Little Freddie King is expected to perform at this year’s New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, following recent health challenges.

According to a member of his team, King recently rehearsed with his band at the Marsalis Center, singing from a wheelchair. Despite ongoing health concerns, his voice remains intact, described as retaining the same “gut bucket” blues sound he’s long been known for.

Festival organizers have arranged accessibility accommodations to support his appearance, including transportation assistance and wheelchair access to performance areas.

In 2005, OffBeat’s Robert Fontenot wrote of King: “He plays hypnotic, repetitive, sometimes atonal blues on a pawnshop guitar. His songs are simple, loose, unstructured, cantankerous, and happily unenlightened when it comes to the fairer sex. And his life story is completely fucking frightening. In retrospect, it not only seems inevitable that Little Freddie King would make the trip to Water Valley, Mississippi to record for Fat Possum, it seems like an idea whose time should have come long ago. But then, neither King nor Fat Possum do things like “normal” people, which is what so many blues fans love about them.”

King’s scheduled performance signals a return to the stage for the veteran blues artist, who remains a foundational figure in New Orleans’ traditional blues scene. He is slated to perform Thursday, April 23 at Jazz Fest.