Upcoming: Up From the Bayou - A Benefit for the New Orleans Musicians' Clinic @ Sullivan Hall

Tomorrow, January 12, 2011 7:00 pm

Sullivan Hall

What/Why:

A Night of New Orleans Funk With Walter "Wolfman" Washington, Russell Batiste, John Gros, Andy Hess, and Christine Ohlman.

VIP admission $60.00 includes Jambalaya, Muffalettas, Zapp's Potato Chips, Beignets, Complimentary Heineken, Sailor Jerry Rum, Belvedere Vodka.

General Admission Tickets $30.00 Music Only.

Tickets available in advance at http://www.jamsf.com

This is a benefit for the New Orleans Musicians Clinic .

Since 1998, the New Orleans Musicians' Clinic (NOMC) has been dedicated to keeping New Orleans' performers alive in body, mind, and spirit by providing comprehensive health care and mental health/social services. As the "medical home" for more than 2,000 local musicians and tradition bearers, the NOMC's Culture of Caring Model provides cost-efficient access to high quality healthcare and wellness programs for our patients, regardless of their ability to pay.

The New Orleans Musicians Assistance Foundation (NOMAF) evolved from NOMC following Hurricane Katrina in 2005 to expand its mission and promise to keep New Orleans music alive by sustaining New Orleans' traditional music cultures through our Gig Fund and our Emergency Fund.

Support the Clinic, Support the New Orleans Traditions...

Tradition bearers in New Orleans

The New Orleans Musicians Clinic describes the community it serves the following way:

“New Orleans musicians, tradition bearers, and their families.”

What are “tradition bearers?”

If you know New Orleans, you know that in addition to the city’s unique musical culture, the city also has social traditions – Mardi Indian tribes, social aid and pleasure clubs, and other groups – that are not found anywhere else in America.

In this video, Chuck Perkins, the New Orleans-born poet whose work is featured at the end of the video on the SavetheClinic.org home page, pays a visit on one of the city’s key tradition bearers: Mr. Ronald Lewis.

Are these traditions, worth supporting?

Of course they are.

Support the Clinic, support the traditions.

You can help New Orleans greatly by helping the New Orleans Musicians Clinic.

Every year, the Clinic provides free and low cost occupation-specific medical care to over 2,000 New Orleans musicians, tradition bearers, and their families.

Please share this page with your friends – and if you’re able, give.

http:/www.SavetheClinic.org

Thanks.

An Urgent Plea From New Orleans Musicians

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.

Bonnaroo set to donate to New Orleans non-profit groups

Since I spent a good chunk of Bonnaroo 2008 in the Somethin' Else tent (see my many posts about it from June 2008), I thought it appropriate to post this update...

The Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival is proud to announce that it will donate $240,000 to a variety of New Orleans non-profit groups. In their continuing effort to promote continued awareness of the rebuilding of New Orleans, festival organizers Superfly Presents and A.C. Entertainment created the “Somethin’ Else – New Orleans” tent at the 2008 event. It was modelled after some of the city’s most distinctive music venues and featured some of its greatest musical talent. Fans were asked to make a donation upon entering “Somethin’ Else – New Orleans” throughout the weekend. The money raised from these donations will be part of the gift that the festival is making.


“The city of New Orleans and it’s amazing culture continues to be a major inspiration for us in everything that we do, not just Bonnaroo (whose very name is Crescent City Creole slang for ‘good stuff’),” says Paul Peck of Superfly Productions who produce annual events in New Orleans including the “Superfly During Jazzfest Concert Series.” Additional money for the donation was raised from the benefit concert “From the Big Apple to the Big Easy” at Radio City Music Hall, which was produced by Radio City Entertainment, Superfly Productions and Red Light management. The concert featured Dave Matthews, Trey Anastasio, Tom Waits, The Neville Brothers, John Mayer, Joss Stone and many others.



The groups that will be supported by the donation are below:

New Orleans Habitat Musicians’ Village / Ellis Marsalis Center for Music
http://www.nolamusiciansvillage.com/about/

After hurricanes Katrina and Rita forced many musicians to flee New Orleans, the sounds of jazz, blues, and other genres that are the soundtrack of this incredible city, were exiled in faraway places. New Orleans Area Habitat, together with Harry Connick Jr. and Branford Marsalis were determined to change this and plans were announced in December 2005 for the construction of a Musicians' Village. The Musicians' Village, conceived by Connick and Marsalis, consists of 82 units for displaced New Orleans musicians and other qualifying families. Its centerpiece is the Ellis Marsalis Center for Music, dedicated to the education and development of homeowners and others who will live nearby. It will have a 150-seat performance space with state-of-the-art lighting and sound, and will produce the accomplishments of its students. The center will focus on the diverse music heritage of NOLA.


New Orleans Musicians Clinic
http://www.neworleansmusiciansclinic.org/

Provides access to health and social welfare services for the New Orleans music community. The clinic helps sustain the health of NOLA musicians and their families by providing medical services and developing access to primary care, preventative health services, as well as social and occupational outreach. They often refer patients to specialists within the LSU Healthcare Network and provide access to discounted prescriptions, patient assistance programs, lab work and vaccinations. Through their New Orleans Musicians Fdn. (NOMAF) they sustain musicians in need by keeping their music alive in New Orleans through funding gigs and musician mentorship programs in schools, at community centers, and neighborhoods.


NOCCA - New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts
http://www.nocca.com

NOCCA is a tuition-free, professional arts training center located in the heart of historic New Orleans. NOCCA offers instruction in creative writing, dance, media arts, music, theatre arts, and visual arts to high school students across Louisiana through school day, after-school, weekend and summer sessions.

The NOCCA Institute provides support and advocacy for NOCCA, overseeing multiple financial aid programs, an Artist-in-Residence program, the Center Stage concert series, and other programs that enhance the educational environment for students and provide arts experiences for the general public."


Tipitina's Foundation
http://www.tipitinasfoundation.org/about/mission.asp

The mission of the Tipitina’s Foundation is to support Louisiana’s irreplaceable music community and preserve the state’s unique musical cultures. The history of the Tipitina’s Foundation originates from the Tipitina’s music venue, a revered New Orleans cultural icon that continues to be instrumental in the development and promotion of Louisiana music around the world. The Foundation works to support childhood music education, the professional development of adult musicians, and the increased profile and viability of Louisiana music as a cultural, educational, and economic resource.

NolaFunk Lagniappe

NPR’s "A Jazz Journey From Its New Orleans Birthplace"

NPR continues its jazz series with a look at the legacy of New Orleans jazz music. (click on the link above)

Farai Chideya talks with three notable musicians from the Crescent City: Irvin Mayfield, a trumpeter, composer, and bandleader; Irma Thomas, who is known as the queen of New Orleans soul; and Greg Davis, a trumpeter and member of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, one the most famous marching bands in New Orleans.

Spiders singer Chuck Carbo, 1926-2008

Hayward "Chuck" Carbo, lead vocalist of 1950s New Orleans rhythm & blues quintet the Spiders, died July 11 after a long illness. He was 82.

The Spiders featured Mr. Carbo and his brother Leonard "Chick" Carbo. "We knew them since we were kids," Aaron Neville said. "The Spiders were the premiere New Orleans group. I won't say a New Orleans singer -- Chuck was a great singer, period."

"Chuck was very close to my family," Mac "Dr. John" Rebennack said. "More than Johnny Adams, Aaron Neville and Earl King, that was my mother's favorite of the local guys. Everybody loved this guy because he had such a special thing. The Spiders opened a lot of doors for New Orleans rhythm & blues."

see also: Vinyl Word's Chuck Carbo RIP



Check out video of Dr. John at the 2008 Jazzfest HERE.


Trombone Shorty: An old pro at 22

Troy Andrews, also known as Trombone Shorty, is only 22, but he’s had the experiences of an old pro. The trombonist and trumpeter grew up in the Treme section of New Orleans, where the music hangs thick in the air.

“Growing up in a musical family,” Troy Andrews says, “in a household that had thousands of instruments laying around — some broken, some that weren’t — they were like toys to me.” And vice versa. He remembers being 6 years old and playing a Big Wheel slung over his shoulder like a tuba.

Mardi Gras Indians 2007


Mardi Gras Indians 2007 from Alexia Prichard on Vimeo.



Grayon Capps Releasing Rott 'N' Roll

On September 9, Grayson Capps will release his fourth album, Rott 'N' Roll, on Hyena Records. The long-player's title stems from a phrase used by fans to characterize the music of the southern troubadour. Prostitutes, alcoholics, vagrants and drifters often inhabit Grayson's songs, while his live performances are ignited by equal doses of raucous Southern soul, back-country stomp and roadhouse blues. For Grayson himself, Rott 'N' Roll has come to represent the state of mind needed to play uncompromising roots music as a means for survival in the Dirty South; the yin and yang between the debauchery of life on the road and the come down upon returning home.

420 New Orleans Music Show #22

John Sinclair plays music from the Crescent City

For Wynton Marsalis, ‘The cause is people’

You are from New Orleans; you were born there. American jazz was born there. How did Hurricane Katrina call you personally into action?

Out of sadness, and horror. I guess you feel that towards any person who got hit by a car, but in this case its your hometown, so its as if something happened to your family or your mother. So all of us felt we needed to help. I got publicity because I'm known, but so many New Orleanians, even now, are doing what they can and doing everything in their power. A lot of people call me, asking what they can do to help, intelligently, to rebuild the city. We are all still running around trying to figure that out.

Feature on New Orleans Musicians' Clinic

New Orleans Musicians’ Clinic (NOMC), a one-of-a-kind clinic for musicians, was founded with the lofty goal of trying to “change the course of the careers of our young musicians in New Orleans, to keep them thriving into their 90s (yes, we have musicians still blowing their trumpets at 96)” says President/CEO, Bethany Bultman. The organization just celebrated its tenth birthday, and while elated at its success, hopes to become so redundant as they advocate for universal health care so that one day they will become unnecessary. We thought it only fitting to include the group in our New Orleans issue of DIY City Mag. Music is arguably one of the oldest DIY activities. And what is New Orleans without the sounds of its music? Fortunately NOMC was in place before the storm.

This week's music picks from Basin Street

Listen to selections from Henry Butler, Irvin Mayfield & Dr. Michael White HERE.

George Porter Jr. - Irving Plaza, NYC 7/15/08. (Photos by Jeremy Gordon)

NolaFunk Lagniappe

Home of the Groove's "A Case Of Mysterious Musical Alter-Egos"

Using only my increasingly decrepit ears (and a decent set of headphones and studio monitors) as my guide, I'll do a limb-climb and declare that Marie Boubarere is Betty Taylor, or vice versa. Listen for yourself to both versions of “I’m Going Home”; and I'll think you'll agree. So, instead of two mystery singers who recorded for Nola, we now have one, who used two names for reasons unknown. And maybe neither is her actual name.

WWOZ Street Talk: The New Orleans Musicians' Clinic is 10 years old!
For the last ten years, The New Orleans Musicians' Clinic has been providing ongoing medical and mental health care to some of our city's greatest assets: our musicians. With music by Jo Cool Davis, Astral Project, The Soul Rebels, Roselyn & David, and The Rebirth Brass Band.

For more information on the clinic, go HERE.

see also: Keeping the beat -Fresh funding gives lifeblood to musicians clinic


Tribal conflict: Mardi Gras Indians attempt to preserve their integrity while remaining marketable

With their colorful, intricately patterned and feather-adorned suits, the Mardi Gras Indians have been an integral part of Jazz Fest since they paraded at the very first festival in 1970. Their images are also seen on TV ads, beer bottles and other advertising.

But as likenesses of Mardi Gras Indians infuse the commercial sphere, new questions have surfaced of who exactly owns the cultural image. Montana and others say they aren’t in it for the money, but they are concerned about how their image is used.

Notes from New Orleans: Upholding Traditions


A New Dance Craze Sweeps the Nation



Turnaround & boogie down in New Orleans

"New Orleans music clubs? They’re the best part of the city. The music, all of it live and a lot of it free, wafts across the city like liquid sunshine, day and night." "There is no bad music in New Orleans."

see also: New Orleans Reclaims its Groove


Check out Food Music Justice's post on the Panorama Jazz Band!



Scene Scan: New Orleans' Heartbeat is a Band

New Orleans, music is for living: for dancing, for grieving, celebrating, eating, parading. It's in the streets just as much as on the stage. It's a music that reflects the history of the city and it's music that is growing (and shrinking) along side it. More than any place I've experienced, music is community—it's not about the virtuosity or perfection of a player, but about their intention and spirit, of which there is no shortage.

A Conversation with Donald Harrison




In pictures: New Orleans' brass bands



Johnny Sketch & the Dirty Notes: The Sound and the Furry

They've toured all corners of the country and manage to get by as full-time musicians. They are the latest in a long line of New Orleans bands that defy easy categorization beyond a synthesis of styles -- rock, funk, a Latin tinge courtesy of a horn section recruited from Loyola's jazz studies department -- and sufficient chops to chew up a stage.