Brett Milano reviews from Jazz Fest Day 6, Friday, May 1, 2026.
On Thursday the Jazz Fest hastily rearranged the schedule, communicated badly, and shut down super-early, and it didn’t rain. On Friday it rearranged the schedule more workably, got the word out, and shut down at a later time—and it rained a lot. There must be a lesson in there somewhere.
The pre-rain sets were rushed but enjoyable. The venerable Skatalites are down to zero original members, but the attrition happened gradually since the group rebooted in the ’90s, and most of the current members have at least played with the originals. They also keep the essence of the Skatalites alive: Since the group had no real hits on its own, it’s really about a seamless blend of jazz soloing with reggae/ska rhythms, and they pull that off fine; the current horn players don’t overextend their solos the way the original guys did in the ’90s. The one time they referred back to the Skatalites’ roots as Jamaica’s premier studio band was when they brought on singer Keisha Martin for a trio of vintage songs, including the early Wailers hit “Simmer Down.” Otherwise, it was all instrumentals, and the sense of humor was also intact: One song included monster-movie riffs and was called, you guessed, it, “Skalloween.”
The next couple hours were about seeing dependably great musicians do their dependable thing. Dragon Smoke brought together a pair of first-rate soloists, organist Ivan Neville and guitarist Eric Lindell, with the Galactic rhythm section of Stanton Moore and Rob Mercurio (with horns on a few tunes). I’ve caught this brand a few times and the setlist seldom varies but they never play it quite the same way; there’s always someone playing something especially tasty. When they got to their usual one-two punch of soul/blues covers—King Floyd’s “Groove Me” and Buddy Guy’s “Man of Many Words”—the deal was sealed.
From there it was the Lagniappe Stage where the New Orleans Guitar Masters were making their trademark sound, which is virtuosity with lyricism and a sense of play. Jimmy Robinson, Cranston Clements and John Rankin know their way around each other long enough to make the most daring improvisations work within the confines of a tune. For the finale they took on Robinson’s old Woodenhead tune, “Hotsy Totsy,” tossing the main theme around every which way and still getting it home on time.
Debbie Davis and Josh Paxton. Photo courtesy of the artists.
With the rain really heating up, I ducked into the Rhythmporium to find Debbie Davis in a sequined dress, doing her torchiest take on Tom Lehrer’s “Masochism Tango” with Josh Paxton adding suitable piano flourishes. Her fans know Davis’ wicked sense of humor, but her real specialty is finding nuances in familiar pop and rock songs to make them work as jazz. Highlights this day included Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On”—on which she dueted with Mia Borders, and which was dedicated to Leigh (Little Queenie) Harris—and an older, wiser take on the Pretenders’ “Middle of the Road.”
Some of Lainey Wilson’s songs, especially their titles, are so perfectly dead-on Nashville that it’s a wonder nobody ever wrote them before—seriously, it took this long for someone to come up with “Heart Like a Truck”? At Jazz Fest she touched a lot of familiar bases: the wild teenage memory song (“Watermelon Moonshine”); the eternal friendship song (“Dreamcatcher”) and the rocking love song (“Hang Tight Honey,)” but did it all with style and a mighty voice. And the best song—notably not one of her hits—was considerably edgier: “Ring Finger” references the Dixie Chicks hit “Goodbye Earl,” about leaving an abusive husband; but in this case she stands the guy up at the altar. Hence the chorus: “I got the ring, he got the finger.” That one was worth standing in the rain for.
—Brett Milano
