April 2010
BackTalk
- Vampire Weekend
Picture the cliché college movie scenario: a professor asking you to look to the left and then the right before intoning…
Bookmark
- Bruce Boyd Raeburn, New Orleans Style and the Writing of American Jazz History (University of Michigan Press)
It is no secret to musicians trying to play New Orleans jazz for a living that jazz writers have agendas, and…
Cover Story
- Anders Osborne: A Patchwork Job
Anders Osborne does not fit the stereotype of the signature New Orleans musician. But if you use the analogy of the…
Features
- Cindy Scott: French Quarter Fest Focus
Jazz vocalist Cindy Scott has always had music in her life. The daughter of a classical pianist and a band director,… - Luke Winslow-King: French Quarter Fest Focus
Luke Winslow-King stumbled across the city of New Orleans almost by chance when he found himself in Louisiana after road-tripping through… - Evan Christopher's Clarinet Road: French Quarter Fest Focus
It’s hard to say what we should expect from Evan Christopher’s Clarinet Road at French Quarter Fest. His first record under… - Ben Schenck: Undressing a C-Sharp Major
“Play me something.” It’s a gray February morning as I sit down for my first clarinet lesson with Ben Schenck. His… - HBO's Treme: To Tell the Truth
Tipitina’s is smokier than usual, perhaps because there’s a smoke wrangler. A woman walks among the crowd, offers people cigarettes and… - Tom Sancton: French Quarter Fest Focus
If you frequented Preservation Hall in the 1960s, you might have witnessed a young Tommy Sancton sitting in with the legendary… - Kora Konnection: French Quarter Fest Focus
In a city known for jazz and blues, it’s not common to find a group led by a 21-string African harp.… - Baby Boyz Brass Band: French Quarter Fest Focus
Dressed in their navy blue T-shirts with their logo across the front, the Baby Boyz Brass Band was dwarfed. It was… - Strange Fruit
On our March cover, we demonstrated a remarkable lack of judgment and sensitivity when we matched a photo of a young… - BMI Songwriter Stage: French Quarter Fest Focus
New Orleans has given birth to a plethora of songwriters—Fats Domino, Dr. John, Dave Bartholomew, Allen Toussaint and countless others—but is… - Ernie Vincent and the Top Notes: French Quarter Fest Focus
Ernie Vincent and his band the Top Notes are best known for the 1972 funk anthem “Dap Walk.” In the years…
Fresh
- Benoit Conservationist of the Year
Blues artist Tab Benoit was recently awarded the 2009 Governor’s Award for Conservationist of the Year for his work and advocacy… - Mutemath: A Fight for Haiti
Alternative rock band Mutemath started the tour for its recent album, Armistice, in New Orleans last fall. It started its spring… - CECI on Hold
Last month, developer Stewart Juneau’s Le Triomphe Property Group (LTPG) asked for “a temporary suspension of negotiations on a professional services… - An Earthbound Ivan Neville
New Orleans musicians rarely reach Hollywood notoriety, and if they do, it still seems unusual to actually see a local artist… - Swamp Pop’s New Home
Swamp pop, south Louisiana’s blend of Cajun rock ’n’ roll, New Orleans R&B, country and zydeco, lives a life of irony…
Letters
- April 2010 Letters
STRANGE CHOICE OF WORDS I found the March cover to be in questionable taste considering the origin and references of the…
Mojo Mouth
- Supporting French Quarter Festivals, Inc.
It’s festival time in New Orleans! That’s not to say that we don’t have festivals all year long, but the springtime…
Obituaries
- Obituary: Rockie Charles (1939-2010)
New Orleans’ “President of Soul,” Rockie Charles, whose given name was Alfred Charles Merrick, died after a long battle with cancer… - Obituary: Alex Chilton (1950-2010)
Singer, songwriter, guitarist and producer Alex Chilton died of a heart-related problem in New Orleans on March 17, 2010. Chilton’s work…
OffBeat Eats
- World's Largest Jazz Brunch: Dinner For Thousands?
Lisette Sutton, the manager of Creole Delicacies, says she’s been in business long enough to know the whole reason behind French… - Dining Out: The Green Goddess
To call The Green Goddess funky would be like saying Louis Armstrong just played the trumpet. The restaurant combines the talents… - Theresa Andersson Hits the Spot at Cure
Cure Cocktail Bar 4905 Freret St. (504) 302-2357 When do you usually come to Cure? I usually come with friends for…
Dining Out
- Dining Out: The Green Goddess
To call The Green Goddess funky would be like saying Louis Armstrong just played the trumpet. The restaurant combines the talents…
The Spot
- Theresa Andersson Hits the Spot at Cure
Cure Cocktail Bar 4905 Freret St. (504) 302-2357 When do you usually come to Cure? I usually come with friends for…
Reviews
- Stanton Moore, Groove Alchemy (Telarc)
Groove Alchemy the CD is only one part of Groove Alchemy, the larger project that comes with a DVD and instructional… - Bobby Charles, Timeless (Rice 'n' Gravy)
Thinking about a Bobby Charles album the way we normally think of albums probably isn’t fair. It’s hard to believe he… - Hurray for the Riff Raff, Young Blood Blues (Independent)
A common theme of blues music is that of the second chance. Be it jilted lovers or unemployed derelicts, many blues songs tell the tale… - Hannibal Lokumbe, Dear Mrs. Parks (Naxos)
Hannibal Lokumbe, the former Marvin Peterson, took up trumpet at age thirteen, in 1961. By his 30th birthday, he’d played with… - Bionica, Take Your City (Independent)
Bionica’s debut EP, Take Your City, is a half-hour of swirling, frenetic electropop. After the first four measured chords from the… - Josh Charles, Love, Work & Money (CC Ent/Copycat)
A reviewer for HuffingtonPost.com wrote of Love, Work & Money, “Remember where you were when you heard Stevie Wonder’s Songs in… - Nova Nola, Wetland (Independent)
A Louisiana swamp on the cover is not a typical feature of a bossa nova record. The genre is certainly not… - Various Artists, Pure Swamp Pop Gold, Vol. 10 (CSP Records)
Compilations such as these are generally vehicles to promote a label’s roster and thereby garner sales. That’s true here, as the… - Ayla Miller, Some Super Silly Snappy Songs and a Few Works of Genius (Independent)
The windy 12-word title pretty much says it all about Ayla Miller’s debut CD, an enjoyable collection of originals that were… - Giant Cloud, Old Books EP (Park the Van)
While Old Books, the debut EP from recent Ruston transplants Giant Cloud isn’t anything new or different, the band’s interpretation of… - The Howdies, Made With Pure Lightning (Independent)
With this auspicious debut in hand, Lafayette’s Howdies show that they rightfully belong in the national alt-country league alongside such established… - Grandpa Elliott, Sugar Sweet (Concord/Playing For Change)
Like his soulmate, the late, great Ted Hawkins, Grandpa Elliott’s specialized genius lies in exhilarating simplicity belying the hassle that refined… - Duke Robillard, Stomp! The Blues Tonight (Stony Plain)
After recent, lugubrious attempts at pop, jazz and big band music, Robillard is back doing what he does best—playing and singing… - Luther Allison, Songs from the Road (Ruff)
As great as the music is in New Orleans, and as lucky as we are that this city serves as a… - Abe Manuel, Jr., Swire from Grand Chenier (Jin)
Abe Manuel, Jr. was part of Merle Haggard’s squadron in the ’90s, but eventually returned to his ancestral Gulf Coast homeland… - Various Artists, Rhythm & Blues (Putumayo)
Unlike most compilations that serve as record label promotion, Putumayo has always favored themed releases with tracks licensed from other labels.… - The Givers, Givers EP (Valcour)
Lafayette-based Valcour Records broke from their usual Cajun and zydeco fare late last year to sign a local band less than a year old. The… - Afroskull, To Obscurity and Beyond (Skull Sound Music)
“This sounds like nothing I ain’t heard before,” keyboardist Matt Iselin howls through the explosive funk and swinging horn brigade of…
