Anyone who’s witnessed Glen David Andrews on a good night knows he is capable of being the most charismatic performer in New Orleans. Up until now, you had to be there to appreciate his talent, though. His 2004 Dumaine Street Blues demonstrated his capabilities playing traditional jazz and New Orleans street favorites quite well but [...]
Debbie Davis stood just inside the doorway of Three Muses, singing “When I’m 64.” It was Friday night on Frenchmen Street, the day after Thanksgiving, and she held the festive crowd’s attention. “I saw the ambulance go by but I didn’t think anything of it,” she says. “Someone came into the club and told me [...]
Back in the 20th Century when John Gros was enrolled in the George Porter, Jr. Academy of Funk as a member of the Runnin’ Pardners, he also held down a bread and butter gig playing for tourists at Tropical Isle. Gros never complained about playing the hits on Bourbon Street, though. He studied the crowds [...]
The dark, ramshackle house at 1027 Piety St. was a haunting presence on the block even before the flood. It was the oldest house on the street, dating back to the end of the 18th Century when it was surrounded by swamp and muddy sandbars built from the seasonal overflow of the Mississippi. Since 1999, [...]
New Orleans is full of musicians who epitomize the genre-busting goal of turning old school New Orleans music into an egalitarian mash-up, and no one has done more to realize this goal than Mark Mullins. The suave trombonist paid his dues in the tradition, earning his funk stripes playing in bassist George Porter, Jr.’s band [...]
Shreveport may be at the opposite end of Louisiana from New Orleans, but both cities play a part in the state’s rich musical heritage. The great blues singer/songwriter/guitarist Leadbelly was a formidable presence in Shreveport’s blues clubs during the 1920s, and the region has also been a home for blues musicians such as Jesse Thomas, [...]
On the bright late summer morning of September 12 the crème fraiche façade of Corpus Christi-Epiphany Church gleamed optimistically amid this still-blighted Seventh Ward neighborhood along St. Bernard Avenue. Inside the packed church, many of the surviving players from the glory days of New Orleans R&B gathered to send off Wardell Quezergue, an arranger so [...]
While others in the Radiators hustled to define a post-Rads identity, frontman Dave Malone has taken his time. “There were some fans who wanted us to continue in whatever form we could manage,” Malone notes, “but I had some other ideas I wanted to try out, especially playing with my family.” Malone listened to suggestions [...]
Five years ago, a lot of people were wondering what the brightest young star of New Orleans music, Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews, was going to do next. Music industry insiders in Los Angeles and New York urged him to go all in, but Shorty stood pat, touring constantly and rehearsing his band Orleans Avenue incessantly. [...]
When the Radiators played their final shows in June, few would have guessed that the band member most prepared for life in a new musical context would be Camile Baudoin. The band’s soft- spoken, self-effacing lead guitarist was known for his intense, dexterous playing, but not for his stage presence or front man capabilities. His [...]
