After six years in Lawrence, Kansas, former Lower Ninth Ward duo Mike West and Katie Euliss have expanded their family from four to six and added five albums to their discography as Truckstop Honeymoon. There are other things to brag about as well, such as chickens and hamsters and the daily triumph of sanity. They [...]
Tag Archives: traditional jazz
Thomas W. Jacobsen, Traditional New Orleans Jazz: Conversations with the Men Who Make the Music (LSU Press)
January 1, 2012 – 12:21 am
There are few listeners in New Orleans who’ve devoted themselves as fervently to the cause of covering traditional jazz as Tom Jacobsen. Traditional New Orleans Jazz: Conversations With the Men Who Make the Music is a unique oral history of a subject surprisingly neglected: the lives of people who’ve made their living playing trad jazz [...]
The Original Tuxedo Jazz Band: What’s in a Name?
January 1, 2012 – 12:03 am
This year’s Gretna Heritage Festival prompted the question: When there’s only one original member, is Lynyrd Skynyrd still Lynyrd Skynyrd? A New Orleans version of this question arose when it was announced that drummer Bob French would be stepping down as bandleader of the Original Tuxedo Brass Band, to be replaced by his nephew, Gerald [...]
OffBeat and Tuba Skinny at Chickie Wah Wah Tonight
December 1, 2011 – 1:41 pm
When the September issue hit the streets, OffBeat had an issue-release party at The Maison. The December issue‘s on the streets now and we’re going to Mid-City to celebrate the new issue tonight. Frenchmen and Royal Street regulars Tuba Skinny will perform traditional jazz and blues from the ’20s and ’30s at the party, and [...]
YouTube du Jour: The Cradle Is Rocking
September 27, 2011 – 12:16 pm
In 1968, a young filmmaker named Frank DeCola was paid as part of the United States Information Agency’s “Young Filmmakers Program” to direct The Cradle Is Rocking, a short documentary narrated by New Orleans jazz trumpeter Kid Sheik about his life playing New Orleans traditional jazz. For a long time only one copy of the [...]
Meschiya Lake: Worms, Light Bulbs, Champagne!
September 1, 2011 – 12:13 am
She’s the picture of self-possession. It’s Tuesday night and Meschiya Lake is standing to the left of her band, the Little Big Horns, with perfect posture, her hands squarely on her hips. She’s in a trim, vintage black dress with a white lace collar, but her face is hard to read. Is she having fun? [...]
Aurora Nealand and the Royal Roses, A Tribute to Sidney Bechet: Live in New Orleans (Independent)
August 1, 2011 – 12:58 am
Sidney Bechet’s music and prowess on the soprano saxophone was every bit as powerful, soulful, and inventive as his New Orleans compatriot Louis Armstrong, but Armstrong became the most famous jazz player ever and Bechet became more of cult figure. Aurora Nealand and the Royal Roses’ new live recording, A Tribute to Sidney Bechet, is [...]
The New Orleans Moonshiners: The Many Moons of Frenchmen Street
August 1, 2011 – 12:14 am
You might say that the trajectory of banjoist Chris Edmunds’ musical career has been a bit backwards. In 2008, dismayed at a lack of steady work, he took the plunge and started up his own band, the New Orleans Moonshiners. Only after the group was playing regularly did other gigs start to materialize. “I was [...]
YouTube du Jour: Don Vappie
July 12, 2011 – 11:06 am
Tonight, Don Vappie performs at Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse at 8 p.m. Here he is at the Dew Drop in Mandeville playing “Careless Love” with La Planche à Laver.
Lionel Ferbos: The Century Mark
July 1, 2011 – 12:15 am
On Sunday, July 17, the incomparable Lionel Ferbos will be one hundred years old. In order to maintain his chops, he still practices his horn from 45 minutes to one hour every day. Musically, Ferbos goes back to another time, that critical formative era when jazz as we know it was beginning to take shape. [...]
