Issue Articles — BackTalk
Krewe du Vieux
“The story starts a million years ago when some caveman in order to impress his woman put on the skull of a dead animal and started dancing around pretending […]
Delfeayo Marsalis
In 1957, the Duke Ellington Orchestra recorded Such Sweet Thunder, a suite of 12 compositions based on the writings of William Shakespeare. It was remarkable program music designed to explore the personalities […]
The Radiators
On November 4, Ed Volker, the principal songwriter and singer with the Radiators, sent a letter of resignation to his bandmates Dave Malone, Reggie Scanlan, Camile Baudoin and Frank Bua. […]
Stephen Rehage
New Orleans has such a rich musical history that the city’s festival culture often reads like the climactic moment in Casablanca when Claude Rains says, “Round up the usual suspects!” […]
Ruthie Foster
Singer Ruthie Foster made a big impression at her first Jazz Fest appearance in 2008. Her big voice and positive spirit levitated the Blues Tent, and no matter how animated […]
Sweet Home New Orleans
Non-profit organizations did as much as anyone to help the New Orleans music community recover. Sweet Home New Orleans (SHNO) formed in 2006, and it was the culmination of that […]
Mystikal
For hip-hop, a genre even more obsessed with being fresh than pop, six years can be an eternity. Mystikal spent one such eternity in jail on charges of sexual assault […]
Earth, Wind & Fire’s Verdine White
When Earth, Wind & Fire substituted for Aretha Franklin at Jazz Fest this year, the audience likely traded up, whether it realized it or not. Aretha today is not Aretha […]
Patti Smith
“I love the 19th Century amateurs. That’s who I aspire to in photographs,” Patti Smith said. The musician/poet was speaking in the theater at the New Orleans Museum of Art, […]
Harold Battiste
[Recently, Harold Battiste finished his autobiography, Unfinished Blues, which tells the story of his life in the music business, including his time with Sam Cooke, AFO Records, Sonny and Cher […]
