NolaFunk Lagniappe

Terence Blanchard- given ‘choices,’ chooses New Orleans time and again

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.”

Encore performance: K-Doe daughter struggles to keep music playing at Mother-in-Law Lounge

Betty Fox, daughter of Ernie and Antoinette K-Doe, reopened her mother’s 7th Ward iconic Mother-in-Law Lounge July 4.

Commercial break: The Radiators

♫

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.

New Orleans Voices Podcast: Cyril Neville Interview

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.

NY Times Music Review: Terence Blanchard -Leading a Crew of Energetic Youngsters, and Keeping Up With Them

Jenn Ackerman

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.

Live: Marcus Roberts Trio at Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola

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)."

Brass Bands.

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.

Yeah, You Right: Leon "Kid Chocolate" Brown

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.

Q: Crystal or Louisiana Hot Sauce?

A: Crystal.

Q: Zapp’s or Tater Tots?

A: Zapp's Jalapeno and Crawtators.

The story of a New Orleans sign-painter: Artist Lester Carey

By nonotes

Satchmo Summerfest Recap

Jason Hall

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.

QUINTRON: RISK YOUR LIFE TO BECOME A CALLIOPE PLAYER

You ever play a calliope?

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.

New Orleans great Toussaint feted in hometown

On This Date (July 6, 1971) Louis Armstrong

c/o themusicsover

Louis Armstrong
August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971

Nicknamed “Satchmo,” Louis Armstrong was arguably the greatest performer jazz has ever known. Born into poverty in New Orleans, Armstrong’s young life was as tough as one could imagine – a father who abandoned the family and a mother who was forced to turn to prostitution. To get away, Armstrong hung out at the local dance halls of the city’s red light district, taking in the music of such greats as Joe “King” Oliver and Bunk Johnson who claimed he taught the young boy how to play the cornet. He would later take up the more familiar trumpet.

When he became proficient on the cornet, Armstrong got gigs playing on riverboats and in parade brass bands. It was only a matter of time before Armstrong was playing alongside the likes of Kid Ory, Fletcher Henderson, Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey, Ella Fitzgerald and future wife, Lil Hardin. Throughout his career, Armstrong made countless recordings, appeared in film and on television, and made the cover of Time magazine in February of 1949. But it wasn’t until the world was caught up in Beatlemania, that he released his unlikely 1964 hit, “Hello Dolly.” The song had the distinct honor of not only making him the oldest artist (63) to reach the #1 slot on the pop charts, but also of knocking the Beatles out of the top slot for the first time in 14 weeks. Louis Armstrong died shortly after a heart attack at the age of 69.

NolaFunk Lagniappe

Radiators Rock the Troops - New Orleans Band Donates CDs to Soldiers' Angels

Based in New Orleans, The Radiators have been rocking fans across America for decades. Now they are spreading their music around the world with a donation of nearly 3,000 CDs to the troops. Soldiers' Angels will be receiving the donation and including CDs in some of the thousands of care packages it ships overseas each month.

Home of the Groove's: Deacon John: The Show Goes On

Called 'Deacon' by a member of his first band, not for his religious lifestyle, but because of his clean-cut, straight and narrow look, Moore first recorded as a featured artist in 1962, waxing "I Can't Wait" b/w "When I'm With You" for Rip Records in New Orleans. He had already been playing guitar on various sessions for the Minit and Alon labels produced by Allen Toussaint, who recruited the guitarist after seeing him at the Dew Drop Inn, where Deacon John and the Ivories became the house band in 1960. Three years earlier, the teenaged Moore had formed the group with his friend, Roger Lewis, a saxophonist who would help found the monumental Dirty Dozen Bass Band some two decades later. From the beginning, the Ivories were a hot, in-demand group of rotating sidemen with Moore at the lead, playing the hits of the day at clubs, high school dances, and fraternity parties in and around New Orleans.

Interview with the Hot 8's Benny Pete




The Mardi Gras Indian Hall of Fame celebrates 10th anniversary

The Crystal Feather award, the Hall of Fame's highest honor, is given to Mardi Gras Indians noted for their outstanding achievements and dedication to the culture. This year's honorees include Big Chief Thomas Landry of the Geronimo Hunters, Spyboy Steve Solomon of the White Eagles and two queens, the late Big Queen Mabel Veal of the Yellow Jackets and Tribal Queen Littdell Banister of the Creole Wild West.

Bingo! Parlour Profile #2: THE NEW ORLEANS JAZZ VIPERS

For the past eight years, Vipers have been delighting tourists and locals alike with their twice weekly live shows at Frenchmen Street's Spotted Cat. A seven-piece acoustic swing band with an infectious love for the hot jazz of the 1920s-1940s, the Vipers love it when you dance. Featuring a deep repertoire of danceable tunes from the songbooks of such artists as Billie Holiday, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Dicky Wells, Benny Carter, Count Basie and more, The New Orleans Jazz Vipers breathe life and energy into this material. Old songs sound young once more, vibrant and alive as ever.

Music Review: Grayson Capps' "Rott 'n Roll"

When I think back over the music that I'm familiar with from the last 30 to 40 years, the rock and roll that I've liked the best has had roots running back to a certain community or region. It doesn't matter whether the community has been the slums of Brixton in London England or the streets of Spanish Harlem in New York City the music has grown out of something and has a connection of some sort to a people's voice. Now I don't know if it's because I tend to gravitate to this music over others or not, but it seems like I'm hearing more and more regional music these days. One guy who recently came to my attention playing music along those lines is Grayson Capps.

Treme Brass Band lets listeners know about true New Orleans Music! on second CD

Treme Brass Band has done it again--they've managed to make fun, upbeat remakes of old popular tunes and add a uniquely Treme flare to the mix.

Always being inspired by the "culture of music" and the jazz funerals his father drummed in when he was a young boy growing up in the Treme neighborhood, snare drum player, Benny Jones has always wanted to make music that was distinctively New Orleans.

Professor: Katrina Boosted New Orleans Musicians' Productivity, Creativity

New Orleans artists are reluctant to credit Hurricane Katrina as a source of inspiration. But after the disaster -- which marks its third anniversary Aug. 29 -- many New Orleans musicians experienced their most productive months in decades and scaled new creative peaks, a University of Iowa professor asserts.

see also: Flood Water Gives as it Takes Away


Calling All Children to the Mardi Gras!

Calling All Children rises to the top because of one reason: even the youngest kids can sing along with these tunes without the band having to compromise the spirit and quality of the music. Plus, the songs are played by a real band, and the whole thing is ridiculously catchy! Man, you can't help but march along, drum along, shake along with these ditties, especially songs like "Here Comes the Big Parade," "Chicka Wah Wah," and "Mardi Gras Elementary." And "Up on the Ladder" is just a great song, no matter what genre it falls under.




For Sno-Ball videos, click HERE.


Amanda Shaw's birthday bash a big hit

More than 800 people attended the Cajun-pop singer and fiddler's Aug. 1 birthday party at the Mid-City Lanes. The venue reached its maximum capacity at various points throughout the night; new arrivals had to wait for people to leave before being admitted. "We were expecting a Jazzfest-size crowd," said one of the Lanes' bartenders, "and that's what it was."

see also: Amanda Shaw turns 18 with a bayou benefit

Tipitina's Foundation to celebrate 5th anniversary

The Tipitina's Foundation, the philanthropic non-profit affiliated with the famed nightclub, plans to celebrate its fifth anniversary with fundraisers in Aspen, Colo., and Jackson Hole, Wyo. The "New Orleans All-Star Mountain Jam-balaya" is slated for Aspen on Aug. 27 and Jackson Hole on Aug. 29, the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.

Satchmo Summerfest salutes Armstrong

Pops would be proud.

Louis Armstrong, the most important figure in jazz and New Orleans' most famous son, would likely approve of the medley of music, food and scholarship that is the Satchmo Summerfest Aug. 1-3.

NolaFunk Lagniappe

Dr. John: Chicken Gumbo For The Soul

NPR has named Dr. John's “You Might Be Surprised” (from his new CD The City That Care Forgot) as its “Song of the Day,” praising the doctor’s “grizzled, gumbo-soaked voice” (sigh — “gumbo-soaked”? Is that like “whiskey-soaked”?).

Andre Williams & The New Orleans Hellhounds: Can You Deal With It?

At age 72, Chicago’s “Mr. Rhythm” is showing no signs of slowing down. Popping up on the American soul scene in the mid-1950s, Andre Williams scored a number of small-time hits such as “Bacon Fat” and “Jail Bait” for Detroit’s Fortune Records. Through the 1960s and ‘70s he supplemented his career as a Chess Records recording artist by writing and producing material for Stevie Wonder, Ike and Tina, and Parliament/Funkadelic.

his time around, Mr. Rhythm teams up with the “alcoholic miscreants” of the Morning 40 Federation. Known here as the New Orleans Hellhounds, this rollicking ten-piece really is more beast than band. Over 33 minutes and nine cuts, Can You Deal With It? is a sleaze rock mud bath. Stylistically, you get the works. Whether it’s hot-rodded R&B, a woozy hangover ballad, or just some good old-fashioned front porch country, this album’s got just about everything you can cram under the garage rock umbrella.


Hot 8 Brass Band of New Orleans




The Eighth Annual Satchmo SummerFest Is back at theOld US Mint


Widespread Panic to Celebrate Halloween in New Orleans

These shows mark the group’s return to New Orleans for Halloween after a six-year absence. Widespread Panic performed in the Big Easy on or around Halloween each fall from 1997-2002.

Guitarist Jimmy Robinson flies solo on new CD

Throughout his long career with rock-fusion band Woodenhead and guitar collective Twangorama, the electric guitar has served as Jimmy Robinson's main ax.

To hear selected tracks from this release, click HERE.

In New Orleans, The Sound Never Sets: Music of every melodic shade.

From the Treme Brass Band in full swing among the baggage carousels at Louis Armstrong Airport to small venues where performers sometimes outnumber spectators, the Big Easy is America’s easiest place to see music of every melodic shade. As a summer destination, it merits consideration: Satchmo SummerFest starts next week. But for me, NOLA sounds best during Jazz Fest.

John Ellis: Son Of A Preacher Man

So how was that experience different from going down to New Orleans?

I didn’t really start playing jazz in any way that makes any sense until I went to New Orleans. New Orleans was the beginning of my experience with jazz. But the school was pretty disorganized by what I had been through already. And there were all these opportunities to play, you can think of New Orleans as a kind of big school. And I really started to plat a lot, and it was a community of musicians that had a lot of the same interests, we were all kind of aspiring towards a similar thing. Nicholas Payton is just about a year older than me, he was down there trying to find his record deal. And he was really influential because his talent was so unbelievable, even back then. He influenced the whole scene down there in that era. And there was a lot of informal… that actually doesn’t exist there anymore either, it was an amazing time. There were all these informal gigs, we played for tips, a couple regular gigs that were every Tuesday and every Saturday. We played for tips, it was like a jazz session basically. All the musicians were really good.

Tom Morgan’s New Orleans Music Show #10

WWOZ-FM, New Orleans: Tuesday, January 1, 2008

Tom Morgan celebrates New Year’s Day 2008 on WWOZ-FM, New Orleans, with a brilliant panorama of New Orleans music by Louis Armstrong and piano professors Jelly Roll Morton, Tom McDermott, Clarence Williams, Armand Hug, Tuts Washington, Dave Paquette & David Torkanowsky, and Josh Paxton.

Zip and de Doo Da’s

Eddie Zip was one of these guys who was around in the 60s when black R and B was rolling in New Orleans. Unlike a lot of the white population, he wasn’t scared to get to know and associate with black artists. Eddie’s main axe is the piano and, as I say sometimes, “man, that cat can JUMP!” He’s comes from the same influences as the best New Orleans piano guys in town: Professor Longhair, Dr. John, John Cleary, Joe Crown, Huey Smith, Allen Toussaint…

He’s the real deal.