RIP: Clyde Kerr, Jr.

Legendary music teacher, trumpeter Clyde Kerr Jr. dies at 67

Trumpeter, composer and influential music teacher Clyde Kerr Jr., whose list of students included Nicholas Payton, Terence Blanchard, Irvin Mayfield, Christian Scott and Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews, has died. He was 67.

His grandson Drew, who had helped care for him in recent months, said Mr. Kerr died Friday after battling an illness in recent months. However he was well enough to lead the annual Satchmo Summer Jazz Camp last month.

Like his father before him, Mr. Kerr taught several generations of students the finer points of New Orleans music.

"We grew up in a household that should have had a revolving door, when you think about the students and musicians who came through that house," said Gwen Bierria, Mr. Kerr's sister.

Mr. Kerr told the Times-Picayune in 2009 that his father gave him his first trumpet when he was 9, but he didn’t have an interest in playing it. It took eight years before he would develop a lifelong love for the instrument.

His early career included work as a studio musician, for national acts such as The Jackson Five, The O'Jays, Aretha Franklin, Tony Bennett, Allen Toussaint, Dr. John and the Neville Brothers.

A native of Treme who graduated from St. Augustine High School and Xavier University, Mr. Kerr’s first teaching job was in St. John the Baptist Parish.

His teaching career included stints at other middle schools, high schools and universities in New Orleans, but was most notable for the 16 years he spent teaching jazz at the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts and NOCCA Academy. Mr. Kerr retired from teaching at NOCCA after Hurricane Katrina.

"There were so many lives he touched as a teacher, helping them to reach their full potential," his sister said Sunday.

Last year, Mr. Kerr released his first CD of original compositions, called “This is Now.”

In addition to his sister, Mr. Kerr is survived by three children and 10 grandchildren.

NolaFunk Lagniappe

Funky 16 Corners:James Booker's Gonzo

Revered during his day as a keyboard master (on piano and organ both) and a dude with a talent for living on the edge (over which he eventually plummeted), James Booker wove his way in and out of the fabric of New Orleans music from his early days in the 1950s through his untimely death in 1983 (he was only 44).
Booker was not only gay at a time when that would have made his life difficult on a number of levels, but was also – sadly - an alcoholic and a junkie.

Anders Osborne spikes his new songs with his latest struggles

On a hot September afternoon, Anders Osborne faced a microphone -- and his transgressions -- in the piney woods of Bogalusa.

He had retreated to Studio in the Country to record a new batch of roots rock, blues and ballads, much of it autobiographical. The midtempo "Echoes of My Sins," spiked with swooping slide guitar, was especially telling.

Sonny Landreth: From the Reach

Sonny Landreth’s From the Reach initially might seem as if it has joined the protest party rather late. Landreth has slowed down the pace of his recording projects over the past 15 years, and as a result, the endeavor is his first solo set since the disaster occurred. Fittingly, he wastes no time in addressing the concerns that have been weighing upon his mind. Blue Tarp Blues, the album’s opening track, is a biting indictment of a cultural climate that allowed Third-World conditions to invade American shores.

Mostly, however, Landreth uses From the Reach to delve into the fertile ground of relationships. He pours over the slow decay outlined in Storm of Worry. He burrows into the wistful reminiscence of When I Still Had You and revels in the lusty intoxication of Howling Moon. Although Katrina’s blowing winds, driving rain, and rampant devastation continually hover over the proceedings, the outing is doused in optimism as Landreth holds out hope that the future will be better than the present.

Read more: http://www.musicbox-online.com/review/10222009/landreth-reach.html#ixzz0Vq6uhWcU

Jazz Funeral Photo Essay- Harold Dudley R.I.P.

photo credit- James Dylan Stansbury

Harold Dudley was the Grand Marshal for the Zulu Social Aid and Pleasure Club from 1974 until his retirement 30 years later. His role, like that of all grand marshals in the city’s jazz funeral tradition, was to convey the emotions of the moment to the onlookers at the beginning and the end of the funeral procession. Dudley is in the pantheon of grand marshals because he was a master at representing the solemnity of the occasion. In his obituary he was called, the grand marshal of them all.”

Voodoo Redux

The Preservation Hall band is now an intergenerational unit with young musicians such as Ben Jaffe on tuba, William Smith on trumpet and the Bingo! Show’s impresario Clint Maedgen on saxophone, joining traditional jazz icons like Maynard Chatters on trombone and Joe Lastie on drums. The lack of similar lifetimes didn’t matter one bit. They sounded great. Smith and Maedgen took vocal turns, as did Chatters. They brought out the powerhouse vocalist Thais Clark for a number and she brought down the house. Curiously, they ended their set with “When the Saints Go Marching In.” Perhaps the tourists, most of whom were unprepared for the drastic change in weather that greeted them when they exited the tent, were also unaware that a request for “The Saints” at the band’s headquarters on St. Peter Street in the French Quarter requires a significantly larger donation than any other song in the band’s vast repertoire.

New Orleans Voices Podcast: Billy Iuso Interview

Billy Iuso is a singer/songwriter-guitarist. He performs with his band, Billy Iuso and the Restless Natives, the 101 Runners, and as a solo artist.

NY Times Review: Wynton Marsalis -His Bands, His Music, His Way

His music — as heard on Thursday in Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Rose Theater, the first night of a three-night stand dedicated to his own work — makes life studies of people coexisting through history, in music, love, migration, families, church, slavery. Nearly every piece came with some kind of lesson, implicit or spoken, about judicious plurality. Mr. Marsalis locates lines and looks across them — lines of generation, culture, race and creed — then celebrates whatever he finds worth passing on to the next generation. His music, and his thinking, carry a blues optimism that things will work out by themselves. But he also wants to use his position to shape history, and his ambition to do so is out there on a stalk.

Young Men Olympian 2009 Parade Pics.

By John Doheny

ClydeKerr Jr. – This is now!

For the first time in his over 40-year musical career, Clyde Kerr Jr. steps up to release his debut album as leader. The renowned New Orleans trumpeter/flugel­horn player and educator immediately displays his great presence on the powerful opening, title cut, This Is Now! The tune bursts into the air artfully balancing jazz’s embrace of freedom with a sense of unity and structure.

“I wanted it to set the tone of the CD,” Kerr explains and adds that unlike most of his original pieces on the disc, this composition was newly penned. “I also wanted something for Kidd to stretch out on,” says Kerr referring to his longtime partner, saxophonist Edward “Kidd” Jordan. The trumpeter has worked with Jordan since the 1960s when they would play at house parties. The duo has also shared the front line of Jordan’s and drummer Alvin Fielder’s progressive Impro­visational Arts Quintet since 1975.

Quickies: Four fresh CD's by fresh faced guitarists from LateSet Records


Davy Mooney Astoriano

Davy Mooney hails from the Crescent City, our kind of town, and attended the well-regarded music program over at the University of North Texas. Now he's up in NYC and like the other three plectrists in this piece, and is looking to stand out there. What stands out right away about Mooney is that he's not a six-string specialist...he plays a seven-string guitar instead. It gives him a little fuller and richer sound. But fear not, Mooney doesn't believe that more strings means cramming in more notes, he's too tasteful to fall into that trap. Mooney quickly follows up his guitar duo album with John Pizzarelli (Last Train Home (2009)) with Astoriano, a collection of nine originals and two covers. Mooney leads a cohesive base trio of himself, bassist Matt Clohesy and drummer Simon Lott, and adds in sax player John Ellis and organist Brian Coogan on select tracks. The songs all fall within the realm of post-bop with some light Brazilian touches here and there, but with interesting chord progressions and guys are given ample room to stretch. The arrangements are pretty good, too: John Coltrane's "Countdown" (evidently a popular cover amongst the LateSet crowd) is revitalized by a samba beat and some fantastic groovin' between Mooney and Clohesy. While the mood varies from song to song, Mooney and his crew maintains a strong sense of swing. With the fundamentals as a performer, composer and bandleader already down pat on Astoriano, the sky's the limit for Davy Mooney.

Relighting the Saenger

Earlier in the week, the Times-Picayune announced that the marquee lights of the Saenger would be relit for the first time since Katrina. Although for years now I had been been mourning the Saenger every time I went by it, thinking that nothing had been done since the Storm, it turns out, according to the article, that a consortium of developers (with experience restoring historic old theaters) have been toiling behind the scenes. The T-P reported that on Thursday, the public would be invited to see the long hallway into the theater, with displays of photos of the Saenger in the past and plans for its glorious future. I was SO excited!

NolaFunk Lagniappe

Buckwheat Zydeco: America's Party Band

Zydeco legend and pianist Stanley "Buckwheat" Dural Jr. and his group Buckwheat Zydeco represent one of the few zydeco bands to cross over into the world of mainstream music.

Dural played piano as a child, and was heavily influenced by the R&B that was popular in his youth. He frequently sneaked out at night to play shows in his native Louisiana. His father was an accordion player who performed zydeco, a genre blending Afro-Caribbean music with blues, rock and country. At his father's request, Dural went to a performance by the zydeco master Clifton Chenier, and was amazed by the sound Chenier created with an accordion. Inspired, Dural joined Chenier on tour and learned to play the accordion himself.

Q&A with Ron "Ronnie Numbers" Rona

The artisitc director of The Bingo! Parlour tent at Voodoo Fest discusses the growth and success of his venture.

Cyril Neville On Mountain Stage

The youngest of New Orleans' first family of funk, Neville spent many years performing with his brothers before collaborating with a variety of popular artists. He recently released Brand New Blues, his fourth solo album.

Christian Scott: Live Last Night

Christian Scott, the young but seasoned New Orleans trumpeter who performed at the Kennedy Center's KC Jazz Club on Saturday night, invites comparisons with Miles Davis, especially when playing a muted horn in a minor blues or modal setting. But no one ever accused Davis of being a chatterbox onstage. During his quintet's opening set, Scott quizzed the audience on the Constitution, recalled why he left Prince's employment -- too much posturing, it seems -- and told several amusing anecdotes about his bandmates only to dismiss some later as untrue.

Live review: Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis

If mainstream jazz has what could be considered an ambassador in 2009, it's Wynton Marsalis.

A member of jazz royalty practically from the moment he could hold a horn, Marsalis rolled into the sprawling Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza on Saturday night with his Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, a taut, 15-piece group he's directed since its inception in 1988. While this conjures images of the trumpeter leading from a conductor's podium, Marsalis instead led his charges through brightly swinging arrangements while seated among the orchestra. Positioned in the back near versatile drummer Ali Jackson, the trumpeter was an authoritative but democratic figure as his group flowed through tradition-rich jazz numbers like a wave.

Marcia Ball On Mountain Stage

A specialist in the jump blues, boogie-woogie and swamp funk of her native gulf region, the Louisiana-raised Marcia Ball makes her eighth visit to the program. She performs songs from her 2008 album, Peace, Love & BBQ.

Simply The Best: 50 Years of Irma Thomas

Last night, several thousand of Miss Irma Thomas's most devoted fans gathered in Lafayette Square for the second of 7 Thursday night concerts in September and October. The occasion is part of the on-going celebration this year of Irma's (unbelievable) 50 years as a professional singer. Despite the sultry heat and oppressive humidity and the threat of rain (when, oh when, will the weather break?? when will it be fall??), folks were glad to come out and show Irma some love.

John Boutte Appears on New Disc- Slide To Freedom II

The album Slide to Freedom II is being hailed as eclectic mix of blues, Indian music with a touch of bluesgrass. The two principal players are Doug Cox. He is a Canadian steeped in the various blues styles of the American South. He is deeply into playing the bottleneck blues on the Dobro. Salil Bhatt is from India and his family tree includes his father, Grammy Award Winner Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, who studied under the great Ravi Shankar

John Boutte adds his soulful voice to several of the songs. Of course, he needs know introduction here.

A Fall filled of festivals

“It had the feel of a family reunion,” Maria Mercedes enthusiastically says of last year's debut of the Gentilly Festival. The one-day event was founded to raise funds for and show appreciation to the local police and fire departments. “We had three generations of families out there,” continues Mercedes, who acts as the event's chairperson.

The fledgling festival boasted an impressive attendance of 8,000 people and both the public and the vendors urged the presenters to expand the neighborhood celebration from one to two days. The free 2009 edition will be held at Pontchartrain Park (corner of Press and Prentiss Drives) on Saturday, October 10 and Sunday, October 11 complete with two new venues, a Gospel Tent and a Kid's Stage along with the Main Stage.

Longtime music teacher, artist and trumpet player Clyde Kerr Jr. puts his life onto his first original CD

Earlier this year, at 66, Clyde Kerr Jr. released his first CD of original compositions.

"The opportunity was there, because the Jazz Foundation of America was helping New Orleans musicians after the storm, " he says.

"I'd tell my students, 'What's done is done. What will come will come. This is now, ' " he says. "That's really what my concept of jazz is."

His students are a who's who of New Orleans musicians: the Marsalis brothers, Nicholas Payton, Troy "Trombone" Shorty, Christian Scott.

Young Men Olympian 125th Anniversary Second Line Parade






Wandering tribes of New Orleans work to save Musicians' Clinic

As far New Orleans houses go, the façade of Dan “Noomoon” Sheridan’s is rather plain. His home, a red brick shotgun, is in the Marigny. His dogs play as Sheridan, 41, stands tall in the gated front yard, a stoic Mid-westerner in the Big Easy. You would never know it at first glance but Sheridan leads one of the most eclectic tribes in America: the Land of Nod Experiment.

Inside his home Sheridan explains that he is a musician, performer, event promoter and producer. Presently he is promoting Saturday's Land of Nod Experiment, from noon to 9 p.m. in the French Market’s Dutch Alley.