NolaFunk Lagniappe

HOTG SUMMER CONCERT SERIES, Part 1

DR. JOHN AND BAND GET "LIFE" LIVE

"Life" (Allen Toussaint)
Dr. John and the Rampart Street Sympathy Orchestra, 1973

LISTEN

Back in 1973, Dr. John (Mac Rebennack) was on tour in support of his new album, In The Right Place, which was doing very well for him on the basis of the radio hit singles taken from it, "Right Place, Wrong Time" and "Such A Night". Allen Toussaint produced the LP, geared it a bit more for the pop market, but recruited the Meters as the core rhythm section. The results were an exceptional mix of funk and quirky pop. As a result, Mac did some touring that year with the Meters, using them as a backing band a few times, and on other dates rolling as a New Orleans revue with his own band, plus the Meters and Professor Longhair on the bill, as well. In the case of this show, a live radio broadcast from a recording studio, with a small audience, it was Mac and his band alone, billed as Dr. John and the Rampart Street Sympathy Orchestra. For more details about the show, including a full set list and band line-up, check my earlier posts on two other songs from the night, "Let The Good Times Roll" and "Qualified". As might be expected, the sound quality and mix are excellent.

HOTG MID-YEAR REVIEWS: Everything Old Is New Again

The Lost Southlake Sessions, The Radiators, Radz Records, 2009 - I waited so long to talk about Wild & Free, this one came in - so I've doubled up. Although the Radiators have made, recorded and sold music on their own terms for the greater part of their 30 year history, when these session were done, they actually had a record deal with an entertainment conglomerate, music videos*, national commercial radio airplay, and the possibility of breaking big. Between 1987 and 1989, the Rads recorded two of three albums for Sony/Epic, Law Of The Fish and Zig-Zaggin' Through Ghostland, mainly using the relatively new Southlake Studios in Metairie, LA. There, at various points during the late 1980s, they also cut a number of demo sessions - original material, mostly written by keyboardist Ed Volker - that went missing along the way amidst the comings and goings of a regularly touring band. As Ed told me recently via email through their Radz label, "A lot of tapes were lost one way or another from Southlake over the years. . . . This [the recently found material on the new CD] is all from a cassette we took pains to master; and it was an exploratory demo session, never meant for release, but the years have been kind to it, so we decided others might like to hear it, too." Excellent decision, fellas.

Unexpected Moments in New Orleans with Tom McDermott

I love unexpected moments in New Orleans. The best thing about these moments is that they happen so often. New Orleans is often called "the biggest small town on earth." You just never know who you are going to meet or what you are going to see or hear, and that's exactly what happened on a recent balmy July night.

New Orleans street performer 'Grandpa' Elliott Small winning new fans

Street singer and blues harmonica player "Grandpa" Elliott Small is a familiar sight to any New Orleanian who has strolled the Royal Street pedestrian mall. In his red T-shirt, blue overalls and bushy white beard, the blind musician has anchored the corner of Royal and Toulouse for more than a decade -- sometimes solo, sometimes with a friend on keyboard or guitar. In the Quarter, he's an institution.

Michael P. Smith exhibit in New Orleans

The Historic New Orleans Collection (www.hnoc.org) offers a glimpse into the heart and soul of New Orleans’ music, culture and folkways, with its current exhibit, “In the Spirit: The Photography of Michael P. Smith”. A New Orleans native and award-winning photographer, Smith (1937 – 2008) captured the essence of New Orleans with every photo. He documented Jazz funerals, Mardi Gras traditions, and many of the Crescent City’s music legends, including Allen Toussaint and Mahalia Jackson.
The exhibit, which kicked off in March and finishes in September, is the inaugural public presentation of the Michael P. Smith Archive from The Historic New Orleans Collection. A second part of the HNOC exhibit, presented at the Contemporary Arts Center 900 Camp St (www.cacno.org) “Twenty-Five Jazz Fests”, recently wrapped up its run and featured Smith’s famous Jazz Fest photography.

Mother-In-Law Lounge Needs Your Help

Betty Fox has moved to New Orleans from Memphis to take over the ownership and operation of the legendary Mother-In-Law Lounge along with her fiancé, Carlos. The nightclub was originally her mother's labor of love, dedicated to the "Emperor of the Universe" Ernie K-Doe, whose most enduring R&B hit was "Mother In Law".

Although the club wasn't publicly open in the months after Antoinette K-Doe's passing (Mardi Gras day, 2009), Betty worked hard to get everything in order so she could carry on her parents' legacy and keep the club's doors open.

Honey Island Swamp Band steps up with new "Wishing Well"

In Hurricane Katrina's aftermath, Aaron Wilkinson and Chris Mule found themselves stranded in San Francisco with the rest of soul-blues guitarist Eric Lindell's band.

In need of additional work, they resolved to pool their respective songs and create a new band. At the Boom Boom Room, a home-away-from-home for Louisiana musicians, they encountered fellow New Orleanians Sam Price, a bassist, and Garland Paul, a drummer.

With that, the Honey Island Swamp Band was born.

Tuned in: Music aficionados see possibilities for city to build on jazz industry brand

Irvin Mayfield doesn’t see his role as cultural ambassador as just promoting New Orleans’ music, food, culture and architecture. His job, he believes, is to use those facets to strengthen the area’s economy.

Mayfield envisions New Orleans jazz as a thriving business as well as a brand the city can build. He believes the industry has not reached its capacity.

To do that, New Orleans needs to cast itself in a positive light to counter the negative attention it receives outside the city. Mayfield says jazz is the vehicle.

Yeah, You Right: Joe Krown

This week's guest is pianist/Hammond B-3 organist Joe Krown. Chances are, if you've seen live music in New Orleans, you've seen Joe. Whether it's one of his trio gigs with Walter "Wolfman" Washington and Russell Batiste, his Organ Combo, or his weekly solo piano shows at Le Bon Temps Roulé (with free oysters!), you know you're getting some of the funkiest keys in New Orleans.

Joe rose to fame in the band of Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, where he held down the piano chair for over a dozen years until Brown's passing in 2005. He's shared the stage with the likes of Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Carlos Santana, Eric Clapton, Ike Turner, Jimmy McGriff, Melvin Sparks, Dr. John, and George Porter, Jr., and that's just scratching the surface. He's also been a headliner at every Jazz Fest for the past 12 years.

Here's what Joe had to say in between criss-crossing town on his perpetual gigging tour of the Crescent City.

Q: Crystal or Louisiana Hot Sauce?
A: Crystal.

Q: Zapp’s or Tater Tots?
A: Zapp's.

Nolafunk Lagniappe

James Booker: New Orleans Piano Wizard; 25 Years Gone

The name James Booker means very little in most parts of the world. In New Orleans, and to a great number of musicians, mainly piano players, the name James Booker is holy. Not bad for someone who was once called "the best black, gay, junkie piano player who ever lived."

John Blancher celebrates 20 years of Rock 'n Bowl

Rock 'n Bowl returned from Hurricane Katrina as strong as ever; the past 12 months have been the operation's highest-grossing fiscal year to date, Blancher said, despite a post-Gustav dip in business. Along with the likes of Tipitina's and the Maple Leaf Bar, it is an iconic destination for locals and tourists eager to experience the "real" New Orleans.

New Orleans piano legend Fats Domino materializes at his documentary's premiere party

After accepting the awards, Domino -- clad in a short-sleeve Hawaiian shirt, white slacks, tennis shoes and his omnipresent captain's cap -- reminded the audience that he's "not much of a talker" in his brief thank-you remarks. With that, he disappeared through the club's backstage entrance to relax in an outdoor lounge area with his preferred beverage, cold bottles of Heineken.

see also: Fats Domino documentary to air on PBS



Christian Scott - Live At Newport (2008)

The New Orleans tradition continues.

Over one hundred years after the Crescent City had given the world cornetist and jazz pioneer Buddy Bolden, kicking off an amazing string of brass legends going from Louis Armstrong to Wynton Marsalis to Terence Blanchard, another ground-breaking trumpet player from this storied city has emerged in just the last few years. His name is Christian Scott.

Like Marsalis, Scott was born into New Orleans music---his uncle is Donald Harrison---but unlike Wynton, Scott is not dwelling on tradition at the beginning of his career before putting his own imprint on jazz.

New Orleans swaps guns for music

The New Orleans Horns for Guns project is a variation on gun buy-back programs offering residents musical instruments, cameras and classes in exchange for gun










Download: Page w/ PBS @ Live Downloads

• CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD BEAUTY OF A BROKEN HEART

Enjoy the Big Easy's musical heart


N'Awlins is callin' you with Tab Benoit

Have the hurricanes weakened the future of the New Orleans music scene, especially if homegrown musicians and future talent have relocated?

I don’t know if it can be anywhere near what it was. The people who really, really love New Orleans and can’t live without it are back, and even if they’re not physically living in the city where they used to live, they’re at least living in surrounding areas.

A lot went to Baton Rouge, somewhere in the vicinity, but they still come back and play New Orleans a lot. Between musicians, the bond is stronger than ever. Everyone went through the same thing together, which got us all on the same page, but it gets harder and harder to live and maintain a life there.

New Orleans jazz leader Adonis Rose spreads talent




Dumpstaphunk: The greasiest, swampiest funk music out there

If you’re from out of town or silly enough to live in New Orleans and have never seen Ivan Neville’s Dumsptaphunk, do yourself a favor: take a break from the screeching melodies, electronic pop and heavy-eye makeup at Voodoo Fest on Saturday afternoon and go see the greasiest, swampiest funk music that has permeated places like Tipitina’s for years.

This is a splendid video dedicated to New Orleans music. Lots of footage showing local musicians playing and the beautiful scenery from the city. Anders Osborne wrote and narrates this clip.

Rebirth Brass Band and the New Orleans scene

New Orleans, being the birth place of Jazz, is widely known for its music. The volume of extraordinary musicians this city produces is staggering. Being a recent transpant from Boston, I’m still in somewhat of a culture shock, but I am getting along just fine. My first time seeing Rebirth Brass Band was at Harpers Ferry in Boston, Massachusetts back in the spring of 2007. All I knew of them then was that they were fun to see and layed down a groove you didn’t have a choice but to dance to. The rumors were right! I couldn’t stop moving my feet! They are a brass band consisting of a tuba, bass drum, snare drum, saxophone, two trombones, and three trumpets. They are each talented, and they are as tight as clockwork. These guys have ben playing together for 25 years and made there start in the Treme neighborhood of New Orleans. The have a regular gig at the Maple Leaf Bar every Tuesday night and this Tuesday I went.

Michael P. Smith Photography slideshow

Picasso, Basquiat And Jazz: Nicholas Payton Explores The Influence Of Visual Art

On Thursday, trumpeter Nicholas Payton will celebrate the influence of bebop greats Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker on the paintings of Jean-Michel Basquiat at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
Payton, a New Orleans native who still resides there, had just returned from a few shows in Brazil when he learned about the parameters of the gig. He’s not familiar with Basquiat works at the museum, but he has been profoundly influenced by visual art in recent years.
“When you play what you see,” he says, “it comes from a different place than when you play based on what you hear. My last two records have been very visual — I’m dealing with colors rather than notes, treating harmony as a color. My music is more rhythmic, more effervescent. There are lines and circles.”

NolaFunk Lagniappe

Bingo! Parlour Profile: THE TIN MEN featuring THE VALPARAISO MEN'S CHORUS

The Tin Men are one of New Orleans’ most interesting and exciting bands. Consisting of Alex McMurray on guitar and vocals, Matt Perrine on sousaphone and washboard, and Chaz Leary on washboard and vocals, the band has riveted audiences with its own brand of music. Those who caught their late night performances during the 2002 Jazz Fest season hailed the group as “the best thing seen during Jazz Fest.”

The Valparaiso Men's Chorus Guano and Nitrates is a rare and strange artifact. For reasons no one can clearly remember, it was decided to assemble a large group of men for the purpose of making a recording of sea shanties. The Monday after Thanksgiving was chosen to maximize the size of the group, and the Mermaid Lounge was chosen as the site, due to its proximity to recording equipment and alcohol. We acquired the last two reels of 1/2 inch tape for sale in Orleans Parish and went to work.




Home of the Groove's "EARL PALMER'S UP-TO-DATE FUNKY THING"

What I want to do here is focus on just a few examples of Earl Palmer's playing that demonstrate the more poly-rhythmic aspects of his style and express the uniquely New Orleans side of this incredible groove-maker. A deeply funky feel seems to be an innate characteristic of the city's best drummers, so ingrained in the local culture that to second line is second nature. With antecedents going back several hundred years through the Caribbean (Cuba and Haiti) to Africa via the tragic diaspora of slavery, that rhythmic heritage was perpetuated in the weekly dance and drum circles allowed in Congo Square and the secretive societies of the Mardi Gras Indian gangs in city. They arose in jazz, New Orleans' great improvisatory well-spring, through street parade musicians, moving on to shape the distinct local R&B flavor from the 1950s to the present day, as funk in the city’s music has become increasingly overt. Excuse me for trying to cram several centuries of musical ferment and evolution into a few sentences. Anyway, I don't think it's an overstatement or simplistic to say that Earl Palmer is a vital part of that musical continuum and the first drummer to inject both second line syncopations and the turbo-charged, driving pulse of rock 'n' roll into the mass appeal popular music that quickly overtook much of the world, influencing myriad musicians and forever changing listeners' attitudes and expectations, getting backfields in motion across racial and cultural divides, and uniting us in universal worship of the beat.

Second line fetes famed photog Michael P. Smith

It seemed fitting that a man who immortalized second lines in photographs was celebrated with one of his own. And so it was for Michael P. Smith, as hundreds gathered on a warm Saturday afternoon outside of the Sportman’s Corner at Second and Dryades Streets to pay their respects to one of New Orleans finest photographers.

CHECK OUT MORE PHOTOS OF THE SECOND LINE HERE.

New Orleans's musical scene that's Free and Freeing

Squeezing the dollar bill until the eagle grins has become more common than ever both here and around the country. Everything seems to go up except incomes. Fortunately, New Orleanians don't have to sacrifice hearing live music just because budgets are tight. That's never truer than during the lovely fall months with festivals, outdoor concerts and second lines in abundance. Daytime and early evening shows also offer the opportunity to share the music with the kids and have them experience New Orleans' many contributions to the world including our greatest gift, jazz.

Something Old, Something New: Astral Project - 30 Years of Jazz

Gasoline was only 63 cents a gallon when Astral Project, which is now regarded by many as New Orleans premiere modern jazz ensemble, was formed. The world and this city have changed dramatically since that time - Tipitina's and the Neville Brothers were just kicking in and Katrina was simply a girl's name. Yet through the decades Astral Project's music has remained the same in terms of its high level of musicianship and creativity. While folks may claim their favorite album, it is remarkable that the group has never put out a bad CD. The latest effort, "Blue Streak," the release of which will be celebrated -- along with the anniversary -- at Snug Harbor on Saturday, October 11, is no exception to that rule. From the first cut, saxophonist Tony Dagradi's "Cannonball," the music grabs one's attention with its strong melody, freshness and clean sound. It's just plain good. The group with Dagradi, guitarist Steve Masakowski, bassist James Singleton and drummer Johnny Vidacovich is perhaps most noted for its members' abilities to sense each others musical directions and to utilize this attribute to enhance the overall flow and sound. They are one entity on another Dagradi number, the title cut, "Blue Streak." On this burner, each individual's efforts remain wonderfully distinctive even within the tight ensemble work.

Bingo! Parlour Profile: THE NOISICIAN COALITION

Founded by Mattvaughan Black (aka Mr. The Turk of The New Orleans Bingo! Show) on Lundi Gras of 2005 as an evolving experiment in the random collaboration between people, sound and rhythm, The Noisician Coalition has since blossomed from its original seven member lineup to a rotating cast of up to fifty members at any given march. Armed with an arsenal of modified bullhorns, handmade synthesizers, and found-object percussion assembled by Black himself, this “post-apocalyptic communist clown army marching band,” fiercely bedecked in the red, white and black of a trusty RCA cable, assemble themselves four times a year to engage in some of the most cataclysmic rhythms ever to be witnessed in the streets of New Orleans’ French Quarter.

Apart from being special guests in The New Orleans Bingo! Show's presentation of THE BLACK SHOW on Friday night and marching in the Voodoo Parade on Saturday afternoon, expect to see this renegade marching troupe performing sporadically around the Voodoo Experience grounds for all three days of the festival. Making their base camp / village headquarters backstage at The Bingo! Parlour, they shouldn't be hard to find. Elsewhere on the grounds? Odds are good you'll hear them before you see them.

Is Christmas ever truly out of season? Maybe. But it's hard not to watch this ill-advised 2007 Christmas special starring The Noisician Coalition over and over again. Even in October. Or July. Or... Well, you get it. Please, enjoy responsibly:




Listen, Leah Chase Will Say Like This

Leah Chase has been lauded as a keeper of the flame of Creole cooking, and never more so than after Hurricane Katrina when all of the city’s indigenous food traditions seemed so threatened. Fortunately, Chase’s living legacy is still in practice at her restaurant, Dooky Chase, and it has also been well documented in a series of books compiling her recipes and stories from the Creole kitchen.

Leroy Jones: A New Orleans State of Mind

"I'm not sure but I think all music comes from New Orleans."
—Lee Dorsey

Jazz trumpeter, vocalist, and New Orleans native Leroy Jones takes after his 'mother' in the best possible ways. He's charming, generous and kind and has the gift to musically move you from tear-in-the-eye emotion to dancing in your seat. Jones also has the optimistic attitude of many New Orleans residents. He seems to look on the bright side of things, even the humid late summer weather. He wouldn't say the weather was bad, just hot. "You all have no idea what summer is," he laughs. And Jones definitely knows how to have fun, Big Easy style. His joy and passion during a performance is contagious even to the stodgiest among them.

This week's music picks from Basin Street

Check out this week’s selections from Nolaphile friends, Basin Street Records. This week we get to share work from artists Kermit Ruffins, Henry Butler, and Jon Cleary.

Bingo! Parlour Profile: BONES

Little is known of the disreputable duo from Baton Rouge who perform under the moniker of "BONES." Here's what some have said...

"The Baton Rouge, Louisiana, duo Bones work a marvelously demented swampcore-blues-torture sound." -LA Weekly

"Bones works a sticky, oozing trash-garage wallop that, despite the spare two-man blitzkrieg attack force and fealty to their home state's swampy blues grinds, arcs almost into shadowy Black Sabbath-esque territory, a region fraught with menace, corruption, and who-gives-a-damn abandon." -Inland Empire Weekly

“The propulsive rock of Bones is covered in Miller's fuzz and the crash of Scott Campbell's cymbals. The duo rolls along on a railroad of blues and stops on a dime. The music is soft while Miller sings his grievances, but then it gets loud and nasty when his steam evaporates…" -LiveNewOrleans.com

"The White Stripes and the Black Keys might be the most visible incarnations of the two-person band, grinding out sinewy, overdriven blues with minimal instrumentation, but Baton Rouge's Bones is by far the dirtiest." -Nashville Scene

"Bones comes off like a sex-crazed pit bull broken free of its leash: focused, furious, and practically unstoppable." -Antigravity Magazine (New Orleans)

It is worth noting that Mike Miller is also a member of Liquidrone, the megaphone-driven art house rock band that, in many ways, spawned the quieter little sister whom we've all come to love and know as The New Orleans Bingo! Show... a group with whom both Miller and Campbell have performed.That being said, please enjoy this classic Liquidrone video for the classy classic, "Harley and a Mail Order Bride." (Keep your eyes peeled for familiar faces and Mike's mighty, mighty air guitar.)


Beat, vitality of blues key to Bryan Lee

On his 2007 album, “Katrina Was Her Name,” Bryan Lee includes an exuberant version of Robert Parker’s already-infectious “Barefootin’.”

The problem, as Lee sees it, is that not enough people — especially young musicians — would have recognized Parker’s name in that last sentence, and that’s why the guitarist recorded the song. (Born and raised in New Orleans, Parker was a top sideman in the Crescent City from 1949 through the 1958, when he started his solo career, which peaked with 1966’s top 10 hit “Barefootin’.”)