Entering the Sugar Mill’s main hall, I’m struck by Corey Glover, Corey Henry, and the full power of “Cult of Personality,” more relevant and infectious than ever. The room is packed, and I marvel at the turnout for a Black Star reunion. Perhaps this is more about the career of Galactic than the moment that was/is [...]
“I’ve been asked about 300 times tonight, ‘How did you get all these people to play,’” Cyril Neville said during a changeover on the Generations Hall main stage. “My wife got on the phone and asked them!” That spirit of generosity and family ties pervaded the New Orleans Musicians for Obama concert on Tuesday evening. Promising [...]
When interviewed, Allen Toussaint often mentions the jolt he felt at his first encounter with Professor Longhair’s music, the earth-shattering effects of a radical listening experience. One could argue that Toussaint’s gift was the ability to distill and then arrange the pieces of Fess—the thundering left hand, the mesmerizing right—into an unparalleled combination of funk [...]
Though a new season is on the horizon, we might consider ourselves residents of a post-Treme culture. Our central narratives, historic touchstones, and musical traditions are now common knowledge to millions of viewers. The world’s flame for New Orleans burns everlasting, but Mardi Gras Indians were on cable and the shadows of mystery recede accordingly. [...]
How will bounce be reinterpreted, embraced and marketed by the (sorta) mainstream? The question lingers in the air, with a smattering of answers for consideration. See Mr. Ghetto on YouTube. Big Freedia slays Jimmy Kimmel. Diplo visits Manchu. Arranged as such, things appear to be improving, from bad joke to respectful hipster appropriation. Regardless of [...]
A great thing about Louisiana: across the state, everyday people play instruments for the entertainment of everyday people. America 2012, you can save your digital remove, your pretense of higher purpose, your caring government. Every Friday night, in countless dives and backyards in every wet parish, folks drink and dance under the same spell that [...]
The cover charge never changed for Woody Allen’s regular gig at Michael’s Pub in Midtown Manhattan, but the director’s day job occasionally called him away from the clarinet chair. Enter Orange Kellin. “The audience would get there and ask, ‘Woody gonna be here?’” recalls Kellin, who occasionally subbed in for the legendary director during the [...]
On this three-track EP, Gravity A generates an impressive selection of sounds, amalgamated within the tricky livetronica genre. Against the yardstick of an electronica DJ, many bands would come off as simplistic, lacking resources when compared to the infinite choices of the digital world. Gravity A is certainly not one of them. I dug the [...]
Throbbing bodies and heavy bass alone do not the life of a DJ make. When money is the object, the profession takes the musician to venues near and far to deliver an array of services. The following is a snapshot from 72 hours in the life of DJ RQAway, a rising star on the New [...]
Intended as the companion to 2010’s Chamber Music Society, Esperanza Spalding’s latest release explores pop and its power on radio. For an artist whose credentials are questioned by various jazz cops, this is a rather frank way to tackle the question of “crossover.” If the previous album was uploaded by the mainstream through whatever mechanisms [...]
