“Zydeco, Zare”, Heymann Performing Arts Center, Lafayette, October 11, 2008
Zydeco has never seemed more fun, flirting and sensual. Those words best describe “Zydeco, Zare’,” the first modern dance project based on the Louisiana music. The Elisa Monte Dance Company of New York City recently unveiled the historic production, which was commissioned two years ago by the Performing Arts Society of Acadiana. During that time, [...]
Fleet Foxes, Howlin’ Wolf, August 28, 2008
Fleet Foxes have been heavily praised for knocking some harmony and mysticism back into the young folk music scene, and are legitimately and impressively striking heroic chords with many numbed indie and folk hearts. While they do tread lightly on the heels of like bands—Band of Horses, Grizzly Bear—Fleet Foxes’ genre-bending doesn’t feel scene-based but [...]
Young Jeezy, House of Blues, August 13, 2008
After selling out his House of Blues show, Young Jeezy added a late show for his fans. Back-to-back shows bound Jeezy to a schedule, one that meant he had to start his first show in a timely manner. Jeezy upheld his end of the deal, placing him within a rare group of artists—those that adhere [...]
Good Enough for Good Times, Tipitina’s, June 27, 2008
Good Enough for Good Times played their brand of groove oriented jazz/funk music to a packed house at Tipitina’s. Galactic’s bassist and guitarist (Robert Mercurio and Jeff Raines) keep it tight, enabling outrageous bop-like lines from young organ master Joe Ashlar, who interacts nicely with drummer Simon Lott (Charlie Hunter Trio). Lott, too, brings the [...]
Tom Waits, Saenger Theatre, Mobile, Alabama, July 2, 2008
Two hours down the road in our sister city of Mobile, Alabama, Tom Waits stomped into his first number, “Lucinda.” Dust curled from the circular wood stage as he galumphed and hushed the audience with that familiar, surly bellow. Given his affinity for the sound and majestic comedy of old time circus haunts, he arrived [...]
Neko Case, Republic, August 12, 2007
Neko Case doesn’t think of her music as Americana, despite having pedal steel wizard Jon Rauhouse and Chicago’s Kelly Hogan in her band, and, well, covering Bob Dylan. I get it. Her art may not communicate as easily as Lucinda Williams, but Case and Williams have artistically reached beyond the genre that birthed them and [...]
Satchmo SummerFest, French Quarter, August 3, 2007
Many jazz loving out-of-towners think the annual Satchmo SummerFest is the perfect excuse to come to New Orleans in August. The festival is far from attracting the hordes of tourists on a scale with Jazz Fest, making it easy to see a seminar about Satchmo on film. Still, a highlight for many is the Friday [...]
Gov’t Majik, the Hookah Cafe, July 29, 2007
Like Modal Jazz, opium or both, Afrobeat is a timebender: a release from the rigid tyranny of Clockword, into a more relative—you might even say Einsteinian—soundscape. Songs which would otherwise be pared down to four minutes unfold into 20, conventional verse-chorus arrangements bend into less recognizable structures, night becomes morning and the nine members of [...]
Wynton Marsalis Presents Congo Square with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra Yacub Addy and Odadaa!, Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier, Montreal, June 28, 2007
Wynton Marsalis is a little like Barry Bonds in the batter’s box. Don’t expect him to bunt. Marsalis swings for the fences and when he hits it out, the whole world knows about it. His collaboration with Ghanaian drum master Yacub Addy and the African drumming and vocal troupe Odadaa!, Congo Square, is high art, [...]
