May 2006
BackTalk
- George Wein
Producer George Wein created the concept of the contemporary music festival more than a half century ago with the Newport Jazz…
Features
- Fest Focus: Jazz & Heritage Stage
Jazz legend Chico Hamilton has come a long way. He turns 85 this September and his life has had an indelible… - Fest Focus: Big Daddy Kane, Slick Rick and Doug E. Fresh
- Bouncing Back
In the summer of 2005, writer Nik Cohn, published Triksta, which details his immersion in the world of New Orleans’ street… - The Magnificent Seven
- Something in the Water?
- Considering the Possibilities
- Visions of Bob Dylan
- Working on Arrangements
- Shame, Shame, Shame
- Why Jazz Fest Matters
“Most New Orleans Music Has a Recognizable Family Resemblance”: A Conversation with Tom Piazza Writer and critic Tom Piazza talks… - The Power of Positive Croaking
- Fest Focus: Jonathan Batiste
- Fest Focus: Angelique Kidjo
- Fest Focus: Nathan & the Zydeco Cha Chas
- Fest Focus: Jeff & Vida
- Fest Focus: Bill Summers
- Fest Focus: James Rivers
- Fest Focus: Pine Leaf Boys
- Fest Focus: McDonogh #35 High School Gospel Choir
It’s easy to tell when the McDonogh #35 High School Gospel Choir takes the stage in the Gospel Tent. The energy… - Fest Focus: Ohio Players
- Fest Focus: Anders Osborne and Walter ""Wolfman"" Washington
- Fest Focus: Steve Turre
- Fest Focus: Susan Cowsill
- Fest Focus: Amanda Shaw
Fresh
- Long Live the King
Live was recorded in Vascon, Italy. For the occasion, Forest rounded up his highly accomplished Euro touring band of the past… - Movin' On Up
New Orleans has long been considered a late night town. With the words “last call for alcohol” foreign to its citizens’… - Men of Steel
- A Joe of All Trades
- You Go, Girls
- Hall of Fame
- Exile on Decatur Street
- Frankie Ford Cruises To A Grammy
- The History of American Music
- Down on the Farm
- Michael Frey
Letters
- May 2006 Letters
MUSIC IN EXILE I’m a transplanted New Orleans native (and musician) living in Memphis. I moved away 30 years ago, because…
Mojo Mouth
- Love is Not Enough
We made it to another Jazz Fest. There was a time, just a few months ago, when we had no idea…
Reviews
- Tom Ze, Estudando O Pagode (Luaka Bop/V2)
Avant-garde composer Tom Zé emerged from Brazil’s tropicalia movement in the late ’60s, but that’s more a function of being… - Ray Charles, Unreleased (Night Train)
At the start of the ’50s, Ray Charles was recording for Down Beat Records (which became Swing Time Records). This collection… - Bobby Previte, The Coalition of the Willing (Ropeadope)
Drummer Bobby Previte calls this lineup — which includes Charlie Hunter, Skerik and Stanton Moore — his “super bar band.”… - Asha Bhosle, Love Supreme (Times Square)
Cornershop paid tribute the voice of Bollywood film, Asha Bhosle, in the 1997 single “Brimful of Asha.” Ears not acclimated… - Christian McBride, Live at Tonic (Ropeadope)
Three discs for the price of one is good value, and on a per note basis, Live at Tonic is… - Motion Trio, Play-Station (Asphalt Tango)
Poland’s Motion Trio (not to be confused with jazz drummer Paul Motian’s long-running trio) proudly display their allegiance to the acoustic… - Afrissippi, Fulani Journey (
Afrissippi isn’t so much a band as it is a project that explores the oft-discussed link between the Blues and African… - Willie Nile, Streets of New York (Reincarnate)
In New York City in the late ’70’s, there was a distinct and thriving music scene brought to life by guitar-playing… - Thomas Brothers, Louis Armstrong's New Orleans (W.W. Norton and Company)
If you care about jazz in New Orleans, Louis Armstrong’s New Orleans is required reading. For once, the tired cliché about… - Lost Bayou Ramblers, Lost Bayou Ramblers preset the Mello Joy Boys (Swallow)
The album’s conceit is announced in the opening to “Mello Joy Boy Theme Song,” when a voice through some faraway radio… - Marc Stone, Kickin' at the Old Point (Tullip)
Musician, WWOZ radio personality and OffBeat columnist Marc Stone has been running one of the coolest regular gigs in town over… - Kevin Naquin & The Ossun Playboys, Mercedi Soir Passe (Swallow Records)
Not many 26-year-olds can boast a seven-album discography and a mantle-sagging 14 CFMA awards like Kevin Naquin. His latest is another… - Miss Etta James, The Complete Modern & Kent Recordings (Ace Records)
There are scores of Etta James CDs out there, but this one is unique. These are her original recordings. Some great,… - Nathan & the Zydeco Cha Chas, Hang It High, Hang It Low (Rounder)
Anyway you look at it, there’s only one conclusion when it comes to Nathan & the Zydeco Cha Chas: they are… - C.J. Chenier, The Desperate Kingdom of Love (World Village Records)
Even if his dad, king of zydeco Clifton Chenier, hadn’t tagged C.J. to eventually succeed him, inevitably the younger musician would… - Pine Leaf Boys, La Musique (Arhoolie)
Every once in awhile it happens ─ the gods of Cajun tap another young group to hoist the banner of traditional… - Jeff Chaz, In Exile (JCP)
In recent years, Jeff Chaz served as one of a trio of blues performers who’d stuck it out on Bourbon Street,… - Big Sam's Funky Nation, Take Me Back (Independent)
Even in New Orleans, you don’t usually find funk bands as brassy, brass bands as funky, or brass-funk bands as jazzy… - Papa Grows Funk, Live at the Leaf (Funky Krewe)
The first live album from New Orleans’ own Rainbow Coalition of Funk shows why six years down the road, Papa Grows… - Drive-By Truckers, A Blessing and a Curse (New West)
When the Drive-By Truckers initiated their three-guitar lineup to tell the Lynyrd Skynrd story on Southern Rock Opera, they gave their… - Belong, October Language (Carpark)
Dive into the ocean. Let just enough air from your lungs that you can lie on the bottom, on your back,… - Drew Landry and the Dirty Cajuns, Tailgaten Relief & Hurricane Companion EP (Independent)
With all the natural catastrophes, horrific tragedies and political bungling plaguing Louisiana over the past several months, it’s a wonder there… - Eric Lindell, Change in the Weather (Alligator)
This one’s full of surprises. First of all, it’s surprising to see New Orleans’ Eric Lindell on the same Chicago blues… - Tab Benoit, Brother To The Blues (Telarc)
File this one under country blues, but not next to Robert Johnson or Charlie Patton. On Brother To The Blues, Tab… - The Festers, Songs Drinkin' Live (Independent)
Speaking of parties, no town on earth — save perhaps New York — has needed a New Year’s Eve celebration the… - Stover, Via Deluna (Independent)
Having already led a scene of roots-rock freaks and collaborated with everyone in town but Morgus, setting famous poems to music… - The Meters, Reunited At the 2005 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival (MunckMix)
Not much one can say about this release, as it was without a doubt the New Orleans music event of this… - John Ellis, By a Thread (Hyena)
John Ellis recently ended a five-year stint in guitarist Charlie Hunter’s popular trio, and now he’s concentrating on leading his own… - Jack Brass Band, You Don't Know Me (Independent)
The first test in evaluating brass band music — and especially brass band music played by a non-New Orleans group —… - Gangbe Brass Band, Whendo [Roots Racines] (World Village)
Hailing from Benin, Africa, the Gangbé Brass Band provides vivid evidence of the mutability and vitality of the brass band ensemble.… - Jonathan Batiste, Live in New York (Independent)
Jonathan Batiste has arrived. On his first album, Times in New Orleans, the 19-year-old New Orleans native tackled a breathtaking range… - Rick Trolsen, New Orleans Lullaby (Lort Records)
In a town where musicians move freely between styles, Rick Trolsen still stands out for his genre jumps. Back in the… - Betty Winn and One A-Chord, Praising In New Orleans (Spirit Records)
Betty Winn’s choir One A-Chord (not to be confused with other troupes bearing similar names around the country) has long been… - Fats Domino, Alive and Kickin' (Tipitina's Foundation)
First of all, Fats Domino will never surpass the majesty of his 1950s recordings, so don’t pick this up expecting him… - Dr. John, Mercenary (Blue Note)
Mac Rebennack has made most of his career into a theatrical performance as the New Orleans mythic icon Dr. John, and… - Irma Thomas, A Woman's Viewpoint: The Essential 1970's Recordings (Kent)
This one could have been titled Irma In Exile, as most of these sides were recorded in the 1970s when Thomas… - Irma Thomas, After the Rain (Rounder)
Many great jazz artists have complained about having to compete with their younger selves as reissues of their classic career-defining…
