choppers (VR) 10p Crazy Lobster: Ken Swartz and the Palace of Sin (VR) 5p d.b.a.: Hot Club of New Orleans (JV) 6p, Dave Jordan and the NIA, South Jones (RR) 10p Dos Jefes: Panorama Jazz Band (JV) 10p Dragon’s Den: Thibault (SS) 6p, Kala Bazaar Swing Society (JV) 7p, the Tipping Point with DJ RQ Away (HH) 10p; Upstairs: Comedy Fuck Yeah (CO) 7p, Latin Night (LT) 11p Funky Pirate: Mark and the Pentones (BL) 2p, Blues Masters feat. Big Al (BL) 8:30p Hi-Ho Lounge: Iceman Cometh (FK) 7p, Relapse with Matt Scott (VR) 10p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Little Bird (FK) 10p Kerry Irish Pub: Mark Appleford (FO) 5p, Crossing Canal with Patrick Cooper and Ruby Ross (FO) 9p Little Tropical Isle: Reed Lightfoot (RK) 5p, Frank Fairbanks (RK) 9p Maison: Shotgun Jazz Band, Big Easy Brawlers, No Good Deed (VR) 7p Maple Leaf: Deltaphonic and special guests (FK) 11p Morning Call: Valerie Sassyfras (VR) 10a Old Point Bar: Rick Trolsen (PI) 5p, Jamey St. Pierre and the Honeycreepers (SO) 9:30p Old U.S. Mint: Johnette Downing (VR) 11a One Eyed Jacks: Bearracuda (VR) 10p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall Legacy Band feat. Wendell Brunious (TJ) 6, Preservation Hall Brass Band feat. Daniel Farrow (TJ) 8p Republic: Bassik feat. Ookay, Melt Facing, DeBeaux, Deathtouch (EL) 9p Rivershack Gretna: Rock Show Duo (RK) 9p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: Back to School Night with Bucktown All-Stars (VR) 9:30p Smoothie King Center: Drake, Future (HH) 6:30p Snug Harbor: Delfeayo Marsalis Sextet (JV) 8 & 10p Three Muses: Royal Roses (JV) 5:30p Tipitina’s: Big Sam’s Funky Nation, the Crooked Vines (VR) 10p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Jay B. Elston Band (RK) 5p, Debi and the Deacons (RK) 9p Tropical Isle Original: Down River (RK) 1p, the Hangovers (RK) 5:15p, Late As Usual (RK) 9:15p W XYZ Bar: Jon Roniger (SS) 5:30p

SATURDAY SEPT 3

Banks Street Bar: Merle Swaggard (HH) 10p Blue Nile: Washboard Chaz Blues Trio (BL) 7p Buffa’s: Suzy Malone (VR) 5p, Royal Rounders (VR) 8p, Vanessa Carr (VR) 11p Café Negril: Jamie Lynn Vessels (VR) 4p, Jamey St. Pierre and the Honeycreepers (SO) 7p, Higher Heights (VR) 10p Chickie Wah Wah: call club (VR) 8p Creole Cookery: Trad Stars Jazz Band (JV) 11a d.b.a.: Slick Skiller Serenaders (VR) 4p, John Boutte (JV) 8p, Little Freddie King (BL) 11p Dragon’s Den: Eight Dice Cloth (JV) 7p, Studio 504 (VR) 10p; Upstairs: Talk Nerdy to Me (BQ) 7p Funky Pirate: Mark and the Pentones (BL) 2p, Blues Masters feat. Big Al (BL) 8:30p Gasa Gasa: Modern Measure, Foucas Wylie (VR) 10p Hi-Ho Lounge: Mr. Louisiana Leather (VR) 8p, Hustle with DJ Soul Sister (FK) 11p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): the Rayo Brothers, Crazy Whisky (FO) 10p Howlin’ Wolf: Rebirth Brass Band, Sexual Thunder (FK) 10p Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse: Leroy Jones Quintet (JV) 8p Kermit’s Mother-in-Law Lounge: Neisha Ruffins (JV) 8:30p Kerry Irish Pub: Will Dickerson (FO) 5p, Roux the Day (FO) 9p Little Tropical Isle: Jay B. Elston (RK) 5p, Reed Lightfoot (RK) 9p Maison: Chance Bushman and the Ibervillianaires, Leah Rucker, Smoking Time Jazz Club (VR) 1p, Street Legends (BB) 11:59p

Maple Leaf: New Orleans Suspects (FK) 11p Morning Call City Park: Billy D. Chapman (JV) 10a One Eyed Jacks: Fur Ball (VR) 10p Preservation Hall: Joint Chiefs of Jazz feat. Jamie Wight (TJ) 6p, Preservation Hall All-Stars feat. Charlie Gabriel (TJ) 8p Rivershack Gretna: Mikey B3 (VR) 9p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: the Boogie Men (VR) 9:30p Snug Harbor: Ike Stubblefield Organ Trio (JV) 8 & 10p Southport Hall: Cerebral Drama (RK) 9p Three Muses: Chris Christy (JV) 5p, Debbie Davis (JV) 6p, Shotgun Jazz Band (JV) 9p Time Out: Andre Bouvier and the Royal Bohemians (VR) 11a Tipitina’s: Stoop Kids, Miss Mojo, Elysian Feel (VR) 10p Tropical Isle Bayou Club: the Troubadour (KJ) 1p, Bayou Cajun Swamp Band (KJ) 5p, T’Canaille (KJ) 9p Tropical Isle Original: Down River (RK) 1p, the Hangovers (RK) 5:15p, Late As Usual (RK) 9:15p UNO Lakefront Arena: 2nd Annual Super Fresh Hip Hop Fest feat. Doug E Fresh, Too Short, Slick Rick, EPMD, Dana Dane, Roxanne Shante, UNLV, Gregory D, Bust Down, Partners N Crime and DJ Kool (HH) 8p

SUNDAY SEPT 4

Banks Street Bar: Kyle Smith (SS) 4p Buffa’s: Some Like It Hot! (TJ) 10:30a, NOLAsynchroniCity film screening feat. Bayou Maharajah and Josh Paxton (JV) 7 & 9p Chickie Wah Wah: Joe Ely (VR) 8p Crazy Lobster: the Neon Shadows (VR) 4p d.b.a.: Palmetto Bugs Stompers (SI) 6p Dragon’s Den: Konfession (VR) 4p, Upstairs: Church (EL) 10p Funky Pirate: Mark and the Pentones (BL) 4p, Willie Lockett Band (BL) 8p Gasa Gasa: Leopold and his Fiction (VR) 8:30p Hi-Ho Lounge: NOLA Comedy Hour (CO) 8p, Alfred Banks (HH) 10p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Hot 8 Brass Band (BB) 10p Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse: Germaine Bazzle (JV) 8p Kermit’s Mother-in-Law Lounge: Kermit Ruffins and the BBQ Swingers (JV) 5:30p Kerry Irish Pub: Patrick Cooper (FO) 8p Maison: Chance Bushman and the NOLA Jitterbugs (SI) 10a, Too Darn Hot, Dinosaurchestra, Higher Heights (VR) 4p Maple Leaf: Joe Krown Trio feat. Russell Batiste and Walter “Wolfman” Washington (RB) 10p Old Point Bar: Gregg Martinez (RK) 3:30p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall Legacy Band feat. Gregg Stafford (TJ) 6p, Preservation Hall All-Stars feat. Wendell Brunious (TJ) 8p Snug Harbor: Charles Brewer Trio (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Pfister Sisters (JV) 2p, Kristina Morales and Bayou Shufflers (JV) 6p, Pat Casey and the New Sound (JV) 10p Three Muses: Pascal and Bart (JV) 5p, Linnzi Zaorski (JV) 8p Tipitina’s: Sunday Youth Music Workshop feat. Johnny Vidacovich Trio (VR) 1p Trinity Episcopal Church: New Orleans Trombone Choir (CL) 5p Tropical Isle Bayou Club: Brandon Moreau and Cajungrass (KJ) 2p, Bayou Cajun Swamp Band (KJ) 7p Tropical Isle Bourbon: BC and Company (RK) 1p, Rhythm and Rain (RK) 5p, Debi and the Deacons (RK) 9p

MONDAY SEPT 5

Banks Street Bar: Potluck Piano Night hosted by Dignity Reve (JV) 7p, Lilli Lewis (SO) 9p Buffa’s: Arsene DeLay (VR) 5p, Antoine Diel (JV) 8p Chickie Wah Wah: Benny Maygarden and Thomas “Mad Dog” Walker (VR) 6p, Alexis and the Samurai (ID) 8p Dragon’s Den: Soft Shoe Shufflers (GY) 7p, DJ Ill Medina (VR) 11p Funky Pirate: Willie Lockett Band (BL) 8p Hi-Ho Lounge: Bluegrass Pickin’ Party (BU) 8p, Instant Opus Improvised Series (JV) 9p Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse: Gerald French Trio (JV) 8p Kerry Irish Pub: Mark Appleford (FO) 8p Little Tropical Isle: Frank Fairbanks (RK) 5p, Reed Lightfoot (RK) 9p

Maison: Chicken and Waffles, Aurora Nealand and the Royal Roses, the Key Sound (JV) 4p Maple Leaf: George Porter Jr. Trio (FK) 9p Morning Call: Valerie Sassyfras (VR) 10a Ooh Poo Pah Doo: James Andrews and the Crescent City All-Stars, Bobby Love (VR) 8p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall Jazz Masters feat. Leroy Jones (TJ) 8p Smoothie King Center: Maroon 5 (PO) 7:30p Snug Harbor: Charmaine Neville Band (JV) 8 & 10p Three Muses: Bart Ramsey (JV) 5p Tropical Isle Bayou Club: Cajun Drifters (KJ) 7p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Rhythm and Rain (RK) 5p, Beach Combers (RK) 9p Tropical Isle Original: Graham Robinson Band (RK) 5:15p, Trop Rock Express (RK) 9:15p

TUESDAY SEPT 6

Bacchanal: Raphael Bas (JV) 12p, Geoff Clapp Trio (JV) 7:30p Banks Street Bar: the Key Sound (RB) 9p Blue Nile: Open Ears Music Series feat. Albey Balgochian and Mo Bass with Reggie Scanlan, Andre Bohren and Jane Grenier (MJ) 10:30p Chickie Wah Wah: Albanie Falletta (VR) 6p, Jon Cleary (VR) 8p Crazy Lobster: AC and the Heat (VR) 5p d.b.a.: Treme Brass Band (BB) 9p Funky Pirate: Blues Masters feat. Big Al (BL) 8:30p Hi-Ho Lounge: Grass Mud Horse (FO) 6:30p, Marshland (FO) 8p, Karaoke Night (VR) 10p Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse: Oscar Rossignoli (JV) 7p Kerry Irish Pub: Jason Bishop (FO) 8:30p Little Tropical Isle: Mark Pentone (RK) 5p, Frank Fairbanks (RK) 9p Maison: Swinging Gypsies, Gregory Agid, Willie Green Project (JV) 4p Maple Leaf: Rebirth Brass Band (RK) 11p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall-Stars feat. Shannon Powell (TJ) 8p Snug Harbor: Stanton Moore Trio (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Andy J. Forest (JV) 4p, Meschiya Lake and the Little Big Horns (JV) 6p, Smoking Time Jazz Club (JV) 10p Steamboat Natchez: Duke Heitger’s Steamboat Stompers (TJ) 11:30a & 2:30p, Dukes of Dixieland (DX) 7p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Jay B. Elston Band (RK) 5p, Jezebels Chill’n (RK) 9p Tropical Isle Original: the Hangovers (RK) 5:15p, Jay B. Elston Band (RK) 9:15p

WEDNESDAY SEPT 7

Banks Street Bar: Major Bacon (BL) 10p Buffa’s: Open Mic Night with Nattie Sanchez (SS) 7p Chickie Wah Wah: Dave Hickey and Jacob Tanner (VR) 6p, Dave Easley plus 1 (VR) 8p Circle Bar: the Iguanas (RK) 7p Crazy Lobster: Ken Swartz and the Palace of Sin (VR) 5p d.b.a.: Tin Men (BL) 7p, Walter “Wolfman” Washington and the Roadmasters (BL) 10p Dragon’s Den: Reggae Night (RE) 10p Funky Pirate: Blues Masters feat. Big Al (BL) 8:30p Gasa Gasa: Fluff (VR) 9p Hi-Ho Lounge: Shamarr Allen, DJ Chicken (FK) 9p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): the Black Wahletts (PO) 9p Irish House: Ruby Ross (FO) 6p Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse: Irvin Mayfield (JV) 8p Kerry Irish Pub: Paintbox with Dave James and Tim Robertson (FO) 8:30p Little Gem Saloon: David L. Harris Jr. Duo (TJ) 7p Little Tropical Isle: Jay B. Elston (RK) 5p, Reed Lightfoot (RK) 9p Maison: Noah Young Trip, Jazz Vipers, Cool Nasty (VR) 4p Maple Leaf: Brasi NOLA (VR) 9p Morning Call: Valerie Sassyfras (VR) 10a, Krewe du Two (VR) 1p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall All-Stars feat. Charlie Gabriel (TJ) 8p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: Gal Holiday and the Honky Tonk Revue (SI) 8p

SEPTEMBER 2016

LIVE LOCAL MUSIC Snug Harbor: Uptown Jazz Orchestra (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Chris Christy (JV) 4p, Shotgun Jazz Band (JV) 6p, Antoine Diel and the New Orleans Power Misfits (JV) 10p Three Muses: Leslie Martin (JV) 5p, Hot Club of New Orleans (JV) 7p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Jezebels Chill’n (RK) 5p, Debi and the Deacons (RK) 9p Tropical Isle Original: Debi and the Deacons (RK) 5:15p, Late As Usual (RK) 9:15p

THURSDAY SEPT 8

Buffa’s: Yvette Voelker and the Swinging Heathens (JV) 5p, Doyle Cooper Trio (JV) 9p Champions Square: Brantley Gilbert, Justin Moore, Colt Ford (SS) 7p Chickie Wah Wah: Phil DeGruy (VR) 6p, Russell Welch Hot Quartet (JV) 8p Crazy Lobster: the Spanish Plaza 3 (VR) 5p Dragon’s Den: the Ill Vibe with DJ Matt Scott (VR) 8p; Upstairs: Black Wall Street (HH) 9p Funky Pirate: Mark and the Pentones (BL) 4p, Blues Masters feat. Big Al (BL) 8:30p Gasa Gasa: Mild High Club, Video Age (ID) 9p Hi-Ho Lounge: Christin Bradford, Valerie Sassyfras, Naughty Palace (VR) 9p Howlin’ Wolf: Honeyboy Carencro, the Lilli Lewis Project (VR) 8p Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse: Amber Matthews (JV) 8p Kerry Irish Pub: Chip Wilson (FO) 8:30p Le Bon Temps Roule: Soul Rebels (BB) 11p Little Tropical Isle: Allen Hebert (RK) 5p, Frank Fairbanks (RK) 9p Maison: Good For Nothin’ Band, Asylum Chorus, Dysfunktional Bone (VR) 4p Maple Leaf: the Trio feat. Johnny Vidacovich and guests (FK) 11p Ogden Museum of Southern Art: Tank and the Bangas (FK) 6p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall Legacy Band feat. Gregg Stafford (TJ) 6p, Preservation Hall All-Stars feat. Louis Ford (TJ) 8p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: Sean Ardoin (ZY) 8:30p Snug Harbor: Larry Sieberth Quartet (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Sarah McCoy and the Oopsie Daisies (JV) 4p, Miss Sophie Lee (JV) 6p, Jumbo Shrimp (JV) 10p Steamboat Natchez: Duke Heitger’s Steamboat Stompers (TJ) 11:30a & 2:30p, Dukes of Dixieland (DX) 7p Three Muses: Meschiya Lake (JV) 7:30p Tropical Isle Bayou Club: Cajun Drifters (KJ) 5p, Nonc Nu and Da Wild Matous (KJ) 9p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Beach Combers (RK) 5p, Debi and the Deacons (RK) 9p Tropical Isle Original: the Hangovers (RK) 5:15p, Late As Usual (RK) 9:15p Vaughan’s Lounge: Corey Henry and the Treme Funktet (FK) 10p W XYZ Bar: Renshaw Davies (FO) 5:30p

FRIDAY SEPT 9

Banks Street Bar: Fly Molo CD-release party, Jak Locke, DJ Jeremy Avegno (RK) 10p Buffa’s: Water Seed All-Stars (VR) 5p, Dave Ferrato Trio (VR) 8p, Gumbo Cabaret (VR) 11p Bullet’s: Original Pinettes (BB) 8:30p Chickie Wah Wah: Michael Pearce (BL) 6p, Paul Sanchez (RR) 8p, Margie Perez CD-release party (VR) 10:30p Circle Bar: Rik Slave’s Country Persuasion (CW) 7p, Guts Club, Bunny Boy (ID) 9:30p Civic Theater: Joanna Newsom (SS) 8:30p Crazy Lobster: Ken Swartz and the Palace of Sin (VR) 5p d.b.a.: Meschiya Lake and the Little Big Horns (JV) 6p, Dash Rip Rock, Mason Ruffner (RK) 10p Dew Drop Social and Benevolent Hall: Willie Sugarcapps (FO) 6:30p Dos Jefes: Joe Krown Trio (BL) 10p Dragon’s Den: Eight Dice Cloth (JV) 7p, the Tipping Point with DJ RQ Away (HH) 10p; Upstairs: Comedy Fuck Yeah (CO) 7p, Latin Night (LT) 11p Funky Pirate: Mark and the Pentones (BL) 2p, Blues Masters feat. Big Al (BL) 8:30p Hi-Ho Lounge: Relapse with Matt Scott (VR) 10p House of Blues: Watsky, Witt Lowry, Daye Jack, Chuckwudi Hodge (HH) 7p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Sean Ardoin (ZY) 10p Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse: Leon “Kid Chocolate” Brown (JV) 8p Kerry Irish Pub: Patrick Cooper (FO) 5p, Hurricane Refugees (FO) 9p Le Bon Temps Roule: Joe Krown (PI) 7p Little Tropical Isle: Reed Lightfoot (RK) 5p, Frank Fairbanks (RK) 9p Maison: Broadmoor Jazz Band, Swinging Gypsies (VR) 4p, Crooked Vines, Street Legends (VR) 10p

SEPTEMBER 2016

Maple Leaf: Eric Benny Bloom & Friends (VR) 11p Morning Call: Valerie Sassyfras (VR) 10a Old Point Bar: Rick Trolsen (PI) 5p, Truman Holland and the Back Porch Review (RK) 9:30p One Eyed Jacks: Crystal Castles (VR) 10p Orpheum Theater: Kraftwerk (EL) 8:30p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall Legacy Band feat. Wendell Brunious (TJ) 6p, Preservation Hall Brass Band feat. Daniel Farrow (TJ) 8p Rivershack Gretna: the Alley Cats (VR) 9p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: Karma (VR) 9:30p Saenger Theatre: Sturgill Simpson (SS) 8p Snug Harbor: Ellis Marsalis Quartet (JV) 8 & 10p Southport Hall: the Molly Ringwalds (VR) 9p Three Muses: Tommy Sciple (JV) 5:30p Tipitina’s: Soul Sister’s 10th Annual Birthday Jam with the Chuck Brown Band, DJ Soul Sister, New Breed Brass Band (FK) 10p Tropical Isle Bayou Club: Bayou Cajun Swamp Band (KJ) 5p, T’Canaille (KJ) 9p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Jay B. Elston Band (RK) 5p, Debi and the Deacons (RK) 9p W XYZ Bar: Erika Flowers (SS) 5:30p

SATURDAY SEPT 10

Banks Street Bar: Ron Hotstream and the Mid-City Drifters CD-release party (CW) 10p Blue Nile: Washboard Chaz Blues Trio (BL) 7p Buffa’s: Keith Burnstein (VR) 5p, Blake Amos (VR) 8p Chickie Wah Wah: Whippoorwills, the Batture Boys (VR) 8p Circle Bar: Richard Bates (RK) 6p Crazy Lobster: the River Gang (VR) 11a d.b.a.: Slick Skiller Serenaders (VR) 4p, John Boutte (JV) 8p, Corey Henry and the Treme Funktet (FK) 11p Dragon’s Den: Swinging Gypsies (JV) 7p, DJ Jubilee (HH) 10p, Ill Medina (VR) 11:59p; Upstairs: Talk Nerdy to Me (BQ) 8p Funky Pirate: Mark and the Pentones (BL) 2p, Blues Masters feat. Big Al (BL) 8:30p Gasa Gasa: Renshaw Davies CD-release party (FO) 10 Hi-Ho Lounge: Brown Improv (CO) 8p, Hustle with DJ Soul Sister (FK) 11p House of Blues: Zoso: A Tribute to Led Zeppelin (CR) 9p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Maggie Belle Band, Noelle Tannen, CoolNasty (VR) 9p Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse: Kid Chocolate feat. Dark Matter (JV) 8p Kermit’s Mother-in-Law Lounge: Neisha Ruffins (JV) 8:30p Kerry Irish Pub: Van Hudson (FO) 5p, Misfit Toys with Chris Pylant and Mark Carson (FO) 9p Little Gem Saloon: Kermit Ruffins and the BBQ Swingers (JV) 7 & 9p Little Tropical Isle: Jay B. Elston (RK) 5p, Reed Lightfoot (RK) 9p Louisiana Music Factory: Paul Sanchez (RR) 2p, Alison McConnell (VR) 3p, Alexis and the Samurai (ID) 4p Maison: Chance Bushman and the Ibervillianaires, Eight Dice Cloth, Smoking Time Jazz Club (JV) 1p, Brass-AHolics, Big Easy Brawlers (BB) 10p Maple Leaf: Cha Wa (MG) 11p Morning Call City Park: Billy D. Chapman (JV) 10a Old U.S. Mint: Downriver Festival feat. Pepe Coloma, Fredy Omar, NPS Centennial Band, Sunpie and the Louisiana Sunspots, Honey Island Swamp Band (VR) 11a One Eyed Jacks: NOLAW Championship (VR) 10p Preservation Hall: Joint Chiefs of Jazz feat. Jamie Wight (TJ) 6p, Preservation Hall All-Stars (TJ) 8p Rivershack Gretna: Hotel Romeo (VR) 9p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: Contraflow (RK) 9:30p Smoothie King Center: Dixie Chicks (CW) 7:30p Snug Harbor: Jason Marsalis with Heirs of the Crescent City (JV) 8 & 10p Southport Hall: Intrepid Bastards, Trickbag (RK) 9p Spotted Cat: Jazz Band Ballers (JV) 2p, Panorama Jazz Band (JV) 6p, Meschiya Lake and the Little Big Horns (JV) 10p Three Muses: Chris Peters (JV) 5p, Antoine Diel (JV) 6p, Tyler Thompson (JV) 9p Time Out: Andre Bouvier and the Royal Bohemians (VR) 11a Tipitina’s: Black and Gold Kick-Off Party feat. the Soul Rebels (BB) 10p Tropical Isle Bayou Club: the Troubadour (KJ) 1p, Bayou Cajun Swamp Band (KJ) 5p, T’Canaille (KJ) 9p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Rhythm and Rain (RK) 5p, Debi and the Deacons (RK) 9p

SUNDAY SEPT 11

Banks Street Bar: Peter Daskavolis (SS) 8p Buffa’s: Some Like It Hot! (TJ) 10:30a, NOLAsynchroniCity film screening feat. Piano Players Rarely Play Together with Josh Paxton and Joe Krown (PI) 7 & 9p Chickie Wah Wah: Pat Flory and Mike Kerwin (BL) 6p Crazy Lobster: the Neon Shadows (VR) 4p

d.b.a.: Palmetto Bugs Stompers (SI) 6p, Big Easy Playboys (BB) 10p Dragon’s Den: Konfession (VR) 4p, Upstairs: Church (EL) 10p Funky Pirate: Mark and the Pentones (BL) 4p, Willie Lockett Band (BL) 8p Gasa Gasa: PUJOL, Pudge, Fishplate (RK) 9p Hi-Ho Lounge: NOLA Comedy Hour (CO) 8p House of Blues (the Parish): Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers (RK) 8p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Hot 8 Brass Band (BB) 10p Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse: Germaine Bazzle (JV) 8p Kermit’s Mother-in-Law Lounge: Kermit Ruffins and the BBQ Swingers (JV) 5:30p Kerry Irish Pub: Mark Appleford (FO) 8p Little Tropical Isle: Frank Fairbanks (RK) 5p, Mark Parsons (VR) 9p Maison: Chance Bushman and the NOLA Jitterbugs (SI) 10a, Kala Bazaar Swing Society, Royal Street Winding Boys, Leah Rucker, Higher Heights (JV) 1p Maple Leaf: Joe Krown Trio feat. Russell Batiste and Walter “Wolfman” Washington (RB) 10p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall Legacy Band feat. Gregg Stafford (TJ) 6p, Preservation Hall All-Stars feat. Wendell Brunious (TJ) 8p Ralph’s on the Park: Joe Krown (PI) 11a Snug Harbor: Cindy Scott Farewell Tour (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Yvette Voelker and the Swinging Heathens (JV) 2p, Kristina Morales and Bayou Shufflers (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) 7p Three Muses: Raphael et Pascal (JV) 5p, Linnzi Zaorski (JV) 8p Tipitina’s: Bebel Gilberto (MJ) 8:30p Trinity Episcopal Church: the Asylum Chorus (VR) 5p Tropical Isle Bayou Club: Brandon Moreau and Cajungrass (KJ) 2p, Bayou Cajun Swamp Band (KJ) 7p Tropical Isle Bourbon: BC and Company (RK) 1p, Rhythm and Rain (RK) 5p, Debi and the Deacons (RK) 9p

MONDAY SEPT 12

Banks Street Bar: Potluck Piano Night hosted by Dignity Reve (JV) 7p, Lilli Lewis (SO) 9p Buffa’s: Arsene DeLay (VR) 5p, Antoine Diel (JV) 8p Chickie Wah Wah: Benny Maygarden and Thomas “Mad Dog” Walker (VR) 6p, Alexis and the Samurai (ID) 8p Civic Theater: Gary Clark Jr. (BL) 8p Crazy Lobster: the Insta-Gators (VR) 5p d.b.a.: Big Sam Trio (FK) 10p Dragon’s Den: Kala Bazaar Swing Society (GY) 7p, DJ Ill Medina (VR) 11p Funky Pirate: Willie Lockett Band (BL) 8p Hi-Ho Lounge: Bluegrass Pickin’ Party (BU) 8p, Instant Opus Improvised Series (JV) 9p House of Blues: the Kills (RK) 8p Kerry Irish Pub: Paul Tobin (FO) 8p Maison: Chicken and Waffles, Aurora Nealand and the Royal Roses, Busty Brass Band (JV) 4p Maple Leaf: George Porter Jr. Trio (FK) 9p Morning Call: Valerie Sassyfras (VR) 10a Ooh Poo Pah Doo: James Andrews and the Crescent City All-Stars, Bobby Love (VR) 8p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall Jazz Masters feat. Leroy Jones (TJ) 8p Snug Harbor: Charmaine Neville Band (JV) 8 & 10p Southport Hall: Haken, Thank You Scientists (RK) 7p Three Muses: Keith Burnstein (JV) 5p, Dr. Sick (VR) 7p Tropical Isle Bayou Club: Cajun Drifters (KJ) 7p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Rhythm and Rain (RK) 5p, Beach Combers (RK) 9p W XYZ Bar: Parachute (VR) 7p

TUESDAY SEPT 13

Banks Street Bar: Simple Sound Retreat (VR) 9p Blue Nile: Open Ears Music Series feat. Jesse Morrow (MJ) 10:30p Café Negril: 4 Sidemen of the Apocalypse (VR) 6p, John Lisi and Delta Funk (FK) 9:30p Chickie Wah Wah: Albanie Falletta (VR) 6p, Jon Cleary (VR) 8p Circle Bar: Carl LeBlanc (RB) 6p, the Geraniums (RK) 9:30p d.b.a.: Dinosaurchestra (JV) 7p, Treme Brass Band (BB) 10p Funky Pirate: Blues Masters feat. Big Al (BL) 8:30p Hi-Ho Lounge: Grass Mud Horse (FO) 6:30p, Marshland (FO) 8p, Karaoke Night (VR) 10p Kerry Irish Pub: Jason Bishop (FO) 8:30p Little Tropical Isle: Mark Pentone (RK) 5p, Frank Fairbanks (RK) 9p Maison: Swinging Gypsies, Gregory Agid, the Resident Aliens (VR) 4p Maple Leaf: Rebirth Brass Band (FK) 11p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall-Stars feat. Shannon Powell (TJ) 8p

Snug Harbor: Stanton Moore Trio (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Andy J. Forest (JV) 4p, Meschiya Lake and the Little Big Horns (JV) 6p, Smoking Time Jazz Club (JV) 10p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Jay B. Elston Band (RK) 5p, Jezebels Chill’n (RK) 9p Tropical Isle Original: the Hangovers (RK) 5:15p, Jay B. Elston Band (RK) 9:15p

WEDNESDAY SEPT 14

Banks Street Bar: Major Bacon (BL) 10p Buffa’s: Open Mic Night with Nattie Sanchez (SS) 7p Chickie Wah Wah: Dave Hickey and Jacob Tanner (VR) 6p, Dave Easley plus 1 (VR) 8:30p Circle Bar: the Iguanas (RK) 7p Columns Hotel: Andy Rogers (FO) 8p Crazy Lobster: Ken Swartz and the Palace of Sin (VR) 5p d.b.a.: Tin Men (RK) 7p, Walter “Wolfman” Washington and the Roadmasters (BL) 10p Dragon’s Den: Reggae Night (RE) 10p Funky Pirate: Blues Masters feat. Big Al (BL) 8:30p Gasa Gasa: Floating Points Live, Olga Bell (JV) 9p Hi-Ho Lounge: Quilt, Mutual Benefit (ID) 9p House of Blues (the Parish): Lera Lynn (FO) 8p, Jet Lounge (HH) 11p Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse: Irvin Mayfield (JV) 8p Kerry Irish Pub: Chip Wilson (FO) 8:30p Little Gem Saloon: Bobby Mc and the New Orleans Banjos (JV) 6p Little Tropical Isle: Jay B. Elston (RK) 5p, Reed Lightfoot (RK) 9p Maison: Up Up We Go, Jazz Vipers, Dana Abbott Band (VR) 4p Maple Leaf: Brasi NOLA (VR) 9p Morning Call: Valerie Sassyfras (VR) 10a, Krewe du Two (VR) 1p Orpheum Theater: Flume, Hermitude, Charles Murdoch (VR) 9p Palm Court Jazz Café: Lars Edegran andTopsy Chapman with Palm Court Jazz Band (TJ) 8p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall All-Stars feat. Charlie Gabriel (TJ) 8p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: Jerry Embree (SI) 8p Snug Harbor: Uptown Jazz Orchestra (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) 7p Three Muses: Leslie Martin (JV) 5p, Hot Club of New Orleans (JV) 7p Tipitina’s: Dinosaur Jr. (ID) 9p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Jezebels Chill’n (RK) 5p, Debi and the Deacons (RK) 9p Tropical Isle Original: Debi and the Deacons (RK) 5:15p, Late As Usual (RK) 9:15p

THURSDAY SEPT 15

Buffa’s: Jerry Jumonville (JV) 5p, Tom McDermott and Chloe Feoranzo (JV) 8p Chickie Wah Wah: Phil DeGruy (VR) 6p, Russell Welch Hot Quartet (JV) 8p, Carsie Blanton CD-release party, Kristin Diable, Chris Kasper (SS) 10p d.b.a.: Little Freddie King (BL) 11p Dragon’s Den: the Ill Vibe with DJ Matt Scott (VR) 8p; Upstairs: Soundclash (HH) 9p Funky Pirate: Mark and the Pentones (BL) 4p, Blues Masters feat. Big Al (BL) 8:30p Gasa Gasa: the Weeks, Cold Fronts (ID) 9p Hi-Ho Lounge: AF the Naysayer, Zetroc, Black, Else, DJ Otto (HH) 8p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Slomile Swift, Albert B., Dylan Kidd and Sic Hop (HH) 10p Howlin’ Wolf: If These Trees Could Talk, Driftoff, Spotlights (ID) 9p Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse: Michael Watson (JV) 8p Kerry Irish Pub: Dave Hickey (FO) 8:30p Le Bon Temps Roule: Soul Rebels (BB) 11p Little Tropical Isle: Allen Hebert (RK) 5p, Frank Fairbanks (RK) 9p Maison: Good For Nothin’ Band, Swamp Donkeys, Dysfunktional Bone (VR) 4p Maple Leaf: the Trio feat. Johnny Vidacovich and guests (FK) 11p New Orleans Jazz Market: There’s No Place Like Home Fundraiser feat. Johnny Sketch and the Dirty Notes, Soul Brass Band, Andre Bohren (VR) 6p Ogden Museum of Southern Art: the Trad Stars perform the music of Jelly Roll Morton (JV) 6p Orpheum Theater: Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique featuring the LPO (CL) 7:30p Palm Court Jazz Café: Tim Laughlin and Charlie Fardella with Crescent City Joymakers (TJ) 8p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall Legacy Band feat. Gregg Stafford (TJ) 6p, Preservation Hall All-Stars feat. Louis Ford (TJ) 8p

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LIVE LOCAL MUSIC Rock ‘n’ Bowl: Chubby Carrier (ZY) 8:30p Saenger Theatre: Beck (ID) 8p Snug Harbor: Jasen Weaver Sextet (JV) 8 & 10p Three Muses: Tom McDermott (PI) 5p, Roamin’ Jasmine (JV) 7:30p Tipitina’s: Homegrown Night (VR) 8:30p Tropical Isle Bayou Club: Cajun Drifters (KJ) 5p, Nonc Nu and Da Wild Matous (KJ) 9p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Beach Combers (RK) 5p, Debi and the Deacons (RK) 9p Vaughan’s Lounge: Corey Henry and the Treme Funktet (FK) 10p W XYZ Bar: Ray Boudreaux (FO) 5:30p

FRIDAY SEPT 16

Banks Street Bar: Crooked Vines (RK) 10p Buffa’s: Jon Roniger (VR) 5p, Alexandra Scott and her Magical Band (VR) 8p, Michael Liuzza (VR) 11p Chickie Wah Wah: Michael Pearce (BL) 6p, Creole String Beans (VR) 8p, Nolatet (VR) 10p Civic Theater: 8th Annual New Orleans Burlesque Festival’s Queen of Burlesque (BQ) 8p d.b.a.: Tuba Skinny (JV) 6p, Brass-A-Holics (BB) 10p Dragon’s Den: Kala Bazaar Swing Society (JV) 7p, the Tipping Point with DJ RQ Away (HH) 10p; Upstairs: Comedy Fuck Yeah (CO) 7p, Latin Night (LT) 11p Funky Pirate: Mark and the Pentones (BL) 4p, Blues Masters feat. Big Al (BL) 8:30p Gasa Gasa: Twin Peaks, White Reaper, Modern Vices (RK) 9p Hi-Ho Lounge: Relapse with Matt Scott (VR) 10p Historic New Orleans Collection: Concerts in the Courtyard feat. Walter “Wolfman” Washington and the Roadmasters (BL) 6p House of Blues: New Orleans Burlesque Festival presents Bad Girls of Burlesque (BQ) 11p Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse: Prince Tribute feat. Irvin Mayfield and Purple Disrespect (JV) 8p, Burlesque Ballroom feat. Trixie Minx and Irvin Mayfield and Purple Disrespect (JV) 11:59p Kermit’s Mother-in-Law Lounge: Guitar Slim Jr. (BL) 9p Kerry Irish Pub: Patrick Cooper (FO) 5p, Lonestar Stout (FO) 9p Little Tropical Isle: Reed Lightfoot (RK) 5p, Frank Fairbanks (RK) 9p Maison: Roamin’ Jasmine, Soul Project, No Good Deed (VR) 4p Maple Leaf: Stooges Brass Band (BB) 11p Morning Call: Valerie Sassyfras (VR) 10a Palm Court Jazz Café: Lucien Barbarin with Palm Court Jazz Band (TJ) 8p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall Legacy Band feat. Wendell Brunious (TJ) 6p, Preservation Hall Brass Band feat. Daniel Farrow (TJ) 8p Rivershack Gretna: Jukebox Heroes (VR) 9p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: Bonerama (BB) 9:30p Smoothie King Center: 5 Seconds of Summer, Hey Violet, Roy English (RK) 7:30p Snug Harbor: Davell Crawford (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Andy J. Forest (JV) 4p, Washboard Chaz Blues Trio (JV) 6p, New Orleans Cottonmouth Kings (JV) 10p Steamboat Natchez: Duke Heitger’s Steamboat Stompers (TJ) 11:30a & 2:30p, Dukes of Dixieland (DX) 7p Three Muses: Royal Roses (JV) 5:30p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Jay B. Elston Band (RK) 5p, Debi and the Deacons (RK) 9p W XYZ Bar: Kylie Odetta (SS) 5:30p

SATURDAY SEPT 17

Banks Street Bar: Green Gasoline CD-release party, 35PSI, the Angry 88, Chopped Up Tulips (RK) 10p Blue Nile: Washboard Chaz Blues Trio (BL) 7p Buffa’s: Phil the Tremelo King (JV) 5p, the Asylum Chorus (VR) 8p, Keith Burnstein (VR) 11p Carrollton Station: Grayson Capps and Corky Hughes (RR) 8p Chickie Wah Wah: Bill Kirchen, Austin De Lone and Hounds (VR) 9p Circle Bar: Soft Shoe Shufflers (JV) 7p, Ponderosa Stomp presents Lil’ Buck Sinegal and the Buckaroos, Dr. Ike (RB) 9:30p Civic Theater: Lianne La Havas (RB) 8p Crazy Lobster: the River Gang (VR) 11a d.b.a.: Slick Skiller Serenaders (VR) 4p, John Boutte (JV) 8p, Dwayne Dopsie and the Zydeco Hellraisers (ZY) 11p Dragon’s Den: Ben Fox and Slow Drag (JV) 7p, No Request (VR) 11:59p; Upstairs: Talk Nerdy to Me (BQ) 8p, Sexy Back with DJ G (VR) 10p Federal City: Algiers Fall Festival feat. Marine Corps Band,Tank and the Bangas, Johnny Sansone, Rebirth Brass Band, Rockin’ Dopsie (VR) 11a Funky Pirate: Mark and the Pentones (BL) 2p, Blues Masters feat. Big Al (BL) 8:30p Hi-Ho Lounge: Drunktoons (CO) 7p, Hustle with DJ Soul Sister (FK) 11p

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House of Blues: New Orleans Burlesque Festival presents It’s Burlesque (BQ) 11p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Bobbi Rae and friends (SO) 10p Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse: Prince Tribute feat. Irvin Mayfield and Purple Disrespect (JV) 8p Kerry Irish Pub: Speed the Mule (FO) 5p, Roux the Day (FO) 9p Little Gem Saloon: Kermit Ruffins and the BBQ Swingers (JV) 7 & 9p Little Tropical Isle: Jay B. Elston (RK) 5p, Reed Lightfoot (RK) 9p Maison: Chance Bushman and the Ibervillianaires, Dinosaurchestra, Smoking Time Jazz Club (JV) 1p, Miss Mojo, Big Easy Brawlers (FK) 10p Maple Leaf: the Quickening (FK) 11p Morning Call City Park: Billy D. Chapman (JV) 10a Orpheum Theater: Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique featuring the LPO (CL) 7:30p Palm Court Jazz Café: Brian O’Connell with Palm Court Jazz Band (TJ) 8p Pontchartrain Vineyards: Jazz’n the Vines feat. Dave Jordan and the NIA (RR) 6:30p Preservation Hall: Joint Chiefs of Jazz feat. Jamie Wight (TJ) 6p, Preservation Hall All-Stars (TJ) 8p Rivershack Gretna: Gal Holiday and the Honky Tonk Revue (CW) 9p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: the Iguanas, the Arrythmias (LT) 8:30p Snug Harbor: Mezcal Jazz Unit from France (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Russell Welch’s Band (JV) 2p, Ecirb Mueller’s Twisted Dixie (JV) 6p, Jazz Vipers (JV) 10p Steamboat Natchez: Duke Heitger’s Steamboat Stompers (TJ) 11:30a & 2:30p, Dukes of Dixieland (DX) 7p Three Muses: Chris Christy (JV) 5p, Alexandra Scott (JV) 6p, Tyler Thompson (JV) 9p Time Out: Andre Bouvier and the Royal Bohemians (VR) 11a Tropical Isle Bourbon: Rhythm and Rain (RK) 5p, Debi and the Deacons (RK) 9p Tropical Isle Original: Down River (RK) 1p, the Hangovers (RK) 5:15p, Late As Usual (RK) 9:15p

SUNDAY SEPT 18

Banks Street Bar: Kenny Triche Band (VR) 8p Buffa’s: Some Like It Hot! (TJ) 10:30a, NOLAsynchroniCity film screening feat. Up from the Cradle of Jazz (JV) 7 & 9p Chickie Wah Wah: Pat Flory and Mike Kerwin (BL) 6p Circle Bar: Micah McKee and friends, Blind Texas Marlin (FO) 7p Crazy Lobster: the Neon Shadows (VR) 4p d.b.a.: Palmetto Bugs Stompers (SI) 6p, the Fessters (VR) 10p Dragon’s Den: Konfession (VR) 4p, Upstairs: Church (EL) 10p Funky Pirate: Mark and the Pentones (BL) 4p, Willie Lockett Band (BL) 8p Gasa Gasa: Titus Andronicus, A Giant Dog (PK) 9p Hi-Ho Lounge: C.W. Stoneking (BL) 8p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Hot 8 Brass Band (BB) 10p Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse: Germaine Bazzle (JV) 8p Kermit’s Mother-in-Law Lounge: Kermit Ruffins and the BBQ Swingers (JV) 5:30p Kerry Irish Pub: Patrick Cooper (FO) 8p Little Tropical Isle: Frank Fairbanks (RK) 5p, Mark Parsons (VR) 9p Maison: Chance Bushman and the NOLA Jitterbugs (SI) 10a, Eight Dice Cloth, Kala Bazaar Swing Society, Too Darn Hot, Higher Heights (VR) 1p Maple Leaf: Joe Krown Trio feat. Russell Batiste and Walter “Wolfman” Washington (RB) 10p Palm Court Jazz Café: Lucien Barbarin and Gerald French with Sunday Night Swingsters (TJ) 8p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall Legacy Band feat. Gregg Stafford (TJ) 6p, Preservation Hall All-Stars feat. Wendell Brunious (TJ) 8p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: Bruce Daigrepont CD-release party (KJ) 5:30p Snug Harbor: Jason Marsalis with Heirs of the Crescent City (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Sweetwater and friends (JV) 2p, Kristina Morales and Bayou Shufflers (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) 7p Three Muses: Raphael et Pascal (JV) 5p, Linnzi Zaorski (JV) 8p Tipitina’s: Sunday Youth Music Workshop feat. Smoke N Bones (VR) 1p Tropical Isle Bourbon: BC and Company (RK) 1p, Rhythm and Rain (RK) 5p, Debi and the Deacons (RK) 9p

MONDAY SEPT 19

Banks Street Bar: Potluck Piano Night hosted by Dignity Reve (JV) 7p, Lilli Lewis (SO) 9p Buffa’s: Arsene DeLay (VR) 5p, Antoine Diel (JV) 8p

SEPTEMBER 2016

LIVE LOCAL MUSIC Chickie Wah Wah: Benny Maygarden and Thomas “Mad Dog” Walker (VR) 6p, Alexis and the Samurai (ID) 8p Crazy Lobster: the Insta-Gators (VR) 5p d.b.a.: Glen David Andrews (JV) 10p Dragon’s Den: Rhythm Regulators (GY) 7p, DJ Ill Medina (VR) 11p Funky Pirate: Willie Lockett Band (BL) 8p Hi-Ho Lounge: Bluegrass Pickin’ Party (BU) 8p, Instant Opus Improvised Series (JV) 9p Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse: Gerald French Trio (JV) 8p Kerry Irish Pub: Mark Appleford (FO) 8p Little Tropical Isle: Frank Fairbanks (RK) 5p, Reed Lightfoot (RK) 9p Maison: Chicken and Waffles, Aurora Nealand and the Royal Roses, Corporate America (JV) 4p Maple Leaf: George Porter Jr. Trio (FK) 9p Morning Call: Valerie Sassyfras (VR) 10a Ooh Poo Pah Doo: James Andrews and the Crescent City All-Stars, Bobby Love (VR) 8p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall Jazz Masters feat. Leroy Jones (TJ) 8p Snug Harbor: Charmaine Neville Band (JV) 8 & 10p Three Muses: Bart Ramsey (JV) 5p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Rhythm and Rain (RK) 5p, Beach Combers (RK) 9p Tropical Isle Original: Graham Robertson (RK) 5:15p, Trop Rock Express (RK) 9:15p

TUESDAY SEPT 20

Blue Nile: HIP Fest Trio and Duo Night feat. Jeff Parker, Mazz Swift, Cristiano Calcagnile with Jonathan Freilich, Will Thomson, Dave Easley, Jesse Morrow, Martin Krusche, Marcello Benetti, Nick Benoit, Jeff Albert, Ray Moore (MJ) 8:30p Chickie Wah Wah: Albanie Falletta (VR) 6p, Jon Cleary (VR) 8p Crazy Lobster: AC and the Heat (VR) 5p d.b.a.: Dinosaurchestra (JV) 7p, Treme Brass Band (BB) 10p Funky Pirate: Blues Masters feat. Big Al (BL) 8:30p Hi-Ho Lounge: Grass Mud Horse (FO) 6:30p, Marshland (FO) 8p, Karaoke Night (VR) 10p House of Blues (the Parish): the Oh Hellos, Penny and Sparrow (FO) 8p Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse: Oscar Rossignoli (JV) 7p Kerry Irish Pub: Jason Bishop (FO) 8:30p Little Tropical Isle: Mark Pentone (RK) 5p, Frank Fairbanks (RK) 9p Maison: Swinging Gypsies, Gregory Agid, the Key Sound (VR) 4p Maple Leaf: Rebirth Brass Band (FK) 11p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall-Stars feat. Shannon Powell (TJ) 8p Snug Harbor: Stanton Moore Trio (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Andy J. Forest (JV) 4p, Little Big Horns (JV) 6p, Smoking Time Jazz Club (JV) 10p Steamboat Natchez: Duke Heitger’s Steamboat Stompers (TJ) 11:30a & 2:30p, Dukes of Dixieland (DX) 7p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Jay B. Elston Band (RK) 5p, Jezebels Chill’n (RK) 9p Tropical Isle Original: the Hangovers (RK) 5:15p, Jay B. Elston Band (RK) 9:15p

WEDNESDAY SEPT 21

Banks Street Bar: Major Bacon (BL) 10p Buffa’s: Open Mic Night with Nattie Sanchez (SS) 7p Chickie Wah Wah: Dave Hickey and Jacob Tanner (VR) 6p, Dave Easley plus 1 (VR) 8p Crazy Lobster: Ken Swartz and the Palace of Sin (VR) 5p d.b.a.: Tin Men (RK) 7p, Walter “Wolfman” Washington and the Roadmasters (BL) 10p Dragon’s Den: Reggae Night (RE) 10p Funky Pirate: Blues Masters feat. Big Al (BL) 8:30p Hi-Ho Lounge: Shamarr Allen, DJ Chicken (FK) 9p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): VanLadyLove (ID) 9p Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse: Irvin Mayfield (JV) 8p Jazz and Heritage Center: HIP Fest feat. Mazz Swift, Parker/ Swift, Calcagnile (MJ) 7:30p Kerry Irish Pub: Chip Wilson (FO) 8:30p Maison: Slick Skiller Serenaders, Jazz Vipers, Mutiny Squad (JV) 4p Maple Leaf: Brasi NOLA (VR) 9p Morning Call:Valerie Sassyfras (VR) 10a, Krewe du Two (VR) 1p Palm Court Jazz Café: Lars Edegran and Topsy Chapman with Palm Court Jazz Band (TJ) 8p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall All-Stars feat. Charlie Gabriel (TJ) 8p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: the Boogie Men (SI) 8p Snug Harbor: Uptown Jazz Orchestra (JV) 8 & 10p Three Muses: Leslie Martin (JV) 5p, Schatzy (JV) 7p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Jezebels Chill’n (RK) 5p, Debi and the Deacons (RK) 9p Tropical Isle Original: Debi and the Deacons (RK) 5:15p, Late As Usual (RK) 9:15p

THURSDAY SEPT 22

Buffa’s: Gumbo Cabaret (VR) 5p, Tom McDermott and Chloe Feoranzo (JV) 8p

SEPTEMBER 2016

Champions Square: Alabama Shakes, Corinne Bailey Rae (VR) 7:30p Chickie Wah Wah: Phil DeGruy (VR) 6p, Russell Welch Hot Quartet (JV) 8p Circle Bar: Jeremy Joyce (BL) 7p Crazy Lobster: the Spanish Plaza 3 (VR) 5p d.b.a.: the Claudettes (VR) 10p Dragon’s Den: the Ill Vibe with DJ Matt Scott (VR) 8p; Upstairs: Crooked Vines, Them Vibes (FK) 9p Funky Pirate: Mark and the Pentones (BL) 4p, Blues Masters feat. Big Al (BL) 8:30p Gasa Gasa: the Sword, Ruby the Hatchet (ME) 9p Hi-Ho Lounge: Circus Darling (BQ) 9p House of Blues: Of Mice and Men (ME) 7p Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse: Amber Matthews (JV) 8p Kerry Irish Pub: Vincent Marini (FO) 8:30p Little Gem Saloon: Reid Poole Duo (JV) 7p Little Tropical Isle: Allen Hebert (RK) 5p, Frank Fairbanks (RK) 9p Maison: Good For Nothin’ Band, Roamin’ Jasmine, Dysfunktional Bone (VR) 4p Maple Leaf: the Trio feat. Johnny Vidacovich and guests (FK) 11p Nunemaker Auditorium (Loyola University): Jazz Underground presents Celebrating Coltrane Tribute feat. Tony Dagradi, Derek Douget, Khari Allen Lee, Michael Pellera, Chris Severin and Geoff Clapp (JV) 7:30p Palm Court Jazz Café: Tim Laughlin and Duke Heitger with Crescent City Joymakers (TJ) 8p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall Legacy Band feat. Gregg Stafford (TJ) 6p, Preservation Hall All-Stars feat. Louis Ford (TJ) 8p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: Nathan and the Zydeco Cha Chas (ZY) 8:30p Snug Harbor: Pat Casey presents a Tribute to Jaco (JV) 8 & 10p Three Muses: Tom McDermott (PI) 5p, St. Louis Slim (JV) 7:30p Tropical Isle Bayou Club: Cajun Drifters (KJ) 5p, Nonc Nu and Da Wild Matous (KJ) 9p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Beach Combers (RK) 5p, Debi and the Deacons (RK) 9p Vaughan’s Lounge: Corey Henry and the Treme Funktet (FK) 10p W XYZ Bar: Alexis and the Samurai (ID) 5:30p

FRIDAY SEPT 23

Banks Street Bar: Tangerine Dreams (BQ) 10p Buffa’s: Greg Schatz (VR) 5p, Camile Baudoin (VR) 8p, Ben Fox Trio (JV) 11p Chickie Wah Wah: Michael Pearce (BL) 6p, Creole String Beans (VR) 8p Circle Bar: Rik Slave’s Country Persuasion (CW) 7p, 99 Playboys (KJ) 9:30p Crazy Lobster: Ken Swartz and the Palace of Sin (VR) 5p d.b.a.: Trad Stars Jazz Band (JV) 6p, Sam Price and the True Believers, Pirate’s Choice (VR) 10p Dragon’s Den: the Tipping Point with DJ RQ Away (HH) 10p; Upstairs: Comedy Fuck Yeah (CO) 7p, Latin Night (LT) 11p Funky Pirate: Mark and the Pentones (BL) 4p, Blues Masters feat. Big Al (BL) 8:30p Hi-Ho Lounge: Alex Massa Relapse Live (JV) 8p, Relapse with Matt Scott (VR) 10p House of Blues (the Parish): Cymbals Eat Guitars, Field Mouse, Wildhoney (RK) 9p House of Blues: Pierce the Veil, Neck Deep, I Prevail (ME) 6p Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse: Leon “Kid Chocolate” Brown (JV) 8p, Burlesque Ballroom feat. Trixie Minx and Michael Watson (JV) 11:59p Kermit’s Mother-in-Law Lounge: Guitar Slim Jr. (BL) 9p Kerry Irish Pub: Mark Appleford (FO) 5p, Van Hudson (FO) 9p Little Gem Saloon: Nayo Jones Experience (JV) 7p Little Tropical Isle: Reed Lightfoot (RK) 5p, Frank Fairbanks (RK) 9p Maison: G and the Swinging 3, Shotgun Jazz Band (JV) 4p, Big Easy Brawlers, Soul Company (FK) 10p Maple Leaf: Mingo Fishtrap (VR) 11p Morning Call: Valerie Sassyfras (VR) 10a New Orleans Museum of Art: Love in the Garden Fundraiser (VR) 7p Old Point Bar: Rick Trolsen (PI) 5p, the Business (RK) 9:30p Palm Court Jazz Café: Steamboat Stomp (TJ) 8p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall All-Stars feat. Wendell Brunious (TJ) 6p, Preservation Hall Brass Band feat. Daniel Farrow (TJ) 8p Rivershack Gretna: Rock N Soul (VR) 9p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: Groovy 7 (VR) 9:30p Snug Harbor: Ellis Marsalis Quartet (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Andy J. Forest (JV) 4p, Washboard Chaz Blues Trio (JV) 6p, New Orleans Cottonmouth Kings (JV) 10p Steamboat Natchez: Duke Heitger’s Steamboat Stompers (TJ) 11:30a & 2:30p, Dukes of Dixieland (DX) 7p

Three Muses: Tommy Sciple (JV) 5:30p Tipitina’s: Orient8ion feat. Gravity A, the Grid feat. Nesby Phips (VR) 10p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Jay B. Elston Band (RK) 5p, Debi and the Deacons (RK) 9p Tropical Isle Original: Down River (RK) 1p, the Hangovers (RK) 5:15p, Late As Usual (RK) 9:15p W XYZ Bar: Kathryn Rose-Wood (SS) 5:30p

SATURDAY SEPT 24

Banks Street Bar: Koan (RB) 10p Blue Nile: Washboard Chaz Blues Trio (BL) 7p Buffa’s: Crossing Canal with Patrick Cooper and Ruby Ross (FO) 5p, Davis Rogan (VR) 8p, Lauren Sturm (VR) 11p Carrollton Station: Debauche (GY) 10p Chickie Wah Wah: Dana Abbott (VR) 8p, Tank and the Bangas (VR) 10p Circle Bar: Mod Dance Party (VR) 10p Crazy Lobster: the River Gang (VR) 11a Creole Cookery: Trad Stars Jazz Band (JV) 11a d.b.a.: Slick Skiller Serenaders (VR) 4p, John Boutte (JV) 8p, Honey Island Swamp Band (RR) 11p Dragon’s Den: Swinging Gypsies (JV) 7p, Kompression (VR) 10p; Upstairs: Talk Nerdy to Me (BQ) 8p Funky Pirate: Mark and the Pentones (BL) 2p, Blues Masters feat. Big Al (BL) 8:30p Hi-Ho Lounge: the Rip Off (CO) 7p, Hustle with DJ Soul Sister (FK) 11p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): the Roots Tribute 96 Till Infinity feat. EF Cuttin, DJ Legatron Prime (HH) 10p Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse: Trumpet Mafia (JV) 8p Jazz and Heritage Center: Roberto Fonseca (PI) 8p Joy Theater: the Sklar Brothers (CO) 9p Kermit’s Mother-in-Law Lounge: Neisha Ruffins (JV) 8:30p Kerry Irish Pub: Mark Parsons (FO) 5p, Hurricane Refugees (FO) 9p Little Tropical Isle: Jay B. Elston (RK) 5p, Reed Lightfoot (RK) 9p Louisiana Music Factory: Bruce Daigrepont (KJ) 3p Maison: Chance Bushman and the Ibervillianaires, Leah Rucker, Smoking Time Jazz Club (JV) 4p, Khris Royal and Dark Matter, Street Legends (VR) 10p Maple Leaf: Krewe du Vieux Party (VR) 11p Morning Call City Park: Billy D. Chapman (JV) 10a One Eyed Jacks: Okkeril River, Landlady (VR) 10p Palm Court Jazz Café: Brian O’Connell with Palm Court Jazz Band (TJ) 8p Preservation Hall: Joint Chiefs of Jazz feat. Jamie Wight (TJ) 6p, Preservation Hall All-Stars (TJ) 8p Rivershack Gretna: South (VR) 9p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: the Wiseguys (VR) 9:30p Siberia: Alexandra Scott, Ryan Scully, Luke Allen, Peter Orr (FO) 6p Snug Harbor: Herlin Riley Quartet (JV) 8 & 10p Steamboat Natchez: Steamboat Stomp (TJ) 11a Superdome: Beyonce (PO) 7:30p Three Muses: Chris Christy (JV) 5p, Debbie Davis (JV) 6p, Shotgun Jazz Band (JV) 9p Time Out: Andre Bouvier and the Royal Bohemians (VR) 11a Tropical Isle Bayou Club: the Troubadour (KJ) 1p, Bayou Cajun Swamp Band (KJ) 5p, T’Canaille (KJ) 9p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Rhythm and Rain (RK) 5p, Debi and the Deacons (RK) 9p Tropical Isle Original: Down River (RK) 1p, the Hangovers (RK) 5:15p, Late As Usual (RK) 9:15p

SUNDAY SEPT 25

Banks Street Bar: Rella, Inside Voices, Bad Misters (RK) 8p Buffa’s: Some Like It Hot! (TJ) 10:30a, NOLAsynchroniCity film screening feat. Ruthie the Duck Girl (VR) 7 & 9p Chickie Wah Wah: Pat Flory and Mike Kerwin (BL) 6p Circle Bar: Micah McKee and friends, Blind Texas Marlin (FO) 7p, Country Night with DJ Pasta (CW) 9:30p Crazy Lobster: the Neon Shadows (VR) 4p d.b.a.: Palmetto Bugs Stompers (SI) 6p Dragon’s Den: Konfession (VR) 4p, Upstairs: Church (EL) 10p Funky Pirate: Mark and the Pentones (BL) 4p, Willie Lockett Band (BL) 8p Hi-Ho Lounge: NOLA Comedy Hour (CO) 8p House of Blues: Sevendust, Crobot, Wilson (RK) 8p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Hot 8 Brass Band (BB) 10p Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse: Germaine Bazzle (JV) 8p Kermit’s Mother-in-Law Lounge: Kermit Ruffins and the BBQ Swingers (JV) 5:30p Kerry Irish Pub: Irish Session (IR) 5p, Chip Wilson (FO) 8p Little Tropical Isle: Frank Fairbanks (RK) 5p, Mark Parsons (VR) 9p Maison: Chance Bushman and the NOLA Jitterbugs (SI) 10a, Dinosaurchestra, Royal Street Winding Boys, Brad Walker, Higher Heights (JV) 1p Maple Leaf: Joe Krown Trio feat. Russell Batiste and Walter “Wolfman” Washington (RB) 10p Old Point Bar: Amanda Walker (JV) 3:30p

Palm Court Jazz Café: Lucien Barbarin with Sunday Night Swingsters (TJ) 8p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall Legacy Band feat. Gregg Stafford (TJ) 6p, Preservation Hall All-Stars feat. Wendell Brunious (TJ) 8p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: Bruce Daigrepont (KJ) 5:30p Snug Harbor: Kristofer Tokarski with Andy Schumm (JV) 8 & 10p Southport Hall: Cavalera Bros, Combichrist (RK) 7p Spotted Cat: Jamey St. Pierre and the Honeycreepers (JV) 2p, Kristina Morales and Bayou Shufflers (JV) 6p, Pat Casey and the New Sound (JV) 10p Steamboat Natchez: Steamboat Stomp (TJ) 11a Three Muses: Raphael et Pascal (JV) 5p, Linnzi Zaorski (JV) 8p Tipitina’s: the James Hunter Six (VR) 8p Trinity Episcopal Church: Laura Patterson, Brittany Piatz and Albinas Prizgintas (VR) 5p 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) 5:15p, Late As Usual (RK) 9:15p

MONDAY SEPT 26

Banks Street Bar: Potluck Piano Night hosted by Dignity Reve (JV) 7p, Lilli Lewis (SO) 9p Buffa’s: Arsene DeLay (VR) 5p Chickie Wah Wah: Benny Maygarden and Thomas “Mad Dog” Walker (VR) 6p, Alexis and the Samurai (ID) 8p Crazy Lobster: the Insta-Gators (VR) 5p d.b.a.: Glen David Andrews (JV) 10p Dragon’s Den: Hot Club of Barbacoa (GY) 7p, DJ Ill Medina (VR) 11p Funky Pirate: Willie Lockett Band (BL) 8p Gasa Gasa: Xenia Rubinos, Elephantastic (LT) 9p Hi-Ho Lounge: Bluegrass Pickin’ Party (BU) 8p, Instant Opus Improvised Series (JV) 9p Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse: Gerald French Trio (JV) 8p Kerry Irish Pub: Mark Appleford (FO) 8p Maison: Chicken and Waffles, Aurora Nealand and the Royal Roses, the Resident Aliens (JV) 4p Maple Leaf: George Porter Jr. Trio (FK) 9p Morning Call: Valerie Sassyfras (VR) 10a Ooh Poo Pah Doo: James Andrews and the Crescent City All-Stars, Bobby Love (VR) 8p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall Jazz Masters feat. Leroy Jones (TJ) 8p Snug Harbor: Charmaine Neville Band (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Brett Richardson (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) 7p Three Muses: Keith Burnstein (VR) 5p, Washboard Rodeo (JV) 7p Tropical Isle Bayou Club: Cajun Drifters (KJ) 7p Tropical Isle Original: Graham Robertson (RK) 5:15p, Trop Rock Express (RK) 9:15p

TUESDAY SEPT 27

Banks Street Bar: Simple Sound Retreat (VR) 9p Chickie Wah Wah: Albanie Falletta (VR) 6p, Jon Cleary (VR) 8p Circle Bar: Carl LeBlanc (RB) 6p Crazy Lobster: AC and the Heat (VR) 5p d.b.a.: Dinosaurchestra (JV) 7p, Treme Brass Band (BB) 10p Funky Pirate: Blues Masters feat. Big Al (BL) 8:30p Hi-Ho Lounge: Grass Mud Horse (FO) 6:30p, Marshland (FO) 8p, Karaoke Night (VR) 10p Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse: Shea Pierre (JV) 7p Joy Theater: Devin Townsend Project, Between the Buried and Me, Fallujah (VR) 7p Kerry Irish Pub: Jason Bishop (FO) 8:30p Little Tropical Isle: Mark Pentone (RK) 5p, Frank Fairbanks (RK) 9p Maison: Swinging Gypsies, Gregory Agid, Banku Brass Band (VR) 4p Maple Leaf: Rebirth Brass Band (FK) 11p Orpheum Theater: James Blake (EL) 9p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall-Stars feat. Shannon Powell (TJ) 8p Snug Harbor: Stanton Moore Trio (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Andy J. Forest (JV) 4p, Little Big Horns (JV) 6p, Smoking Time Jazz Club (JV) 10p Steamboat Natchez: Duke Heitger’s Steamboat Stompers (TJ) 11:30a & 2:30p, Dukes of Dixieland (DX) 7p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Jay B. Elston Band (RK) 5p, Jezebels Chill’n (RK) 9p Tropical Isle Original: the Hangovers (RK) 5:15p, Jay B. Elston Band (RK) 9:15p

WEDNESDAY SEPT 28

Banks Street Bar: Major Bacon (BL) 10p Buffa’s: Open Mic Night with Nattie Sanchez (SS) 7p

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LIVE LOCAL MUSIC Chickie Wah Wah: Dave Hickey and Jacob Tanner (VR) 6p, Alex McMurray and Luke Allen (SS) 8p, Alejandro Escovedo Trio (VR) 9:30p Circle Bar: the Iguanas (RK) 7p Civic Theater: Coheed and Cambria, Saves the Day, Polyphia (RK) 7p Crazy Lobster: Ken Swartz and the Palace of Sin (VR) 5p d.b.a.: Tin Men (RK) 7p, Walter “Wolfman” Washington and the Roadmasters (BL) 10p Davenport Lounge (Ritz-Carlton): Jeremy Davenport (JV) 5:30p Dragon’s Den: Reggae Night (RE) 10p Funky Pirate: Blues Masters feat. Big Al (BL) 8:30p Hi-Ho Lounge: Shamarr Allen, DJ Chicken (FK) 9p Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse: Irvin Mayfield (JV) 8p Kermit’s Mother-in-Law Lounge: Spodie and the Big Shots (JV) 6:30p Kerry Irish Pub: Tim Robertson (FO) 8:30p Little Tropical Isle: Jay B. Elston (RK) 5p, Reed Lightfoot (RK) 9p Maison: Noruz, Jazz Vipers, Dana Abbott Band (VR) 4p Maple Leaf: Brasi NOLA (VR) 9p Morning Call: Valerie Sassyfras (VR) 10a, Krewe du Two (VR) 1p Palm Court Jazz Café: Lars Edegran and Topsy Chapman with Palm Court Jazz Band (TJ) 8p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall All-Stars (TJ) 8p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: G and the Swinging 3 (SI) 8p Snug Harbor: Uptown Jazz Orchestra (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Chris Christy (JV) 4p, Shotgun Jazz Band (JV) 6p, Antoine Diel and the New Orleans Power Misfits (JV) 10p Three Muses: Leslie Martin (JV) 5p, Sarah McCoy (JV) 7p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Jezebels Chill’n (RK) 5p, Debi and the Deacons (RK) 9p Tropical Isle Original: Debi and the Deacons (RK) 5:15p, Late As Usual (RK) 9:15p

THURSDAY SEPT 29

Buffa’s: Silver City Bound (FO) 5p, Tom McDermott and James Evans (JV) 8p Café Istanbul: Women Performing for Women Fundraiser feat. Big Freedia, Tank and the Bangas (VR) 6:30p Chickie Wah Wah: Phil DeGruy (VR) 6p, Russell Welch Hot Quartet (JV) 8p Circle Bar: Jeremy Joyce (BL) 7p, the Velvet Swing with Rev. Spooky LeStrange (BQ) 10p Crazy Lobster: the Spanish Plaza 3 (VR) 5p d.b.a.: Deltaphonic (FK) 10p Dragon’s Den: the Ill Vibe with DJ Matt Scott (VR) 8p Hi-Ho Lounge: Iceman Cometh (FK) 9p Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse: James Rivers Movement (JV) 8p Joy Theater: Bear Creek Bayou Pre-party feat. Soulive and friends, OG GAT feat. Charlie Hunter, Stanton Moore and Skerik, Naughty Professor feat. Chali 2Na, Pirate’s Choice (VR) 8p Kerry Irish Pub: Foot and friends (FO) 9p Maison: Good For Nothin’ Band, Royal Street Winding Boys, Dysfunktional Bone (JV) 4p Maple Leaf: the Trio feat. Johnny Vidacovich and guests (FK) 11p Palm Court Jazz Café: Tim Laughlin and Charlie Fardella with Crescent City Joymakers (TJ) 8p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall Legacy Band feat. Gregg Stafford (TJ) 6p, Preservation Hall All-Stars feat. Louis Ford (TJ) 8p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: Wayne Singleton and the Same Ol’ 2 Step (ZY) 8:30p Snug Harbor: Barry Stevenson Quartet (JV) 8 & 10p Three Muses: Tom McDermott (PI) 5p, Gal Holiday and the Honky Tonk Revue (CW) 7:30p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Beach Combers (RK) 5p, Debi and the Deacons (RK) 9p Tropical Isle Original: the Hangovers (RK) 5:15p, Late As Usual (RK) 9:15p Vaughan’s Lounge: Corey Henry and the Treme Funktet (FK) 10p W XYZ Bar: Shannon McNally (SS) 5:30p

FRIDAY SEPT 30

Aquarium of the Americas: Scales and Ales feat. Chee Weez, DJ Brice Nice (VR) 7p Bacchanal: the Tangiers Combo (JV) 12p, Harmonouche (JV) 5p, Willie Green (JV) 7:30p Banks Street Bar: Scarecrow Sonic Boombox (RK) 10p Buffa’s: Mark Rubin (JV) 5p, Sherman Bernard and the Ole Man River Band (VR) 8p, Rebecca Zoe Leigh (JV) 11p Chickie Wah Wah: Michael Pearce (BL) 6p, New Orleans Women In Music Fundraiser (VR) 8p, Naylor’s FlyWay (VR) 10:30p Circle Bar: Rik Slave’s Country Persuasion (CW) 7p, Alligator Chomp Chomp feat. DJs Pasta, Matty and Mitch (SP) 10p

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d.b.a.: Tuba Skinny (JV) 6p, Luke Winslow King (VR) 11p Dragon’s Den: the Tipping Point with DJ RQ Away (HH) 10p; Upstairs: Comedy Fuck Yeah (CO) 7p, Latin Night (LT) 11p Hi-Ho Lounge: Dee-1 (HH) 7p, Relapse with Matt Scott (VR) 10p House of Blues (the Parish): the Spill Canvas presents Requestour (RK) 9p House of Blues: Avery Sunshine (SO) 9p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Pucusana, Kill Ida Belle, Bad Misters (ID) 10p Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse: Leon “Kid Chocolate” Brown (JV) 8p, Burlesque Ballroom feat. Trixie Minx and Michael Watson (JV) 11:59p Kerry Irish Pub: Patrick Cooper (FO) 5p, One Tailed Three (FO) 9p Little Tropical Isle: Reed Lightfoot (RK) 5p, Frank Fairbanks (RK) 9p Maison: Broadmoor Jazz Band, Up Up We Go, Shotgun Jazz Band (JV) 4p, Los Po-boy-citos, Mutiny Squad (VR) 10p Maple Leaf: Johnny Sketch and the Dirty Notes and special guests (FK) 11p Mardi Gras World: Bear Creek Bayou (VR) 12p Morning Call: Valerie Sassyfras (VR) 10a Orpheum Theater: Charlie Puth, Hailey Knox (PO) 7:30p Palm Court Jazz Café: Lucien Barbarin with Palm Court Jazz Band (TJ) 8p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall All-Stars feat. Wendell Brunious (TJ) 6p, Preservation Hall Brass Band feat. Daniel Farrow (TJ) 8p Rivershack Gretna: Jeb Rault Band (VR) 9p Snug Harbor: Ellis Marsalis Quartet (JV) 8 & 10p Southport Hall: Ying Yang Twins (HH) 9p Three Muses: Glen David Andrews (JV) 9p Tropical Isle Bayou Club: Bayou Cajun Swamp Band (KJ) 5p, T’Canaille (KJ) 9p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Jay B. Elston Band (RK) 5p, Debi and the Deacons (RK) 9p W XYZ Bar: Shannon McNally (SS) 5:30p

SPECIAL EVENTS SEPTEMBER 16 Martini Madness: Taste over 25 specialty martinis and enjoy delectable cuisine from over 20 of New Orleans’ best restaurants. City Park Arbor Room at Popp Fountain, 12 Magnolia Dr., (504) 488-2896, 7p

FESTIVALS SEPTEMBER 1-5 Louisiana Shrimp and Petroleum Festival in Morgan City features a parade, carnival rides and regional cuisine. ShrimpAndPetroleum.org SEPTEMBER 2-4 The Louisiana Seafood Festival in New Orleans City Park features regional seafood and live music. LouisianaSeafoodFestival.com SEPTEMBER 10 The fourth annual Downriver Festival at the Old U.S. Mint and the French Market includes lectures, live music and food in celebration of the Mississippi River. FrenchMarket.org SEPTEMBER 17 The second annual Algiers Festival at Federal City includes live music, art vendors, food trucks and kids’ activities. Facebook.com/AlgiersFest SEPTEMBER 23-25 The three-day Steamboat Stomp takes place at the Historic New Orleans Collection, Palm Court Jazz Café and on Steamboat Natchez, and features traditional jazz concerts. SteamboatStompNewOrleans.com SEPTEMBER 23-24 The Bogalusa Blues and Heritage Festival features live music, regional cuisine and arts and crafts. BogalusaBlues.com SEPTEMBER 24-25 Best of the Bayou music festival in downtown Houma features performances from Wayne Toups, the Revivalists and others. BestOfTheBayou.la SEPTEMBER 25 The inaugural Fried Chicken Festival in Lafayette Square includes live music and more than 20 restaurants providing their own unique twist on fried chicken. FriedChickenFestival.com SEPTEMBER 30-OCTOBER 1 Bear Creek Bayou at Mardi Gras World includes performances by the Flaming Lips, George Clinton, Zigaboo Modeliste, Karl Denson and many others. BearCreekBayou.com

SEPTEMBER 2016

BACKTALK

Aaron Neville

he year 2016 represents many milestones for Aaron Neville. The legendary New Orleans vocalist released his 17th album, Apache, which stands as his first product to feature songs primarily coming from his own pen. On January 24, 2016, Neville celebrated his 75th birthday. The year also marks the 50th anniversary of Neville’s first and enduring hit, “Tell It Like It Is.” The song was initially recorded and released in 1966 on his album of the same name. Later, in 1967, it was put out as a single. A bit of trivia here—the musicians on the recording include guitarist Deacon John, baritone saxophonist and cowriter George Davis (along with Lee Diamond), keyboardist Wilson “Willie Tee” Turbinton, trumpeter Emory Thompson and drummer June Gardner. “Age is a concept made up by man,” Neville says philosophically on reaching his midseventies. “So only the Creator knows how old you are. No doubt, everybody on the planet is the same age. It’s up to you to take care of yourself. A lot of people are living longer but they didn’t take care of their bodies. I’m takin’ care of mine.” Significantly, Apache is produced by guitarist Eric Krasno (see “Imagining Aaron Neville’s Poetry” in this issue), who brings in many of his fellow band members from Soulive and Lettuce for the session. This crew offers a modern edge to Neville’s wonderful old-school style. Neville is touring in support of Apache and in celebration of the anniversary of “Tell It Like It Is.” He’s working in a duo setting with his longtime pianist, Michael Goods. On other dates, he leads the Aaron Neville Quintet, which features his brother, saxophonist Charles Neville, one-time Neville Brothers guitarist Eric Struthers and David Johnson on bass. With New Orleans’ Earl Smith Jr. behind the drums, the music retains that essential Big Easy beat. Considering his many accomplishments, Neville proved a biology teacher from long ago absolutely wrong. “I was clowning around in class one time and she told me I was a waste of protoplasm.” Aaron laughed at the memory, a light chuckle that often sprinkled the interview.

Yes, in Pawling, New York—it’s about an hour and a half from the city. I have about 12 acres up there and Sarah [Neville’s wife, photographer Sarah Friedman] is growing everything. We have a couple of cows—one’s name is Ribeye and the other one is Sirloin— and some chickens and two cats. I call the garden Little Angola because it just reminded me of all those rows of vegetables up there [on the penitentiary grounds]. And working out there in the hot sun reminded me of it too. I never spent any time up there [incarcerated in Angola] but I’ve been up there a bunch of times playing music for the prisoners. Part of the garden is named Lagniappe. We thought we might help some people up here by giving some vegetables away.

People know you’ve been living in Manhattan though word is you also have a place outside of New York City.

Apache is the title of your new album, and word is, it’s your nickname. There’s also

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By Geraldine Wyckoff

talks back

a photo on the disc’s inside cover of the name tattooed across your back. Why did people call you Apache? When I was a teenager we used to play football out in the streets in the hot sun and my skin would turn red. They started calling me redskin, and Red Apache and Apache Red. I used to have a license plate with Apache. People that know me still call me that. My dad used Brillo on the tattoo—the skin came off but the tattoo didn’t. Let’s talk about the album. How did you hook up with producer/guitarist Eric Krasno? I think the year before last, Marc Allan, my manager, had Eric talk to me about doing my next album and doing some music to my poetry. We talked and he gave me some hip ideas that I liked. We started over the phone and I’d send him poems and he and his writing SEPTEMBER 2016

B AC

KTA

“You’ll have to ask New Orleans about that because they don’t invite me anymore. We go everywhere else. I’d love to do some stuff in New Orleans.” partner [guitarist] David Gutter were able to send me back ideas. Then we went in the studio in Brooklyn and put down a demo. I’d known Eric Krasno through my son Ivan because Ivan played with his band Soulive a bunch of times. So you had already written these poems? You weren’t writing for this project? They were in my iPhone. I don’t even use a pencil and paper anymore. I don’t plan to write; I have to be inspired by something. When I start writing it’s like somebody is telling me the words. Some songs on the album are Eric’s [along with Gutter] like ‘Be Your Man’ and ‘I Wanna Love You’ [credited to Neville, Krasno, Gutter and Mike Montali]—the rest are mine. Over what period of time did you write the poems. Were any newly composed? No doubt, over the last 20 years. A lot of them have been sitting in my phone. In 2009, Cyril helped me put together a book, I Am a Song. It was [published as] a limited edition. I had about 50 poems in there. A couple of these were in that book. ‘Fragile World’ was recent and “Stompin Grounds” was too. [For ‘Stompin Ground’] I just started thinking about New Orleans and the people I met along the way. In ‘Make Your Momma Cry,’ I’m just talking to the young Aaron. [Laughs] One of the quotes in there, ‘Boy, you’re going to wind up a lost ball in the high weeds,’ my daddy told me that one time. I heard my grandma say, ‘I’m actually dead and gone but the red ants will bring me the news.’ That was definitely deep. [Note: The lyrics are based on but slightly differ from these quotes.] My mother used to tell me, ‘It’s so nice to be nice and it don’t cost a cent’ and to live by the Golden Rule. I never forgot none of what she told me. You mention the Mardi Gras Indians—the Wild Tchoupitoulas and the Creole Wild West—in “Stompin Ground.” Did you ever mask Indian? I used to be one of the Wild Tchoupitoulas but I was like a renegade. I didn’t put on a whole suit—just a feather in my head. I went to some of the Indian practices and played tambourine. I didn’t do that much. Cyril and Charles followed the Indians.

S E P T E M B E R 2 0 16

I used to hang out with Scarface John. He was the chief of the Apache Hunters. That’s who they sing about in ‘Brother John (Is Gone).’ That’s why I say in ‘Stompin Ground’: ‘Hung with Mac Rebennack and Scarface John. Hung in the Dew Drop, all night long.’ I performed at the Dew Drop too. [John ‘Scarface’ Williams was also a member of Huey Piano Smith’s backup vocal group, the Clowns, and led his own band, the Tick Tocks.] When I was growing up in the Calliope Projects and we’d be playing marbles or playing ball we’d hear a brass band going and we’d just follow the music of the second line parade. On Mardi Gras you’d listen for the tambourines and follow that. That was back in the days when they were really fighting. On the tune “Heaven” you not only flourish the music with your falsetto, you’re singing a good percentage of the lyrics in falsetto. When did you discover your ability to sing that way? I guess I started with the doo-wop back in the day—going from one register to the other—and the cowboys and the yodel. Just trying new things. The doo-woppers always fascinated me because they had the bass thing and they had the harmonies and the guy who did the high part. I could do all of the parts but just not all at once. [Laughs] You are renowned for your falsetto. Can you yodel too? Yodeling is different as it involves rapid changes of pitch. You have your talking voice and then you go to [your upper register for] falsetto. I learned to yodel from going to the movies and seeing [singing cowboys] Roy Rogers and Gene Autry and all of those guys. I started when I was about 10 years old when I could go to the movies by myself. I yodeled on the ‘The Grand Tour.’ I also did a tribute to Jimmie Rodgers with different artists [on the album] and I sang his song, ‘Why Should I Be Lonely?’ and I yodeled on the end of that one. Highly recommended to check this out on YouTube.—Ed. Apache sounds old-school with New Orleans roots but also fresh at the same time. It almost seems like there’s a trend in that direction among Krasno and his

associated bands—Soulive, Lettuce—and his fellow bandmates, many of whom are on the album. Yeah, it sounds old-school and brand new too. I feel like it’s just good music. Nowadays a lot of things you listen to could be done by one person with a keyboard playing drums and bass. This has real musicians on it and I love that. Yeah, they’re all musicians and I’m a singer and a musician. If you didn’t know it, you’d think those guys were from New Orleans by the way they play. They have that New Orleans flavor. The Brooklyn players have been down to New Orleans a lot. New Orleans raised me. It molded me. It’s who I am. I’m glad I grew up there and I wouldn’t have wanted to grow up anywhere else. It’s great because of the richness of the culture, music and the food. How much are you touring? As much as I want. It’s not a mandatory thing. Like right now, I’m doing two nights [in Atlanta] playing a duo gig with Michael Goods, my piano player. The longest I go out is 10 days at a time. I enjoy the part of being onstage. I don’t enjoy the part of going through the airport and all of that. I wish they could come up with a ‘Star Trek’ thing where they could beam me from my house to the stage and back home so I wouldn’t have the airport agony—that’s what I call it. ‘I’m sorry, but your flight is delayed and we lost your luggage. Thanks for your patience.’ Your tour is stopping in Baton Rouge. That’s so close to New Orleans. Why aren’t you performing here? You’ll have to ask New Orleans about that because they don’t invite me anymore. I come down for the Jazz Fest and I used to do the House of Blues. Well Live Nation [which now owns the House of Blues chain] might not know me. Maybe they don’t know I’m on the planet. [Laughs] We go everywhere else. I’d love to do some stuff in New Orleans. I’d really like to do my set and a set in the Gospel Tent this year—I used to do both. I miss New Orleans, yeah. My kids are down there and Art and Cyril and my sister Athelgra are there. Things happen, my life ended with Joel [his first wife]—I buried her on our 46th wedding anniversary. So when I go down there, there are a lot of memories. O www.OFFBEAT.com