June 2009
BackTalk
- Marcus Roberts
Pianist Marcus Roberts has been playing with bassist Roland Guerin and drummer Jason Marsalis (who also plays with Ellis Marsalis) for…
Cover Story
- Perfect Balance: Allen Toussaint
Allen Toussaint finally looks comfortable. We’ve finished talking and during the conversation, he expressed concern that he wasn’t a good interview.…
Features
- The Rest of the Fest
We’d never recommend hard living as a songwriting tool. But it seems to work fine for Anders Osborne, who unveiled yet… - Shining On
On the Monday night between Jazz Fest weekends, traditional jazz pours out of Mimi’s in the Marigny. Inside, two jitterbuggers dance… - Essence's Changing of the Guard
In early 2008, Stephen Rehage received a surprising message. “I randomly got an email asking if I could go to the… - Six for Switzerland
“The Ascona Festival is about New Orleans,” says Don Vappie. He will be performing alongside a host of international talent at…
Fresh
- The Once and Future Studio
This Jazz Fest, the Charles J. Colton Middle School’s auditorium was host to something far different than the school plays and… - The Jazz Class Plays An Encore for New Orleans
The seven members of the first class to graduate from the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz since its relocation to Loyola… - I Love a Parade
It’s been almost four years since the cynical watchdogs known as the Nolafugees started lampooning everything governmentally sketchy or socially condemnable… - Tri-Fest-A
Thought festival season was over? Not so fast. Three staples of Louisiana culture—the Creole tomato, seafood, and Cajun and zydeco music—will… - Mr. Marsalis Goes to Washington
Ellis Marsalis will be honored this year at the Fifth Anniversary Duke Ellington Jazz Festival (DEJF) in Washington, D.C. The 10-day… - School of Jazz
Hurricane Katrina’s cyclonic winds scattered New Orleans musicians all over the country, but perhaps the most unlikely of landing spots was…
Letters
- June 2009 Letters
MUSICAL MORONS Wow, I am dismayed to hear that the crowd booed Dr. John. I was not impressed that Bon Jovi…
Mojo Mouth
- Big Thanks
May—post-Jazz Fest—is usually a pretty relaxed month for all of the OffBeat staff. Our biggest issue of the year is done,…
OffBeat Eats
- Margie Perez Hits the Spot at Sound Cafe
Sound Cafe 2700 Chartres Street (504) 947-4477 When did you start coming to Sound Cafe? Before I got my day… - Dining Out: Ciro's Cote Sud
Your 401K is shot, your savings are depleted, and the vacation fund is paying for a new set of tires. You…
Dining Out
- Dining Out: Ciro's Cote Sud
Your 401K is shot, your savings are depleted, and the vacation fund is paying for a new set of tires. You…
The Spot
- Margie Perez Hits the Spot at Sound Cafe
Sound Cafe 2700 Chartres Street (504) 947-4477 When did you start coming to Sound Cafe? Before I got my day…
Reviews
- Telefon Tel Aviv, Immolate Yourself (BPitch Control)
Immolate Yourself is a sad final document for Telefon Tel Aviv in a number of ways. The band that could conjure… - Better Than Ezra, Paper Empire (Red Distribution)
By now, Better Than Ezra holds few surprises. They make BTE songs full of longing, ache and surging energy. They’re attentive… - Black Moth Super Rainbow, Eating Us (Graveface)
This is so up my alley—Moog synthesizers, trip-hop drums, and melancholy robo-vocals singing surprisingly solid melodies. Psychedelia is rarely this convincing… - J.J. Caillier, The Zydeco Knockout (Caillier)
Zydeco stopped being an old man’s game in the late ’80s when Zydeco Force turned it upside down and modernized it,… - Various Artists, Robots Are Mean (NOIRC)
On their first compilation, Rock Beats Paper, the New Orleans Indie Rock Collective showed that there was more bounding around the… - The New Orleans Jazz Orchestra, Book One (Harmonia Mundi)
Irvin Mayfield’s musical career has been occluded by his personality, which has distracted critics from his strengths as a conceptualist and… - Beth McKee, I'm That Way (bethmckee.com)
The ladies love Bobby Charles. McKee, ex-Evangeline and ex-Mid City, devotes this album entirely to his songs, and Shannon McNally has… - Jermaine Quiz, Live in New Orleans (mixtape)
While New Orleans is known for being the home of dirty, in your face live shows of the most eclectic variety,… - Preservation Hall Jazz Band, New Orleans Preservation, Vol. 1 (Preservation Hall)
By now, it can’t be a surprise that there’s a lot that is subtly smart about the Preservation Hall Jazz Band.… - Jealous Monk, From Sun Up to Moon Down (Independent)
Given the abundance of talent that New Orleans has to offer in the fields of both rap and instrumental music, it’s… - Caddywhompus, EPs (Independent)
“What’s in a name?” Shakespeare once wrote. In “Caddywhompus” one expects a lot—or at least a band that rocks. They don’t… - Marcus Roberts, New Orleans Meets Harlem, Vol. 1 (J-Master)
Blind piano prodigy, Wynton Marsalis protégé and staunch traditionalist Marcus Roberts returns with his first album in eight years, New Orleans… - The Peekers, Life in the Air (Park the Van)
The Peekers, a six-piece band from Shreveport with a vintage sound impress with their decidedly eclectic and far reaching debut, Life… - Dee-1, David and Goliath (Independent)
It seems that new rappers, especially burgeoning southern artists, often fall into the clap-trap of mainstream hip-hop, with its empty insistence… - Anson Funderburgh and the Rockets, Talk to You by Hand (Hep Cat)
This was the initial offering from Black Top back in 1981, and it stands the test of time. The Rockets were…
