Superfly during Jazz Fest 2012 program by Wedzines

TH ANNUAL

GUIDE

WELCOME TO SUPERFLY DURING JAZZ FEST 2012 !

t’s great to have you back with us in New Orleans for our favorite time of year: Jazz Fest. This year, we’re psyched to offer a lineup of music that features the best of New Orleans’ storied musical heritage, the most exciting performers representing the city today and the powerful sense of history and tradition that connects them. This program is your guide to getting the most out of these two exciting weekends of awesome music in New Orleans. Flip through the pages to fill yourself in on Trombone Shorty’s very long musical resume on page 5, or learn about the storied history of the newly renovated Joy Theater on Canal Street on page 13. The venerable Preservation Hall Jazz Band has invited some of their musical friends to present a killer show at the Joy on Saturday, May 5. Learn more about them and the new exhibition celebrating their 50th anniversary on page 11. Each year, we look forward to these two great weekends of spring weather, amazing food and fabulous music down South. And, most of all, we look forward to sharing it all with you, the fans, who keep the groove going year after year with your support. See you in New Orleans — same place, same time! Sincerely, Superfly

CONTENTS page one:

WELCOME TO SUPERFLY DURING JAZZ FEST 2012! page five:

NOLA-CLASS BRASS

With Crescent City roots, music-minded kin and a misleading moniker, Troy ’Trombone Shorty’ Andrews hits his stride with Orleans Avenue

page seven:

SUPERFLY DURING JAZZ FEST SCHEDULES page eleven:

HOLDING THE HALL

’ Preservation Hall at 50’ museum exhibit looks back on half a century of photos, music and artifacts from hallowed hall’s vast collection

page thirteen:

BRINGING BACK THE JOY

1940s-era movie palace marches to musical glory after $5M renovation

page sixteen:

ARTIST BIOS

The Preservation Hall Jazz Band Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue Ozomatli

production crew:

Publisher – Superfly Productions n Editor-In-Chief – Robyn Delman Art Director – Kerry Black n Graphic Design – Dave Caron, Hoverchair Studios Layout/Production/Copy Editing – Ed Lammon Distribution – Superfly Productions

Fred Greissing photo

NOLA-CLASS BRASS

City roots, music-minded kin and a misleading moniker, “WithTroyCrescent ’Trombone Shorty’ Andrews hits his stride with Orleans Avenue T hat’s Trombone Shorty,” said Blake Leyh, music supervisor for HBO’s dramatic series Treme, as he pointed at the picture on the screen. “He’s quite tall, actually, and he’s playing the trumpet.” Troy Andrews has indeed changed a lot since his first professional gig, played with his big brother James, who gave him the nickname “Shorty.” Fewer than 20 years since that first gig, Andrews has toured the world — with his own band and in Lenny Kravitz’s — topped the Billboard jazz charts and earned his first Grammy nomination. Sure, 20 years is a long time — but that first gig happened when Andrews was 4, and his instrument, stood on end, was taller than he was.

The Andrews clan is one branch of one of New Orleans’ sprawling musical families — less widely known, perhaps, than the Nevilles or Marsalises, but just as talented and influential in the long and varied history of New Orleans music. Try and follow the connections: First, of course, there’s Shorty’s big brother James, the gregarious trumpeter who calls himself the “Satchmo of the Ghetto.” The two young men are cousins to trombonist Glen David Andrews. More young Andrews cousins play in Glen David’s band and in Rebirth Brass Band (Glen David’s older brother is Derrick Tabb, Rebirth snare drummer and founder of the Roots of Music after-school program), and an even younger group

of nephews performed as the Baby Boyz Brass Band. Going further back is a vigorous exercise in musical genealogy. The Andrews boys are grandsons to R&B legend Jessie Hill, of “Ooh Poo Pah Doo” fame. On their grandmother’s side, they are nephews to significant characters like the late Walter “Papoose” Nelson, who played guitar with Fats Domino, and Lawrence “Prince La La” Nelson, the first artist to sign to the iconic local A.F.O. Records label in the early 1960s. Through the Nelsons, the Andrews are also kin to the Lastie family, which produced performers like jazz trumpeter Melvin Lastie and sax player David Lastie. Got all that? Besides their actual relatives, the Andrews boys were immersed in musical culture from a young age by an extended family of local musicians who were a constant presence at the Andrews’ childhood home, at the corner of Dumaine and North Roberston streets in the Treme neighborhood. “We came from a musical family, and a lot of people in the family were in the social aid and pleasure clubs all over Treme,” James Andrews told OffBeat magazine in 2010. “A lot of musicians came by the house — Tuba Fats, Milton Batiste, Efrem Townes from the Dirty Dozen. My dad was friends with Danny Barker, so he’d come to the house all the time. My grandfather Jessie Hill was a big presence in the house. When we were kids, he used to take us on the gigs with him. He took us to Tipitina’s, Jazz Fest, and we’d meet different musicians.” Troy grew up soaking in New Orleans’ musical culture the way generations had before him — at the feet of friends and relatives, and in the streets at second lines, block parties and festivals. But

Troy grew up soaking in New Orleans’ musical culture the way generations had before him —at the feet of friends and relatives, and in the streets at second lines, block parties and festivals. he also studied traditional jazz with the legendary guitarist and educator Danny Barker, and later went to NOCCA, New Orleans’ conservatory for its best and brightest in the arts. (His jazz/funk band, Orleans Avenue, is still made up of fellow music whizzes from that program.) After his aforementioned kindergarten-era debut, even as he continued to study, Andrews remained a steady presence on the local music scene while he honed his style. In the past two years, Andrews’ sound has come of age — and his career has kicked into overdrive. And as Blake Leyh pointed out in jest, he’s a long way from the child prodigy who was shorter than his trombone. He was ubiquitous at Jazz Fest 2011, sitting in onstage with headliners from Jeff Beck to Kid Rock to 5th Ward Weebie. His 2010 release Backatown was nominated for a Grammy and reached No. 3 on the Billboard contemporary jazz chart. He’s performed at the White House, the Kennedy Center, and on a laundry list of late-night talk shows. For True, his 2011 release, took the No. 1 spot on the jazz charts. Trombone Shorty comes from a long line of luminaries who have impacted New Orleans’ music history deeply and powerfully. As he stands on those tall shoulders, he has a lot of people to thank for the star he’s become. But from the way things are shaking out lately, he just might wind up being the biggest of all.

HOLDING THE HALL

’Preservation Hall at 50’ museum exhibit looks back on half a century of photos, music and artifacts from hallowed hall's vast collection Shannon Brinkman photo

reservation Hall, the French Quarter’s legendary trad-jazz revival venue, has occupied the building at 726 St. Peter Street since 1961. And if a visitor happened into the Hall’s back offices, it’d be logical for him or her to assume it hadn’t been tidied since. Not that it’s dirty — rather, it just appears to be home to an industrious flock of musical magpies who’ve hung onto every photo, business card, contract, old recording, retired musical instrument and random artifact that’s made its way through the front gate since that opening day over half a century ago. It’s a priceless-by-default archive that feels like a homey junk shop, where every seemingly discarded slip of paper could tell a magical story. In 2007, Preservation Hall creative director Ben Jaffe recreated the attic vibe of the Hall offices as a take-home keepsake. The beautifully curated “Made In New Orleans” boxed set released that year matched vintage recordings of the original Hall band — taken from master tapes Jaffe salvaged from the Katrina-flooded SeaSaint studios in Gentilly — with tracks by the contemporary incarnation of the ensemble. More to the point, though, each set contained its own unique archive mimicking that back-

office clutter. Each box held a random assortment of paper reproductions of actual items Jaffe dug up from his shelves — tour snapshots, old promo photos and various other memorabilia for fans to sift through as they listened. In 2011, the Hall went that effort one better with a museum exhibit celebrating its 50-year anniversary and displaying those years of history for all to see.

Now on view at the Louisiana State Museum’s Old U.S. Mint building on Esplanade Avenue, “Preservation Hall at 50” is a three-way collaboration between Jaffe, local photographer Shannon Brinkman and NPR reporter Eve Abrams. Brinkman was inspired to shoot a series of large-scale, color-saturated photos of Hall musicians after seeing Dave Bartholomew perform a rare show there. Her series is mounted on the richly colored scarlet gallery walls alongside dozens of artifacts transplanted from the back offices (including a Playboy magazine feature on the Hall) and paintings from the Hall’s own collection, which hearken back to its original days as a bohemian art gallery. Work by artists like the cult new Orleans favorite Noel Rockmore and folk artist and gospel singer Sister Gertrude Morgan hangs alongside old poster and album art, creating a more visually streamlined version of the Hall’s lovable clutter. The exhibit also houses items including a “kitty basket” passed by the band for decades and original instruments played by founding members like clarinetist George Lewis and stand-up bass player Alcide “Slow Drag” Pavageau. At listening stations throughout the gallery, visitors can hear 50 years’ worth of Hall recordings as well as interviews Abrams recorded with band members. The Hall as it is today was the brainchild of Ben Jaffe’s parents, Allan and Sandra. The younger Jaffe took over in the late ’90s, shortly after graduating from college. Since then, he’s walked the fine line between staying true to the original goal of the literal preservation of traditional jazz and keeping the Hall fresh and relevant for younger audiences. Thus far, new partnerships, local and national, have kept the Hall both

classic and contemporary. New band members like Clint Maedgen — a conservatory-trained reed player who also heads up the experimental rock cabaret The New Orleans Bingo! Show — have brought fresh ideas, like the Hall jazz band’s now-signature cover of the Kinks’ “Complicated Life.” DJ King Britt (formerly of Digable Planets) has created several projects with the Hall, including remixed recordings of Sister Gertrude Morgan and a new cartoon video for the band’s version of “St. James Infirmary,” a wildly psychedelic short film in the style of pioneering animator Max Fleischer. More recently, the Hall has reached out to artists as varied as Del McCoury, Tao Seeger and Tom Waits to record collaborations in the hallowed Hall — for some of its top-selling and best-reviewed projects to date. The Hall may be in a museum, but it will never be one itself. Jaffe knows that some staunch traditionalists may not be pleased with his new projects. “I also know that it’s impossible to satisfy everybody,” he told New Orleans’ Gambit Weekly in 2011. “So, at the end of the day, you have to do what my parents did, which is follow your heart and your interests and the things that make you happy and bring you joy in life. What’s important to me are the musicians at Preservation Hall and the music they play.” “Preservation Hall at 50” is on view at the Louisiana State Museum’s Old U.S. Mint building at 400 Esplanade Avenue Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m.–4:30 p.m. The Preservation Hall Jazz Band performs as part of Superfly during Jazz Fest at the Joy Theater, with special guests to be announced, Saturday, May 5.

Michael Palumbo photos

BRINGING BACK THE JOY 1940s-era movie palace marches to musical glory after 5 renovation O $ M

nce, Canal Street as it borders New Orleans’ French Quarter was a bustling entertainment and shopping district. It was anchored by grand department stores and populated with majestic movie palaces, most of the latter of which had begun their days as vaudeville theaters. As of Hurricane Katrina, some of the beautiful old facades had already been repurposed for changing times — the Ritz-Carlton hotel is now housed within the Beaux Arts walls of the former Maison Blanche and Kress department stores, and the historic

Krauss store building is now home to luxury condominiums. Canal Street is still full of shops, but up until ver y recently, its four grand theaters — the Orpheum, the Joy, the Loew’s State Palace and the Saenger — remained shuttered. Now, after a $5 million renovation, the Joy is back to light up the corner of Canal Street and Elk Place with its massive, space-age, red-and-white sign and cur vy marquee. On New Year’s weekend 2012, the theater made its triumphant return, this time as a multi-purpose venue optimized for

all kinds of per formance. Irma Thomas christened the stage December 29 with the Joy’s first official show; Kermit Ruffins played New Year’s Eve. In the late ’40s, the Joy cost $275,000 to build. The renovation, which was completed in late 2011, ran up a significantly higher tab — four partners purchased it for $1.5 million and spent an additional $5 million restoring it. Part of that hefty sum went to repairing damage wrought in 2005 by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Water was still standing in the building, lead architect Kenny Gowland told the Times-Picayune, when he made his first visit to the space in early 2011. Mold had ruined the original curtain and seats, and the distinctive sign had to be taken down and completely rebuilt and rewired. As they approached the historic theater, the architects’ goals combined restoration with renovation. Details like decorative plaster and light fixtures were painstakingly recreated, while state-of-the-art lighting, sound and video equipment and modular seating that can be rearranged were added. “The original look was part of the allure,” said Neal Hixon, one of the four partners who purchased and reopened the theater. “To have changed the facade at all would have been a shame. I think they got it right in 1947.” Named for its original owner, Joy Houck, the Joy opened in 1947 and was billed as the most modern of movie palaces, with seats for 1,250. At one time, it even boasted a

soundproof “crying room,” encased in glass, for parents with small children to see films without disturbing the rest of the audience. Its postwar design, preservationists have noted, was markedly cleaner and more streamlined than the rococo architecture of the street’s older theaters — it was a movie palace for the Atomic Age, done in gleaming steel and neon. The first film it showed, in December of ’47, was Lover Come Back, starring Lucille Ball; its last was Drumline, with Nick Cannon, in 2003. As can be inferred from the closing date, it wasn’t Katrina that forced the Joy to darken its screens. As the 20th century drew to a close, suburban multiplexes slowly siphoned away its audience. The new Joy is capable of showing films, but its entertainment offerings will be diverse; owners plan to book concerts, dance performances and live theater as well as occasional film — all in a space that is as impressive as the performers it presents. “The goal,” Hixon said, “is to create an icon for New Orleans.” On Saturday, May 5, Superfly during Jazz Fest will present the Preser vation Hall Crescent City Revue show at the Joy.

ARTIST BIOS Clint Maedgen photo

The Preservation Hall Jazz Band

The venerable Preservation Hall Jazz Band was founded in the early ’60s as an ensemble of traditional-jazz veterans. Over the years, it’s evolved to include many of those players’ musical and blood descendants, playing and preserving the same hot jazz at 726 St. Peter Street, under the same sign notifying fans that a request to hear “Saints” costs extra. In recent years, creative director Ben Jaffe has mixed it up with collaborations from unlikely artists including Tao Seeger, Del McCoury and Tom Waits.

Kirk Edwards photo

Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue

Treme native Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews, who’s been playing professionally since age 4, has an impeccable New Orleans music pedigree — he’s kin to performers from R&B legend Jessie Hill to contemporary gospel/brass star Glen David Andrews. Now in his early 20s, he’s recently begun carving his own distinct jazz/funk swath in the local and national music scene, earning a Grammy nomination for his 2010 album Backatown and hitting the Billboard jazz No. 1 chart spot with its follow-up, For True, which featured guest spots from high-profile fans including Kid Rock and Jeff Beck.

Ozomatli

This sprawling ensemble has been playing its stomping fusion of Latin, jazz, funk and hip-hop for nearly two decades. Recently, the band received the distinction of being named official cultural ambassadors by the U.S. State Department. After 17 years together, Ozomatli continues to fire up dance floors by blending elements of disparate styles including salsa, dancehall, Indian raga, New Orleans street parade and more.