If stranded on a desert island and given but two wishes, most Earthlings would opt for food and water. The Orleanian, without thinking twice, would take the food, skip the water (probably carcinogenic anyway) and request some rousing music. It’s a matter of necessity.
Indeed, without the sounds of New Orleans, the planet would be a far more dreary place. During the BBC’s live television coverage of Mardi Gras ‘88, the eminent composer/pianist/producer Allen Toussaint, responding to the question of why New Orleans has had such a profound impact upon the course of popular American music, explained: “This is the birthplace of a lot of good things that have happened — and I say ‘lots’ in more than just jazz, because we’re aloof from the rest of the country — even geographically. Also, our pace — we move at a different pace here and we hold on to certain things longer so the natural links in the chain here from earlier times are still hanging on pretty dearly so I would say things grow up in other places but most of the really fine stuff is born here in New Orleans.”
When Toussaint was asked why these fine New Orleans musicians, when offered large sums of money to perform elsewhere, generally prefer staying in the Crescent City and earning a pittance, his answer was appropriately succinct: “It feels good!”
New Orleans musicians know that when they’re home, they can stop on almost any corner and get a great po-boy or plate of red beans and rice lagniapped with a quarter-pound of pickled pork. They’ve got cousins and aunts and uncles all over town, and they know that when it turns cold, the frosty weather only lasts two or three days – not six months. The most severe damage inflicted by the average winter is the browning of backyard banana “tree” leaves.
Given such a propitious environment, it is understandable that New Orleans musicians — in times as distant as Lee’s surrender — would discard the artistic shackles of sheet music and play what they felt — a revolutionary principle and one that has guided music to the present day.
In the improvisatory spirit of New Orleans music, what follows is a Funky Guide to New Orleans Sounds, listed alphabetically and with no pretense to being complete, authoritative or anything other than the notes of a long-time, vigilant observer from Chris Kenner’s fabled “Land of a Thousand Dances.”
LEE ALLEN – The honkin’ tenor saxophonist on many of the grandest New Orleans rhythm and blues hits, including works by “Fats” Domino, Smiley Lewis and Huey “Piano” Smith. In 1958, Lee had his own hit, “Walking With Mr. Lee.”
LOUIS ARMSTRONG – His first two words, according to his mother, were “Oh Yeah!” When Louis was 13, he “borrowed” his mom’s gun, fired it in the streets as he celebrated New Year’s Eve, was arrested and sent to the Waifs’ Home. At the Waifs’ Home, a sort of early version of the reform school, Louis learned the rudiments of the trumpet and subsequently became the most famous man in the history of jazz.
DAVE BARTHOLOMEW – Squarely behind the success of “Fats” Domino and a host of other New Orleans stars during the ’50s was Dave Bartholomew: bandleader, trumpeter, songwriter and talent scout. According to his pupil, guitarist Earl King, Bartholomew deserves much of the credit for the sound which made New Orleans famous: “A lot of people may think of Dave as a slavedriver but he’s a learning machine. I learned a lot from Dave: how to think about things, the do’s and don’t’s of the studio, things that you can live with without panicking. We get in the studio nowadays, and we think some little trivial things means something to the public, and it really doesn’t. Somebody might stay in there doing 50 takes to perfect something that’s at the end of a song. Dave told me one time, ‘Earl, nobody’s gonna listen to you that long to get back there. If you’ve got a mistake at the end of a record, forget it!’” Or in other words, a little funkiness never hurt nobody!
BUDDY BOLDEN – Considered the True Father of Jazz, Bolden had more than the usual problems of wrestling with reality. When his mother-in-law (See “Ernie K-Doe” entry) got on his nerves, Bolden bashed her in the head with a water pitcher. Committed to the state insane asylum, Bolden died a forgotten man (amateur phenomenonologists will note the obvious parallel to trombonist Don Drummond, the True Father of Reggae, who murdered his sweetheart and died in a Jamaican mental asylum in 1969). The sheer power of Bolden’s trumpet was legendary — the microphone had not yet been invented and Bolden didn’t need one. Entertaining fans on the West Bank of the Mississippi while standing on the East Bank was a common feat. Bolden never recorded and left behind two blurry photographs of himself. His headquarters, during the first decade of this century, was the Funky Butt Hall (which stood on the site of today’s City Hall) and Bolden’s theme song was “Funky Butt, Funky Butt, Take It Away.”
JAMES BOOKER – “Human nature is the reason why I play piano the way I do,” Booker once confessed to this writer. “But not just ordinary human nature – some people say I’m a freak of nature.” Booker, who died in 1983, was also a heroin addict, a graduate of Angola State Penitentiary, a rather flipped-out raconteur, a homosexual and a child prodigy, cutting his first record at 14 under the capable direction of Dave Bartholomew. Booker’s only hit was the organ instrumental “Gonzo,” released in 1960 and named after a character admired in the film “The Pusher.”
CLARENCE “GATEMOUTH” BROWN – “Gatemouth,” a major guitar idol of the ’50s, settled down (sorta) in New Orleans during the mid-70s and worked with a band that would later become LeRoux (of “New Orleans Ladies” fame). With contemporary “Gatemouth,” the musical consumer gets “Gate’s Salty Blues” doused with a syrupy Nashville gravy and the occasional duet with little daughter Renee. To hear the mind-wrecking stuff, consult two compilations of Mr. Brown’s Peacock recordings: San Antonio Ballbuster (Red ‘Lightnin’) and The Original Peacock Recordings (Rounder).
CARBO BROTHERS – Chuck and Chick Carbo led the Spiders, a vocal group produced by Dave Bartholomew, which assaulted the charts in 1954 with “I Didn’t Want To Do It.” Henry Carbo, brother of Chuck and Chick, teamed up with Irma Thomas on Ms. Thomas’ first recording session, shortly before she left junior high school at 14 to give birth to her first child.
DIRTY DOZEN – The Dozen are a modern, souped-up version of the sort of brass band commanded by Buddy Bolden nearly a century ago, proof positive that New Orleans funk transcends time, space and evanescent fashion.
ANTOINE “FATS” DOMINO – “The Fat Man!” In 1949, when “Fats” made his first expedition into the recording studio, he was a day laborer taking home $28 a week. By 1957, his concerts were causing riots among Eisenhower Era teens and “Fats” was collecting $2,500 per recital. Domino’s primary vices are gambling (two million dollars lost over a ten-year period in Las Vegas) and Cadillacs with gold-plated accoutrements (bought with cash, Domino’s preferred medium of exchange). His virtues include an impishly sexy voice and a smile as polished as the glistening tiles of Casamento’s oysterium.
DRUMMERS – The 12 Gods of New Orleans Rhythm: Earl Palmer, Cornelius “Tenoo” Coleman, Clarence “Juny Boy” Brown, John Boudreaux, Joe “Smokey” Johnson, Charles “Hungry” Williams, Joseph “Zigaboo” Modeliste, James Black, Edward. Blackwell, Robert French, Alfred “Uganda” Roberts and Willie Green.
SNOOKS EAGLIN – From funk to flamenco to the blues to the Beatles (“overrated,” in Snooks’ estimation), this blind guitarist is the master of eclecticism. One of the funniest Snooks legends involved his hasty departure from an upstate New York recording session with Professor Longhair because the sound of snow falling outside his bedroom window kept the hypersensitive Snooks awake all night.
FRANKIE FORD – Frankie, along with Mac “Dr. John” Rebennack, was one of the few Caucasians participating in the local rhythm and blues scene during the Fifties. Recording with Huey “Piano” Smith’s band, Frankie cut the immortal “Sea Cruise” and was the closest thing New Orleans had to a Ricky Nelson-style teen idol. As a child, Frankie (real name: Guzzo) appeared on Ted Mack’s Original Amateur Hour, singing “Bacha Mi” n Italian and Wheel of Fortune.
PETE FOUNTAIN – While making no claims to being New Orleans’ most profound musician (a duty best left to Wynton Marsalis, the Young Puritan), Pete is the epitome of what fine Crescent City playing is all about — especially on Mardi Gras morning in the company of his old homeboys, parading through the city streets as the Half-Fast Marching Club, costumed as Ancient Greeks or kilted Scotsmen, refreshing themselves along the way with portable cocktails and kisses from pretty stenographers dressed as Dalmatians and odalisques.
GUITAR SLIM – Born Eddie Lee Jones in Greenwood, Mississippi, Guitar Slim dyed his hair blue, sold his soul to the Devil, surrounded himself with female groupies, and enthralled audiences with his wild and daring guitarisms. In 1959,at the age of 32, he died in the backseat of a New York taxi. Guitar Slim’s million-selling hit “The Things That I Used to Do” was recorded in New Orleans on October 27, 1953. Ray Charles was bailed out of jail by producer Johnny Vincent so that he might supply the accompanying piano. Guitar Slim, Jr. (Rodney Armstrong, Eddie Lee Jones’ natural son) released his first album, “The Story of My Life,” in 1988 and says “Sometimes I feel like he wrote a lot of those songs for me because I live the same kind of life he sang about.”
CLARENCE “FROGMAN” HENRY – Who did the Beatles see when they came to New Orleans? “Frogman!” After decades on Bourbon Street, “Frogman” has “semi-retired” to his Algiers residence and a vast collection of stuffed frogs. (Phenomenology note: “American” Orleanians of the 19th Century called their Creole counterparts “Johnny Crapoud,” or “Johnny the Frog.” The Creoles’ game, invented in New Orleans, thus became known as “craps,” the ultimate shot.)
INDIANS – Black Mardi Gras Indians traditionally don their feathered and beaded “suits” only on Mardi Gras and St. Joseph’s Day, although latter-day revisionist Indians perform at the Jazz Festival, funerals, conventions and the grand openings of health spas. The Indians boast a hierarchy as elaborate as that of Kalala Ilunga’s Luva kingdom, wherin Kalala’s descendants possessed “mystical” blood. In the old days, Indians possessed “bad” blood and spilled much of same; these days, they’re diligent pillars of society (feathers and beads not coming cheap, especially when they’ve got to be shipped down from Brooklyn). The exclusively male tradition of sewing and decorating costumes’ has obvious parallels in African culture, where weaving and sculpting are the sacred domain of males.
JAZZ – It was invented in New Orleans, along with most other forms of popular American music. End of argument. The word “jazz” is derived from the Old Testament “Jezebel,” as prostitutes were once called. Orleanians slurred this into “Jazzbell” and the ladies’ favorite music became known as “jazz.” “Jazz me, daddy!” meant something entirely different.
ERNIE K.DOE – K-Doe’s biggest smash, “Mother-in-Law,” was retrieved by K-Doe from Allen Toussaint’s wastebasket, where Toussaint had tossed the composition, doubtful of its commercial appeal. In 1961, the song rose to the Number One position on Billboard’s pop chart. These days, K-Doe is the reigning court jester of New Orleans music and truly “a legend in his own mind.” And, as K-Doe theorizes, it’s all because he was born at Charity Hospital.
EARL KING – If K-Doe is the court jester of New Orleans, Earl King is the court historian. His “office” is Tastee Donuts Shop Number 58 on Prytania Street, from whence came the title for his Glazed album, a Grammy Awards finalist. A jarring guitarist (in the style of his mentor, Guitar Slim), Earl is a sophisticated student of human psychology. As Earl explained, concerning the composition of his classic ”Trick Bag” (released on the Imperial label during the early ’60s): “Writing ‘Trick Bag’ or any kind of satire like that, I’m usually laughing the whole time I’m writing it. I have to develop that attitude when I’m doing it to think of the funny side of it. It could happen to anybody. It’s as simple as that.”
SMILEY LEWIS – Smiley Lewis made what is probably the most joyful noise ever heard in New Orleans. His many hit songs – “I Hear You Knocking,” “One Night,” “She’s Got Me Hook, Line & Sinker,” “Tee-Nah-Nah” and a slew of others — were the rage of New Orleans teens during the ’50s, including one shy habitue of Lewis’ concerts, future assassin Lee Harvey Oswald. Lewis passed from this realm in 1966.
MARSALIS FAMILY – Father Ellis is the Dean of New Orleans jazz pianists, and his two most famous sons are trumpeter/philosopher Wynton and saxophonist/actor/comedian Branford, both outstanding graduates of New Orleans public schools.
NEVILLE BROTHERS – Aaron’s the black Hercules who sings like a martyred saint; Art’s the cool keyboardist and founding father of the proto-funktional Meters; Cyril’s the Uptown Rastafarian; Charles is the quiet, contemplative saxophonist. Some of the brothers’ most recent work is a television commercial for Comet Rice.
CHRIS OWENS – Those in search of the Inner Meaning of Bourbon Street need look no further: not only was jazz invented in New Orleans, likewise for the sort of glitzy lasciviousness claimed by Las Vegas.
PROFESSOR LONGHAIR – Without the annual playing of his “Go To The Mardi Gras” on local radio stations and jukeboxes, would Carnival take place? No one with any intelligence wants to find out … this is the kind of thing that causes volcano eruptions and sudden tidal waves in Lake Pontchartrain. Fess is the definitive collision of tragedy and comedy, baldheaded women and Stagger Lee and the Zulu Queen, whistling in the dark to a rhumba beat, pounding his ill-fated pianos as hard as any trumpet ever blown by Buddy Bolden.
WARDELL QUEZERGUE – Quezergue is the arranger behind many terrific New Orleans compositions, including Willie Tee’s 1965 “Teasin’ You,” written by Earl King to commemorate a particularly foxy lady, and was the producer of two Number One hits in the early ’70s: King Floyd’s “Groove Me” and Jean Night’s “Mr. Big Stuff.”
MAC REBENNACK – Better known as Dr. John and based in New York, Rebennack is the reigning interpreter of New Orleans piano styles. He’s also done recent TV commercials for butter, toilet paper and J.C. Penney — testimony that native funk is good for capitalism.
HUEY “PIANO” SMITH – The master of the comic rock ‘n’ roll tune (“Rockin’ Pneumonia,” “Don’t You Just Know It,’” etc.) nowadays lives in Baton Rouge and has totally deserted the sinful world of music for a closer walk with Jesus.
IRMA THOMAS – The eternal crowd pleaser (and one of the few New Orleans performers with any business acumen – thanks to her no-nonsense husband Emile), Irma’s greatest (and sweetest) recent work is a TV commercial for Gambino’s King Cakes.
UPTOWN – “Uptown,” in New Orleans, has multiple meanings. It can define expensive real estate and/or cheap real estate. It can mean BMW convertibles, women named Bitsy and Noonie, preppy uniforms and private schools. In the case of the Neville Brothers’ last album, Uptown is just east of Hollywood.
ED VOLKER – Volker is leader/pianist/songwriter of the Radiators, what happens when the ghost of the Allman Brothers meets the ghost of Lowell George in the front parlor of a New Orleans shotgun crammed with various percussion instruments and a 50-gallon drum of Tequila.
ISIDORE “TUTS” WASHINGTON – The late “Tuts” Washington was the most elegant (and grouchy) pianist New Orleans has ever seen. His pupils included Professor Longhair and Allen Toussaint. Tormenting tourists was High Art in the capable hands of “Tuts,” who did not like taking requests.
XENOPHOBIA – “The fear of outsiders.” New Orleans music’s raison d’etre.
YA YA – The old Louisiana phrase is “Gumbo YaYa” or “Everybody talks at once.” In a different context, “Ya Ya” became the title of vocalist/bodyman Lee Dorsey’s biggest smash.
ZYDECO – Zydeco, the hard-driving sound of Southwest Louisiana, has only in very recent times been heard throughout New Orleans, which is not exactly the domicile of Cajuns. Look at it this way: Moscow and Siberia are both in Russia; New Orleans and Breaux Bridge are both in Louisiana. We all breathe oxygen: there the similarities end.
Showing posts with label new orleans music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label new orleans music. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
New Orleans Music A to Z
By Bunny Matthews in Offbeat
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Saturday, February 13, 2010
WWOZ: Thirty Years of "Bringing New Orleans Music to the Universe"
By Wade Luquet
Read the rest of the article HERE.
In a small office just off of the main studio, music director Scott Borne sits among stacks of boxes containing 25,000 CD's with a machine that picks up a CD from a stack, copies it and then digitizes it. The music from that CD will now be safely housed on a server in the second floor studio and offices of public radio station WWOZ located in an historic building on the river in New Orleans. Just in case, the digital version of all 250,000 songs will have a copy on a server well outside of the city. The staff and volunteers nearly learned a tough lesson in 2005 when the breaks in the faulty federal levees after Hurricane Katrina left their Treme neighborhood under water. WWOZ was lucky: only some minor roof damage, less than a foot of water, and some tower damage. The music collection was in tact and their equipment was mostly undamaged. The station went back on the air as web-only "WWOZ in Exile" out of a radio station in New Jersey within a week, and was able to open a broadcast studio in Baton Rouge by October.
By December 2005, four months after the flooding, they were back on the air in their present studios in the French Quarter. For many, WWOZ coming back on the air was one more step for New Orleans returning to its "new normal."
Read the rest of the article HERE.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Vote For Derrick Tabb to be CNN Hero of the Year
 |
 |
- VOTE HERE - |
FOR CNN HERO OF THE YEAR!
The Roots of Music is an after school marching band program started by Derrick Tabb, snare drummer for the Rebirth Brass Band. The program is incredible and is keeping children off the streets and is literally saving their lives.
Galactic drummer Stanton Moore was just asked to sit on the The Roots of Music Board of Directors.
Derrick is up for CNN Hero of the Year. Voting continues through Thursday, Nov 19th. You can vote as many times as you like.
WHY VOTE FOR DERRICK?
- Over 400 kids on a waiting list to enroll
- 85% of the students went up a letter grade in at least two classes last school year
- 95% attendance rate
- Graduates keep coming back
Read the news article about
Derricks nomination
Thursday, February 19, 2009
A guide to Mardi Gras weekend's hottest music
If you happen to be heading down to New Orleans (I'm jealous). Here's a who's who of what's what...
Posted by Keith Spera, Music writer, The Times-Picayune February 19, 2009
The final five days of the Carnival season offer a bounty of live music second only to Jazz Fest week. In addition to a beefed-up club schedule, the weekend calendar includes free outdoor concerts and scores of musical marching organizations roaming the streets.
Here's your guide to the music of Mardi Gras:
Morning 40 Federation plays its final show Feb. 20 at One Eyed Jacks.Friday, Feb. 20
In what is being billed as its "last show ever, " the Morning 40 Federation -- an unruly rock 'n' roll and saxophone celebration of alcohol and down-but-not-out New Orleans -- tears up One Eyed Jacks for one last time; D'Lyricist is also on the bill. Drummer Russell Batiste & Friends and bassist George Porter Jr. funk up the Balcony Music Club at the corner of Decatur and Esplanade. Following an early set by Hot Club of New Orleans, trombone collective Bonerama kicks brass at d.b.a. Better Than Ezra ignites a two-night stand at the House of Blues with new drummer Michael Jerome; Jake Smith opens both nights.
Hear The Radiators plus the Honey Island Swamp Band at Tipitina's. Check out percussionist Bill Summers' Latin Project at Snug Harbor. Johnny Sketch & the Dirty Notes groove at the Mid-City Lanes. Thanks to the sponsorship of MillerCoors and Jameson, all shows this weekend at the Howlin' Wolf are free; the first one is the Rebirth and Soul Rebels brass bands around midnight tonight, after the parade. Catch The Revealers' Reggae Carnival Party at the Banks Street Bar & Grill in Mid-City. EyeHateGod and Haarp rock The Bar in Metairie. Trombonist Delfeayo Marsalis is at Donna's Bar & Grill.
The Andrews Family Band and mynameisjohnmichael team up at the Blue Nile. Sista Otis is on stage early at Cafe Negril, followed by Higher Heights. Rockabilly combo Johnny J & the Hitmen play at the Clever Wine Bar on Orleans Avenue. Sunpie & the Louisiana Sunspots are at Dos Jefes Uptown Cigar Bar. Juice funks up Le Bon Temps Roule. The Marc Stone Band is at the Old Point Bar. The Parish of the House of Blues hosts the Mardi Gras Hayride featuring Christian Serpas & Ghost Town, Gal Holiday & the Honky Tonk Revue and Country Fried.
GalacticSaturday, Feb. 21
Endymion's free annual pre-parade Samedi Gras Festival on the Orleans Avenue neutral ground features the Chee Weez, the Bucktown All Stars, the Topcats and Rockin' Dopsie Jr. The Rebirth Brass Band and Papa Grows Funk team up for a free midnight show at the Howlin' Wolf. John Boutte sings early at d.b.a., followed by Grammy-nominated contemporary Cajun band the Pine Leaf Boys. Clarinetist Evan Christopher holds court at Dos Jefes Uptown Cigar Bar. The brassy Bonerama is at the Mid-City Lanes. Spend an evening with James Hall at the Circle Bar.
The Banks Street Bar hosts the Mid-City Endymion Music Festival with Juice, Irene Sage, West Bank Mike and more. Guitarist Papa Mali hits Le Bon Temps Roule at 11, followed by Gravy around 2:30 a.m. Modern rock band And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead, touring in support of its new "The Century of Self" album, rocks One Eyed Jacks. Trumpeter Marlon Jordan is at Donna's.
Galactic is at Tipitina's with Corey Henry and Andrew Baham plus Johnny Sketch & the Dirty Notes. The Old Point Bar on Algiers Point presents the Delfeayo Marsalis Jazz Jam Session at 5, followed by Johnny J & the Hitmen. The Soul Rebels Brass Band hits the Balcony Music Club. Shane Theriot and the Larry Sieberth All Stars are at Snug Harbor, followed by a free midnight show by the Mario Abney Quintet.
Hear Kermit Ruffins and the Afromotive at the Blue Nile. Sunpie & the Louisiana Sunspots close out Cafe Negril on Frenchmen Street. Better Than Ezra is back at the House of Blues. The Hi-Ho Lounge hosts the Not-So-Super Super Hero Costume Party with Rotary Downs, Fleur de Tease, Brian Coogan, Simon Lott, Anthony Cuccia, Justin Peake and more.
Matt Vaughan-Black, aka Mr. The Turk, and Ron Rona, aka Ronnie Numbers, of New Orleans Bingo! Show Sunday, Feb. 22
James Hall closes out the night at the Big Top on Clio Street just off St. Charles Avenue. The Bingo! Show takes over One Eyed Jacks. Tipitina's presents the Third Annual Bacchus Blowout with Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue featuring Juvenile plus the Soul Rebels Brass Band. The all-star Midnight Disturbers brass band and Big Sam's Funky Nation hit the Blue Nile. The Palmetto Bug Stompers play early at d.b.a., followed by Papa Grows Funk with special guest Big Chief Monk Boudreaux on vocals and percussion.
Ivan Neville's Dumpstaphunk does a free midnight show at the Howlin' Wolf. The House of Blues Gospel Brunch features the Zulu Ensemble; on Sunday night, guitarist Derek Trucks headlines. Gal Holiday & the Honky Tonk Revue do the early set at the Balcony Music Club, followed by the Rebirth Brass Band and Snarky Puppy.
Galactic drummer Stanton Moore powers his own trio at Snug Harbor. See Johnny Sketch & the Dirty Notes plus the Joe Krown Trio with Russell Batiste and Walter "Wolfman" Washington at the Maple Leaf. Long-running punkabilly band Dash Rip Rock presides over its Sundi Gras Extravaganza at Carrollton Station. Hear Mardi Gras Indians at 11 a.m. at Le Bon Temps Roule, followed by the Soul Rebels at 11 p.m. Soul Project reunites at the Banks Street Bar.
John Mooney does his weekly solo acoustic set at Chickie Wah Wah at 5. Harmonica man Smoky Greenwell & the Blues Gnus hold down their Sunday slot at Cafe Negril. Rik Slave & the Phantoms rock the Circle Bar. Experience trombonist Rick Trolsen & the New Orleans Po'Boys at Dos Jefes.
BoneramaMonday, Feb. 23
On Lundi Gras, the party kicks into high gear. Cowboy Mouth headlines a free, all-ages afternoon concert outside Ernst Cafe in the 600 block of South Peters Street in the Warehouse District; Bonerama opens. George Porter Jr. & Runnin' Pardners' 11th annual Lundi Gras Extravaganza at the Howlin' Wolf is free; the Hot 8 Brass Band is also on the bill. Papa Grows Funk is at the Maple Leaf. Lucinda Williams is at the House of Blues. Quintron and Miss Pussycat share a bill with Andrew WK and the Super Nice Brothers at One Eyed Jacks.
Tipitina's presents Galactic with Corey Henry plus Big Chief Monk Boudreaux and the Golden Eagles and DJ Quickie Mart. d.b.a. presents a night of hoodoo blues-funk guitar with Papa Mali, Cedric Burnside and Lightning Malcolm. The New Orleans Moonshiners do hot jazz at Donna's.
Grayson Capps & the Stumpknockers rock Le Bon Temps Roule. It's "Lundifest" with Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue plus Juvenile at Republic New Orleans. The Marc Stone Band plays early at the Balcony Music Club, followed by the Irene Sage Band. The Soul Rebels Brass Band and Dr. Gonzeaux are in session at the Blue Nile. The Revealers play a 4 p.m. set at Cafe Negril, followed by the weekly New Orleans Super Jam. Keyboardist Joe Krown's Trio is at Dos Jefes. Kim Carson & Friends do an afternoon set at Kerry Irish Pub, followed by Rites of Passage.
Rebirth Brass BandMardi Gras, Feb. 24
The final push. Frenchmen Street is its own party on Fat Tuesday, but lending a hand are the New Orleans Klezmer Allstars at d.b.a. in the afternoon and Higher Heights at Cafe Negril. The Banks Street Bar hosts the Mardi Gras Reggae Party with The Uppressors. Starting at 3 p.m., catch Bobby Cure's Poppa Stoppa Oldies Band at the Beach House in Metairie. DJ Alison Fensterstock and DJ Lefty Parker spin all day at One Eyed Jacks. Popular cover band Four Unplugged does a noon set at the Columbia Street Tap Room in Covington. Check out the Mardi Gras Indian Orchestra around 3 at the Hi-Ho Lounge. And the Rebirth Brass Band closes out the night at the Maple Leaf.
Irvin MayfieldWednesday, Feb. 25
Not surprisingly, Ash Wednesday is relatively quiet. Pianist Bob Andrews is at Dos Jefes Uptown Cigar Bar. It's Swing Night with Johnny J & the Hitmen featuring saxophonist Derek Huston at the Mid-City Lanes. Trumpeter Irvin Mayfield is at Snug Harbor with the NOJO Jam.
Geno DelafoseThursday, January 15, 2009
Offbeat Best of the Beat Nominees
Click here to vote for your favorites.
Here’s the list of nominees:
Here’s the list of nominees:
Best Blues Band or Performer
Tab Benoit
David Egan
Little Freddie King
Sonny Landreth
Irma Thomas
Best Blues Album
David Egan: You Don’t Know Your Mind (Independent)
Sonny Landreth: From the Reach (Landfall)
Eric Lindell: Low on Cash, Rich in Love (Alligator)
Kenny Neal: Let Life Flow (Blind Pig)
Irma Thomas: Simply Grand (Rounder)
Best R&B/Funk Band or Performer
Big Sam’s Funky Nation
Bonerama
Jon Cleary and the Absolute Monster Gentlemen
Porter-Batiste-Stoltz
Trombone Shorty and Orleans Ave.
Best R&B/Funk Album
Big Sam’s Funky Nation: Peace, Love & Understanding (Independent)
Henry Butler: PiaNOLA Live (Basin Street)
Dr. John: City That Care Forgot (429/Savoy)
Joe Krown, Walter “Wolfman” Washington, Russell Batiste, Jr.: Live at the Maple Leaf (Independent)
Walter “Wolfman” Washington: Doin’ the Funky Thing (Zoho Roots)
Best Rock Band or Performer
Theresa Andersson
The Happy Talk Band
The New Orleans Bingo! Show
Quintron and Miss Pussycat
Rotary Downs
Best Rock Album
Theresa Andersson: Hummingbird, Go! (Basin Street)
The Bad Off: Lady Day (Independent)
The Happy Talk Band: THERE there (Independent)
The New Orleans Bingo! Show: Vol. 2: For a Life Ever Bright (New Orleans Bingo! Show)
Quintron and Miss Pussycat: Too Thirsty 4 Love (Goner)
Best Rap/Hip-Hop Band or Performer
B.G. and the Chopper City Boyz
Fifth Ward Weebie
Juvenile
Lil Wayne
Truth Universal
Best Rap/Hip-Hop Album
B.G. and the Chopper City Boyz: Life in the Concrete Jungle (Chopper City)
Lil Wayne: Tha Carter III (Cash Money)
Truth Universal: Self-Determination (Independent)
Best Traditional Jazz Band or Performer
John Boutte
Tom McDermott
Preservation Hall Jazz Band
Don Vappie
Dr. Michael White
Best Traditional Jazz Album
John Boutte: Good Neighbor (Independent)
Evan Christopher: Delta Bound (Arbors)
Tom McDermott and Connie Jones: Creole Nocturne (Arbors)
Seva Venet: Mens Working (Jazzology)
Dr. Michael White: Blue Crescent (Basin Street)
Best Contemporary Jazz Band or Performer
Astral Project
Terrence Blanchard
The Magnetic Ear
Jesse McBride & the Next Generation
Christian Scott
Best Contemporary Jazz Album
The Magnetic Ear: Live at the Saturn Bar (Independent)
Ellis Marsalis Quartet: An Open Letter to Thelonious (ELM)
Jesse McBride: Jesse McBride presents the Next Generation (AFO)
Christian Scott: Live at Newport (Concord)
Frederick “Shep” Sheppard: Tradition: The Habari Gani Sessions (Drumparade)
Best Brass Band
Dirty Dozen Brass Band
Free Agents Brass Band
Hot 8 Brass Band
Rebirth Brass Band
The Soul Rebels
Best Gospel Band or Performer
Electrifying Crown Seekers
Franklin Avenue Baptist Church Choir
Tyronne Foster & the Arc Singers
Trin-i-tee 5:7
Zion Harmonizers
Best Cajun Band or Performer
BeauSoleil avec Michael Doucet
Feufollet
Lost Bayou Ramblers
Pine Leaf Boys
Cedric Watson
Best Cajun Album
Michael Doucet: From Now On (Smithsonian Folkways)
Feufollet: Cow Island Hop (Valcour)
Pine Leaf Boys: Homage au Passé (Lionsgate)
The Savoy Family Band: Turn Loose but Don’t Let Go (Arhoolie)
Cedric Watson: Cedric Watson (Valcour)
Best Zydeco Band or Performer
Jeffery Broussard and the Creole Cowboys
Leon Chavis and the Zydeco Flames
Geno Delafose & French Rockin’ Boogie
Travis Matte and the Kingpins
Terrance Simien and the Zydeco Experience
Best Zydeco Album
Jeffery Broussard and the Creole Cowboys: Keep the Tradition Alive! (Maison de Soul)
Leon Chavis and the Zydeco Flames: Holla @ Me (Independent)
Travis Matte: Hip Hop Zyde-Rock (Mhat)
Earl “Washboard” Sally: Home Grown (Catfish Zydeco)
Best Country/Folk/Roots Rock Band or Performer
Susan Cowsill
The Iguanas
Paul Sanchez
The subdudes
The Zydepunks
Best Country/Folk/Roots Rock Album
Bobby Charles: Homemade Songs (Rice ’N’ Gravy)
The Iguanas: If You Should Ever Fall on Hard Times (Yep Roc)
Paul Sanchez: Exit to Mystery Street (Independent)
Amanda Shaw: Pretty Runs Out (Rounder)
The Zydepunks: Finisterre (Independent)
Best Emerging Artist
Antenna Inn
The Figs
Los Po-Boy-Citos
The Other Planets
The Vettes
Best Cover Band or Performer
Bag of Donuts
The Bucktown Allstars
The Top Cats
Female Vocalist
Theresa Andersson
Susan Cowsill
Irma Thomas
Male Vocalist
John Boutte
Marc Broussard
Clint Maedgen
Bass Player
Robert Mercurio
George Porter, Jr.
James Singleton
Guitar Player
Sonny Landreth
Jimmy Robinson
Walter “Wolfman” Washington
Drummer/Percussionist
Russell Batiste, Jr.
Stanton Moore
Johnny Vidacovich
Saxophone
Tony Dagradi
Tim Green
Donald Harrison
Clarinet
Evan Christopher
Tim Laughlin
Dr. Michael White
Trumpet
Trombone Shorty
Terence Blanchard
Irvin Mayfield
Trombone
Craig Klein
Mark Mullins
Rick Trolsen
Tuba / Sousaphone
Matt Perrine
Phil Frazier
Kirk Joseph
Piano/Keyboards
Henry Butler
Jon Cleary
Tom McDermott
Accordion
Steve Riley
Wilson Savoy
Terrance Simien
Violin/Fiddle
Michael Doucet
Cedric Watson
Linzay Young
Other Instrument
Dave Easley (steel guitar)
Don Vappie (banjo)
Washboard Chaz (washboard)
Album of the Year
Theresa Andersson: Hummingbird, Go! (Basin Street)
Michael Doucet: From Now On (Smithsonian Folkways)
Dr. John: City That Care Forgot (429/Savoy)
Irma Thomas: Simply Grand (Rounder)
Dr. Michael White: Blue Crescent (Basin Street)
Artist/Band of the Year
Theresa Andersson
Lil Wayne
Tom McDermott
Irma Thomas
Trombone Shorty
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Upcoming: TROMBONE SHORTY & ORLEANS AVENUE @ Sullivan Hall (12/30 & 31)
Trombone Short & Orleans Avenue are a funk/pop/hip-hop mix populated with musicians like frontman Troy "Trombone Shorty"Andrews who are young in age only. Orleans Avenue brings the heat winding audiences up in merry confusion. Jazz fans shake their heads in unexpected delight while the funksters shake what they got with glee.
"Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue is high energy, high octane and highly contagious."
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
New Orleans Jazzfest 2009 Lineup Announced
40th ANNIVERSARY JAZZ FEST ANNOUNCED!
Wynton Marsalis, Aretha Franklin, Dave Matthews Band, James Taylor, Sugarland, Joe Cocker, Ben Harper, Tony Bennett, Earth, Wind & Fire, Kings of Leon, Neville Brothers, Wilco, Bonnie Raitt, Allen Toussaint, The O’Jays, Erykah Badu, Dr. John
Among hundreds scheduled to appear at
historic edition of Festival
Scroll down to read the Weekend by Weekend Lineup
40th ANNIVERSARY
NEW ORLEANS JAZZ & HERITAGE FESTIVAL
PRESENTED BY SHELL
APRIL 24 - 26 (1st WEEKEND)
Wynton Marsalis, Dave Matthews Band, James Taylor, Joe Cocker, Earth Wind & Fire, Wilco, Spoon, Erykah Badu, Irma Thomas, Orishas, Third World, Robert Cray, Etta James & the Roots Band, Mavis Staples, Drive-By Truckers feat. Booker T. Jones, Johnny Winter, Pete Seeger, Hugh Masekela, Better Than Ezra, Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings, Galactic, Roy Haynes, Pete Fountain, Avett Brothers, Kinky, Roy Rogers, Del McCoury Band, Terence Blanchard, Marc Broussard, DJ Jubilee with 5th Ward Weebie and Ms. Tee, Buckwheat Zydeco’s 30th Anniversary feat. The Hitchhikers, Tab Benoit, Locos por Juana, Trombone Shorty, Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, Yacub Addy and Odadaa of Ghana, Rebirth Brass Band Reunion with Kermit Ruffins, Ivan Neville & Dumpstaphunk, Big Sam’s Funky Nation, Terrance Simien & the Zydeco Experience, Amanda Shaw & the Cute Guys, Donald Harrison, The Anointed Jackson Sisters, Tribute to Mahalia Jackson featuring Irma Thomas, Mavis Staples, and Pamela Landrum, Chris Smither, Henry Butler, Papa Grows Funk, Robert Mirabal, Harlem Blues & Jazz Band, Rockin’ Dopsie, Jr. & the Zydeco Twisters, Sonny Landreth, Benjy Davis Project, The Vettes, Mem Shannon & the Membership, Stephanie Jordan, Warren Storm, Willie Tee and Cypress feat. Tommy McLain and T K Hulin, Astral Project, Ladysmith Redlions of South Africa, Don Vappie & the Creole Jazz Serenaders, Amammereso Agofomma of Ghana, The Dixie Cups, Chubby Carrier & the Bayou Swamp Band, Germaine Bazzle, John Mooney & Bluesiana, Marlon Jordan, Tabby Thomas, Spencer Bohren, Savoy Music Center of Eunice Saturday Cajun Jam, Dew Drop Inn Revisited hosted by Deacon John feat. Wanda Rouzan, Eddie Bo, Allen Toussaint, Robert Parker, and Al “Carnival Time” Johnson, Paul Sanchez & the Rolling Road Show, Wayne Toups & Zydecajun, Leroy Jones presents the Fairview Brass Band Reunion Tribute to Danny Barker, Bruce Daigrepont, Vivaz!, Pfister Sisters’ 30th Anniversary, Gringo do Choro, Dr. Michael White & the Original Liberty Jazz Band, Thais Clark, Big Chief Monk Boudreaux & the Golden Eagles Mardi Gras Indians, Henry Gray & the Cats, Joe Krown, Walter “Wolfman” Washington & Russell Batiste, Jr., Lil’ Buck Sinegal Blues Band, EOE, Ebony Hillbillies, Crescent City Allstars feat. James Andrews, Hot 8 Brass Band, Schatzy, Jake Smith, 19th Street Red Blues Band, Brasilliance!, Mighty Chariots of Fire, Sharde Thomas & the Rising Star Fife & Drum Band, Chris Owens, Topsy Chapman, New Bumpers’ Revival Jazz Band of France, Zulu Male Ensemble, Jo “Cool” Davis, Leah Chase, Herlin Riley, Roderick Paulin, Mahogany Brass Band, Ingrid Lucia, MyNameisJonMichael, Texas Johnny Brown & the Quality Blues Band, Rockie Charles & the Stax of Love, AsheSon, Jim McCormick, Lil’ Malcolm & the House Rockers, Dwayne Dopsie & the Zydeco Hellraisers, Thomas “Big Hat” Fields & his Foot Stompin’ Zydeco Band, Guitar Slim, Jr., Storyville Stompers Brass Band, Willis Prudhomme & Zydeco Express, Lost Bayou Ramblers, Waterseed, Creole Wild West Mardi Gras Indians, DJ Hektik & the New Orleans Society of Dance with Freedia and Nobi, Tipsy Chicks, Jonno Frishberg & Bayou DeVille, Christian Serpas & Ghost Town, Kumbuka African Drum and Dance Collective, NewBirth Brass Band, High Ground Drifters Bluegrass Band, New Orleans Night Crawlers Brass Band, Hadley Castille & the Sharecropper Band, Carrollton Hunters and Cherokee Hunters Mardi Gras Indians, Big Steppers, Furious Five, and Untouchables SAPCs, Patrice Fisher & Arpa feat. special guests from Brazil, Clive Wilson’s New Orleans Serenaders feat. Butch Thompson, Young Tuxedo Brass Band, Betty Winn & One A-Chord, McDonogh #35 High School Gospel Choir, Sophisticated Ladies feat. Barbara Shorts, Leslie Smith, Cindy Scott, and Judy Spellman, Golden Comanche and Seminoles Mardi Gras Indians, N.O.C.C.A. Jazz Ensemble, Real Untouchables Brass Band, Olympia Aid, New Look & First Division SAPCs, New Orleans Jazz Vipers, Tommy Sancton, Society Brass Band, Connie Jones, St. Joseph the Worker Music Ministry, UNO Jazz Combo, June Gardner & the Fellas, New Orleans Spiritualettes, Smitty Dee’s Brass Band, Kid Simmons’ Local International Allstars, Semolian Warriors, Comanche Hunters, and Golden Star Hunters Mardi Gras Indians, Louisiana Repertory Jazz Ensemble, Tyronne Foster & the Arc Singers, Loyola University Jazz Ensemble, Franklin Avenue B.C. Mass Choir, Small Souljas Brass Band, Val & the Love Alive Fellowship Choir, Single Ladies, Family Ties, Big Nine, and Keep N It Real SAPCs, Second Mount Carmel Gospel Choir, Xavier University Jazz Ensemble, Heritage School of Music Band, Gospel Soul Children, Nine Times Men, Single Men, Dumaine Gang, Divine Ladies, and Lady Jetsetters SAPCs, Red, White & Blue and Wild Mohican Mardi Gras Indians, Reverend Charles Jackson & the Jackson Travelers, Nineveh B.C. Mass Choir, Kid Simmon’s Local International Allstars, Voices of St. Peter Claver, David & Roselyn, Grayhawk, Washboard Leo, Red Hot Brass Band, Kayla Woodson & Louisiana Lightnin’….
40th ANNIVERSARY
NEW ORLEANS JAZZ & HERITAGE FESTIVAL
PRESENTED BY SHELL
APRIL 30 - MAY 3 (2nd WEEKEND)
Monday, December 15, 2008
New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival to unveil lineup tomorrow (Tues. 12/16)
Producers of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival plan to roll out the 2009 roster of performers on Tuesday, Dec. 16.
Festival Productions Inc.-New Orleans, the company that co-produces Jazzfest with AEG, has scheduled a press conference for 10 a.m. Tuesday. Jazzfest founder George Wein is expected to attend the announcement of the roster for the 40th Jazzfest, scheduled for April 24-26 and April 30-May 3 at the Fair Grounds.
Items to be revealed Tuesday include a list of performers for each Jazzfest weekend -- the day-by-day schedule will not be announced until next year -- as well as a new ticket package option.
Friday, October 31, 2008
Panic Webcast / Surprises are in store as Widespread Panic returns to New Orleans for Halloween
WSP Halloween Webcast
 |
Check iClips.net starting at 7 p.m. CST.
Tonight's broadcast will utilize QuickTime. To ensure that the broadcast works properly for you, please make sure you have the most up-to-date version of the QuickTime Plugin.
If you are using Windows XP, ensure that you have Service Pack 2 installed before you update your QuickTime Plugin.
Posted by Keith Spera, Music writer, The Times-Picayune
Widespread Panic returns to New Orleans for Halloween for the first time since 2002.However Widespread Panic vocalist John Bell costumes for his band's sold-out Halloween concert at the Lakefront Arena, it won't be as a chicken. Or Ignatius J. Reilly.
In 1997, the first year the Georgia jam band spent Halloween at the arena, Bell masked as the "A Confederacy of Dunces" hero, complete with hunting cap and pillow-enhanced belly. For Halloween '05 in Las Vegas, he wore a full-body chicken suit. Neither was conductive to singing and playing guitar for three hours under stage lights.
"Hopefully it won't be something that's too uncomfortable," Bell said of his costume during a recent phone interview. "I've had a few choices that kept me pretty hot and bothered."
If past years are any indication, the jam-packed Lakefront Arena will be plenty humid as Panic fans from around the country celebrate one of the most anticipated events on their calendar.
In 2002, the band played three consecutive sold-out nights at the Lakefront Arena for Halloween. Since then, the annual blowout has moved to other cities, in part because Hurricane Katrina rendered the Lakefront Arena unusable until this summer.
"Suffice it to say, we're happy to get back," Bell said. "We missed our city. Even though we're not native to it, New Orleans has been really good to us over the years."
Halloween concerts demand not just costumes, but surprise cover songs as well. In 2002, Panic rendered Nelly's "Hot in Herre."
"I forget who introduced that to us," Bell said. "I wasn't listening to much radio, so I wasn't familiar with it until somebody brought it up. Knowing his mischievous nature, it was probably JoJo (Hermann, the band's keyboardist).
"It was fun. There are a lot of words in there; I skipped over a few. And the kids, they knew the song. I'm just an old fuddy-duddy."
What they'll unveil this weekend is a closely guarded secret. Fans meticulously chronicle set lists and cross-reference songs by when they were last played. The musicians tune all that out when constructing a set list.
"Pretty much that's our territory. People can have their wishes, but it's enough of a task just trying to please ourselves. To try to run around chasing the tail of the audience, as far as what we might think they want. . . . It's like bringing gum to class. If you're going to be fair about it, you need to take requests from everybody."
"Suffice it to say, we're happy to get back," John Bell said of Widespread Panic's return to New Orleans for Halloween. "We missed our city. Even though we're not native to it, New Orleans has been really good to us over the years."Panic's long affiliation with New Orleans includes a periodic creative partnership with the Dirty Dozen Brass Band and support for other local bands. Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue opens for Panic tonight; Ivan Neville's DumpstaPhunk is on the bill for Saturday's show, for which tickets are still available.
Widespread Panic is also in regular rotation at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. Panic's 2½-hour show was the longest of the 2008 Jazzfest.
"Which some people like, some people don't," Bell said. "That's born out of what we do as Widespread Panic. We play three, 3½ hours. When we go to festivals, whether it's Bonnaroo or Jazzfest . . . the kids who jump in front of the stage to see Widespread Panic are expecting a little longer performance time.
"In no way do we want to screw with tradition or think we're more deserving of attention than anybody else. We want to be able to deliver to some extent what the expectations of a Widespread Panic show might be. For a festival, 2½ hours feels about right to really get our ya-ya's out."
Panic left more than memories in New Orleans. The band sponsored a house in Brad Pitt's Make It Right redevelopment in the Lower 9th Ward; Panic fans are also collecting money for an additional house.
"It's really a hip project," Bell said. "They've got a team in there helping folks with finances as far as being able to maintain these houses, and how to work all the eco-friendly systems. It's helping to build the community, not just the structures."
During the 2002 Halloween stand at the Lakefront Arena, unofficial parking lot entrepreneurs peddled photos of founding Widespread Panic guitarist Michael "Mikey" Houser alongside the usual assortment of quesadillas and glass pipes. Houser had died of pancreatic cancer that summer. Fans still harbor fond memories of him.
"You can feel it when you're doing some of his songs," Bell said. "And there is a Neil Young song we do that has a reference, 'Met a friend who plays guitar.' You can hear the kids give a little whoop out in the audience. I'm fairly certain that's in memory of Mikey."
Initially, the band recruited longtime friend George McConnell to step in for Houser. More recently, Panic installed North Carolina guitarist Jimmy Herring as lead guitarist.
He and Houser "are different personalities, just the way you carry on a conversation," Bell said. "Mikey would flip the switch and was gone, non-stop from the beginning of the set to the end. We'd play alongside each other, but I'd be moving in and out and riding on that wave.
"There's a little more obvious two-way give and take with Jimmy. But as it spreads out throughout the whole band, the ebbs and flows and the momentum and harmonies and energy swells, it's palpable. Jimmy really knows what's going on."
Looking ahead, the band anticipates a lighter touring schedule in 2009. But they don't intend to take a yearlong hiatus, as in 2004.
"It felt weird," Bell said of that break. "When you do something repetitively for almost 20 years, and then curtail that activity, you lose a little bit of rhythm. I felt a little bit lost. I had a lot of fun, but it was a strange experience.
"It helped remind you of how much fun it really was to be in a band, and not take it for granted. You do something for that long, it's easy to go, 'That's just what we do. It's no big deal.' Then when you don't do it for a while, you're like, 'Wow, I really miss playing.' "
Friday, October 17, 2008
Upcoming: Henry Butler @ Cutting Room (tonight)
10/17 Henry Butler (solo) @ Cutting Room
here's his official bio, from the website...
here's his official bio, from the website...
|
Friday, October 10, 2008
Upcoming: Papa Grows Funk tonight (10/10) @ Sullivan Hall
 Jellybean Alexander - Sullivan Hall, NYC 10/10/08  John Gros - Sullivan Hall, NYC 10/10/08 PAPA GROWS FUNK | ||
|
Monday, October 6, 2008
In Pictures/Review: Porter Batiste & Stoltz feat. Page McConnell
The quartet brought the MOODOO to NYC's B.B. King's. Andrew DeRosa kindly contributed a full report which we've teamed up with Jeremy Gordon's typically stunning photographs.
"Good funk, real funk, is not played by four white guys from Vermont." However, good real funk comes out the pores of George Porter Jr. and Russell Batiste. George Porter is a living legend. He's up there with Larry Graham– except George Porter never got cheesy. He left that to Art Neville. With Art Neville out of the line up, the other members of the Funky Meters are unhinged. With the addition of cow-funker Page McConnell we've got some shit yo. The first few tunes the band was warming up and I could barely hear Page in the mix. I wondered if this would be the case all night– a shy Page playing some back-up all night. As Brent Mydland once described his roll in the Grateful Dead, Page was "adding color". He played a nice version of Jealous Guy, which sounded closer to the Donny Hathaway version with such a solid rhythm section behind him. It was weird hearing Page play clean piano from a Yamaha rather than the Baby Grand. After Jealous Guy, the rest of the set saw the band warmed up, locked in and inspired. Brian Stoltz can really take off on guitar and has the ability to dial in his tone. However, sometimes he just sounds like a talented New Orleans bar band guitarist– good, not great. I can't say enough good things about Porter and Batiste. They are motherfuckers. The real deal.
For the second set Page was front and present and kicking ass. He pushed and led the band on a textured terrain of layered, driving psychedelic funk. Like listening to the first solo efforts by members of the Beatles, it was immediately clear how large Page’s contribution to Phish was. I sometimes dismiss him as a mere Mydland-ian colorist. Or rather dismiss colorists because they are not right up in your face. However, I was witnessing Page in all his glory, and I found myself feeling a bit more confident that a Phish reunion might not suck. The “four white guys from Vermont” should be taking notes from the playbook of legendary motherfucker George Porter Jr. on how to keep it real, because after 40 odd years in the industry, he was so real and so good.
|
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Photographer, jazz archivist Michael P. Smith dies at 71
by John Pope, The Times-Picayune
Michael P. Smith, a photographer who spent three decades capturing vivid, vibrant images at jazz funerals, Mardi Gras Indian ceremonies and the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, died Friday at his New Orleans home of two diseases that destroyed his nervous system. He was 71.
A man of boundless energy who devoted himself to the culture he chronicled, Mr. Smith seemed to be everywhere at whatever event he was shooting. Fellow photographers joked that every good Jazzfest picture they took included the back of Mr. Smith's head.
Mr. Smith's subjects included Mahalia Jackson, Irma Thomas, James Booker, Harry Connick Jr., Professor Longhair and the Neville Brothers, as well as anonymous mourners, strutters and Indians whom Mr. Smith always managed to capture caught up in the moment.
"I don't think there's another photographer who has more sensitively documented very significant aspects of the second half of 20th century New Orleans culture," said Steven Maklansky, a former curator of photographs at the New Orleans Museum of Art.
Mr. Smith started concentrating on this kind of photography at a 1969 jazz funeral and kept at it, covering every Jazzfest through 2003. Though he showed up at subsequent festivals, silently cradling his camera, the degeneration of his nervous system had put an end to his career.
He built up a trove of more than 500,000 negatives, many of which remain unprocessed because he couldn't afford to have them developed, said Michael Sartisky, president and executive director of the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities.
"He did something that no other photographer had done: He captured the cultural landscape of the streets and did so with a vision of passion and beauty," said Jason Berry, who has written extensively about indigenous music.
This world provided a sharp contrast to the genteel environment in which he had grown up. A child of Metairie who was a star athlete, he was the son of a member of the Rex organization and the Boston Club, and he graduated from Metairie Park Country Day School and Tulane University.
Everything changed, he said in a 1995 interview, when he went to work as Tulane's jazz archive's staff photographer in the 1960s. He heard hours and hours of the music that had been created in New Orleans' bars and brothels, and he was hooked.
"He paid attention when many locals took that culture for granted or ignored it," said Bruce Raeburn, the archive's curator.
Around that time, Mr. Smith met Matthew Herron, a photographer with the Black Star agency living in New Orleans, and became his assistant.
With Paul Barbarin's funeral in 1969, Mr. Smith began his photographic exploration, abandoning the realm of his youth.
"I have friends in that privileged world, but haven't had much interest in the society I grew up in since discovering the folk community of New Orleans, a side of town I had never known that struck me as the real heart of the city," Mr. Smith said in the interview.
He summed up his philosophy in three words: "Follow the music."
He was a founder of Tipitina's, the Uptown music club that has become famous worldwide. Mr. Smith's pictures have been collected in five books, and in magazine articles.
To supplement his income, Mr. Smith regularly took commercial jobs, such as shooting pictures for annual reports.
Mr. Smith's work has been shown in galleries, embassies and museums and at jazz festivals, and it is part of the permanent collections of the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, the Louisiana State Museum, the Ogden Museum of Southern Art and the New Orleans Museum of Art.
In March 2007, the Historic New Orleans Collection bought Mr. Smith's archives, which contain more than 2,000 rolls of black-and-white film, tens of thousands of color slides and about 200 audiotapes. Collection spokeswoman Mary Mees declined to disclose the price.
"Michael P. Smith has defined the visual appearance of contemporary homegrown New Orleans music for people around the world," said John Lawrence, the collection's director of museum programs.
Mr. Smith's work is important, Lawrence said, because "it serves to document not just the musicians and their music, but the environment, social structures and neighborhoods that both create and sustain the musical traditions."
Mr. Smith received two fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the 2002 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, the Mayor's Arts Award, the Clarence John Laughlin Lifetime Achievement Award from the local chapter of the American Society of Magazine Photographers and the Artist Recognition Award from the New Orleans Museum of Art's Delgado Society.
Survivors include a companion, Karen Louise Snyder; two daughters, Jan Lamberton Smith of Quail Springs, Calif., and Leslie Blackshear Smith of New Orleans; a brother, Joseph Byrd Hatchitt Smith of Port Angeles, Wash.; and two grandchildren.
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Upcoming: Johnny Sketch & The Dirty Notes @ Sullivan Hall (Tonight!)
JOHNNY SKETCH & THE DIRTY NOTES @ SULLIVAN HALL Saturday (9/27) @ 11:30pm | ||
| Saturday September 27th | ||
|
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Upcoming: The Radiators bring their NolaSwampRock to the NYC area
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)