New Orleans was once a musical oasis, seemingly unnoticed by the world outside. This year, two of our Top 10 albums of the year received Grammy nominations—Rebirth Brass Band, Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys—and four of the artists record for companies based somewhere outside Louisiana. Trombone Shorty and Curren$y record for major labels, GIVERS’ [...]
Tag Archives: Helen Gillet
‘Tis the Season: Reindeer Games, Porter and More
December 19, 2011 – 2:59 pm
Christmas is only a week away, but the Christmas music keeps coming. Clint Maedgen and Helen Gillet have teamed up to record “Reindeer Games,” which you can hear and share on Facebook or download here. George Porter, Jr. released Christmas in New Orleans last year, but since we finally got a copy in the office [...]
Helen Gillet, Running of the Bells (Independent)
July 1, 2011 – 12:57 am
It’s hard to define what kind of music cellist Helen Gillet plays on this record. There is a contemporary classical vibe to this as well as a jazz sensibility and an avant-garde edge. However one chooses to define it, it is great music. Gillet plays her cello and uses effects and loops to add to [...]
Excerpt from New Atlantis by John Swenson: Breaking the Silence
June 1, 2011 – 12:09 am
This month, Consulting Editor John Swenson’s new book New Atlantis: Musicians Battle for the Survival of New Orleans examines the role musicians played in the city’s recovery. In this excerpt, he writes about the violence of 2006 and how it gave two musicians new artistic purpose. Glen David Andrews says he was one of [...]
Free McGrain, Singleton and Fitzpatrick Now
January 4, 2011 – 9:27 am
Tonight, Mark McGrain, James Singleton and Tom Fitzpatrick play the Open Ears Series upstairs at the Blue Nile. You can also download Pelican Sessions free now featuring that lineup with cellist Helen Gillet. It’s an album of improvisations by the quartet, featuring two wind and two strings, and it was recorded to raise money and awareness [...]
Haitian Singer Manno Charlemagne Comes to New Orleans
November 5, 2010 – 6:00 am
Haitian singer Manno Charlemagne will visit Louisiana this November for a musical residency. Charlemagne is known in his home country as a longtime activist and musical agitator for democracy, and as the one-time mayor of the capitol city of Port Au Prince. The destruction of his home in the January earthquake left him stranded in [...]
Kick(Start) Me: Kickstarter.com
November 1, 2010 – 12:25 am
UPDATED “I’m refusing to get a full time job.” Ask Kelcy Wilburn (a.k.a. Kelcy Mae) what she wants to do with her life, and it’s obvious—music is where her passion lies. “I know that if I get a full-time job, I won’t spend the time and energy that I need to on music and being [...]
YouTube du Jour: Voodoo Preview
October 31, 2010 – 8:24 am
OffBeat Online Editor Ben Berman previews Halloween at the Voodoo Experience in City Park, where My Morning Jacket, Trombone Shorty and the New Orleans Bingo! Show close the night.
Live Review: Helen Gillet and Friends at the Blue Nile
February 9, 2010 – 11:23 am
January 12, 2010 For fans of the musically unusual, the weekly “Open Ears” series at the Blue Nile on Frenchmen Street is valued addition to the New Orleans scene. Every Tuesday night, it hosts a concert of “interesting music” featuring artists ranging from the local to the international. On January 12 it was the former, as [...]
Helen Gillet: A Good Fit
February 1, 2010 – 1:00 am
Helen Gillet steeled herself against the January chill as she stood on a bright Marigny street corner right down Dauphine Street from Hubig’s bakery. Despite the cold, Helen was having too much fun trying out various costumes for a photo shoot to complain. “I really love dressing up,” says Gillet in a faux French outfit, [...]
