NPR has named Dr. John's “You Might Be Surprised” (from his new CD The City That Care Forgot) as its “Song of the Day,” praising the doctor’s “grizzled, gumbo-soaked voice” (sigh — “gumbo-soaked”? Is that like “whiskey-soaked”?).
At age 72, Chicago’s “Mr. Rhythm” is showing no signs of slowing down. Popping up on the American soul scene in the mid-1950s, Andre Williams scored a number of small-time hits such as “Bacon Fat” and “Jail Bait” for Detroit’s Fortune Records. Through the 1960s and ‘70s he supplemented his career as a Chess Records recording artist by writing and producing material for Stevie Wonder, Ike and Tina, and Parliament/Funkadelic.
his time around, Mr. Rhythm teams up with the “alcoholic miscreants” of the Morning 40 Federation. Known here as the New Orleans Hellhounds, this rollicking ten-piece really is more beast than band. Over 33 minutes and nine cuts, Can You Deal With It? is a sleaze rock mud bath. Stylistically, you get the works. Whether it’s hot-rodded R&B, a woozy hangover ballad, or just some good old-fashioned front porch country, this album’s got just about everything you can cram under the garage rock umbrella.
Malone, singer/pianist Ed Volker, guitarist Camile Baudoin, bassist Reggie Scanlan and drummer Frank Bua have gotten through 30 years and counting. As evidenced by the three decades of audio odds and ends collected on "Wild & Free" (Radz Records), the Radiators have remained remarkably true to their unique identity as a Big Easy Little Feat.
They have issued nearly as many live albums as studio albums, indicative of their priorities. The stage is where they shine. They've supplied the soundtrack for everything from hometown Mardi Gras bacchanals to funky throwdowns in such un-funky locales as the St. Paul, Minn., theater where Garrison Keillor broadcasts "Prairie Home Companion."
The Storyville Stompers is a brass band that plays traditional New Orleans music, the kind that jazz and Dixieland are based on. They are known for their performances at Mardi Gras, the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, The French Quarter Festival and numerous other national and international celebrations.
When they are around, everything else stops.
The band parades on foot through the streets of the city with a drum major leading as only a New Orleans drum major can, with a lively step and the waving parasol that that has become a legendry part of the New Orleans tradition.
For decades, the bands have renewed their sound in tandem with changes in popular culture. In the 1970s, the Dirty Dozen Brass Band shepherded funk and soul sounds into the tradition. The Rebirth Brass Band followed in the 1980s, and then the New Birth Brass Band, to name just the most prominent.
When Pete helped found the Hot 8 in 1995, a new generational change was afoot. New Orleans is a strong hip-hop city, with its own local "bounce" style, and the home to artists like Master P and Lil' Wayne; the Hot 8 sound makes room for rapped segments and staccato hip-hop beats, while sticking to classic brass-band instrumentation.
The original cast of the John Sinclair Radio Show was reunited at last on a bright Saturday afternoon at The Dolphins coffeeshop, and we celebrated with a program of terrific music, most of it from New Orleans, by Rockin’ Jake, Cyril Neville, Ivan Neville, Walter “Wolfman” Washington, Rockie Charles, Guitar Slim Jr., Ironing Board Sam, Little Freddie King, Coco Robicheaux, Shannon McNally, and Bobby Charles.
His trombone playing was powerful and amazing as always, but man, something about his trumpet solos last night. 80+ years of trumpet playing, from Louis to Wynton, burst from Troy's horn in small, but brilliant, doses.
Fans have another chance to be dazzled by Theresa Andersson's live show this summer. After wrapping up a tour in Sweden, she will return this August for an extensive U.S. tour. With her toes turning knobs, as her hands strum guitar or bow a violin, and she sings with a charismatic smile that belies her intense concentration, Theresa Andersson's performances are little masterpieces of functional choreography.
I have photographed the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, both casually and on assignment, for over 20 years and it’s always a joy. These photos reflect my tastes (and this year, some weather conditions), which always run to the blues, jazz and roots end of the spectrum.
In honor of tonight's show in Brooklyn, I'm venturing slightly astray from my normal parameters with this selection, though the song's subject matter keeps it on point...
NPR continues its jazz series with a look at the legacy of New Orleans jazz music. (click on the link above)
Farai Chideya talks with three notable musicians from the Crescent City: Irvin Mayfield, a trumpeter, composer, and bandleader; Irma Thomas, who is known as the queen of New Orleans soul; and Greg Davis, a trumpeter and member of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, one the most famous marching bands in New Orleans.
Hayward "Chuck" Carbo, lead vocalist of 1950s New Orleans rhythm & blues quintet the Spiders, died July 11 after a long illness. He was 82.
The Spiders featured Mr. Carbo and his brother Leonard "Chick" Carbo. "We knew them since we were kids," Aaron Neville said. "The Spiders were the premiere New Orleans group. I won't say a New Orleans singer -- Chuck was a great singer, period."
"Chuck was very close to my family," Mac "Dr. John" Rebennack said. "More than Johnny Adams, Aaron Neville and Earl King, that was my mother's favorite of the local guys. Everybody loved this guy because he had such a special thing. The Spiders opened a lot of doors for New Orleans rhythm & blues."
Troy Andrews, also known as Trombone Shorty, is only 22, but he’s had the experiences of an old pro. The trombonist and trumpeter grew up in the Treme section of New Orleans, where the music hangs thick in the air.
“Growing up in a musical family,” Troy Andrews says, “in a household that had thousands of instruments laying around — some broken, some that weren’t — they were like toys to me.” And vice versa. He remembers being 6 years old and playing a Big Wheel slung over his shoulder like a tuba.
On September 9, Grayson Capps will release his fourth album, Rott 'N' Roll, on Hyena Records. The long-player's title stems from a phrase used by fans to characterize the music of the southern troubadour. Prostitutes, alcoholics, vagrants and drifters often inhabit Grayson's songs, while his live performances are ignited by equal doses of raucous Southern soul, back-country stomp and roadhouse blues. For Grayson himself, Rott 'N' Roll has come to represent the state of mind needed to play uncompromising roots music as a means for survival in the Dirty South; the yin and yang between the debauchery of life on the road and the come down upon returning home.
You are from New Orleans; you were born there. American jazz was born there. How did Hurricane Katrina call you personally into action?
Out of sadness, and horror. I guess you feel that towards any person who got hit by a car, but in this case its your hometown, so its as if something happened to your family or your mother. So all of us felt we needed to help. I got publicity because I'm known, but so many New Orleanians, even now, are doing what they can and doing everything in their power. A lot of people call me, asking what they can do to help, intelligently, to rebuild the city. We are all still running around trying to figure that out.
New Orleans Musicians’ Clinic (NOMC), a one-of-a-kind clinic for musicians, was founded with the lofty goal of trying to “change the course of the careers of our young musicians in New Orleans, to keep them thriving into their 90s (yes, we have musicians still blowing their trumpets at 96)” says President/CEO, Bethany Bultman. The organization just celebrated its tenth birthday, and while elated at its success, hopes to become so redundant as they advocate for universal health care so that one day they will become unnecessary. We thought it only fitting to include the group in our New Orleans issue of DIY City Mag. Music is arguably one of the oldest DIY activities. And what is New Orleans without the sounds of its music? Fortunately NOMC was in place before the storm.
Dr. John: Chicken Gumbo For The Soul
his time around, Mr. Rhythm teams up with the “alcoholic miscreants” of the Morning 40 Federation. Known here as the New Orleans Hellhounds, this rollicking ten-piece really is more beast than band. Over 33 minutes and nine cuts, Can You Deal With It? is a sleaze rock mud bath. Stylistically, you get the works. Whether it’s hot-rodded R&B, a woozy hangover ballad, or just some good old-fashioned front porch country, this album’s got just about everything you can cram under the garage rock umbrella.
