NolaFunk Lagniappe

All About Jazz's "New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival: A Photo Essay"

The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival is the grandest of all American music festivals. Each year I attend, and am rejuvenated by the always amazing array of musical talent. The music of New Orleans is anchored by the great New Orleans musical families, such as Barbarin, Lastie, Boutte, Harrison, French, Marsalis, and Batiste. The accompanying photos are from this year's festival, and include members of these families.

Tribal conflict: Mardi Gras Indians try to preserve their integrity and stay marketable



see also: Golden Comanche Indians at the Bayou Boogaloo

Home of the Groove's "All Nite Hot Buns...And Hatchets"

My inspiration for this goose-chase came about when I recently bought a copy of Paul Gayten's single, "The Hunch" b/w "Hot Cross Buns". Back in the 1980s, I had first encountered the songs on the MCA LP (and later CD) compilation of Gayten's Chess sides, Chess King of New Orleans. Hearing "Hot Cross Buns" again reminded me that it has several things in common with another instrumental side, "All Nite Long" (Part 2), on Robert Parker's first 45. I've always dug Part 2 since first hearing it, also in the 1980s, on a Rounder CD collection of sides from the Ron label (where it was mis-identified as Part 1). On that cut, Eddie Bo dropped in some random, amusing vocal commentary during the stop-time pauses, which, as you will hear, is very much like what Billy Davis did on Gayten's side. Of course, fans of New Orleans grooves will also recall that Bo later did some memorable spoken vocalizing on another more well-known instrumental two-parter, "Pass the Hatchet", by Roger & the Gypsies. So, suddenly I had the convergence of these three tunes in my head, and an excuse to do a post on their connections - real or imagined. You be the judge.

Humid City's "Another Evening Option & Download" (a mini-feature on Renard Poche)



New Orleans Daily Photo's "Ageless Music"

On the top, Mahalia Jackson sings along to a bluesy ensemble of (left to right Charlie Parker, Miles Davis and Edmond Hall. Below, a larger view of the mural shows the many legendary artist that gave New Orleans its musical heritage including Charmaine Neville, Brandford Marseillas, Pete Fountain, Harry Connick, Jr., Duke Ellington, and Roy "Professor Longhair" Wells.

A Survey of "Post-Katrina Music" from dailykos

"Music gets into your DNA down there." That's how I described it to a friend who asked about the abundance of New Orleans flavored music that you'll find on my iPod, my stereo at home, in my car... For me, New Orleans isn't Mardi Gras or a great restaurant just a stone's throw from where ever you happen to be standing at the moment, or streetcar rattling down St. Charles under the arching branches of live oaks or any of the other images that typically come to mind. Make no mistake, New Orleans is all of those things and more, but when I think of New Orleans the first thing that comes to mind is music."

Jambands' "To Miss New Orleans"


Listen Good's "Muddy feet, Clear Politics at Jazzfest"

Politics were in the air during jazzfest -- literally. While the Neville Brothers closed the event on the Acura stage, a plane circled above the Fair Grounds towing a banner that read: "Shell, Hear the Music. Fix the Coast You Broke." Not all the commentary was so overt, and none as visible, but it was there if you kept your eyes and ears open. Mind you, it's too easy in New Orleans these days to read meaning and purpose into every lyric or song choice -- was Sheryl Crow making a statement by covering "Gimme Shelter," or was she just doing a Stones tune? -- yet some of the messages were timely, pointed, and worth remembering.

Defending New Orleans Culture



Radio Free Amsterdam's "Piety Street Recordings"


The Village Voice: "The Beating Heart of Jazz"

"The Bush administration miserably failed New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, but the Jazz Foundation of New York hasn't failed thousands of New Orleans musicians. On March 4, in recognition of how the foundation's Wendy Oxenhorn and other saints came marching in, Jazz at Lincoln Center awarded the organization a grant from its High Ground Hurricane Relief Fund: "Since Katrina alone, the Jazz Foundation assisted over 3,500 emergency [New Orleans] cases and has created employment for over 1,000 musicians in crisis with the Agnes Varis/Jazz in the Schools program."