Issue Articles — Features
Saving Snug: Jason Patterson buys Snug Harbor
Because Jason Patterson booked the music at the Snug Harbor Jazz Bistro and seemingly was always at the highly regarded jazz club many people outside of those who worked or hung there, understandably presumed that he owned the business. Not so. That is until mid-December 2022 when he bought it.
James Booker Behind The Iron Curtain: A five-CD box set features the piano genius’ East German concerts
A sprawling document of James Booker’s borderless genius, Behind The Iron Curtain plus… contains three complete and previously unreleased solo concerts by the New Orleans piano prodigy.
Fresh Twists on Mardi Gras: Delfeayo Marsalis goes to the Mardi Gras
“The essence of Carnival music is the dance groove for sure,” declares Delfeayo Marsalis. “If folks don’t feel like dancing to it, it’s not Mardi Gras.”
On Marsalis’ new release, Uptown on Mardi Gras Day (Troubadour Jass Records), the trombonist, band leader and composer and his talent-packed Uptown Jazz Orchestra continue that long-held required tradition by offering fresh twists on New Orleans much-beloved Mardi Gras classics and adding new tunes to the Carnival catalog.
Birth of a Krewe: Krewe of King James makes Mardi Gras funky
Brilliance is when one has an idea for something that doesn’t currently exist, and upon implementation it feels completely natural. As if it’s always been there. So, it was ten years ago to the date when Melissa Weber a.k.a. internationally known DJ Soul Sister birthed a krewe.
Krewe du Vieux Beats Off: Jan Ramsey named Queen of Krewe du Vieux
After picking OffBeat founder and published Jan Ramsey as the 2023 Queen, the folks at Krewe du Vieux tread a little lightly when telling her what they had decided on for the theme.
The Unfortunate Saga of Irvin Mayfield
Irvin Mayfield was sentenced to 18 months in prison in January 2022, but was released on January 9, 2023, after serving less than a year. Although Mayfield pleaded guilty to diverting $1.3 million in New Orleans Public Library Foundation funding to other accounts for personal use, I continue to wonder why he and his business partner Ronald Markham were the only ones that were held responsible.
The Secret Ingredient: Violinist Rurik Nunan is the quintessential sideman
Violinist Rurik Nunan is the quintessential sideman. Rurik Nunan was supposed to be doing snow angels on a bed of euros in France by now. Though he made the pilgrimage from Atlanta to New Orleans to study at Loyola University in the early 2000s, his focus then was international business, because wolves of Wall Street study finance to snag fancy banking gigs. Which Nunan did, for the record. By the time he was 24, the Atlanta native was packing bags for a job abroad with a French mega-bank, doing what the 39-year-old fiddler now calls “dressed up bullshit.”
