“I love to play when my jaws are hurting on stage from smiling and laughing,” Ivan Neville said in an interview while on tour with the Neville Brothers in San Francisco. “I’ve got one rule right now: Fun is mandatory.”

Neville promises to enjoy several performances at 2003s New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival: solo on opening day, Thursday, April 24 and with the Neville Brothers (father Aaron and uncles Art, Charles and Cyril) closing Sunday, May 4.

A versatile, soulful musician, who...