May 2011
BackTalk
- Sonny Rollins
Theodore Walter “Sonny” Rollins was a teenage saxophone prodigy in the jazz hotbed of Harlem’s Sugar Hill neighborhood in New York…
Bookmark
- Marie-Dominique Verdier, New Orleans Walls: Still Standing (First Light Press)
New Orleans Walls is a collection of portraits of more than 80 “emblematic” New Orleans people posing in front of walls.…
Features
- Jazz Fest Focus: Alvin Youngblood Hart
Grammy Award-winning blues musician Alvin Youngblood Hart finds himself traveling to New Orleans to play music quite often these days. He… - Jazz Fest Focus: Banu Gibson
Jazz singer Banu Gibson may be from Dayton, Ohio (and may have grown up in Hollywood, Florida), but New Orleans has… - Jazz Fest Focus: Johnny Sansone
If New Orleans is home to a new renaissance, Johnny Sansone is ready to be its Da Vinci. “I think there’s… - Jazz Fest Focus: Henry Gray
Although Henry Gray has resided in Scotlandville for the past four decades, he is the obvious heir to the Chicago blues… - Jazz Fest Focus: Anat Cohen
“My first exposure to jazz was through the music of New Orleans,” says saxophonist and clarinetist Anat Cohen. Growing up in… - Jazz Fest Focus: Michael Franti
[UPDATED] “People say what difference does it make if one butterfly disappears from the rain forest? Well I say it’s like being… - Jazz Fest Focus: Yvette Landry
Don’t pinch Yvette Landry. She may discover the last nine months have only been a dream. A fantasy-come-true is the only… - Jazz Fest Focus: Mitch Woods
Mitch Woods will make his annual pilgrimage to New Orleans to pay tribute to the city’s rich R&B heritage during Jazz… - Jazz Fest Focus: Joe Hall
“We’re gonna tear it up,” Joe Hall says. It’s not a Charlie Sheen rant, but it’s obvious that the burly Creole… - Jazz Fest Focus: Ms. Lauryn Hill
When rap group the Fugees released Blunted on Reality in 1994, not many realized it would be the initial unfolding point… - The Radiators: Gone Fishin'
Thirty-three years is a long, long time, just about half of most people’s lives. Long enough to be an era. In… - School Days: Jazz Alumni of NOCCA
For many, jazz is merely a style of music. For New Orleans, it is as much a part of its tradition… - Stairway to Bourbon Street: Led Zeppelin in New Orleans
It’s May of 1973 and the British Gods of Rock—Led Zeppelin—sweep into New Orleans at the height of their mysterious and… - Getting Crafty at Jazz Fest
Jazz Fest is the biggest yearly music event in New Orleans, but it’s not just music that makes Jazz Fest special.… - The Rosemont Records Story
Listen to or download an accompanying mp3 mix of songs on Rosemont Digging around for records in New Orleans, one is… - RAM of Haiti: A Leaf Too Far
It was just a song about a leaf, but at a certain time, I’m told, like seemingly anything in Haiti, it… - Tom Sancton, Meet Tom Sancton
On April 19 last year, the curtains at Tulane’s Dixon Hall slid open to reveal the Preservation Hall Jazz Band in… - The Wild Magnolias and a Magic Handa Wanda
New Orleans is one of the musical catalysts of the planet. In the almost three centuries that history has recorded at… - Jimmy Buffett on Bourbon Street
This year’s Jazz Fest poster, “Busking Out: Becoming Jimmy Buffett,” depicts Buffett on a street corner playing for tips. This scene… - Soul Rebels in Action
For 20 years, the Soul Rebels have remained a modern face in brass band music. “We are trying our best to… - Don’t Mess with Irma Thomas
Irma Thomas, variously known as the “Soul Queen of New Orleans” and “The Voice,” is truly one of the most beloved…
Fresh
- Monk Institute Goes and Stays
After four years, thirteen graduates, and an extensive community outreach program, the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Performance is ending its… - Quintron's Exile in City Park
The history of recorded music is littered with albums whose recording sites are central to their sound and lore: from the… - The Art in the Hall
On April 28, the Ogden Museum of Southern Art opens a new exhibition, “Art and Jazz: Preservation Hall at 50.” The… - Glen David Andrews and the Healing Power of Horns
“Man, I’m so humbled,” Glen David Andrews says. He then reels off a slew of his recent awards and accomplishments. Last…
Letters
- May 2011 Letters
NOT AN ACCORDION Thank you for the review of my new CD On the Street. It captures what the band sounds…
Mojo Mouth
- Unleash Your Fun Side
Just as this issue went to press, the city’s tourism marketing agency announced a new advertising campaign that’s designed to convince…
OffBeat Eats
- Dining Out: Café Degas
A meal at Café Degas can be frustratingly French, but in a good way. You will arrive at what looks to… - Blake Quick of Flow Tribe Hits the Spot at Riccobono’s Panola St. Cafe
Riccobonno's Panola St. Cafe 7801 Panola St. (504) 314-1810 How did you first come across Riccobono’s? Riding my bike around the… - Jazz Fest Seafood One Year After the Oil Spill
During a memorable set at last year’s Jazz Fest, Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam took to the bully pulpit and skewered…
Dining Out
- Dining Out: Café Degas
A meal at Café Degas can be frustratingly French, but in a good way. You will arrive at what looks to…
Photo Op
- Big Chief Al Morris
Photographer: Rick Olivier Chief Al Morris, if I recall, [Bruce] Sunpie [Barnes] was going to bring him over to…
The Spot
- Blake Quick of Flow Tribe Hits the Spot at Riccobono’s Panola St. Cafe
Riccobonno's Panola St. Cafe 7801 Panola St. (504) 314-1810 How did you first come across Riccobono’s? Riding my bike around the…
Reviews
- Galactic, The Other Side of Midnight: Live in New Orleans (Anti- Records)
This is Galactic’s first official live album in a decade, though countless board tapes and CD-Rs have crossed fans’ hands in… - Tab Benoit, Medicine (Telarc Records)
Almost nobody can beat Tab Benoit for playing raw, dirty-sounding roadhouse blues. There is something about when he gets to rocking… - Quintron, Sucre du Sauvage (Goner Records)
Quintron and Miss Pussycat put their creative lives on display at NOMA earlier this year in the show, “Parallel Universe.” She… - Tim Laughlin featuring Connie Jones, If Dreams Come True (Gentilly Records)
During the summer of 2010, clarinetist Tim Laughlin asked cornetist Connie Jones to imagine a “dream band”. The list included—among others—John… - Sasha Masakowski and Musical Playground, Wishes (Hypersoul Records)
In the two years since the release of her debut, Musical Playground, Sasha Masakowski has blossomed from a fresh-faced song girl… - Amédé Ardoin, Mama, I’ll Be Long Gone: The Complete Recordings of Amédé Ardoin (Tompkins Square Records)
There’s some deep irony in the title. Anyone up on the Cajun-Creole music scene of Southwest Louisiana knows that these sounds,… - Dee-1, I Hope They Hear Me Vol. 2 (mixtape)
A lot has changed in the year since Dee-1 released his last mixtape I Hope They Hear Me Vol. 1. He’s… - Jesse Legé, Joel Savoy and the Cajun Country Revival, The Right Combination (Valcour Records)
Joel Savoy has become a central figure in the Acadian Uprising, a second wave of young revivalists coming to the forefront… - Tom McDermott and Evan Christopher, Almost Native (Threadhead Records)
A grid of 12 images adorns the cover of Almost Native. It includes a po-boy, a pair of maracas, and the… - Jamie Bergeron & the Kickin’ Cajuns, Your New CD (KC Entertainment)
If it wasn’t for a devastating fire that torched Jamie Bergeron’s house and claimed clothes, accordions, vehicles and the lives of… - Marcia Ball, Roadside Attractions (Alligator Records)
Marcia Ball’s new record is a tribute to her consistency. It shows off what she does best, swinging uptempo grooves, boogie… - Irvin Mayfield, A Love Letter to New Orleans (Basin Street Records)
Irvin Mayfield has called his tutelage under Wynton Marsalis “probably the largest influence on my life.” Adopting the Wynton model of… - Jeffery Broussard and the Creole Cowboys, Return of the Creole (Maison de Soul Records)
Jeffery Broussard may have once spearheaded the most influential band of modern zydeco with Zydeco Force, but these days he’s on… - New Orleans Moonshiners, Frenchmen St. Parade (Independent)
The Moonshiners have built a reputation as one of New Orleans’ most capable—and unpredictable—trad groups. The group’s third album witnesses a… - Garage a Trois, Always Be Happy, But Stay Evil (Royal Potato Family Records)
Like Gang of Four, which is now essentially two guys, Garage a Trois has a band name that’s just too good… - J. the Savage, Very Same Dream (Independent)
Very Same Dream represents a significant step forward for the singer-songwriter Jamie Bernstein, in his current incarnation as front man for… - Tom Fitzpatrick, Chillin’ at the Point (Immersion Records)
On Chillin’ at the Point, Tom Fitzpatrick approaches the compositions and repertoire of, among others, Stanley Turrentine, Roland Kirk, and David… - Lynn Drury, Sugar on the Floor (Old Shoes Records)
Sugar on the Floor is Lynn Drury’s trump card. The talented New Orleans singer-songwriter has built a strong local following through… - Tuba Skinny, Garbage Man (Independent)
This is the third record in as many years from Tuba Skinny, one of the more interesting members of trad jazz’s… - Dirty Bourbon River Show, Volume Two (Independent)
On its debut, Volume One, Dirty Bourbon River Show was more of a theme than a band, playing like the soundtrack… - Jamie Hayes, Signatures (Pussy Cat Records)
A cast chockfull of pros and an earnest appreciation of local life give artist Jamie Hayes a significant head start in… - Gravy, The Hard Way (Gravy and Blue Eyed Dog Records)
A solid offering from a local funk outfit, The Hard Way is a title that might serve as a daily reminder… - Frederick “Shep” Sheppard, Habari Gani (Independent)
When Frederick “Shep” Sheppard died in Phoenix in January of 2008, a small piece of the impressive legacy he left behind… - Kelcy Mae, Pennies in Hand (Parish Road Records)
The sound of Pennies in Hand is familiar enough. Kelcy Mae and the album exist in Lilith Fair’s long shadow, evidenced…
