Some bands seem obliged to jam at Jazz Fest, even if jamming isn’t what they do best. That was partly the case in Hall & Oates’ set, with stretched out versions of “I Can’t Go For That (No Can Do)” and “Sara Smile” that collectively filled nearly one-third of a 90-minute show. (Both featured saxophonist Charlie DeChant, the senior member of their band and the one who’s been there since hitmaking days).

John Oates & original saxophonist Charlie DeChant at Gentilly Stage | Photo by Earl Perry

The jams were largely beside the point, and the point with H&O is great four-minute pop/soul singeles. Fortunately the set began and ended with a brace of those, with a four-song encore (“Rich Girl,” “You Make My Dreams”, “Private Eyes” and “Kiss On My List”) that was a jukebox in itself. Though H&O are tied to the past as hitmakers (1985’s “Method of Modern Love” was the newest song played), Daryl Hall remains a charismatic performer—and make no mistake, it’s 95 percent Hall’s show, with Oates singing but two leads. But even if they cut off in the 80s, their catalogue is full of neglected gems: Their Fest set had one minor hit (“How Does It Feel to be Back”) and one deep cut (“Las Vegas Turnaround”) and there’s plenty more where those came from.

Pete Fountain at Jazz Fest May 5 | Photo by Kim Welsh

Pete Fountain’s set amounted to a celebration of the man, who’s seen some recent health problems and had to miss a scheduled French Quarter Fest appearance. Seated in a red walker, he was joined onstage by family members including his granddaughter who played washboard; and his great-granddaughter who serenaded him with “You Are My Sunshine.” The sadder part is that Fountain was unable to do much playing: He held his clarinet throughout but was mainly there as guest of honor, smiling broadly and posing for photos for the fans upfront. Longtime protégé Tim Laughlin handled most of the clarinet lines; Fountain added a few grace notes here and there. So his fans didn’t get to hear his trademark version of “Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans,” but they did get to be part of a well-deserved salute.

The one pitfall you might expect from a solo Aaron Neville set—that it would be wall to wall ballads—wasn’t really the case at his Gentilly Stage closing set: Neville made smart choices from his solo and brothers catalogue, picking upbeat tunes (“Fever,” Allen Toussaint’s “Hercules” – featuring young Jason Neville – and his own “Angola Bound”) to scatter through the set, and saving the big ballads (not the commercial ones, but sturdy numbers like Leonard Cohen’s “Bird On a Wire” and Sam Cooke’s “A Change Is Gonna Come”) for the peak moments. Neville isn’t reinventing himself at this late date: The songs (including the odd “Mickey Mouse” finale) were all ones that he’s sung for many years, and the band included familiar faces Charles Neville (who got more sax solos than he usually does with the Brothers) and guitarist Eric Struthers. There were times (especially during the doo-wop material) when you wished the band was better at rocking out, but Neville’s voice was perfectly angelic, without the occasional raspiness that’s shown up in recent years.

Aaron Neville closed out the Gentilly Stage May 5 | Photo by Kim Welsh

The post Jazz Fest Recap, Sunday, May 5, 2013: Meter Men, Hall & Oates, Aaron Neville & More! appeared first on OffBeat.com
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For a certain stripe of blues fan, the older, wilder and more obscure the performer the better. If you’re of that mindset, you probably saw Drink Small, the 80-year-old South Carolina bluesman who’s been playing various joints for the past half-century.  The opening of his set, where he delivered a borderline-risque rap and then a song about how all guys should marry nurses, would have you thinking you’d struck gold. The rest of the set was a good deal loopier, as he played some very familiar songs—“Stand By Me,” “Little Red Rooster” and James Brown’s “I Feel Good”—in not-quite familiar ways, changing keys and lyrics at will. Backed by a tireless rhythm section (including drummer/writer Ben Sandmel), Small navigated the fine line between idiosyncratic genius and just plain wrong.

Drink Small (Photo: Earl Perry)

Thursday is traditionally family day at the Fest, which doesn’t mean you can’t get away with some innuendo: Fronting the Honeypots at Lagniappe, singer Margie Perez delivered a playfully sexy number whose chorus went “If I knew you were into Latin girls, I would’ve taken a chance.” Meanwhile at Economy Hall, Aurora Nealand sang a version of “Ain’t Nobody’s Business” that retained all the suggestion in Bessie Smith’s version and probably added a little. I expected zydeco’s queen of the double entendre, Rosie Ledet, to complete the trifecta, but she played a largely G-rated set, possibly because her own daughter was onstage with her (Ledet also let it be known that she’s become a grandma). That didn’t make her sound any less sprightly—she believes in keeping the songs short and fast, and she introduced a nifty one about the Rock ‘N’ Bowl.

He hasn’t released it yet, but Shamarr Allen has his hit: Once “My Girl Doesn’t Have Enough Sex With Me” gets out, he’ll be a patron saint to frustrated guys everywhere. It’s one of his classic-R&B styled songs, with a funny (but respectful) Michael Jackson mention in the lyric. When he played it at Congo Square he had most of the guys, and a few of the gals, singing along in agreement.

A rock band that impressed me at last month’s Freret Street fest, Gravy made their Jazz Fest debut at Lagniappe. This time they had a four-piece horn section, and some of their freer jams went into Galactic territory. But as on Freret, the highlight was a version of Pink Floyd’s “Fearless”—one of the Floyd’s few moments of outright joy, and one that translates well to gospel-rock context. The band’s own deep-Southern styled ballad, “Monterey” wasn’t far behind.

Patti Smith invokes "WOW." (Photo: Earl Perry)

Since last weekend’s George Benson set was for more enjoyable than expected, it seemed a good occasion to check out another jazzman who crossed over to smooth R&B success in the ‘70s/early ‘80s, namely vibraphonist Roy Ayers. His set at the Jazz Tent opened with some of the material that made him a hit back then: Elegant disco with cosmic overtones, completely enjoyable now that this kind of music is all but extinct. Ayers played MIDI vibes which sounded tinnier than real ones, but allowed for more variation of sounds. Unfortunately he followed that with Dizzy Gillespie’s “Night in Tunisia,” a classic tune that became a springboard for overlong sax, bass and drum solos, with a zillion melodic quotes and the tune itself falling by the wayside early on. Never thought I’d ever say this about anybody, but Ayers’ set needed less jazz and more disco.

On to Patti Smith, who was starting “Because the Night” as I arrived and went into frantic versions of “Banga” (with longtime guitarist Lenny Kaye doing the dog barks) and “People Have the Power”, a high level of intensity that I was told she’d maintained for the full set. There was a short breather on a piano/vocal Neil Young ballad, “It’s a Dream,” which she slotted in because “I didn’t do as much yakking as usual and we zipped through our set.” Then came the encore segue of “Land” into “Gloria,” a moment designed to inspire and to empower: As the song peaked for the third or fourth time, Smith made her testimony: “We have our blood. We have our imaginations. And we are fucking HERE!” Never mind if you’re too cynical to go to concerts looking for epiphanies: This was one.

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Most blues fans have not heard of the guitarist Sterling Magee a/k/a “Five-Fingers Magee” who, after being discharged from the army in New York, wrote songs for Jesse Stone, recorded several singles for Ray Charles’ Tangerine label, and backed up James Brown, King Curtis, and Big Maybelle. But anyone who frequented 125th Street in Harlem in the early 1980s probably saw Magee playing a rambunctious and loud guitar and hi-hat in front of the New York Telephone Company building and calling himself “Satan.”

Satan and Adam played a great set Jazz Fest on May 5.

One of the people who saw him was budding bluesman and harmonica player Adam Gussow. Gussow was studying at Columbia and starting to pay his blues dues in the East Village. They started playing together in 1986 in Harlem, and there began one of the most unlikely yet creative blues duos in the history of the music. Their sound was primitive and raw, but the rhythms and licks drew from blues, funk, and jazz. Both of them had a unique sound individually and when they came together, it was both street and sophistication.

Gussow recalls of those days, “On one hand, it’s the entertainment world and on the other hand it was the people’s music. It was folk music. Guys would sit in chairs and never look at us. They’d listen to the music and use it as music to watch women walk by.” Satan and Adam played together on the street until 1990 when they took several club gigs, opened for Buddy Guy in Central Park, and recorded an album, Harlem Blues. They started touring, and one of their first gigs was at the 1991 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival.

Their fortunes changed as Magee had a nervous breakdown in 1998 and basically disappeared. Gussow also had health issues, so they were forced to part ways. It was 2002 before Magee was discovered in a rest home in Gulfport, Florida. It took a while for Magee’s chops to come back, but by 2007, they’d added the late Dave Laycock on drums and ramped up their schedule. Gussow is also now a Professor of English at Ole Miss in Oxford. His memoir of his time playing with Magee in New York, Mr. Satan’s Apprentice, is an excellent remembrance and analysis of their history and partnership.

Gussow says that he values most their mutual attitude. “We both like to swing really hard and go wholeheartedly into it. It’s finding another human being to blend energies with. It’s that one on one thing where you need the other person to achieve something, and then you do, and you know what it’s like to do that. I’m sure the Flying Wallendas feel the same way.”

 

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Whenever Richie Havens played in New Orleans, it seemed that a piece of the Woodstock heritage had come to town. True, Havens– who died today (Monday) at age 72–had a career that spanned 50 years, and found him recording everything from traditional spirituals to Pink Floyd songs. But his most iconic moment was the performance of “Freedom” as captured in the Woodstock movie– a performance that set the spiritual tone for the film, for the festival and maybe even for the whole damn era.

Havens was a hippie in the best sense, a performer who always felt that delivering enlightenment was part of his business. Which is why there are no blatant sellout moves in his catalogue, even when he cut a bunch of adult-contemporary ballads and used drum machines on his records in the ’80s. He was thoughtful about which tunes he recorded; if there was a decent protest song around– whether Bob Dylan, Kris Kristofferson or Sting wrote it– he’d probably cover it. And the majesty of his voice made even apolitical songs sound topical; his version of George Harrison’s “Here Comes the Sun” (a top-40 hit in 1971) had a gravity that was missing in the Beatles’ original.

Richie Havens with New Orleans' own re-patriot, Charlie Gabriel at Preservation Hall

He also has a long connection with New Orleans; his 2007 set at the Blues Tent at Jazz Fest was one of the hidden gems that year. He was also part of the Preservation Hall tribute album Preservation in 2010; in an OffBeat interview at the time, the 78-year-old clarinetist Charlie Gabriel remembered Havens as “a very soulful individual.”

Here’s a performance you may not have heard, with Havens as guest singer for the English art-rock guitarist Steve Hackett. The guitarist thought that Havens’ voice conveyed a particular nobility that he wanted for this song; few voices could have done it more justice.

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“Due South: Roots, Songlines, Musical Geographies”

New Orleans music is once again the central focus of a national music conference this month as Seattle’s Experience Music Project (EMP) has chosen to hold its annual Pop Conference here in the Birthplace of American music at Tulane University from April 19 – 21. Certainly a perfect choice nestled neatly right between French Quarter Fest and Jazz Fest weeks! Who knows, maybe our EMP guests might just stay all the way through Jazz Fest, ya think?

Co-hosted by Tulane University’s New Orleans Center for the Gulf South, the theme of the 2013 EMP Pop Con is “Due South: Roots, Songlines, Musical Geographies.” There will be panel discussions on genres such as hip-hop and bounce, Cajun and zydeco, country music and the blues. The event will focus on the sound of specific Southern sites: the music of Muscle Shoals, the rap scene in Memphis, the blues of the Chitlin Circuit, the “creolization” of Cajun and zydeco, and for good measure, the politics of Washington D.C go-go music.

"Finding Professor Longhair" author, Hudson Marquez speaks at EMP Pop Con 2013 in NOLA

Live interviews with renowned journalists will be featured, including Nick Spitzer (celebrating the 15^th anniversary of NPR’s American Routes) and Hudson Marquez (Finding Professor Longhair). Highlighted musical performances will feature Jason Isbell (400 Unit, Drive-By Truckers) with a special interview by (OffBeat former Editor) Alex Rawls; as well as a Sunday brunch event, “The Banjo in the African Diaspora,” featuring Don Vappie and Carl LeBlanc of New Orleans with Demma Dia, a group of Senegalese musicians who play the ngoni, a predecessor of the banjo. The event will be moderated by historian Laurent Dubois (Duke University), who is currently at work on a cultural history of the banjo. Visual highlights include a rare screening of the bounce documentary, “Ya Heard Me?,” followed by a panel discussion with the director, Matt Miller, and a visual tour of Louisiana dancehalls (historic and contemporary) by John Sharp.

"Ya Heard Me?" NOLA bounce documentary film screening + panel discussion with director, Matt Miller at EMP Pop Con 2013in NOLA

Friday morning’s 9am session will feature a special panel discussion on D.C. go-go music and culture with guests from our country’s capital including photographer, musician and poet Thomas Sayers-Ellis, author Natalie Hopkinson, D.C. DJ Stylus and moderated by New Orleans’ own DJ Soul Sister.

The conference will be held on the second floor of the Lavin-Bernick Center (LBC) on Tulane University’s uptown campus on Friday (4/19) and Saturday (4/20) from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and Sunday (4/21) from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

An opening night welcome party will take place on Thursday, April 18 beginning at 7:30pm upstairs at Mimi’s in the Marigny with performances from Los Po-Boy-Citos (also performing on the Ford World Music Stage at FQF this Saturday, April13 at 12:45pm) at 10pm, and other live music features.

Admission is free and open to the public. However, space is limited and pre-registration is strongly encouraged. For more information about the conference, contact Karen Celestan or Joel Dinerstein at the New Orleans Center for the Gulf South – gulfsouth@tulane.edu.

Full Schedule + More Info: www.EMPmuseum.org/popconference

ABOUT THE EMP:

The EMP Pop (Music) Conference, launched in 2002, joins academics, critics, journalists, performers, and dedicated fans in a rare collective discussion examining the integral role that music plays in the human experience. Seattle’s Experience Music Project (EMP) Museum, now in its 12th year, is pleased to partner with five prestigious organizations located in music meccas across the country to offer sessions in New York City (New York University), Los Angeles (University of Southern California), Cleveland (Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum), Seattle (EMP), and New Orleans (Tulane).

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The free, all-ages, Baton Rouge Blues Festival (BRBF) will be Saturday, April 13 from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. in Downtown Baton Rouge. The impressive lineup will include Bobby Rush, Robert Randolph & the Family Band, Henry Gray, Lavelle White, CC Adcock & the Lafayette Marquis, Bryan Lee, Rudy Richard, Blind Boy Paxton, Baby Bee and Mr. Hinson & the Blisters. As a pre-festival treat, Radio Bar will host a Listening Party with Leah Smith of WBRH. The party is free and will feature bidding on one-of-a-kind portraits by artist TJ Black and drink specials benefiting the Baton Rouge Blues Foundation.

Bobby Rush is responsible for a stack of uniquely gritty and wild blues records, and his “Chicken Heads” rates as one of the greatest treatises on that subject. Sacred steel master Robert Randolph just announced his signing to the Blue Note label, which will release his first studio album in three years.

The festival’s backstage area will feature interviews with Rudy Richard (interviewed by Rob Payer), CC Adcock (interviewed by Alex V. Cook), Lavelle White (interviewed by Maxine Crump), Bobby Rush (interviewed by Karen Henderson) and Blind Boy Paxton (interviewed by Ian Perkins).  An after-party will be at Hartley/Vey Studios in the Shaw Center for the Arts at 9 p.m. featuring Baby Bee. The event is free with a suggested donation benefiting the Baton Rouge Blues Foundation. April 14 ends the week-long festivities with the free Sunday in the Park mini-fest featuring Moreland & Arbuckle in Lafayette Park from noon to 2 p.m.

Blues legend Bobby Rush will perform at the Galvez Stage at the 2013 Baton Rouge Blues Festival | Photo: Courtesy Photos

There will be two pre-festival kick-off parties on April 12: First, the family-friendly and open-to-the-public party, “Live After Five,” will be presented by the Downtown Business Association. Host Chris Leblanc and Friends Blues Review will host this free event in downtown Baton Rouge’s Town Square from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Second, The Gaudet Bros. and the Baton Rouge Blues Foundation will host a “Rent Party” at Iron Design at 540 N. 18^th Street. The party will include an exclusive performance with Blind Boy Paxton. The concept of the “rent party” began in 1920s Harlem to essentially help pay the rent; in keeping with that tradition the party will benefit the Baton Rouge Blues Foundation. Doors are at 7 p.m. and tickets are $40.

Follow the festival on Twitter at @brbluesfest, on Facebook at facebook.com/brbluesfest or online at batonrougebluesfestival.org.

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