NolaFunk Lagniappe

Home of the Groove's "Keeping An Eye On Merry Clayton"

Before the end of the year is upon us, there's time for one more installment on a New Orleans female R&B artist. One of my favorite New Orleans vocalists,Merry Clayton(whose birthday will be here soon), is a special case for several reasons. While she has roots in the city, she has remained an outsider during the course of her career, never recording there. The only work she has done with a New Orleans producer that I know of was when she sang back-up on Allen Toussaint's first solo album, which was cut in LA. Having anaccomplished career spanning over four decades, Clayton has worked with some of the biggest names in the music business and earned their respect, but has never realized the kind of success that would make her name instantly recognizable to the general public. Of course, had that been the case, you wouldn't be reading about her here. . . .

Grayson Capps & The Stumpknockers: Rott 'N' Roll

Some albums stun us slow, taking us more like the rising heat of a great kiss than a frying pan to the head. Until you let 'em in, let 'em have their way with you a bit, you may not realize what you're holding. In many respects, this description fits the entire career of Grayson Capps but never more so than Rott 'N' Roll (Hyena Records), a singer-songwriter driven future classic that roasts one with deliberate, charcoal intensity. The first Capps album credited to Grayson and his longtime salt of the earth band, The Stumpknockers, hangs together with the post-journeyman mastery of Creedence Clearwater Revival's Cosmo's Factory or John Prine's Bruised Orange, with the added virtue of greater emotional heft than either of those revered records and the palpable embrace of a delightful group chemistry that infuses and elevates every little element.

Full of $5 dollar whores, cornbread, sock monkeys and folks caught forever in shadow, Rott 'N' Roll firmly establishes Capps as one of the preeminent musical blacksmiths currently swinging a hammer.

Future of Music Coalition's "New Orleans Done Right"

If you ever make it to New Orleans, we highly recommend you visit the Mother-in-Law Lounge, the former home of and now tribute to Ernie K-Doe. Ernie's widow Antoinette K-Doe tells the story of how she waited out Katrina for days in the second floor of the lounge before she got airlifted out of the building still flooded in six feet of water, but you wouldn't know it from seeing the new tiki bar in the back and the Christmas decorations alight.

Kermit Ruffins single "Christmas Time Is Here"

Kermit Ruffins just released a single, "Christmas Time Is Here". It is a tease for a full length Christmas record coming in late 2009. Pick it up on your favorite digital platform, or order it online from http://www.basinstreetrecords.com/.

NPR's Song of the Day features "Jon Cleary: Setting A 'Groove' On Fire"

A simple countdown: "One, two / You know what to do." Nimble fingers glissando down the keys and launch into New Orleans-flavored funk. This pyrotechnic pianist sings, too, with just the right mix of mellow and sharp in his voice, reinventing King Floyd's 1971 soul classic "Groove Me." While the original bumped along at a mid-tempo pace, Jon Cleary sets the song on fire.

In Memoriam: The Great Earl Palmer

The brilliant Tremé-born drummer Earl Palmer passed on Friday, September 19 at the age of 83 in Los Angeles. Palmer's contribution to rhythm and blues and rock and roll as a session drummer is incalculable. He was the ultimate sideman who contributed the back-beat that made the star of the recording session shine. Palmer was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000.

Earl Palmer was born in the Seventh Ward in Tremé on October 24, 1924. His childhood resembled the childhood of others in his neighborhood: hanging out at the neighborhood spots, playing ball on Claiborne under the oaks, second-lining at funerals and watching Zulu on Mardi Gras.

BackTalk with Sonny Landreth

I received Sonny Landreth’s new album, Beyond the Reach, with mixed emotions. On one hand, it’s great to see Landreth keeping company with such acknowledged guitar heavyweights as Eric Clapton and Mark Knopfler, and singers including Jimmy Buffett and Vince Gill, but there’s something about the sleek, stripped down sound of his guitar riding a bass and drums that’s hard to improve upon.

The Meters, Very Funky

Had dinner with a friend the other night and we got around to talking about George Porter who in my opinion is one of the funkiest bass players alive. I’ve had a love affair with his playing for a long time, not to say I haven’t enjoyed watching him play too. My friend was in New Orleans recently working on a music project where George Porter was the bass player. I have to admit I was extremely jealous. It’s been some time since I’ve seen him perform, and I’ve never been in a recording session with him.

Big Over-detailed Guide to New Orleans Record Stores

Well crap, looks like Antigravity just printed their "record store issue" about a month after I started working on mine, got frustrated and got lazy. Whatever, I think I can outdo them.

When visiting other places I always google for some good guide of where I should shop for music in the area and often I come up empty-handed. Well, it turns out New Orleans actually already has a few of these, but some are out of date or biased. Well, I'll be biased too, but as long as I update this blog I'll update this page. Not that I know how long I'll update this blog.

Review: Bonerama @ Funk Fest III

In the self-proclaimed music capitol of the world there seems to be no shortage of musicians performing and interacting together in Austin, Texas. But when one music capitol of the world is invaded by musicians from another music capitol of the world (say, New Orleans for example), it’s safe to bet you’ll see some firepower. Or more aptly, funkpower as was displayed over the weekend at FunkFest III at the Parish on 6th Street in downtown Austin. Two nights of hard-hitting raw funk that leaned heavy on the grooves of today’s Austin and New Orleans best in funk brass and jam music including Stanton Moore Trio, The Greyhounds ftr Topaz, Flyjack and T-Bird & The Breaks. Headlining FunkFest III Saturday night was New Orleans’ new brand of horn heavy sounds, Bonerama who by all accounts either have a lot of trombones in the band or spend too much time online.

see also: Stanton Moore Trio/Greyhounds @ FunkFest

Music DVD Review: Christian Scott - Live At NewportThe 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 from Louis Armstrong to Wynton Marsalis to Terence Blanchard, another ground-breaking trumpet player from this storied city has emerged in the last few years. His name is Christian Scott.

Live Music Dominates New Orleans Nightlife

New Orleans is known as the birthplace of jazz, an honor the city prides itself in. From dim lit jazz clubs lining the city streets to its annual Jazz and Heritage Festival, New Orleans is a great American music city. Jazz isn’t the only music being created in the Big Easy though. Many music clubs and venues offer an eclectic mix of blues, gospel, hip hop, rock and more.

NolaFunk Lagniappe

The road goes on forever as Grayson Capps & the Stumpknockers peddle 'Rott-n-Roll' around the world

NOLA Radio: Here selected tracks from Grayson Capps' latest release now

Such a setting is conducive to "rott 'n 'roll, " the roadhouse-worthy blues-rock variation that is the Stumpknockers' speciality. "Rott-n-Roll" is also the title of the band's new CD.

Capps considers his ethnicity to be half Alabamian, half New Orleanian. He grew up in south Alabama, then lit out for New Orleans in the 1980s to attend Tulane University. He stuck around the Big Easy for another 16 years, fronting "thrash-folk" ensemble the House Levelers and blues-rock combo Stavin' Chain.

In 2002, he launched the Stumpknockers, his primary musical outlet ever since. His national profile received a boost when a novel by his father became the 2005 feature film "A Love Song for Bobby Long, " starring John Travolta and Scarlett Johansson. Capps appeared in the movie and wrote its theme, "Lorraine's Song (My Heart Is a Lonely Hunter), " which was briefly touted as a possible Oscar nominee for Best Original Song. His first-ever limousine ride deposited him at the red carpet for the movie's Hollywood premiere.

Burning Wood's "LET'S FLY DOWN" NOLA WEEKEND PLAYLIST

ZIP FILE IS HERE

TRACK LIST
Couchmal- C.C. Adcock
(at the) Maple Leaf - Stanton Moore
Time For The Sun To Rise- Earl King
Love, Honor and Obey- David Egan
Blue Crescent- Dr. Michael White
Door Poppin'- John Boutte
By The Water- Snooks Eaglin
I Give It All To You- The New Orleans Bingo! Show
Manic Depression- Bonerama
Everyday I Have The Blues- Germaine Bazzle
People Say- Jon Cleary & The Absolute Monster Gentlemen
True -James Booker



Home of the Groove's "Earl Palmer's Up-To-Date Funky Thing"

He played on an enormous wealth of well-known music - R&B, rock 'n' roll, and pop – both in New Orleans and after he moved out to Los Angeles in 1957 into the big time session scene. There's no way to capture all that Palmer accomplished (although Dave’s WFMU show comes close!). So, I've picked these three songs from the mid-1950s, when he was still active in New Orleans, that never cease to amaze me. I hope they’ll at least give a glimpse of Palmer playing complex, yet highly danceable grooves that have origins deep in the culture of his hometown.

PopMatters: The Zydepunks - Finisterre

On this album, the Zydepunks play big, barnstorming dance songs—massive, stomping, thumping, sweaty things with a piratical accordion played by a woman in a miniskirt and black stockings who is known in the publicity as Eve: no surname. If the musicians were performing this music live, then the floorboards would be shaking under the feet of the dancers, every ant in the room would be shooting out of its crevice or crack and running for safer ground. Beverages would fly.

Home of the Groove's "Percy Mayfield Declines Presidency"

Tongue firmly in cheek, Percy Mayfield teamed up with producer Johnny "Guitar' Watson back in 1974 for this musical declaration of non-service to his country as Commander-In-Chief - something about it limiting his ability to "frolic". The record was made some 20 years before Bill Clinton's unfortunate dalliance with an intern. So, besides being a great songwriter, Mayfield was a quite the political prognosticator. More likely, he just understood human nature. And, were Percy still with us, I am sure he would add a few more good reasons to the list about now. Anyway, I've always enjoyed this song, since hearing it years ago on the compilation LP, Atlantic Blues: Vocalists; and I chanced upon the 45 not too long ago, just in time for the run-up to Election Day.

Nolaphile's "Puppets, Music and General Weirdness- Quintron and Miss Pussycat and their Dark, Underground Art"

Feeling nostalgic for those Mister Rodgers days? Want to relax with some felt-covered friends? This Halloween, put on your best outfit and join DJ Quintron and Miss Pussycat for their latest psychedelic installment of outsider art – a collaboration of electronic music, odd outfits, and puppets, of course!

Bingo! pulls out the stops in the Bingo! Parlour

.

Somehow, it isn't surprising that The New Orleans Bingo! Show, after only several years of putting on their part-carnival, part-rock cabaret act, have a stage named after them at Voodoo X.

After all, the group's blend of good music, punky spirit, multi-media entertainment and good old-fashioned weirdness is an apt symbol for the festival as a whole.

Review: Bonerama and George Porter Jr.

In a legendary square in the heart of New Orleans where over a century ago countless men fell in duels under the live oaks that still stand, last Thursday night’s show with Bonerama (BNR) and special guest George Porter Jr. was nothing about dueling and everything about two musical forces of today’s New Orleans coming together for an amazing night of musical celebration in a city that appreciates life just a bit more these days.

Keith Spera's picks for most memorable moments from the first nine years of Voodoo





Bingo! Parlour Profile: Snuff Sugar

One year ago Snuff Sugar was formed in New Orleans when guitarist Alex Price and drummer Dustin DiSalvo decided to bring their passion for music together to form a band. Writing songs and getting a feel for each other’s styles they decided to add bass. They didn’t have to go far because Dustin’s brother is a local artist known as DJMC Microphone. Having done a two-year educational stint in Lafayette after Katrina, DJMC Microphone was eager to work with his brother on the promising project.

One Track Mind: Tab Benoit "Fever For The Bayou"

As audacious as the claim might sound, Baton Rouge, Louisiana's own Tab Benoit is the Bayou State's answer to Stevie Ray Vaughan. It's a feeling I've had from the time I discovered his well-received debut Nice And Warm from 1992 and haven't wavered on that after about an album a year since then. He's got all the right traits for righteous swamp blues: a gritty, country-boy voice; a lean and funky blues approach; and a stinging, angular, soul-wrenching guitar attack.

Just as Vaughan had come to epitomize Texas blues, Benoit has done the same for Louisiana (even as his guitar licks borrow as much from Texas as it does a little further east). Moreover, Benoit likes to stress his Cajun roots, and often does so in the lyrics of his own songs, whether it be longing for the or reveling in the laissez les bon temps roulez attitude of the South Louisiana region.

That's just what he does for the title track from his superior 2005 release Fever For The Bayou. Benoit is one of the most consistently solid blues guys around and hadn't let success affect his music one iota, but "Fever For The Bayou" is where he goes even further than usual to blend the blues with zydeco. Since zydeco is really a Creole offshoot of the blues, Benoit isn't really inventing anything by doing that, just reminding us of the shared heritage of the two styles. The joyful chords he plays with his three piece band are full and are the kind of chords you'd hear out of an accordion.

Voodoo Podcast: The Funky & Freaky

One of the most refreshing things about Voodoo is the extent of locally based booking - the Bingo Parlour and the Noomoon Stage both promise eclectic billing straight out of New Orleans, with acts culled from Crescent City cult favorites, local legends, bohemian celebrities and just plain weirdoes. This podcast introduces a few. Thanks to Ben Jaffe and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, the New Orleans Bingo! Show, Washboard Chaz Blues Trio, Alex McMurray and the Valparaiso Men’s Chorus, Quintron and Miss Pussycat, Luke Allen and the Happy Talk Band, Hurray For The Riff Raff, the Zydepunks, the Bad Off, the Morning 40 Federation, and Andre Williams (pictured) and the New Orleans Hellhounds

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’.”)