Upcoming: Galactic feat. Shamarr Allen & Corey Henry @ Irving Plaza

The tour stops off in NYC for two nights at Plaza on October 17th and 18th

For Galactic's 'Brass Tacks Tour', the band will beef up their arsenal by enlisting two heavyweight New Orleans horn players, Shamarr Allen (trumpet) and Corey Henry (trombone). This will mark the first time the band has ever toured with a dedicated brass section, treating fans to a full on audio assault.

Shamarr Allen
Shamarr Allen was born and raised in New Orleans and became immersed in music at the early age of 7. He began his professional career as a street musician in the French Quarter playing with Tuba Fats. Playing with street musicians for tourists, lead to his involvement with New Orleans brass bands -- the Hot 8 Brass Band, Rebirth Brass Band, Lil¹ Rascals, Treme and others. Expanding his horizons, Shamarr's mastery now encompasses a wide variety of music styles.

Corey Henry As the longtime trombone player for Kermit Ruffins & the Barbecue Swingers and the leader of his own Lil Rascals brass band, Corey Henry is the quintessential New Orleans horn player. His is a unique style steeped in New Orleans tradition and soul. As described by Kermit Ruffins, "He plays what we in New Orleans call 'tailgate style' -- laidback and swinging out".

Crown City Rockers
Crown City Rockers is a genre-blending collective whose music is all together original, powerful and provocative. With an organic blend of lush, funk-drenched grooves, riveting classic soul samples, sharp live instrumentation and old-school rhymes, Crown City Rockers is a welcome breath of fresh air in today¹s commercially cluttered musical cosmos.

Snooks Eaglin in need of blood donations

Snooks Eaglin in need of blood donations

Posted by Keith Spera, The Times-Picayune

Legendary rhythm & blues guitarist and vocalist Snooks Eaglin is a faithful WWOZ -FM listener who makes regular on-air appearances during the station's semi-annual fund drives. The fall fund drive is underway now. But instead of asking listeners to send money to the station, Eaglin is asking for donations of blood for himself.

Mid-City Lanes Rock 'n Bowl owner John Blancher, a longtime friend, fan and confidant of Eaglin's, appeared on WWOZ Friday afternoon to relay the news that Eaglin is hospitalized with an unspecified ailment, and in need of blood.

Blancher said that interested donors should report to the first floor of the main Ochsner Medical Center complex at 1514 Jefferson Highway and give blood in the name of Fird Eaglin -- Snooks' given name.

Expressing the views of many, Blancher said it would be hard to imagine Rock 'n Bowl, and New Orleans, without Snooks Eaglin. Dubbed the Human Jukebox for his ability to conjure most any song from the R&B, blues and New Orleans repertoires, Eaglin's distinct style of dexterous finger-picking has won him legions of fans around the world. Former Led Zeppelin singer Robert Plant famously loaded up on Eaglin's music during a shopping spree at the Louisiana Music Factory.

Eaglin has been a Rock 'n Bowl regular since the venue opened more than 18 years ago. Health problems have curtailed his performances as of late, but Blancher is optimistic that Eaglin will recover and return to the stage.

"Snooks, if you're listening," Blancher said on the air, "we're pulling for you."

Upcoming: Papa Grows Funk tonight (10/10) @ Sullivan Hall

By Dino Perrucci Photography Jellybean Alexander - Sullivan Hall, NYC 10/10/08 John Gros - Sullivan Hall, NYC 10/10/08 PAPA GROWS FUNK w/ Pimps Of Joytime

Friday October 10th 9:30pm Show

Papa Grows Funk Papa Grows Funk's tight grooves re-define the funk-jam band. Tethered by the slinky Hammond B3 and gravel pit vocals of bandleader John "Papa" Gros," the band is a "who's-who" of New Orleans' best musicians. Morphing guitarist June Yamagishi is an original member of Japan's first blues combo, The West Road Blues Band and has inspired two documentaries entitled "June Yamagishi in New Orleans" from his native Japan. Saxophonist Jason "Big Wind" Mingledorff cleanly articulates the knee-dropping funk sustained by bassist Marc Pero and Jeffrey "Jellybean" Alexander who replaced Russell Batiste Jr. on the drums in 2005. Influenced by The Meters, Dr. John and The Neville Brothers, Papa Grows Funk parcels it out New Orleans-style, paying homage to the tradition through Gros' sparse but rhythmic style offset by Yamagishi's blazing guitar. One is treated to a booty shaking set of Mardi Gras funk, original material, improvised jams and fresh interpretations of New Orleans classics. These five musicians seamlessly shift gears while never losing the essential groove.

NolaFunk Lagniappe

Bingo! Parlour Profile #8: THE MORNING 40 FEDERATION

Morning 40 Federation - intro Video


The Morning 40 Federation was born and bred in New Orleans' Ninth Ward neighborhood, formed in 1997 as a drunken quasi-dare by Josh Cohen and Space Rickshaw, amateur saxophonist and trombonist, respectively. They hung the name on their rough assemblage of amateur musicians/pro-drinkers as a sardonic admission of non-guilt. They didn't know how their way around their instruments ("It sounded like I was strangling a goose," Cohen says of his first forays into the wild world of alto sax), and their first gigs took place at house parties and off-night in bars like the Hi Ho Lounge, were more like sweaty demolition derbies soundtracked by some righteous feedback than actual concerts.

But despite their best intentions, the 40s began to develop honest-to-goodness chops. Their sound -- a mutant hybrid of punk, jazz and what New Orleans old-timers call "fonk" - coalesced. Their gigs got sharper without losing their anything-goes, gang-of-stinky-swamp-things onstage vibe, and they acquired new members: guitarist Bailey Smith was recruited in a Decatur Street dive his first night in town; guitarist Ryan Scully was shanghaied pirate-style from a life of playing cosmic country music, And by God, you could DANCE to their music, thanks to Mike Andrepont and Steve Calandra's booze stumblin' rhythm section.

But it was their songs that put 'em over. The 40s specialized in hilarious chronicles of boozy camaraderie, tales of the assorted noble lowlifes, space cadets and other crazies that populate the parallel universe version of New Orleans nightlife far off the beaten tourist path. Two self-produced CD's - 2000's YOUR MY BROTHER and 2002's TRICK NASTY started racking up regional awards, and in 2004, the band signed with M80 and released the self-titled MORNING 40 FEDERATION.

But TICONDEROGA is their dirty masterpiece. Recorded last summer with Mark Bingham (R.E.M.) at his Piety Street Studios in the Ninth Ward, it's is a vivid snapshot of the Morning 40s world. From the drunken prom slow jam "Washing Machine" to the bubblegum funk of "Corkscrew," it's a raucous party record AND a bittersweet pre-Katrina time capsule, an album that preserves a New Orleans that was and -- god willing and the levees don't bust (again) -- might be again. The Morning 40 Federation are hard at work helping to rebuild New Orleans by not giving up on it, by continuing to live and to work there, and by getting loaded and shouting boozy, noisy love songs in its honor. On their behalf, we invite you to shout along with them.

Home of the Groove's Goodbye, "George Davis"

"Hold On, Help Is On the Way" (Davis/Tyler/Parker)
G. Davis & R. Tyler, Parlo 102, 1966 "Hold On, Help Is On the Way" has long been on my short list of favorite instrumentals from New Orleans - not funk, just a classy, intensely hip mover and groover. I'd even venture to say it's one of the great R&B instrumentals, period. On it, George Davis gets a chance to let his guitar chops run free, at least for a little over two minutes of concentrated bliss. In the 1960s, his signature licks and solos graced a number of New Orleans records - the most well-known of which was Robert Parker's "Barefootin'". But, this virtuoso single is his only known solo outing from the old days. He shied away from being the front man, not even using his full name on the record, and giving his partner and friend, Red Tyler, co-billing on the A-side, though Red only had a supporting role on sax. Still, it was really George's show.

TalkBack with Clint Maedgen

Clint Maedgen is a busy man. The impresario behind the Brechtian New Orleans musical theater group The New Orleans Bingo! Show is also the front man for his own groups, a frequent collaborator with Morning 40 Federation, and newest full-time member of the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. He has become one of the central figures in Voodoo Fest, where the Bingo! Parlour tent show became Voodoo's signature venue last year. This tent was the centerpiece of an alternative midway where the Maedgen's Barnum-esque genius took full flower. It was a constant churn of trapeze artists, burlesque performers, clown acts, a ringmaster deft at inducing audience participation, and, of course, Maedgen's trademark bingo games. The music in the Bingo! Parlour was also some of the most intense. The Zydepunks conjured a raucous dance party, Quintron played the best set I've ever heard from him, and Morning 40 Federation created absolute pandemonium as fans sang along to the lurching, drunken choruses of the band's songs and crowd surfed off the stage.

One Track Mind: Ernie K-Doe "Mother-in-Law" (1961)

"Mother-In-Law" is going to be familiar to anyone who listened to pop radio in the years just preceding the British Invasion and a few who came of age a little afterwards. If you don't know it, well, it's really one of those zany party tunes that were popular around that time, like "Charlie Brown" and "Monster Mash."

In a Blue Mood's tribute to "Michael P. Smith JazzFest Photographer Supreme"

I remember years ago attending a Smithsonian Institute Folklife Festival in Washington which was devoted in part to the culture of Louisiana and New Orleans. It was chance to hear some blues like the late Boogie Bill Webb as well as it was my first exposure to the Mardi Gras Indian tradition other than the recordings of The Wild Magnolias and The Wild Tchoupitoulas, as members talked about and demonstrated the making of a costume as well as the various traditions involved. At the store where they sold items related to the Festival was a book of black and white photographs, Spirit World: Pattern in the Expressive Folk Culture of African-American New Orleans, It was essentially a catalogue of one of his exhibits documenting aspects of the cultural life and communities of New Orleans that was totally new to me, such as spiritual churches, and I slowly began to understand the interrelationship between the churches, the Indians, the music and other interrelated aspects that were the foundation for the New Orleans Rhythm and Blues Music that I loved (well I still d0). The book was republished by the Louisiana print house, Pelican, and is readily available.

Jazzfest producers prepare a New Orleans music invasion of London

During a 2006 dinner at Antoine's, producers of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival discussed staging a Louisiana-themed festival in London. Philip Anschutz, the billionaire owner of Jazzfest co-producer AEG Live, loved the idea.

Two years later, the overseas Festival New Orleans is a reality.

Allen Toussaint, Dr. John, Kermit Ruffins, the Rebirth Brass Band, BeauSoleil, Buckwheat Zydeco, Big Chief Monk Boudreaux and John Mooney & Bluesiana are booked for the free festival Oct. 24-25 at The O2, a massive entertainment complex owned by AEG and situated along the Thames River in London.

Bingo! Parlour Profile #9: FLEUR DE TEASE

When it comes to embodying the spirit of classic New Orleans entertainment, you'd be hard pressed to come up with a more fitting tribute than the girls of Fleur de Tease. Harkening back to the golden era of Bourbon Street theatre, this vaudville cum burlesque troupe plays sexy with a wink. Complete with a house magician, one very lucky MC, and trunkloads of fanciful props and costumes, these spirited performers deliver expertly choreographed routines that whimsically address such complex themes as bullfighting and extraterrestrial invasion.

Evan Christopher and Django à la Créole




The Iguanas bounce back from a tumultuous five years with a strong new CD

LISTEN TO SELECTED TRACKS

The Iguanas' "Plastic Silver 9 Volt Heart" was the best local album of 2003, and among the best of the past decade. It redefined the Iguanas as the New Orleans/Tex-Mex equivalent of Wilco, a roots music ensemble that skillfully and subtly draws on a broad palette of sound.

In the ensuing five years, the Iguanas endured considerable turmoil both individually and collectively. Hurricane Katrina displaced the musicians to Austin, Texas, where they formed the Texiles with fellow "Texas exiles." All eventually returned to New Orleans, but not to the band. In late 2006, after more than 15 years together, saxophonist Derek Huston and the Iguanas parted ways under less than amicable circumstances.

Blind Boys of Alabama & Preservation Hall Jazz Band

Preservation Hall Jazz Band

Some say you can never have too much of a good thing, and if that's true, then the Down by the Riverside Tour featuring the Blind Boys of Alabama and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band of New Orleans is the proof. A couple sat down next to me and the man looked at his program and said to his wife, "Oh this is gonna be good. I didn't realize what this was!" He was probably a Lincoln Center season ticket holder in for a pleasant surprise.

As the house lights went down four members: Mark Braud (trumpet), Ben Jaffe (tuba), Rickie Monie (piano) and Joseph Lastie, Jr. (drums) of the Preservation Hall Jazz Band walked onto the stage. As the stellar musicians launched into "Bourbon St. Parade," we were all instantly transported down to the funky metropolis of New Orleans. The traditional Dixieland jazz instruments melded together to form a sound that reminded me of sticky weather, crawfish and Mardi Gras. Clarinetist Charlie Gabriel came out next, and then trombonist Frank Demond, who has been a member of the band for over forty years and was wearing some nice bright red socks. They reminded me of a bluegrass combo in the way they moved around each other, the instruments weaving in and out of the fabric of the tune. This was no mountain breakdown, however. This was Southern fried jazz at its finest. The big upright bass player, Walter Payton, father of trumpeter Nicholas Payton, came out next to lead the band in "Tailgate Ramble." The third tune of the evening was "Sugar Blues," which had trumpeter Braud showing off a bit at the front of the stage with the mute, mimicking vocal sounds, teasing the old Tin Pan Alley tune "Ain't She Sweet" and even drawing some challenges from his band members. After one particularly dazzling run, someone behind him onstage shouted out, off-mic, "Betcha' can't do that backwards!" and much to the delight of the crowd, Braud played the line in reverse, garnering much applause and laughter.

In Pictures: the subdudes @ Highline Ballroom

The Subdudes - Highline Ballroom, NYC 10/4/08

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.

Upcoming: Robert Walter Trio feat. Johnny Vidacovich & James Singleton

ROBERT WALTER TRIO Featuring: Sp. Guests JOHNNY VIDACOVICH + JAMES SINGLETON 2008-10-03 11:30PM Doors @ 11PM $15.00 Advance $18.00 Day of Show Soul jazz organist Robert Walter built a reputation as one of America’s heaviest jazz-funk crossover musicians. He earned international acclaim for his work with the Greyboy Allstars, who were credited with bringing the 60s/70s soul jazz sound to a modern jamband audience. Robert Walter toured extensively in the U.S. and Europe for the past 15 years with the Greyboy Allstars and his own ensemble 20th Congress. His new album, Cure All, is available now from Palmetto Records. Robert wrote this collection of originals with a couple of players in mind -- drummer Johnny Vidacovich and bassist James Singleton. The Robert Walter Trio will be touring in support of the recent release, so keep an eye on the show listings. Robert wrote this collection of originals with drummer Johnny Vidacovich and bassist James Singleton in mind. Johnny is an elder statesman in New Orleans. He taught many of the local drummers and has been a fixture of the music scene there all his life. James Singleton has an intimate and extensive affiliation with the New Orleans music scene and a member of Astral Project, a fixture there since 1978. UPDATE: In Pictures Robert Walter Trio - BB King's, NYC 10/3/08

NolaFunk Lagniappe

Home of the Groove's "Movers and Shakers With The Big "Q" Facto"

Today's tracks come from sessions produced by the great Wardell Quezergue in the mid-1960s featuring two undeservedly obscure artists, Guitar Ray and Sammy Ridgley. Though neither of these song about dancing is funk-related or has an identifiable New Orleans sound, their strong, move-motivating grooves are undeniable. It's hard to understand why the records didn't get these guys some recognition, at least in New Orleans. Blame it on the vagaries of the music business, and the small, under-funded labels with no clout that put them out.

My introduction to both tunes was on the Funky Delicacies/Tuff City 2002 double CD compilation of Quezergue productions, Sixty Smokin' Soul Senders, which was/is a good resource for hearing some very hard to find sides, despite the poor condition of some of the vinyl sources and inadequate mastering on the analog to digital transfers. Having heard them first was a great help when I chanced on auctions for the 45s, as I knew they were well worth pursuing.

Download: Dr. John & The Meters — Chalmette, LA (3/5/1973)

Bingo Parlour Profile #7: THE HAPPY TALK BAND

When Luke Allen came by to drop off a copy of There, There, his second CD with his longtime project the Happy Talk Band, he popped open the jewel case to read off a curious annotation of the dedications in the liner notes: 'Suicide, suicide, O.D. — which is basically suicide — O.D., murder, murder, suicide." It's not that Allen is necessarily a morbid guy " Happy Talk's 2003 album, Total Death Benefit, a unique alternative folk-rock collection of bitter love songs and boozy, self-conscious ballads, cemented him as a keen chronicler of downtown New Orleans bohemia. He's spent a good bit of the four years since as a bartender, serving drinks to the people he writes about on There, There. The thing that stands out the most on the album is the collection of memorial songs. 'Pete, Kelly, Bucky, Yvette down the street " Allen counts off. 'There's a little bit of everybody on there." Although Allen seems to be a speedy eulogist, he says the process isn't directly contingent on bad news. 'Sometimes I get a line here or there, and I write the song in pieces. And then the latest tragedy comes around, and I realize I've been writing about it all along." There, There takes place in the storm's physical and emotional wreckage, but when it evokes the fallout of the disaster, it does so on the most personal of scales. And sometimes its presence is only theoretical, as with 'Sometimes Sailors," the story of a friend who shot himself a week before the levees failed. 'He had floating bodies in his head," Allen muses, wondering what difference, if any, it would have made if he'd waited and seen them made real. Happy Talk stage shows over the past few years have revealed a cautiously experimental band. Sometimes acoustic bass is replaced with electric and the songs are amped up to punk-rock levels. More often, with the addition of pedal steel, cello and, on the record, banjo played by producer Mark Bingham, Allen goes for a more understated complexity that buttresses his harsh voice (and sometimes harsher lyrics) nicely, revealing him as a shockingly good country stylist. 'I find I don't like blasting my voice over everyone all the time anymore," says Allen. 'I want to take my time and tell the story and make sure the story's heard."


New Orleans meets Vermont: Former Phish keyboardist joins N'awlins funk masters on tour

It happened one night in Vermont. One fateful evening, New Orleans met Vermont, the ancestors of longtime N'awlins band The Funky Meters blended with an ancestor of one of Vermont's finest, jam heavyweights Phish, and funk fused with progressive-rock to birth a memorable night of music. It was in November when Porter, Batiste, Stoltz (PBS) — the New Orleans power-funk trio comprised of George Porter Jr. on bass, Russell Batiste Jr. on drums and Brian Stoltz on guitar — joined with former Phish keyboardist Page McConnell at Burlington's Club Metronome. PBS is set to release its first live album, "MOODOO," capturing that night in Burlington, and featuring McConnell on several songs. This CD serves as the catalyst that has now cemented PBS — which embodies the distinct and varied New Orleans musical flavor — with the Green Mountain State.

Check out an album review HERE.


TwilightZone's feature on the Neville Brothers' "Fiyo On The Bayou"

The Neville Brothers, as a working unit, emerged as a result of 1976's magnificent Wild Tchoupitoulas project. On that album, the Brothers and their Meters cohorts backed a group of tribal chiefs (including their uncle "Big Chief Jolly") singing traditional Mardi Gras "war songs" and marches. The Nevilles' 1978 debut left behind their New Orleans foundation and suffered because of it. However, 1981's Fiyo represents the pinnacle of the Neville collective, a percolating mix of R&B, soul, funk, and Caribbean rhythms that celebrates their Crescent City heritage. The standards, of course, are entrusted to Aaron's heavenly pipes, but it's the New Orleans anthems that would come to define both the band and the city. - Marc Greilsamer







TwilightZone's feature on"LOUISIANA R&B" 1991 VA

This CD is an eye opening collection of Jay Miller’s recordings in the R&B genre derived from various vinyl albums in the “legendary Jay Miller sessions” series. As ever, Miller combines his prodigious studio techniques and song-writing abilities to produce searing R&B that stands comparison with the best. Great Excello R&B!


The Wee Trio sustains local vibraphonist James Westfall's New York connection

Jazz vibraphonist James Westfall didn't much care for the food, weather, attitudes and expenses encountered during a two-year New York residency.

"I was getting fed up with New York," he recalled this week. "It's fine meeting jerks once or twice a day, but after a while it builds up and gets to you. I'd catch myself saying smart-ass one-liners to people, and that's really not my personality. Everyone was struggling. It was a rat race, a little too cutthroat for me."

He's now happily resettled in New Orleans, where he studied jazz and launched his professional career. But one important New York tie remains: The Wee Trio, which Westfall formed with bassist Dan Loomis and drummer Jared Schonig, neighbors in Brooklyn.

Galactic -w- Chali 2na & Boots Riley performing "Immigrant Song"




NOLA's Home Town Heroes: Inell Young

When you think of NOLA Funk and R&B drummers, you think of the Meters Ziggy Modeliste, when you think of female vocalists,Irma Thomas probably pops up, and for producers, its usually Allen Toussaint, but those folks have been covered (rightfully so) and received plenty of props far beyond the Crescent City.

Outside of the artists mentioned above, though, there is an entire world of locally produced records that are more than worthy. First up here is the Inell Young cut, The Next Ball Game.

Inell Young made only 3-45's, but each one was a winner. It's a shame she didn't make more, but, she was a troubled young lady. She died of a drug overdose shortly after her last recording session.

Her first 2 records were made under the guidance of local legend and funk maestro Eddie Bo, who made hundreds of records, some of which are deep funk classics. As you can hear, with drummer James Black on Ball Game, Eddie always brought the super heavy funk. To my mind James Black ranks with Ziggy somewhere near the top of the NOLA drummer pantheon and Eddie Bo, while perhaps not as sophisticated as Mr.Toussaint, easily out funks him. Alas, with Inell, we'll never know.

George Davis - Unsung hero of New Orleans Music Passes

George Davis was a guitarist, bassist, and reedman who did numerous sessions for Instant, Minit, and NOLA records in the 1960s. You can hear him playing on most of the June Gardner and Smokey Johnson tracks including the guitar solo in It Ain’t My Fault. That’s him also on Willie Tee’s Teasin’ You and playing bass on Earl King’s “Come On.” However, his biggest claim to fame (and it’s a big one) is that he co-wrote “Tell It Like It Is,” Aaron Neville’s smash classic hit. Davis also worked with Ernie K-Doe, Johnny Adams, Nancy Wilson, Jerry Butler, and others.

$200,000 National Competition to retain talent in New Orleans