Issue Articles — Features
Paul Sanchez
Paul Sanchez is used to being called a world-class songwriter. He’s less used to being called “one tough motherfucker,” which is how a friend recently put it. But the road that brought him back to Jazz Fest this year included toughing through some serious health issues and facing a long struggle to regain his singing voice.
Ron Carter
Ron Carter experienced something he’d never experienced before in making his latest album, Sweet, Sweet Spirit, a collaboration with gospel star Ricky Dillard and his New-G Choir. That is saying a lot, given his status as the most-recorded bassist ever—more than 2,200 sessions, from anchoring Miles Davis’ classic 1960s quintet to working with just about every major jazz figure of the last 70 years (Bill Evans, Wes Montgomery and George Benson among them) and some big pop acts (including Roberta Flack, Bette Midler and hip-hop’s A Tribe Called Quest) too. Generally called “Mr. Carter” and “maestro,” he was named an NEA Jazz Master in 1998.
Cowboy Mouth
I vividly recall the first time I saw Cowboy Mouth at Jazz Fest, where Fred LeBlanc, the group’s founder and leader, climbed on top of a giant stage PA and proceeded to sing from up there.
Dayna Kurtz and Robert Maché
When you see Dayna Kurtz and Robert Maché onstage together, the first thing you notice—aside from the fact that he’s a killer guitarist and she’s got a voice to die for—is the rapport they have together. It’s both personal and musical, as they complete each other’s jokes as easily as they get into a song.
Little Feat
There are likely a lot of people who still presume that Little Feat is a New Orleans band—and spiritually speaking, they are. You name the connection, they’ve got it: The Feat have made regular Jazz Fest appearances, performed and recorded with local icons, and saluted New Orleans by name in a few great songs. They are regulars on the Big Easy Cruise line up and they’ve even had their share of dinners at Cochon.
Jon Cleary
The night Jon Cleary arrived in New Orleans as a teenager, he assumed that he was taking his first steps on American soil—at the Maple Leaf with Earl King on stage. He hadn’t really landed in the United States exactly, but instead in the northern musical capital of the Caribbean.
Sweet Crude: Drums and Voices
There are two phrases that Sweet Crude try their hardest to avoid when talking about their upcoming project: One is “back to our roots,” the other is “with a little help from our friends.” Both phrases are things you’ve heard many times before, while Sweet Crude’s music decidedly is not.
Carolyn Wonderland: Let’s Play a Game
The last time Texas guitar virtuoso Carolyn Wonderland played at Jazz Fest in 2018 was an especially memorable one: It was her debut with British blues legend John Mayall, and she was so new to the band that she hadn’t met them all, much less rehearsed.
The Fabulous Thunderbirds
Of all the acts headlining the Blues Tent this year, there won’t be many who’ve ever had a Top Ten single on the pop charts. The Fabulous Thunderbirds managed it with 1986’s “Tuff Enuff,” still a rare achievement with a blues band.
