NolaFunk Lagniappe

Home of the Groove's "No Magic Wand For Earl King"

Here's another New Orleans rarity that, like the previously posted Johnny Moore (Deacon John) 45, came out on the Wand label, based in New York. Wand issued a number of singles by New Orleans artists between 1966 and the mid-1970s, leasing virtually all of those tracks from various production companies in the Deep South - in this case, Sansu Enterprises.



It features the great Earl King, performing artist, producer, and, most significantly, one of the Crescent City's best songwriters for five decades until his passing in 2003. While Earl often favored a funky, soulful blues style when he performed and recorded his own stuff, he wrote many different kinds of pop and R&B for diverse local artists including Professor Longhair ("Big Chief"), Willie Tee ("Teasin' You"), Lee Dorsey, and the Dixie Cups. And, of course, his classics have been covered by Jimi Hendrix, Robert Palmer, Boz Scaggs, and Levon Helm, to name but a few. Until I ran across this DJ copy for sale online last year, I didn't know the record existed, although it is listed in various Wand discographies, as I've since learned.

Nicholas Payton: The Deep Blue

"I've always done all sorts of stuff," says Payton. "I've always considered myself a musician first. Growing up in New Orleans, I played in all sorts of bands - from brass bands to hip-hop bands, I played rock, fusion. I played all sorts of music; I never made the distinction. Jazz itself is a very eclectic music, but what is it? Is it a sound? Is it instrumentation? Is it a certain type of rhythm? It can be very abstract as to what it is or what it isn't. I am of the feeling that the groove or sonic context does not define what the music is, but it is the spirit and the intent of which it is played."

Louisiana musicians stay on the road to promote the cause of coastal restoration



The Heroes Rebuilding New Orleans

The Musician

Jazz clarinetist Michael White, 53, has a long list of works and performances to his name. His latest CD, Blue Crescent, was inspired by the destruction and rebirth of New Orleans. He composed the music at A Studio in the Woods, an artists' retreat at the edge of the city cradled by the Mississippi levee. "The river is a spiritual force," he says. "It got me to face the tremendous losses of Katrina and to realize how thankful I am for all that we still have."

View a preview of the Frency Bio: "King of Oak Street"




Irma Thomas Plus Piano Is 'Simply Grand'

Dotted with faux Corinthian columns and peeling jazz posters, Joe's Pub in the East Village is far from Bourbon Street, but that's where the New Orleans soul singer Irma Thomas recently chose to debut the live version of her elegant new album "Simply Grand" (Rounder) in front of two sold-out audiences.

Ms. Thomas, whose alto at age 67 is a steaming gumbo of rhythm and blues, has been a regular for years at Tipitina's in New Orleans' French Quarter -- and she performed at her own Lion's Den nightclub in that city before it was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. Her head-tilting takes on R&B standards since the early 1960s place her in the stylistic neighborhood of Aretha Franklin, with a spark of Southern-fried moxie.

see also: Catching Up With... Irma Thomas (a Q&A)

The Iguanas: Mining tragedy for tracks

In many ways, the Iguanas are still regaining their balance after being forced out of New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina. The band ended up in Austin, Texas, for a year, where it participated in Robert Mugge's "New Orleans Music in Exile," a documentary that captured the far-flung diaspora of Crescent City icons such as Dr. John and Irma Thomas. The Iguanas have trickled back into town since then, regrouping from the loss of houses, instruments and band archives. While only a couple of the new songs make direct reference to Katrina (notably the Spanish-language lament "Hurricane"), the album is marked by an unmistakably storm-tossed mood of anger, defiance and nostalgia.

The Meters - Doodle Up




Afropop Worldwide's Shout Out to New Orleans

Longtime Afropop Worldwide correspondent Ned Sublette joins host Georges Collinet, as we talk to guest New Orleans DJ T.R. Johnson on the ground in the Crescent City, where the music goes on every night. We'll get an check at how this great American music city is doing in the summer of 2008. We'll hear music by Dr. John, Dr. Michael White, Terence Blanchard, Brother Tyrone, Big Sam's Funky Nation, Dumpstaphunk, and more.