Since pianist Marcus Roberts first made a name for himself in
the 80s, he’s established his own voice by distilling the compositions,
style, and technique of great jazz piano masters. His recent record New Orleans Meets Harlem is a great example of his gift for alchemy. With his trio – comprised of drummer Jason Marsalis and bassist Rodney Jordan
– Roberts fleshes out the intricacies of tunes by Jelly Roll Morton
with a modern jazz twist. For this concert, the expansion to an octet
will ignite Roberts’ imagination to create sounds and colors that Morton
could only hear in his head. Featuring trumpeter Alphonso Horne, trombonist Ron Westray, saxophonists Stephen Riley and Ricardo Pascal, and clarinetist Joe Goldberg.
New Orleans Celebration: New Orleans Piano Kings
presented by Jazz at Lincoln Center
2011-12 Season
Master drummer Herlin Riley invites us all to a dream show for
any musician from New Orleans. Here he honors the great Crescent City
pianists of the past by recruiting great New Orleans pianists of the
present. His choices are the best of three generations of modern piano
players, including the dean of Louisiana pianists Ellis Marsalis, veteran Henry Butler, and young star Jonathan Batiste They are joined by New Orleans native Reginald Veal on bass.
Free Pre-Concert Activities
Free pre-concert discussion with JALC’s Ken Druker and pianist Terry Waldo, nightly at 7pm.
Free pre-concert celebration including live music by the Red Hook Ramblers, a gumbo cook-off, album art displays, and more, nightly at 6:30pm.
Grammy-winning trumpeter and composer Terence Blanchard chose to live in New Orleans, bring the prestigious Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz that he heads to the city of his birth and for the first time record an album here. His decisions continue to impact and shine a light on New Orleans as revealed on his 2007 album A Tale of God’s Will (A Requiem for Katrina) and furthered on his new, soon-to-be-released CD, simply titled Choices. We also benefit from his residency as Blanchard kicks off his upcoming world-wide tour on July 31, 2009 at the Ogden Museum of Southern Arts where he and his band recorded the disc.
“One of the things that I’m trying to do with this particular CD is not talk about what happened in New Orleans and the negative stuff,” Blanchard explains. “I want to deal with all the positive things that have been goin’ on. My whole thing is to bring up the debate so we can rebuild the city in such a way so it is much stronger and so we can be the beacon of cultural excellence that we’ve been for decades.”
No, it's not that I'm going commercial. But I do like to draw some attention to the new album by The Radiators, "The Lost Southlake Sessions". I got sent a copy and I'm allowed to give you one song of the album. And I like it.
The Radiators are from New Orleans, Louisiana. And they sound like it too. If, besides Southern Rock, you dig the NOLA vibe, you should definitely give this a try. These guys have been around since 1978 and still play with the same line-up. They released several albums, mostly on small labels. According to Allmusic "Law Of The Fish", their only major label release (and thus, the band probably having access to all the right means), is the one to have. This is New Orleans Rock alright. An influence which can be heard in Little Feat music as well. And of course on any Anders Osborne album.
Cyril Neville is a member of the Neville Brothers, and the Wild Tchoupitoulas Mardi Gras Indian tribe. He also leads his own band, Cyril Neville and Tribe 13.
The trumpeter Terence Blanchard runs an informal but important academy. Since the beginning of the 1990s his bands have always been strong, if sometimes overcontrolled. But now that he’s a full generation older than most of the musicians working with him — and those musicians have musically evolved from education and influences different from the ones that formed him — his music is feeling energized in a new way.
Marcus Roberts Trio Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola Wednesday, July 22
You should see this place, Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola, up yonder at Lincoln Center, first of all just to behold the not-too-distant future of venue-naming (five years from now Tiny Masters of Today will be headlining Kurt Cobain Drink Mountain Dew or We'll Kill You Arena), but more importantly to regard the view behind the band onstage, looking down on Central Park and, at the 7:30 p.m. show at least, slowly, romantically darkening from broad daylight to sunset. This is alarmingly idyllic, and only more so with a telepathic piano trio lustily dialing up "East of the Sun (And West of the Moon)."
But the big jobbing-gig thing here, kind of the local equivalent of the wedding band, is the brass band. These can be old-school outfits like the Majestic or Michael White's Liberty Brass Band, which plays traditional repertoire almost exclusively, or bands that play in the more funk-based contemporary style of the Dirty Dozen band, or the Rebirth. Even newer-school outfits like the Hot 8 or the Soul Rebels play a kind of 'brass hop' style of hip-hop, rap music adapted to brass band instruments. There are also more esoteric groups like the Panorama Jazz Band that play hybrids of traditional brass band, early New Orleans jazz, and various Latin and Afro-Cuban styles. The one thing they all have in common is portability, marching capability, and (usually) percussion sections made up of two or more seperate players (one player on bass drum and one on snare).In addition to these relatively fixed-personell outfits there are dozens of 'pick up' type brass bands where who shows up at the gig is related to who's available. My buddy Kevin O'Day, for instance, has a band called the Oakside Brass Band that consists entirely of him on snare and his brother-in-law Frank Lodato on bass drum. When he gets a gig he just starts calling people and you never know who's going to be on the gig. Could be some guy you've never heard of on trumpet, could be the great Kirk Joseph on Sousaphone.
This week's guest is trumpeter extraordinaire Leon "Kid Chocolate" Brown, whose classic tone and stunning facility on the horn has delighted audiences at tons of major festivals, on Frenchmen Street, and at clubs like Preservation Hall and Irvin Mayfield's Jazz Playhouse. He's worked in many of the greatest bands in New Orleans, including the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra, Los Hombres Calientes, the Preservation Hall-Stars, and his own Chocolate City.
The ninth annual Satchmo Summerfest ended with a massive rain shower and then cool breezes off the Mississippi River. The trumpet blowout that is the traditional closer of the festival featured Yoshio Toyama (often billed as the Satchmo of Japan), Shamarr Allen, James Andrews (pictured) and one of the youngsters from the Baby Boyz Brass Band joined Kermit Ruffins and his band, the BBQ Swingers in honoring the greatest musician to ever call New Orleans home, Louis “Satchmo” Armstrong.
No, but I would really really love to. There’s a calliope on the Mississippi River that I hear every single day—the Natchez I believe is the steamship’s name and there’s an old woman that plays it. I don’t know what her name is but she is very wonderful. There is a peculiar thing about calliopes in that the power for the pipes that generate the sound for the calliope music is actually generated from the steam from the steam engine. The one in New Orleans is actually a real steam calliope. A lot of calliopes are fake. I would love to play it. It’s my dream actually. There’s supposedly—on a real old steam calliope—a release valve that you have to be careful to release enough steam so that the pressure in your organ tank doesn’t build up to such a point that there can be an explosion. The calliope is a dangerous instrument to play. You risk your life to become a calliope player—it’s true.
Early Mardi Gras morning, Antoinette K-Doe passed away after a heart attack. Since editor Alex Rawls wrote about Antoinette and the Mother-in-Law Lounge in our January issue, we felt we’d already said much of what we wanted to say about her. Last issue, she spoke for herself, talking about cooking and being neighborly, so we decided to let some of the people who were touched by Antoinette share their recollections. We’ll miss her.—ED
The Wild Magnolias' Bo Dollis and Monk Boudreaux reunite, however briefly
Keith Spera / The Times-Picayune
Saturday's reunion of Bo Dollis and Monk Boudreaux at the Mid-City Lanes said as much about the future of the Wild Magnolias as the past.
Friends since childhood, Boudreaux and Dollis grew up to lead rival Mardi Gras Indian "gangs." They joined forces to front the Wild Magnolias electric funk band, whose 1974 debut introduced Mardi Gras Indian music to the world. On the likes of "Handa Wanda" and "Smoke My Peace Pipe," Boudreaux's more traditional chants offset Dollis' glorious rasp.
On a decidely more upbeat note, friend of no notes Mr. Fine Wine turns over an entire one-hour episode of his Downtown Soulville show to the music of the recently departed New Orleans legend Eddie Bo. Check it out here.
Nick Spitzer interview with Eddie from November 2nd, 2005
From the award-winning documentary, "Playing For Change: Peace Through Music". This film features many New Orleans artists including Grandpa Elliot, Washboard Chaz and my dear friend Roberto Luti (who's featured on the Heaven She Rides album by Sol Fiya). Be sure to check out the Playing For Change foundation and please show them some love.
Even if the Dirty Dozen Brass Band is not doing anything special to celebrate the 25th anniversary of its first release, My Feet Can't Fail Me Now, the album still marks some of the elements that have propelled the band through more than three decades together: dedication to practice and trying new things.
"In the beginning, we came together to learn music," Gregory Davis says. "There weren't any gigs. They were rehearsals."
The group included Roger Lewis and Charles Joseph, who were students at Southern University. Joseph brought his younger brother Kirk to play sousaphone. Davis was a student at St. Augustine High School. Drummer Benny Jones was in a band and had some connections to get gigs with social aid and pleasure clubs. The members agreed to work on any type of music.
With "New Orleans Meets Harlem," pianist Marcus Roberts explores the connections between two of jazz music's most elemental tributaries -- building on familiar ideas put in place by Jelly Roll Morton, Fats Waller, Scott Joplin, Duke Ellington and Thelonious Monk. The record, Roberts' first in eight years, hits the streets on Tuesday, March 31, and features bassist Roland Guerin and drummer Jason Marsalis. Good news: Keen and welcome touches of modernity keep this J-Master Records release from gathering the expected dust.
Voodoo blues man Papa Mali grew up in rural Louisiana where he soaked in everything from hill country guitar to the nearby Big Easy brass. He paid his dues in the clubs of New Orleans for more than two decades, but now the diversely skilled guitarist, whose real name is Malcolm Welbourne, tours around the country with his original brand of psychedelic Crescent City-inspired funk, mixing it up regularly in the world of jam and jazz. His latest album, 2007's “Do Your Thing,” was produced by Dan Prothero for Fog City Records and features collaborations with Kirk Joseph, Henry Butler, Big Chief Monk Boudreaux, Victoria Williams and JJ Grey.
Question: What types of music did you learn growing up in Louisiana?
Answer: From a pretty early age I was steeped in real Delta blues, soul and funk. There's two different schools in that type of music: the guys who grew up on a plantation in Mississippi, and then there are guys like me who are more like musicologists, honest about where they come from. Dr. John is one of my biggest heroes. At an early age he got over the whole trauma of race and color barriers that a lot of musicians go through. I was the same way. As a teenager I was playing with some cats that were the real deal, and they accepted me. They let me know that it was all about the music, and if you're sincere in the way that you portray it, you will be accepted. That's helped me to know my place in how I want to carry the music forward.
It is one of those unintended confluences that Joan Selects, Volume 18 - Joan's Jazz Fest Special appears just several weeks from the start of the 40th annual New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival: www.nojazzfest.com. You can thank your blog host for the great timing for this post.
All the music in Joan Selects - Volume 18, emanates from the musical gold-mine that is New Orleans. In fact most all the selections here-in presented were recorded at the legendary J & M recording studios under the astute and gifted direction of Cosimo Matassa.
Almost everyone who plays jazz clarinet in a classic style can trace their musical lineage back to the Tio family, a dynasty of clarinet masters from New Orleans¹ Creole seventh ward. In the early 1900s, they taught the first generation of jazz players the value of using classical techniques. Evan Christopher continues the legacy.
The Tio family was a dynasty of clarinet masters from New Orleans' Creole seventh ward. In the early days of the 20th century, they taught a first generation of jazz players the value of using classical techniques in their playing. The Tios were all professional musicians on the active New Orleans music scene where they worked as composers, arrangers, and conductors in brass bands, theater orchestras and 'society' dance bands. But most importantly, every afternoon there would be a steady stream of music students through their homes.
Ideal vision, we are told, is 20-20 and as we present our 20th class of Jazz-All Stars we see two decades of greatness and a talent pool that hasn’t been diminished. As always we present our All-Stars as two complete but non-existent bands – one traditional, the other contemporary. Selections are based from among those performers who continue to live and work mostly in this area. It is great to see such a promising list, and even better to hear.
The history of brewing in New Orleans is as cloudy as an unfiltered ale, little known outside its confines. Once a regional beer capital, it turned out a slew of popular brands like Falstaff, Jax, Regal and Dixie.
Now there are only a handful of breweries in the area, including Abita, Heiner Brau and a newcomer named NOLA Brewing Company. The good news is that over a well-hopped weekend you can sample all the local brews, tour their birthplaces and learn the story of the once — and possibly future — beer town of the South. The local brewing scene is concentrated these days in suburban St. Tammany Parish, on the north shore of the vast Lake Pontchartrain opposite the Big Easy. So that’s where I headed one morning, with an old college buddy along as designated driver, flitting over the brown lake like a water spider on the seemingly endless causeway.
As a city that treasures its musical heritage, New Orleans is probably second only to Nashville.
I’ve been listening to WWOZ in recent weeks. WWOZ is a free- form community radio station that’s become a linchpin of the New Orleans music scene.
WWOZ rocks ass. Below are just a few recordings to which I’ve been introduced by ’OZ’s dedicated volunteer deejays. Click the track titles to listen on my Vox blog.
There’s a lot going on during the French Quarter Festival, and it takes a big brain to keep track of it all. OffBeat wants you to be that big brain, so here’s our guide to all the jazz, blues, Cajun, zydeco, funk, soul and rock ’n’ roll that takes place on 17 stages arranged in the French Quarter between Bourbon Street and the Mississippi River. Pay attention—there will be a quiz.
Most bands would be envious of the subdudes’ lot in life. After all, many struggle and fail in their bids to reach the top of the mountain once, let alone twice. Although the subdudes suffered an acrimonious breakup that lasted for six years, the group has spent its time, since its reunion in 2002, re-establishing itself within a marketplace that has grown considerably more crowded. Its latest set Live at the Rams’ Head combined with its complementary documentary Unplugged at Pleasant Plains couldn’t have been issued at a better time, either.
I first listened to this CD on a Sunday morning. It was quite early, and I had just gone to a hockey game the night before, so the sport was still on my mind. As the CDs first track opened up, it immediately got me thinking about partying. I quipped to myself, “I went to a party and an Eric Lindell concert broke out,” and it hit me; I’ve bent the joking phrase, “I went to a fight and a hockey game broke out,” around, but it fits so nicely. Seeing Eric live or even listening to him on a CD makes you feel like having you’re having a party.
