Offbeat Magazine January 2017

LOUISIANA MUSIC, FOOD & CULTURE—JANUARY 2017 Free In Metro New Orleans US $5.99 CAN $6.99 £UK 3.50

BLAST FROM THE PAST

Lifetime Achievement in Music Johnny Vidacovich

“Bop that Pops”

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LETTERS

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MOJO MOUTH

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FRESH

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Reinvigorated Carver Theater; My Music with Valerie Sassyfras; OffBeat’s Playlist: the ten songs we need to hear in 2017, and more.

OBITUARY

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Herb Hardesty

TOPS IN MUSIC

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Author Alyn Shipton talks about working with Danny Barker.

NEW ORLEANS’ ADOPTED SON

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Marcus Roberts: “What I love about jazz is that there is no formula.”

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IN THE SPIRIT

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Jacob Cureton at Annunciation mixes up Fire On the Bayou for George Porter, Jr.

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Paul Sanchez is In the Spot at Napoleon House and Peter Thriffiley reviews Station 6.

REVIEWS

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James Martin, Asylum Chorus, Louie Ludwig, Hapalong Catastrophe, Kettle Black, Terra Terra, Michael Tisserand’s Kingdom of Zydeco and Krazy: George Harriman: A Life in Black and White and more.

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Guitarist Steve Masakowski hits rewind on Astral Project’s Voodoo Bop.

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The Best of the Beat nominations.

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC EDUCATION Bruce Boyd Raeburn

POSITIVE VIBRATIONS HEARTBEAT AWARD Darryl Young (Dancing Man 504)

REWIND

BEST OF THE BEAT THE PARTY OF THE YEAR

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OFFBEAT EATS 14

The 50 best albums of 2016.

A LITTLE MONKEY-SHINE

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC BUSINESS Sonny Schneidau

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LISTINGS

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POSITIVE VIBRATIONS HEARTBEAT AWARD Backtalk with Detroit Brooks

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by Jonathan Tabak June 1999 In our cover story on Astral Project, Jonathan Tabak asks Johnny Vidacovich about playing with the band: “It’s like going to a family dinner … you go to a formal dinner, you’re thinking, I got to sit straight and watch my manners.

You go to a family dinner; you’re taken by the music of the family.”

To read more, this issue can be purchased at www.offbeat.com/shop/ back-issues/1999/offbeatmagazine-june-1999/ JAN U A RY 2017

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Letters

“I’m really happy for Anders that he got through this and has had the best creative period of his life.

He was one of the first artists that I discovered through a friend of mine who was playing with Bryan Lee...”

—Jean-Pierre Dangy (Jipes Blues), Mulhouse, Alsace, France

True Believer It feels good to be recognized and acknowledged by OffBeat, [True Believers by Laura DeFazio, November 2016] especially as I begin such an important musical journey.

This new project and the music I’ll be recording and performing is the culmination of everything that I’ve done thus far as a musician, and everything that I am as a person.

It’s kind of scary to step to the front of the stage as a singer, and ‘put it all out there’ with my original songwriting. And I have already sensed some pushback from folks who only know me as a bass player or a “Latin band guy” or a member of Honey Island. It’s definitely not easy to reinvent yourself in such a new way.

But support and encouragement from fans, friends and New Orleans music institutions like WWOZ and OffBeat Magazine is a huge inspiration and a great help.

—Sam Price, New Orleans, Louisiana

Frustrated It keeps me frustrated at not being there [in New Orleans] but on the 3rd of December we are there. Any tips, please let me know. I want to go back to Mandina’s and to Frenchmen Street. Maybe get to play harp again with Al Carson.

Last time there was a special deal at Restaurant August for a cheaper lunch, and I was taken to Acme Oyster House. I’ll go back to Rock ’n’ Bowl but would love a new treat.

—Terry Carter, Sittingbourne, United Kingdom

Anders Osborne I’m really happy for Anders that he got through this and has had the best creative period of his life. I’m a huge fan of him since the first album on Okeh. He was one of the first artists that I discovered through a friend of mine who was playing with

Bryan Lee at the Tropical Isle bar more than 10 years ago. I had the chance to see him performing with Stanton Moore at the Blue Nile and that was a real blast. Wish he would visit us in France one of these days.

—Jean-Pierre Dangy (Jipes Blues), Mulhouse, Alsace, France Great story. If I were a computer guy, I’d make an app where Friends of Bill could “check-in” at venues. Maybe with custom made emojis indicating you like to talk, you’re available to talk, or you’re just hanging listening to music.

—Terry Flanagan, Hampton Bays, New York

Mike Zito Make Blues Not War is a hard-rockin’ blues-embellished work of art. I love it. It’s reminiscence of Zito recordings going back to the Blue Room.

—Cletus Flynn, Milton, Vermont

Journalism The following letter is in response to Jan Ramsey’s October Mojo Mouth, “Oh, the Irony,” arguing that journalism used to provide information that people need to know about, not particularly what they want to know about.

I was very impressed with your editorial this month. I think you’ve put your finger on not only what’s wrong with journalism today, but on what people can do about it.

—Louie Ludwig, New Orleans, Louisiana

Three-year policy clarification This year we have instituted a “threeyear” nomination policy. If you’ve won a Best of the Beat Award three years in a row in a specific category, you cannot be nominated the fourth year. However, this does not disqualify you from being nominated again. Artists are not being retired forever. After winning three years in a row the artist cannot be nominated for the next two years, but can be nominated thereafter.—Ed.

OffBeat welcomes letters from its readers—both comments and criticisms. To be considered for publication, all letters must be signed and contain the current address and phone number of the writer. Letters to the editor are subject to editing for length or content deemed objectionable to OffBeat readers. Please send letters to Editor, OffBeat Publications, 421 Frenchmen St., Suite 200, New Orleans, LA 70116.

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Louisiana Music, Food & Culture

January 2017 Volume 30, Number 1 Publisher and Editor-in-Chief Jan V. Ramsey, janramsey@offbeat.com Managing Editor Joseph L. Irrera, josephirrera@offbeat.com Consulting Editor John Swenson Food Editor Elsa Hahne, elsahahne@offbeat.com Listings Editor Katie Walenter, listings@offbeat.com Contributors Sam D’Arcangelo, Frank Etheridge, Elsa Hahne, Robert Fontenot, Jeff Hannusch, David Kunian, Brett Milano, John Swenson, Peter Thriffiley, Dan Willging, Geraldine Wyckoff Cover Elsa Hahne with illustrations by Monica Kelly Christmas Angel (cover and cover feature) Lucia Mackey Art Director/Food Editor Elsa Hahne, elsahahne@offbeat.com Web Editor Sam D'Arcangelo, sam@offbeat.com Copy Editor Theo Schell-Lambert, theo@offbeat.com Advertising Sales Carver Rayburn, carver@offbeat.com Promotions Coordinator Camille A. Ramsey, camille@offbeat.com Advertising Design PressWorks, 504-944-4300 Business Manager Joseph L. Irrera Interns Brittney Karno, Aidan Soguero Distribution Patti Carrigan, Doug Jackson OffBeat (ISSN# 1090-0810) is published monthly in New Orleans by OffBeat, Inc., 421 Frenchmen St., Suite 200, New Orleans, LA 70116 (504) 944-4300 • fax (504) 944-4306 e-mail: offbeat@offbeat.com, web site: www.offbeat.com facebook.com/offbeatmagazine twitter.com/offbeatmagazine Copyright © 2017, OffBeat, Inc. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the consent of the publisher. OffBeat is a registered trademark of OffBeat, Inc. First class subscriptions to OffBeat in the U.S. are available for $45 per year ($52 Canada, $105 foreign airmail). Back issues are available for $10, except for the May issue for $16 (for foreign delivery add $6, except for the May issue add $4). Submission of photos and articles on Louisiana artists are welcomed, but unfortunately material cannot be returned.

MOJO MOUTH

Happy Safe New Year!

By Jan Ramsey

N

ew Orleans has experienced one of the more violent months in years. Of course, everyone in the hospitality industry hates when this fact is covered on local media, much less publicized on national broadcast outlets—but it’s a fact, and the city needs to quit giving lip service to solving the problem by “beefing up” NOPD presence. That may help, but overall, it’s not going to work.

The best stop-gap solution would be to create gun-free zones during parades and in the Quarter and entertainment zones. As long as handguns and other weapons are owned and carried at will by so many Americans, we will continue to have more violence. It’s just too easy for knuckleheads with easy access to firearms to start shooting

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when they’re full of alcohol, drugs or anger. Too easy. And who suffers the most? Innocent bystanders. Now that is a tragedy, and it is very scary.

Just as we have relinquished easy access to air transportation post-9/11, if gun violence continues and threatens our livelihood (i.e., our rights to parade and socialize in a safe environment), we need to re-think whether or not guns are allowed in certain areas and at certain times in the city.

I would guarantee that if we did this and publicized it nationally, we’d have even more visitors come to New Orleans than before.

The new year is always the time of year when we honor our local musicians at the Best of the Beat Awards. This year we give Lifetime Achievement props to

the most lovable and talented Johnny Vidacovich (Music); Dr. Bruce Raeburn of the Tulane Hogan Jazz Archive (Music Education); Sonny Schneidau (Music Business); and Detroit Brooks and Darryl ”Dancing Man 504” Young for their selfless contributions to the music community (HeartBeat). We stand in awe of you and your talent. Thank you! The 2016 Awards will take place on January 19 (more on the inside front cover). Buy tickets on OffBeat.com. We will also present the Music Business Awards on January 11 at the Orpheum Theatre.

We welcome the Jazz Education Network (JEN) Conference to New Orleans on January 4 through January 7 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel. Roughly 4,000 jazz students and their

teachers will flow into the city for this event—one we wish could take place here every single year!

For the first time, JEN will host a scholarship concert at the Hyatt’s Celestin Ballroom, on January 6, 2017 from 7 p.m. through 8:30 p.m.

What makes this event so special is that it gives promising jazz students from all over the U.S. the unique opportunity to perform with some of the country’s most-respected professional jazz musicians, including Branford Marsalis, Randy Brecker, Kirk Whalum, Victor Wooten, Rashawn Ross, Stanton Moore, David Paich, Johnny Vidacovich, Tony Dagradi, John Beasley and the Crescent Super Band.

Aren’t we lucky that local students and musicians can play with the masters all year long? O

JAN U A RY 2017

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FRESH

Photo: caitlyn ridenour

Seu Jorge at the Civic Theatre

MY MUSIC

OffBeat.com Photo: FRANK ETHERIDGE

Valerie Sassyfras

SWEET TWEETS

“I

’ve been going by the name Sassyfras since my husband [Johnny Donald] passed away, so that was in 2013. We travelled together and played music for a long time. He was my inspiration. The name came about because that’s what we called our band back when we performing together. Me being Sassy. So I decided to keep the name and use it like a last name.

We met in the ’80s, back when I was playing backup to my sister and brother-in-law. Johnny said, ‘This guy ain’t no good. Why don’t we start our own band? You be in the front.’ He told me to start playing the accordion, because we were doing Cajun and zydeco. And I had been doing Cajun and zydeco on the keyboards. He said, ‘That ain’t gonna work.’ He said, ‘I’ll learn all the string instruments.’ Well, he did, and I did, and we took it from there.

We had all these great festival gigs. Not too many club gigs. We worked for Pete Fountain Productions here; we worked as a four- and five-piece band and we kept it going for a quite a while.

The title of my new album, Sassquake!, comes from my consiglieres: Scott Sibley, Will McMains, Mario Palmisano. Scott produced the album at his studio.

They’ve been my saviors since Johnny died. They’re young. They’re hip. They’re musicians; they know what’s going on in the music scene.

And I was coming back from not doing it for a long time when I met them. They came in several times to see me play at the Piccadilly on Jefferson Highway. After Johnny died, they invited me over to watch Saints games and we just became buddies.

All sorts of things inspire me: people, places, events, songs. I never know where inspiration is going to come from. It depends on my mood. I’m inspired by artists that really have their stuff together. That can really put on a good show and be theatrical. That’s what I look for when I go see people play. I want to see them do more than just stand there and play their instrument.

After I opened for Boyfriend last August at Tip’s, I thought, ‘I’ve got to step up my show.’ I’m in my third year [as a one-woman band]. I’ve got the sound down and pretty much taken care of, so why not have dancers and make it a more theatrical thing? I’m hoping to keep it going with the Sasshay Dancers. I like it—it adds another element to the show.

In addition to the Sasshay Dancers, I’ll probably add in some visuals, some video, to my show. Just keep expanding its theatrical aspect.

That’s my intent—to keep stepping it up.”

—Frank Etheridge

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@aaronneville Thrilled that Apache is nominated in a few categories for Best of the Beat! @cedmundsjazz As of midnight last night—after I turned in my Media Law paper, I’m officially ONE semester away from dat J.D., dawlin’! @HarryConnickJR I need a cool rap name and “Harry” just ain’t cutting it. Yo, @50cent! Help me out! #hiphopharry #HarryTV @liprap Gotta say, the Cajun blood sausage @toupsmeatery is divine. Like eating a fine wine. A religious experience in meat form. @AnnetteSisco Napoleon Avenue streetwork will be complete before 2017 parades, Corps says. @jeffalbert Romantic night at home watching TED Talks. #nerdlife @nolacampanella When you see misaligned streets in New Orleans, they usually reflect old plantation lines. Lowerline (l-r) is lower line of Macarty parcel. @roarbandroar Thanks @NolaCostumeCtr & creating beautiful costumes for #water #musicvideo! Captured our vision perfectly! & gratitude @benny_ shugga

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FRESH

CARVER THEATER

Reinvigorated

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he Carver Theater has announced its initial 2017 music programming schedule—which is based around a number of new weekly music series—and a number of brand new amenities.

Beginning in January, the historic venue will host Monday night blues, Wednesday night jazz and Thursday night brass shows every week.

Tickets for these weekday gigs will cost $10, with doors opening at 7 p.m. and music at 8 p.m. In addition, free Saturday Showcases will take place at the Carver during the first five Saturdays of 2017.

The 16,000-square foot theater recently underwent an eight million dollar renovation, adding state-of-the-art sound and lighting equipment, as well as cosmetic/functional/safety improvements like multiple viewing screens, an in-house box office and remodeled artist green room.

“The Carver Theater is the perfect recipe for success,” says Chris Ritter, General Manager of the Carver, who previously ran one of Chicago’s most accomplished music and comedy venues, The Lakeshore Theater. “The rich history of the Tremé as the birthplace of jazz combined with the historical significance of the venue, the wealth of musical talent in New Orleans and our amazing sound system make for an unbeatable combination. We’re excited to debut our 2017 programming.”

Located in the heart of New Orleans’ Tremé neighborhood, the Carver Theater reopened in 2014 after suffering extensive damage as a result of Hurricane Katrina. Under the direction of Ritter, with talent booker and musician Davis Rogan and consultant Adam Shipley of Hep Cat Entertainment, the Carver plans to significantly expand its programming in the near future with a variety of local, regional and national touring acts.

The new upgrades to the Carver have also allowed the creation of over 40 jobs, replacing show-to-show contract workers with in-house security, box office assistants, bartenders, bar backs, cocktail servers and parking attendants plus a management team of bar manager, building manager and box office manager.

Other big plans are in the works too, including the launch of the Carver Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that will provide educational, performance and entertainment opportunities to young people in the Tremé. The theater also plans to host a diverse array of programming in the future, from annual street festivals to long-running musical productions.

Management hopes that a reinvigorated Carver Theater will anchor a commercial area on Orleans Avenue that will become a safe and customer-friendly alternative to Bourbon Street and Frenchmen Street.

The theater plans to raise the area’s profile by turning its additional properties into destination endeavors like restaurants, coffee shops, music clubs and art galleries.

Acts on the theater’s initial schedule include Johnny Sketch and the Dirty Notes, Honey Island Swamp Band, Dave Jordan & the NIA, Aurora Nealand & Royal Roses, Little Freddie King and many more. Tickets for the newly announced shows will go on sale Friday, December 16.

—Sam D’Arcangelo

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TEN SONGS WE NEED TO HEAR IN 2017

S

ome of the songs on this month’s playlist are good ones we may have overlooked when released last year; others are ones that recent events just seem to call for.

Allen Toussaint: “On Your Way Down”: In one of his greatest songs, Toussaint persuasively argued that all the riches in the world won’t do you any good if you’re not taking care of your soul. This is going to be the song we play while watching the inauguration, assuming we watch it at all.

Cowboy Mouth: “Bad Men”: In this punky rocker (a new song from last year’s greatest-hits album) Fred LeBlanc said that “bad men run the world.” Not going to add this to our inauguration playlist, are we? Take a wild guess.

Paul Sanchez: “I Still Believe”: Seems that a lot of people went through crises of faith in 2016, and Sanchez takes that topic head-on with this track from his excellent Heart Renovations album. Before turning into a rousing singalong, Sanchez lays down the nature of life: “First we’re all fine, then we’re all fucked, then we’re all fine again.”

Any questions?

Irene Sage: “Soulshine”: Another inspirational one, from the album (Love is Good) that got somewhat overlooked. The best song that Warren Haynes wrote in his tenure with the Allman Brothers Band, it calls for a singer who can make you feel the grit as well as the hope. Gregg Allman was suitably gritty on the original, but Sage makes it more of a gospel-flavored uplift.

Luke Winslow-King: “I’m Glad Trouble Don’t Last Always”: All this inauguration talk seems to have us on a jag for “hope in the dark hour” songs. Luke Winslow-King did a whole album on that topic this year. And despite any cranky things he may have said in interviews, the title track stands as a wise and warm-hearted tonic.

Margie Perez: “Love is All”: Another inspirational message, and the title track from another good CD that fell somewhat under the radar in 2016. Perez is the muse of good vibes on this track, and never mind what you got or didn’t get in ’16: Some of the album’s songs (“Sex Is,” “Reefer Gladness”) call on things that still make anyone’s life worthwhile.

The Radiators: “Long Way Down”: Shifting gears to better upcoming things, the Rads are once again set to play three nights’ worth of reunion sets at Tipitina’s this month. So we submit a request for this tune, a great Malone-sung swamp rocker. It somehow hasn’t been a regular part of the reunion shows, even though the song got loads of live play when it first showed up around 1999.

Anders Osborne: “Old Country”: Anders barely gave us time to digest the two albums he released in 2016; last month he returned to the studio to cut two more for 2017. So before dealing with those, make sure to give a good few listens to this nine-minute epic that highlighted Flower Box, an album full of live-sounding energy.

Little Queenie & the Percolators: “My Darlin’ New Orleans”: A beloved figure in New Orleans music who moved away some years back, Queenie’s been putting up a heroic fight against cancer over the past year. So we’re looking forward to the day when she’s once again ready to go onstage and perform her greatest hit.

Professor Longhair: “Big Chief”: Included here because, well, it’s a new year. And everybody knows that any year that you don’t hear “Big Chief” is a year wasted.

—Brett Milano www.OFFBEAT.com

IN MEMORIAM

Herb Hardesty (1925–2016)

H

erb Hardesty, one of the architects of the Fats Domino sound and a cornerstone of Domino’s fabulous band for nearly six decades, died December 3 at his Las Vegas home. He was 91.

Hardesty provided the distinctive tenor sax solos on such Domino hits such as “I’m Walkin’,” “Ain’t That a Shame,” “Let The Four Winds Blow” and “Blue Monday,” among others. Under Dave Bartholomew’s supervision, he also backed Chubby Newsome, Smiley Lewis, Tommy Ridgley, Lloyd Price and Bobby Mitchell.

“Back in the 1940s I had worked with every big band in New Orleans,” recalled Hardesty in 1991. “In the late ’40s I met Dave Bartholomew who one day asked me if I wanted to record for ‘The Fat Man.’ I thought he meant The Fatman who had a mystery program on the radio. ‘The Fat Man’ turned out to be a blues singer and piano player who was working at the Hideaway Club. I agreed and went in the studio to record ‘The Fat Man’ with Antoine ‘Fats’ Domino.”

From then on, it seemed like everything Dave recorded with Fats was a hit. I spent many hours in the studio building up Fats’ repertoire. I consider myself very fortunate to be part of that regime.”

Hardesty was born March 3, 1925, and grew up in Central City. Trumpet lessons started at the age of six as Hardesty’s stepfather obtained one of Louis Armstrong’s instruments to get him started. Taught by the legendary music tutor Professor Valmore Victor, Hardesty was on the fast track to a

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musical education. By 1935 he was working with the local WPA band and taking gigs with Papa Celestin and Sidney Desvigne.

Hardesty’s music career was put on hold when he enlisted in 1941.

Upon his discharge in 1945, he enrolled at Dillard University, bought a saxophone and began taking lessons.

Hardesty, and later saxophonist Lee Allen, would be Bartholomew’s first call for studio work throughout the early 1950s. In 1955, Bartholomew asked Hardesty if he would join Domino’s touring band. After the first tour, in addition to anchoring the horn section, Hardesty became Domino’s de facto road manager.

Along with his duties running Domino’s band, Hardesty made several solo/instrumental recordings on labels like Wing, Federal and Mutual, many that were reissued in 2012 on the Ace CD, The Domino Effect.

Hardesty continued to tour with Domino until 1971 when he moved to Las Vegas. In Nevada, he played with the likes of Duke Ellington, Tony Bennett and even Wilson Pickett.

In 1978, Hardesty and his old New Orleans studio buddy, drummer Earl Palmer, joined Tom Waits’ touring band to promote the Blue Valentine album. Hardesty toured the globe with Waits for the better part of a year, playing both tenor and trumpet.

Hardesty rejoined Domino’s band in 1980, playing with him until his last appearance at Tipitina’s in 2006 and at the Best of the Beat Awards in 2007.

Hardesty is survived by a companion of 35 years, Marty de la Rosa, and two sons.

—Jeff Hannusch www.OFFBEAT.com

TOP 50 ALBUMS

Tops in Music The 50 best albums of 2016.

W

e’ve polled our writers and editorial staff and have gathered 50 of our most recommended albums of the year. We didn’t include reissues and only included releases reviewed by us in 2016. Some titles released in December 2016 will be considered in the 2017 best-of list.

1. Aaron Neville: Apache (Tell It Records) The finale “Fragile World” is unlike anything he’s done before, a spoken sermon that looks directly at the gravest social ills, quoting Marvin Gaye to drive the point home.

—reviewed September 2016 by Brett Milano

2. Roddie Romero & the Hub City All-Stars: Gulfstream (Octavia Records) Sounds like everyone in the studio was having the time of their lives and the good spirits are completely infectious, adding punch to an already strong batch of material.

—reviewed Jazz Fest Bible 2016

by Brett Milano

3. Allen Toussaint: American Tunes (Nonesuch) We don’t know if Toussaint intended this is as his last album, but it’s a very fitting conclusion to his career ... he’s saying, “I started out as a Professor Longhair acolyte, and ended up in the company of Gottschalk, Duke Ellington and Paul Simon.”

—reviewed June 2016 by Tom McDermott

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We understand the difficulties in ranking and we only rank the Top 10. We hope that you use this list merely as a guide to the best music that Louisiana has to offer.

There’s a lot of great music out there!

5. Honey Island Swamp Band: Demolition Day (Ruf Records) Honey Island Swamp Band sound here like a band able to take on whatever shape the material demands.

—reviewed Jazz Fest Bible 2016

by Brett Milano

6. Luke Winslow-King: I’m Glad Trouble Don’t Last Always (Bloodshot) While he’s still informed by blues and gospel, his sound is now fully electric, and he’s never been more confident as a lead singer.

—reviewed September 2016 by Brett Milano

7. New Orleans Suspects: Kaleidoscoped (Independent) With Kaleidoscoped they take the next step, combining the styles into a full-fledged band sound.

—reviewed September 2016 by Brett Milano

4. Bobby Rush:

8. Gregg Martinez:

Porcupine Meat (Rounder) Bobby Rush’s Rounder debut is the closest thing to a major-label release in his 50-year career, and it may be the most polished one he’s ever made.

—reviewed October 2016 by Brett Milano

Soul of the Bayou (Louisiana Red Hot Records) He’s an egoless peer of legends T.K. Hulin and G.G. Shinn; nationally he’s been compared to Sam Cooke and Luther Vandross.

—reviewed January 2016 by Dan Willging

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The Next 9. Nolatet: Dogs (Royal Potato Family) What is the result of four eclectic music masters combining their talents? The answer is Nolatet’s brilliant debut album, Dogs.

—reviewed March 2016 by Geraldine Wyckoff

10. Kenny Neal: Bloodline (Cleopatra Blues) Bloodline represents Neal’s swamp-blues heritage and something he’s never exploited so thoroughly before: his versatility.

—reviewed October 2016 by John Wirt

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P TO

S BUM L A 50

40

(in alphabetical order)

Alexis & the Samurai: Move Into View (Independent) —reviewed July 2016 by Brett Milano Amanda Shaw: Amanda Shaw (Independent) —reviewed December 2016 by Robert Fontenot Anders Osborne: Flower Box (Back on Dumaine) —reviewed November 2016 by Brett Milano Aurora Nealand & the Royal Roses: Comeback Children (Independent) —reviewed May 2016 by Geraldine Wyckoff Barry Jean Ancelet & Sam Broussard: Broken Promised Land (Swallow Records) —reviewed October 2016 by Dan Willging Batture Boys: Muddy Water (Independent) —reviewed July 2016 by Robert Fontenot Brass Bed: In the Yellow Leaf (Modern Outsider) —reviewed June 2016 by Nick Pittman Bruce Daigrepont: Bienvenue Dans le Sud de la Louisiane (Bayou Pon Pon) —reviewed September 2016 by Dan Willging

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Cha Wa: Funk ’n’ Feathers (UPT) —reviewed Jazz Fest Bible 2016 by Geraldine Wyckoff Charlie Halloran & the Quality 6: Charlie Halloran & the Quality 6 (Independent) —reviewed January 2016 by Geraldine Wyckoff Corey Henry: Lapeitah (Louisiana Red Hot Records) —reviewed July 2016 by Geraldine Wyckoff Courtney Granger: Beneath Still Waters (Valcour Records) —reviewed November 2016 by Dan Willging Creole String Beans: Golden Crown (Independent) —reviewed July 2016 by Robert Fontenot Darcy Malone & the Tangle: Still Life (Independent) —reviewed Jazz Fest Bible 2016 by Brett Milano Dave Jordan and the NIA: No Losers Tonight (Independent) —reviewed July 2016 by Robert Fontenot Davell Crawford: Piano in the Vaults, Vol. 1 (Basin Street Records) —reviewed July 2016 by Geraldine Wyckoff Delfeayo Marsalis & the Uptown Jazz Orchestra: Make America Great Again! (Troubadour Jazz Records) —reviewed November 2016 by Geraldine Wyckoff Dick Deluxe: Turning 61 on Highway 61 (Independent) —reviewed August 2016 by Robert Fontenot Dr. John & Friends: The Musical Mojo of Dr. John: Celebrating Mac and His Music (Concord)—reviewed November 2016 by Brett Milano Eric Lindell: Matters of the Heart (Red Parlor Records) —reviewed May 2016 by Robert Fontenot Gregory Agid Quartet: Words Are Not Enough (Independent) —reviewed December 2016 by Geraldine Wyckoff Herlin Riley: New Direction (Mack Avenue) —reviewed April 2016 by Geraldine Wyckoff John “Papa” Gros: River’s on Fire (Uncle Bud’s Music) —reviewed October 2016 by John Swenson

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Leroy Jones: I’m Talkin’ Bout New Orleans (Independent) —reviewed May 2016 by Geraldine Wyckoff Magnetic Ear: Live at Vaughan’s (Independent) —reviewed April 2016 by Jennifer Odell Meschiya Lake and the Little Big Horns: Bad Kids Club (Independent) —reviewed February 2016 by David Kunian Mia Borders: Fever Dreams (Blaxican Records) —reviewed December 2016 by Brett Milano Michael Cerveris: Piety (Low Heat Records) —reviewed February 2016 by John Swenson Michael Doucet and Tom Rigney: Cajun Fandango (Parhelion Records) —reviewed June 2016 by Dan Willging Mike Zito: Make Blues Not War (Ruf Records) —reviewed December 2016 by John Wirt Miss Sophie Lee and the Parish Suites: Traverse This Universe (Independent) —reviewed June 2016 by Robert Fontenot Paul Sanchez: Heart Renovations (Independent) —reviewed September 2016 by John Swenson Professor Longhair: Live in Chicago (Orleans Records) —reviewed Jazz Fest Bible 2016 by John Swenson ROAR!: La-Di-Da (Independent) —reviewed December 2016 by Frank Etheridge Royal Southern Brotherhood: The Royal Gospel (Ruf Records) —reviewed July 2016 by Brett Milano Smoking Time Jazz Club: Make a Tadpole Holler Whale (Independent) —reviewed Jazz Fest Bible 2016 by Robert Fontenot Smoky Greenwell: South Louisiana Blues (Greenwell Records) —reviewed September 2016 by Dan Willging The Tumbling Wheels: Play the No Counts (United Bakery) —reviewed December 2016 by Brett Milano Tuba Skinny: Blue Chime Stomp (Independent) —reviewed Jazz Fest Bible 2016 by Clea Simon Will Porter: Tick Tock Tic (Ace Records) —reviewed July 2016 by John Swenson www.OFFBEAT.com

DANNY BARKER

A Little Monkey-Shine

“T

he house was like a cardboard box full of paper,” Alyn Shipton says of his initial impression on stepping into the Sere Street home of Danny and Blue Lu Barker.

Shipton, an author, bassist and broadcaster, was soon to become the editor of musician and writer Danny Barker’s remarkable autobiography, A Life in Jazz.

It was published by Macmillan Press in 1986 and has just been beautifully republished with glossy pages and additional photographs and passages by The Historic New Orleans Collection.

“You walked in and there were stacks of boxes and old menus with things written on them and yellow legal pads and typed pages with stories half-finished,” Shipton continues. “And, of course, that was a real jumble. I think one of the reasons that it had been difficult for Danny to get it off the ground [be published] was because people looked at that and thought, ‘Where do we begin?’”

Beyond Barker’s talents as a guitarist, banjoist, singer and composer, he remained legendary as a master storyteller, whether hanging in a bar or on a corner surrounded by a rapt audience, as well as in the written word. That immediately became apparent to Shipton, who was encouraged to meet Barker by drummer Trevor Richards, who informed him about Barker’s difficulty in getting his book published.

“I think Danny was very canny,” Shipton offers, “because the first things he gave me to read were complete stories.” At the time, Shipton had just started running the music division of London’s Macmillan Press, a position that enabled him to go forward with the project. “The first thing I thought was this man is a

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Danny Barker and Alyn Shipton in Ascona, Switzerland in 1989

talented, gifted writer.”

Shipton eagerly jumped into “the jumble” and began sorting things out. “I pretty quickly decided that what he showed me to start with was partially biographical and partly much wider,” he explains. “So there was one pile that was about Danny and the other pile was other stuff.”

The “Danny pile” included what would become the basis of A Life in Jazz, in which Barker writes with a unique perspective about how he saw the world— the French Quarter as a young boy, his two families (the Barkers and the Barbarins), his wife, New York and his years with bandleader Cab Calloway and his return to New Orleans—as well as his place in the equation.

These tales are told as only Danny Barker could narrate them, using his great wit and elegant simplicity peppered with often subtle yet poignant and humorous commentary on race relations. A telling quote from Barker, not included in the book,

By Geraldine Wyckoff

is when he was asked whether it was dangerous for a young black boy to be running around the French Quarter. He answered in typical Barker form, saying, ‘Oh no, I just carried a watermelon and everybody thought I was tame.’ Those types of sly remarks, acute observances and cultivated wisdom fill A Life in Jazz.

In the introduction of the new edition of the book, Bruce Raeburn of the Hogan Jazz Archive hits Danny’s style of telling a story and thus the book’s content on the head.

Speaking of clarinetist Sidney Bechet and then Barker, Raeburn notes, “Not everything is factual, but it is all meaningful. There is always a truth.”

Shipton remembers Danny readily admitting that he made some exaggerations here and there. “I added a little monkeyshine,” Barker said with what can be imagined to be a wily grin.

One of the beauties of A Life in Jazz is that Barker’s written words mimic his rhythmic way of speaking and playing jazz. One

can almost hear the pause as he waits patiently for the surprise effect of the next line or note.

“The spoken and written word is usually considered as two different things,” Shipton offers.

“It really isn’t in Danny’s case.” As the editor, Shipton made sure that the rhythm of Barker’s manuscript kept its beat.

“I read or he read every word of the book out loud to one another,” Shipton explains. “He’d slip into less formal English when he had a point to make, but he was very touchy about wanting the rest of the book to be as wellwritten, grammatical and formal as possible.”

One doesn’t need to have a particular interest in music to truly enjoy A Life in Jazz, as it contains so many historical, cultural and linguistic treasures. For instance, Barker’s childhood spasm band, which included pianist/vocalist Pleasant “Cousin Joe” Joseph, was called the Boozan Kings. We learn from Barker that in Creole, boozan means party—thus an apt name for his group of youngsters who supplied goodtime entertainment to keep the tips rollin’ in.

The book is a tale of New Orleans families and neighborhoods, like the then Italian-filled French Quarter that Barker once described as smelling like spaghetti and meatballs. It’s also a love story between him and his wife and musical partner, vocalist Blue Lu Barker, who he married in 1930 when she was just 16 years old.

“In A Life in Jazz, Danny is describing a real, living breathing world,” Shipton rightfully proclaims. “I can’t think of anyone else who has brought New Orleans to life with such panache.”

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Photo: Caroline Richmond, courtesy of the Danny Barker collection of Alyn Shipton

Author Alyn Shipton talks about working with Danny Barker.

MARCUS ROBERTS

New Orleans’ Adopted Son Marcus Roberts: “What I love about jazz is that there is no formula.”

“I

f you’re in any band and something goes wrong, you should assume that it’s your fault and try to fix it,” virtuosic pianist, composer and educator Marcus Roberts advises his students at Florida State University. “If everybody does that, the problems will be solved.”

On Saturday, January 28, Roberts, whose prolific recording career includes over 20 albums as leader, brings his 10-piece studentheavy band, the Modern Jazz Generation, to the George and Joyce Wein Jazz & Heritage Center.

The performance stands as a New Orleans debut for the MJG, which released its first album in 2014: Romance, Swing, and the Blues.

“The Modern Jazz Generation came about really due to the genuine interest of these young people that I was teaching,” says Roberts, who is an Associate Professor at the Tallahassee institution. “One by one, I’d occasionally use them for projects or gigs. In 2012, we did a show in New York and the energy in the room and the camaraderie among them was so great, I decided that I wanted to keep this going.”

Though the Florida native has never lived in New Orleans and isn’t blood kin to folks here, he is nonetheless a full-fledged member of the Crescent City’s musical clan.

That affinity comes via his long-time association with the Marsalis family.

At age 21, Roberts, 53, began performing in trumpeter Wynton Marsalis’ quartet and went on to sit behind the piano in the leader’s quintet, sextet and septet and record extensively with him. In the early 1990s, Roberts teamed with patriarch Ellis Marsalis for a series of duet piano concerts, and he recently got a call from trombonist Delfeayo Marsalis to be a guest on his gig. The pianist’s longest Marsalis musical association has been with drummer/vibraphonist

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Marcus Roberts (piano) with his Trio, includiing Jason Marsalis and Rodney Jordan

Jason Marsalis, who he scooped up for his trio over 20 years ago when Jason was only 17. Jason will be behind the drums at the MJG’s show along with longtime trio member, bassist Rodney Jordan.

Roberts began playing piano in church before taking formal piano lessons at age 12. At that time, he began learning how to play saxophone and drums and put some youngsters together in order to increase his own musical abilities.

He attended the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind, where vocational training, including music, was emphasized. Decades earlier Ray Charles attended the same St. Augustine school.

“All of us knowing that he went there—even as children, we

By Geraldine Wyckoff

knew that he was successful,” says Roberts of its significance. “And we thought, ‘I’m not going to do what he did, but I should be relatively successful too.’ That’s what heroes are for—to inspire us.”

Roberts, who went on to study classical music at Florida State University, credits Wynton for showing him the ropes. “He showed me how to do a record, how to lead a band, how to select material for a set and ultimately how to build a career,” Roberts says. “I had been teaching, but I didn’t understand the importance of doing it so that you could develop people who would come out here and play.”

“The first thing I tell students when they come into my office is

that jazz is about listening to each other,” Roberts continues. “When you really listen to somebody, it’s a sign of respect and that’s really the foundation of our music.”

Roberts, who is also a highly accomplished artist and composer in the classical realm, appreciates the important role that Jason Marsalis has played in the development of the Modern Jazz Generation.

“He’s on top of every single detail of what’s happening on the bandstand,” says Roberts, who praises the drummer for his “rare individuality, imagination, intelligence and passion.” “Frankly, he’s the reason I ended up playing with a trio for so long. I had to find more things for him to do.

What keeps a band together is the feeling that we’re not done.”

Besides his deep association with the Marsalis family, Roberts has furthered his ties to New Orleans as a number of Florida State students— including Grammy-nominated drummer/vocalist Jamison Ross, bassist Barry Stephenson and reedman Joe Goldberg—headed to the city.

The Modern Jazz Generation’s upcoming New Orleans show will include original material from Roberts’ pen plus works that he’s arranged. “It’s all the same,” he explains. “It’s like when you hear Thelonious Monk play a standard, you’d think he wrote it because he puts such an individual twist on it.”

Roberts promises that the audience is going to get “a lot of personalities.”

“All these young people are part of the band because they bring something special to it. The most important thing is that the audience will get to hear jazz musicians grow in front of their eyes.”

“What I love about jazz is that there is no formula. You find your voice, a context to express it and people who want to hear it and you’re there.”

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BEST OF THE BEAT

The Party of the Year The Best of the Beat nominees.

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ffBeat’s annual Best of the Beat Awards started 22 years ago, in 1995. Better Than Ezra was the big winner and took home Artist of the Year, Album of the Year for Deluxe and Song of the Year for “Good.”

Over the last 22 years we’ve seen others dominate the awards. For instance, Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews has been the Artist of the Year a total of seven times, five times in a row from 2010 through 2014.

Our Lifetime Achievement Award in music has recognized Aaron Neville, Tommy Ridgley, Dr. John, Earl King, Pete Fountain, Art Neville, Eddie Bo, Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown, Allen Toussaint, Irma Thomas, Fats Domino, Wardell Quezergue, Bo Dollis, Harold Battiste, Jr., “Deacon John” Moore, Dave Bartholomew, George Porter, Jr., Cyril Neville, Ellis Marsalis and the Radiators, as well as New Orleans R&B legends Al “Carnival Time” Johnson, Clarence “Frogman” Henry, Jean Knight, Frankie Ford, Ernie Vincent, Robert Parker and the Dixie Cups: a Who’s Who of Louisiana artists. I’ll never forget helping Robert Parker to the stage thinking he was frail and hoping everything would work out. When he got on the stage he completely transformed to an energetic ball of fire as he sang “Barefootin’”: It was magical.

Another memory is hanging backstage with Aaron Neville.

Aaron was looking at the crowd and noticed someone he knew from the old neighborhood.

He asked me if I would mind getting him and bringing him backstage. When I approached

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J. Monque’D and told him Aaron wanted to talk with him, he was literally speechless (rare for J. Monque’D). “Does he really want to see me?” he asked.

The tribute to Fats Domino was another highlight. The house was packed—the largest crowd ever. New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin declared the day “Fats Domino Day in New Orleans” and presented The Fat Man with a signed declaration. An all-star musical tribute followed with an introduction by the legendary producer Cosimo Matassa.

The Lil’ Band O’ Gold rhythm section, Warren Storm, Kenny Bill Stinson, David Egan and C.C. Adcock, anchored the band, and each contributed lead vocals.

Swamp pop legend Warren Storm led with “Let the Four Winds Blow” and “The Prisoner Song,” which he proudly

introduced by saying, “Fats Domino recorded this in 1958 ... and so did I.” The horn section included Lil’ Band O’ Gold’s Dickie Landry, Derek Huston and long-time Domino horn men Roger Lewis, Elliot “Stackman” Callier and Herb Hardesty. They were joined by Jon Cleary (who also played guitar in the rhythm section), Al “Carnival Time” Johnson, Irma Thomas, George Porter, Jr. Art Neville, Dr. John and Allen Toussaint, who wrote and debuted a song in tribute of Domino for the occasion.

This year we honor drummer extraordinaire Johnny Vidacovich.

Stanton Moore, a student of Johnny’s, has organized a similar tribute to the master.

We solicited nominations from musicians and others in the music community, for excellence in recordings and performances

during 2016. We then gave the results to our writers and editors and with input from both, determined the nominations in each category, keeping in mind that these nominations only recognize work done in 2016.

This year we have instituted a “three-year” nomination policy.

If you’ve won a Beat of the Beat Award three years in a row in a specific category, you cannot be nominated the fourth year.

This year we combined Rap and Hip-Hop with Bounce—that eliminated Big Freedia, who has won the Bounce category four years in a row. We hope that this new policy will recognize other hard-working musicians and give them the opportunity to win a Best of the Beat Award.

The public started voting on the resulting ballot on December 14. Voting ends on January 4, so www.OFFBEAT.com

T EA HE B T F O ST BE

if you haven’t voted, you need to hop to it before voting closes.

Winners will be announced at the Best of the Beat Awards, which returns to Generations Hall on Thursday, January 19, 2017.

Many of the city’s fine restaurants will be serving food that night at Generations Hall; last year, 20-plus restaurants served our guests, and we expect a similar number this year, including the Gumbo Shop, Aurora Catering, TeeEva’s, Barcadia, Southern Candymakers, Three Muses, the Norwegian Seamen’s Church and many more.

The 2016 Best of the Beat Awards and party will feature performances by Valerie Sassyfras; Mia Borders; Soul Brass Band; the Fortifiers featuring Sonny Boy Schneidau; Khris Royal and Dark Matter; Naughty Professor; and of course a tribute to Johnny Vidacovich with special guests.

Sponsors for this year’s Best of the Beat include Positive Vibrations Foundation, Generations Hall, The Orpheum Theater, WWL-TV, New Orleans Live!, WWNO, WYES and the New Orleans Advocate. Tickets for the Best of the Beat are on sale now; check eventbrite. com for the going price; they’ll be $45 the day of the show.

We look forward to seeing you there!

—Joseph Irrera The Best of the Beat Awards are presented by The OffBeat Music and Cultural Arts Foundation. The OMCAF was developed to create opportunities that support Louisiana artists in leading sustainable creative lives. The www.OFFBEAT.com

OMCAF merges education, advocacy, community engagement and creative collaboration to foster and uplift Louisiana music, arts and culture.

Inspired by the work of OffBeat Magazine, which has a robust history contributing to the promotion, visibility and legitimacy of Louisiana’s music and cultural scene, the OMCAF are committed advocates for the preservation of Louisiana culture.

Artist of the Year Anders Osborne Bobby Rush Lost Bayou Ramblers Preservation Hall Jazz Band The Revivalists

Album of the Year Aaron Neville: Apache (Tell It Records) Allen Toussaint: American Tunes (Nonesuch) Bobby Rush: Porcupine Meat (Rounder) Nolatet: Dogs (Royal Potato Family) Roddie Romero & the Hub City All-Stars: Gulfstream (Octavia Records)

Best Emerging Artist Alfred Banks Motel Radio Renshaw Davies Sexy Dex and the Fresh Soul Brass Band The Stoop Kids

Song of the Year “Gulfstream” by Eric Adcock and Roddie Romero “Lovely In That Dress” by Sophie Lee Lowry “No More Crying Today” by Luke Winslow-King “Stompin’ Ground” by Dave Gutter, Eric Krasno and Aaron Neville

“Wish I Knew You” by David Shaw and Zack Feinberg

Best Blues Performer Bobby Rush Kenny Neal Luke Winslow-King Sonny Landreth Walter “Wolfman” Washington

Best Blues Album Bobby Rush: Porcupine Meat (Rounder) Dick Deluxe: Turning 61 on Highway 61 (Independent) Gregg Martinez: Soul of the Bayou (Louisiana Red Hot Records) Kenny Neal: Bloodline (Cleopatra Blues) Luke Winslow-King: I’m Glad Trouble Don’t Last Always (Bloodshot Records) Mike Zito: Make Blues Not War (Ruf Records)

Best R&B/Funk Artist Corey Henry Davell Crawford Dumpstaphunk Naughty Professor Tank and the Bangas

Best R&B/Funk Album Aaron Neville: Apache (Tell It Records) Cha Wa: Funk ’n’ Feathers (UPT) Corey Henry: Lapeitah (Louisiana Red Hot Records) Davell Crawford: Piano in the Vaults, Vol. 1 (Basin Street Records) John “Papa” Gros: River’s on Fire (Uncle Bud’s Music) Will Porter: Tick Tock Tick (Ace Records)

Best Rock Album Anders Osborne: Flower Box (Back on Dumaine) Brass Bed: In the Yellow Leaf (Modern Outsider) Mountain of Wizard: Major Waves of Minor Resolve (Independent) New Orleans Suspects: Kaleidoscoped (Independent) ROAR!: La-Di-Da (Independent)

Best Rap/Hip-Hop Artist/ Bounce Artist 5th Ward Weebie AF the Naysayer Boyfriend Nesby Phips Young Greatness

Best Traditional Jazz Artist Meschiya Lake and the Little Big Horns New Orleans Swamp Donkeys Panorama Jazz Band Preservation Hall Jazz Band Tuba Skinny

Best Traditional Jazz Album Charlie Halloran & the Quality 6: Charlie Halloran & the Quality 6 (Independent) Leroy Jones: I’m Talkin’ Bout New Orleans (Independent) Meschiya Lake and the Little Big Horns: Bad Kids Club (Independent) Smoking Time Jazz Club: Make a Tadpole Holler Whale (Independent) Tuba Skinny: Blue Chime Stomp (Independent)

Best Rock Artist

Best Contemporary Jazz Artist

Alexis & the Samurai Anders Osborne Mountain of Wizard New Orleans Suspects The Revivalists

Aurora Nealand Delfeayo Marsalis Gregory Agid Quartet Magnetic Ear Nolatet JA N U A RY 2 017

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BE ST OF T HE B EA T

Best Contemporary Jazz Album Delfeayo Marsalis & the Uptown Jazz Orchestra: Make America Great Again! (Troubadour Jazz Records) Gregory Agid Quartet: Words Are Not Enough (Independent) Herlin Riley: New Direction (Mack Avenue) Magnetic Ear: Live at Vaughan’s (Independent) Nolatet: Dogs (Royal Potato Family)

Best Brass Band Hot 8 Brass Band New Breed Brass Band Soul Rebels To Be Continued Brass Band Treme Brass Band

Best Cajun Artist Courtney Granger Lost Bayou Ramblers Roddie Romero & the Hub City All-Stars Steve Riley T’Monde

Best Cajun Album Barry Jean Ancelet & Sam Broussard: Broken Promised Land (Swallow Records) Bruce Daigrepont: Bienvenue Dans le Sud de la Louisiane (Bayou Pon Pon) Courtney Granger: Beneath Still Waters (Valcour Records) Michael Doucet and Tom Rigney: Cajun Fandango (Parhelion Records) Roddie Romero & the Hub City All-Stars: Gulfstream (Octavia Records)

Best Zydeco Artist Chubby Carrier & the Bayou Swamp Band Dwayne Dopsie & the Zydeco Hellraisers Geno Delafose Lil’ Nathan & the Zydeco Big Timers Sean Ardoin

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Best Roots Rock Artist Batture Boys Creole String Beans Dave Jordan and the NIA Honey Island Swamp Band Mia Borders

Best Roots Rock Album Batture Boys: Muddy Water (Independent) Creole String Beans: Golden Crown (Independent) Dave Jordan & the NIA: No Losers Tonight (Independent) Honey Island Swamp Band: Demolition Day (Ruf Records) Mia Borders: Fever Dreams (Blaxican Records)

Best Country/Folk/ Singer-Songwriter Artist

Bobby Cure and the Summertime Blues Mixed Nuts The Boogie Men The Topcats

Songwriter of the Year Dave Shaw Ed Volker Luke Winslow-King Mia Borders Paul Sanchez

Best Female Vocalist Alexis Marceaux Mia Borders Miss Sophie Lee Robin Barnes Tonya Boyd-Cannon

Best Male Vocalist

Alexandra Scott Miss Sophie Lee Paul Sanchez Sarah Quintana The Deslondes The Kid Carsons

Aaron Neville Antoine Diel Bobby Rush Gregg Martinez John Boutté

Best Country/Folk/ Singer-Songwriter Album

Charlie Wooton George Porter, Jr. James Singleton Noah Young Tony Hall

Amanda Shaw: Amanda Shaw (Independent) Michael Cerveris: Piety (Low Heat Records) Miss Sophie Lee and the Parish Suites: Traverse This Universe (Independent) Paul Sanchez: Heart Renovations (Independent) The Tumbling Wheels: Play the No Counts (United Bakery)

Best Gospel Eleanor McMain “Singing Mustangs” Electrifying Crown Seekers Johnson Extension McDonogh #35 High School Gospel Choir Rocks of Harmony

Best Cover Band Bag of Donuts

Best Bass Player

Best Guitarist Alex McMurray Anders Osborne Andrew Block Cliff Hines Russell Welch

Best Drummer Aaron Hill Alvin Ford, Jr. Herlin Riley Johnny Vidacovich Sam Shahin

Khris Royal Roger Lewis

Best Clarinetist Charlie Gabriel Doreen Ketchens Evan Christopher Gregory Agid Tim Laughlin

Best Trumpeter Ashlin Parker Ashton Hines Eric Benny Bloom Glenn Hall III Leroy Jones

Best Trombonist Carly Meyers Charlie Halloran Corey Henry Craig Klein Mark Mullins

Best Tuba/Sousaphonist Ben Jaffe Edward Lee Jr. Jason Jurzak Jon Gross Matt Perrine Phil Frazier

Best Piano/Keyboardist Davell Crawford David Torkanowsky Joe Ashlar Jon Cleary Josh Paxton Tom McDermott

Best Accordionist Andre Michot Chubby Carrier Roddie Romero Steve Riley Valerie Sassyfras

Best Saxophonist

Best Violin/ Fiddle Player

Aurora Nealand Clint Maedgen Donald Harrison

Courtney Granger Kevin Wimmer Louis Michot www.OFFBEAT.com

BEST OF THE BEAT

Matt Rhody Tanya Huang

Best DJ Ann Glaviano DJ Matty Mannie Fresh Quickie Mart Tony Skratchere

Best Other Instrument Daria Dzurik (steel drums) Debbie Davis (ukulele) Helen Gillet (cello) Mike Dillon (vibes) Washboard Chaz (washboard)

Best Music Video 5th Ward Weebie and New Breed Brass Band: “What’cha Working it Fa” directed by 5th Ward Weebie www.youtube.com/ watch?v=Y2RJoRKYWdc Bobby Rush “Porcupine Meat” directed/produced by Patrick Tohill www.youtube.com/watch?v=tulP7k7RVw Brass Bed: “Yellow Bursts of Age” directed by Makemade, Edited by Allison Bohl DeHart and Peter DeHart www.youtube.com/ watch?v=75BpZyXZBYc Luke Winslow-King: “No More Crying Today” directed by Victor Alonso www.youtube.com/ watch?v=NdKjMjaU9QY Miss Sophie Lee: “Lovely In That Dress” directed by Jason Jurzak (Killer Kowalski Productions) www.youtube.com/ watch?v=8Tonvzl00yl The Revivalists: “Wish I Knew You” directed by Mikey Cosentino & Sam Green of Rite Media Group www.youtube.com/ watch?v=o0Pt7M0weUl www.OFFBEAT.com

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BRUCE BOYD RAEBURN

BEST OF THE BEAT

Lifetime Achievement in Music Education:

Bruce Boyd Raeburn Photo: ELSA HAHNE

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r. Bruce Boyd Raeburn’s work turning the Hogan Jazz Archive at Tulane into a resource for students, researchers and fans of New Orleans music is a remarkable achievement that ensures an enduring legacy. He’s also Director of Special Collections at the Tulane library and manages to find time to teach a jazz historiography seminar as well.

Raeburn was born into a musical family. His father Boyd Raeburn fronted his own big band and his mother was jazz vocalist Ginnie Powell.

“We grew up in New York City.

A lot of musicians came over so I was really exposed to that world.

I was given a miniature drum set for my sixth birthday but I lost interest very quickly and I think it was because I didn’t want to compete with my father.

“Ginnie died of meningitis in 1959. She was just 33. Boyd kind of lost his ability to provide for me and my sister Susan so we got fostered out to different families.

I ended up with an uncle in Los Angeles, our mother’s brother, who worked for Capitol Records.

The thing I loved in high school because I lived in LA was to go surfing. My uncle wanted me to be an attorney. I started UCLA when I was 16 years old as a prelaw student.

“I was apart from Boyd for about four years before I saw him again, Christmas 1965. He had been in a car accident and passed away August ’66 after I came out basically to live with him in Lafayette. I burned all my bridges to be in Louisiana with my dad and I lost him. But it was a very good place to be in the mid-’60s so I don’t regret that at all. In fact it remade me in interesting ways.”

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By John Swenson

www.OFFBEAT.com

BRUCE BOYD RAEBURN The most dramatic change for Bruce was switching from UCLA to USL at Lafayette.

“UCLA was by comparison impersonal because it was a huge system. USL was smaller; you really got to know your professors. It quickly became apparent that I didn’t want to go to law school. I wanted to become a historian. A husband and wife team, Milton and Patricia Rickels, specialized in folk tales. That’s how I ended up with a minor in English because the Rickels absolutely fascinated me with their grasp of Louisiana folklore.”

As a history major he found mentors in Vincent Cassady and Mathé Allain.

“It was a big contrast to being in Los Angeles with the Top 40 and the American record industry dominating, it was Cajun and Zydeco music and I really got opened up to that message by both of them in an important way. I met James H. Dormon who was into the kind of confluence of anthropology and history, what we would call cultural history, taking methodologies from ethnomusicology and anthropology and applying those to historical study.”

In Lafayette Bruce finally started playing those drums.

“I didn’t start playing drums until I got to Lafayette and both parents were gone. I was 17.”

Raeburn started playing with a guitarist named Clark Vreeland.

“I had a band with Clark in Lafayette before I moved to New Orleans. He was like the first musician I knew there.”

That connection put Raeburn in direct contact with a host of interesting New Orleans musicians when he moved there in 1971 to work on his Ph.D. at Tulane.

“When I came to New Orleans the only guy I knew there was Clark. Clark was in a band called Ritz Hotel. The drummer quit onstage one night so Clark called me up and said ‘Go find a drum set and come do this.’ That’s how I met Reggie Scanlan, that’s how I met Becky Kury. The band split www.OFFBEAT.com

into two factions and I ended up working with both of them, kind of bouncing from one to the other throughout the ’70s and into the early ’80s. Clark put together a band called the Mystery Monitors and at one point we were part of a regular show at the Absinthe House. The Mystery Monitors would do a set and then Becky Kury would do a set and then we would all back Earl King up. It was one of

those wonderful opportunities but that’s the magic of being in New Orleans. Ed and Clark were living together on Waldo Street and that’s what hatched the Rhapsodizers. When Frank Bua couldn’t make it I would come in and cover some Rhapsodizers shows.”

While working on the graduate thesis at Tulane, Raeburn quickly became involved in the school’s extensive jazz

archive. Henry Kmen, author of Music in New Orleans: The Formative Years, introduced Raeburn to the organization.

“Hank was a clarinetist who had worked with the big bands.

He’s also the guy that brought in black studies and urban history at Tulane. He was aware of who my dad was so he provided some of the connections that brought me into the jazz archive when Dick Allen was running it.

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BR UC E BO YD R AEB UR N

“The first curator was Bill Russell. He had his own way of doing the oral history interviews.

Dick Allen was the one who came up with the idea of a research facility. He went to William Hogan, the chairman of the history department, with the idea for a master’s thesis and Hogan said ‘We can do more than this, let’s get some forward money and build a research center.’ Dick became the understudy to Bill Russell and they collaborated on the interviews. He took over in 1962. By the mid-’70s when I met him he was under fire. He’d dedicated himself to building the archive instead of getting his graduate credentials together.

Dick was demoted to a halftime oral historian position. I became the go-between for the new curator and Dick.

“I started as a low-paid student worker in 1980 and over the course of the ’80s I worked my way up the ladder and learned every phase of the operation. The curator who replaced Dick was in a car accident which triggered a latent condition of MS. By 1988 it became apparent that he was not going to be able to continue. I was appointed interim director and fortunately because I really knew the operation I was in a good position to apply for that job and I was lucky enough to get it.

It was a dream job for me which I never thought would open up in my lifetime.”

Since 1989, Raeburn has marshaled the resources of the Jazz Archive with a senior educator’s insight into the value of this information to history.

He brought the archives into the digital age, beginning with its

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first digital exhibit, “Riverboats and Jazz.”

“We’ve also added a lot of other things thanks to my staff here. I have a small but incredibly talented staff. Our associate curator for graphics is Alaina Hébert. If you like the look of our web page, that’s her creative activity. Lynn Abbott, who was the drummer with Bruce Daigrepont for 10 years, is the curator for recorded sound.

“We now have the Tulane Digital Library which is a lot more than jazz material. It’s a wonderful tool which is part of a consortium with UCLA now so it’s getting a lot of use. PostKatrina we got some Grammy Foundation funding to complete the digital transfer of the oral history collection. The oral history stories remain the core of this collection. It’s unique material.

The work I do as a historian I could not do without that content. It’s the voices of several hundred men and women who created jazz in New Orleans.

“Then the Music Rising foundation came up with a grant that became the platform for delivering the audio and in many cases full transcripts of the oral history collection from the Hogan Jazz Archive. So people all over the world are now accessing that material, including the greatgrandchildren of the people who were interviewed who go to school in New Orleans but don’t necessarily have access to historical documentation. I had a bucket list of things to do before I retire and I have to say it’s pretty much all checked off now. That was probably the biggest one, getting that content on the web for free community outreach even more than scholarly engagement.”

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SONNY SCHNEIDAU

BEST OF THE BEAT

Lifetime Achievement in Music Business:

Sonny Schneidau

Photo: ELSA HAHNE

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n New Orleans, there are people who make the music and people who make the music happen. The people who make the music happen are the record store owners, the sound engineers, the equipment dealers, the club proprietors and the talent bookers, among others. This year OffBeat choses to honor someone who, after years of being a talent booker making the music happen, has now gone back to being a musician making the music. You simply cannot have been in New Orleans for the last three decades without at some point going to a show that he concocted and produced. This year the OffBeat Best of the Beat Business Award goes to former talent buyer for the House of Blues and Tipitina’s Sonny Schneidau. Can we get an “Ooooolamallawalla?”

Schneidau has been running around the New Orleans music scene since the mid-1970s. He’s a self-taught piano player whose free-spirited mom encouraged him to listen to Coltrane and Miles on Clear Channel radio stations and took him to the Warehouse when that club was in its heyday. He also fell in with his sister Georgia’s friends when they would have parties and hire local musicians to play. “They’d hire Fess to play and Booker. The first time I ever saw Booker was in the basement of my sister’s house,” Schneidau reminisces. “That was a moment that was somewhat of an epiphany.

Cyril Neville was on congas, and it was just the two of them, and it was very much an eye-opening life-changing experience. I kind of got the bug. It was just surreal to sit at the feet of that. To see these two guys walking in with scarves and eye patches and tattoos. It was somewhat intimidating and then to see them sit down and make the most extraordinary music. To sit www.OFFBEAT.com

By David Kunian

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To say that Sonny booked great shows at the House of Blues is like saying that Hungry Williams played some funky rhythms.

10 feet from that as a 15-year-old was a powerful moment.”

His sister’s friends coalesced into the Krewe of the Fo’Teen whose Gator Balls evolved into the club known as Tipitina’s. They styled it as a place for Professor Longhair to play as well as all the rhythm and blues greats who were starting their long comebacks. “Tips opened up while I was in high school. The first gig was when we opened up and I was underage.

It was January of 1977, and the Meters were playing. Mardi Gras was right around the corner, and they were short on bartenders, and they put a mask on me. Someone said, ‘Nobody’s going to know. Go back there and sell drinks.’ I got to serve drinks and watch the Meters all night. I was like, ‘Wow, this is better than high school.’”

Schneidau also became the sound man when he graduated.

He remembers, “So I got the call in June: “Listen, our sound guy has to leave the country quickly and unexpectedly, so can you come do sound tonight?” I said, “Of course.

Sure.” Two days later I was mixing Professor Longhair and the Meters. I was figuring it out on the go. I ended up mixing all—unless the band brought their own crew—I mixed everyone at Tip’s from mid-1977 until I left in late ’93. That was a ton of amazing shows. I loved engineering and getting right up in the music.

I loved the close contact with the artist and talking about what kind of sound they liked. It was being a de facto other band member trying to mix the sound right for the band. I got to mix Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker.”

Schneidau also started booking the shows in 1982. In his kitchen before this interview, he pulls out old Tipitina’s calendars where in one week are bands like the Neville Brothers, Eek-A-Mouse, and the

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Ramones. He points out one Sunday where there was a free show with Stevie Ray Vaughan from Austin. “It was magic,” he smiles, “It was about the community and the music. It was a very special time.” Schneidau stayed with Tipitina’s after it closed and reopened. By the early 1990s, he was looking for new challenges, and one presented itself. Schneidau explains, “Producer Michael Murphy is a dear friend, and he was involved in some projects that we did at Tip’s. And he was familiar with House of Blues and Isaac Tigrett. He approached me about moving over to HOB, and it was a point in time when I was ready for a new adventure. And Isaac was a very interesting guy. It was really something else. I got to experience the whirlwind of that company in its infancy.”

To say that Sonny booked great shows at the House of Blues is like saying that Hungry Williams played some funky rhythms. On the wall along the stairs from the dressing rooms to the House of Blues stage are painted squares that list most, if not all, of the shows that have happened at the House of Blues.

There’s a square for the Foo Fighters, and a square for the Pretenders, and a square for Bobby Rush. There are squares with names like Buddy Guy, Jimmy Smith, the Afghan Whigs and Bobby Lounge. Each square has hash marks to count each time that artist played the club. With only a couple of exceptions, since his leaving HOB in January of 2016, Schneidau booked each and every one of those shows. It’s an impressive record, and one for which he was acknowledged by industry magazine Pollstar twice as “Talent Buyer of the Year.” There is still excitement in his voice as he recalls those early years. “In the opening years, House of Blues, we could do anything. And in the first year, that was manifested by doing two nights of Bob Dylan, and three nights of Eric Clapton in the first

month. That was a wild moment. It was us against the world. We were Isaac’s band of pirates. It was fun.

I think throughout the years being able to break new acts as they came along like the Black Keys and others was great, but also to be able to book all of my heroes and people as I’m growing up and I’m falling in love with music such as Al Green or Ray Charles or Johnny Cash or Solomon Burke or Milton Nascimento. That’s the fulfilment of a dream to have a hand in producing all these people and getting to meet some of them.”

Despite having been gone from the House of Blues for a year, Schneidau is not even close to being out of the music world. He’s just changed his role. “I left the House of Blues in January of 2016, and it was my decision. I pretty much based it on a desire to, as Fess used to say, ‘to take a pause for a worthy cause.’

It’s been a good year. I’ve been busy and I have a band. It’s a daunting enterprise to take the stage in this town where the level and history and spirit of the musicians is so incredible. It’s called the Fortifiers. I play guitar and some keyboards. We have a little EP. We do some Chicago blues, some swampy stuff like Lazy Lester and Slim Harpo (and we do a killer version of Roger & the Gypsies’ ‘Pass the Hatchet’). We do some country because we all love George Jones. It’s all in that rootsy vein. It’s been a lot of fun.” In his living room looking out at the 12th Ward on a rainy day, he pauses. “It’s an honor.

There are so many people involved in this business in New Orleans and they’re here doing it day in and day out plugging away. It’s a special honor to have OffBeat select me for this.”

Sonny Schneidau will perform with the Fortifiers at the Best of the Beat Awards on January 19 at Generations Hall.—Ed. www.OFFBEAT.com

DANCING MAN 504

BEST OF THE BEAT

Positive Vibrations HeartBeat Award:

Darryl Young/Dancing Man 504

Photo: ELSA HAHNE

D

ancing Man 504— jumps high, thinks deep.

“I was asked one time: ‘Dancing Man, what is your signature move?’

“I told them, ‘A smile.’” Darryl Young, known (literally) the world over as Dancing Man 504, says this in recalling his response while sharing that story—and many more, all told with equal parts panache, purpose and humility—over coffee at Café Rose Nicaud. “Because once you kick the smile, then they’re smiling. So that’s the best move you got.”

Young is recognized by the barista behind the counter at Rose Nicaud, along with pretty much all the other faces he shares his signature smile with on a wet, cold Monday afternoon last month on Frenchmen Street. The bustling downtown corridor is just one of countless places—festivals, Carnival parades and schoolrooms among them— where smiles and rooms alike light up at the familiar sight of Dancing Man 504. This impact—born of pure intention, made of positive action—helped place Young among the 2016 class of Award recipients.

Dancing Man 504 will be honored at an invitation-only event at the Orpheum Theater January 11, when the Positive Vibrations Foundation, in partnership with OffBeat’s Best of the Beat awards, will bestow upon him the HeartBeat Award, an honor reserved for a culture bearer, teacher or community leader—which, in the case of Young, is a mix of all three.

“After Katrina, I needed to be healed,” the 49-year-old explains, while Bill Withers’ “Use Me” oozes from the café’s speakers, the genesis of a self-made path cleared the way to his current status as icon in the city. “So I went to the medicine. And that medicine was inside the second line.”

Not affiliated with any particular social aid and pleasure www.OFFBEAT.com

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club—though this Carnival season marks his fourth as grand marshal in the Krewe of Freret—Young’s rise to prominence on the paradeready streets of New Orleans came about from the court. The basketball court, that is.

“After the storm, everybody was screaming, ‘Bring the music back! Bring the food back!’” he remembers. “Well, I was sad because I couldn’t play ball. So, what about bringing the athlete back?”

Born in Charity Hospital and a graduate of then-Nicholls High School on St. Claude Avenue, Young grew up playing basketball and football in the Ninth Ward.

“We were really talented, really competitive, growing up in the Ninth Ward,” says Young.

“I’d watch people dribble the basketball and take off with it, or catch the football and run with it.

To me, that’s dance. That’s what I think I’m doing when I’m out there doing what I do. To make people see that nobody moves like we move—especially when we’re moving around here. On our terrain.

“Because living in the Ninth Ward, I did a lot of walking,” he continues. “I did a lot of bike riding, too. And I drove around.

But there was nothing like putting my feet on the ground.

That is how I experienced New Orleans.”

Young’s passion for movement and the healing, liberating magic it holds, after transforming him in the city’s tough times following Katrina, over the next few years would evolve into a bigger mission. He formed his BrassXcise initiative in 2008 in Audubon Park.

“BrassXcise is a regimen that I wanted to share with people to get them moving and feeling good,”

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he explains. “But I wanted them to get something from it—really get something from it. I wanted them to think about their breathing, about how to connect your hands, feet and eyes. And do it all while holding your stomach in, back straight, chest forward. And not thinking with your mind, but begin thinking here [pounds chest over his heart three times with left fist] because here is where it all happens.”

After establishing BrassXcise, Young went on to start the Heal2Toe program. A blend of exercise, cultural awareness and self-expression, Heal2Toe finds Dancing Man in front of schoolchildren all over the city talking about brass bands and their music. “I do it so these kids will know that tourists don’t come to town to—like bad people in the hood will say to them—to look down on them. The tourists come to hear this music and see these bands. The kids should know that.”

For 2017, Young looks to launch a bicyclist safety/ awareness campaign, Bike4Life.

Moving through life in a graceful swagger led by his heart, such forward momentum is par for the course for Dancing Man 504, an inspiration as much as an individual, who seems inspired by challenge, dared by the impossible.

“Second-line culture means to me the life of a city,” Young says. “One that is meant to float in every city and every country.

I want to tap into something inside of me that I can share with everyone. So I never have to hear someone come up to me, watching me move, and say, ‘I can’t do that.’ Because if you get into the music and let the life and the healing go through you as you move, then you can actually design the way you move.”

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Photo: ELSA HAHNE

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www.OFFBEAT.com

COVER STORY

BEST OF THE BEAT

Lifetime Achievement in Music:

Johnny Vidacovich

’I

’m just a lucky so and so.” Johnny Vidacovich considers himself a lucky guy. Touchstones of the brilliant drummer’s serendipitous musical journey include his life-changing acceptance into St. Aloysius High School with a full scholarship, his long, meaningful relationship with pianist/vocalist/composer Mose Allison and being a member of Astral Project, which this year celebrates its 39th anniversary.

“It’s the best band in the world,” declares Vidacovich of the allstar unit that currently boasts founder/saxophonist Tony Dagradi, bassist James Singleton and guitarist Steve Masakowski. “We breathe together.”

It’s not difficult to imagine a young Johnny Vidacovich being fascinated by the sounds of the parades that would roll near the MidCity home that he shared with his mother, grandmother and uncle.

The distinctive New Orleans drummer, 67, remains ever-curious and investigatory in his approach to music and life.

“I used to enjoy watching the drummers, listening to and feeling the bass drum especially,” Vidacovich remembers. “I was always very impressed about how you could feel the music although it looked invisible. Now, I’m finally realizing that the music is not invisible at all.

It’s actually sound waves and molecules and specific structures. It’s just unfortunate that our species isn’t refined enough to be able to see music, we can only hear it. I guess if our species had better vision we could probably see the molecules forming and the sound waves moving. Our species is very overrated. The human being species isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be.”

As a youngster, Johnny checked out tunes on the radio and recalls that he was always beating on something. Encouraged by this mother and grandmother, he’d sit on the floor surrounded by pots, pans and lids—his make-shift drums and cymbals. Ingeniously, his grandmother cut off the tip of a flyswatter to provide him with his first “brush.”

“They would wiggle a little bit—I love brushes with a passion,” says Vidacovich, who became renowned as a brush master particularly by sometimes utilizing them in unconventional rhythmic situations. In Vidacovich’s hands brushes weren’t just for playing quietly during a ballad. He showed their power. “They are very difficult to play—they don’t bounce back and they are hard to control,” Vidacovich says.

Learning to play When Vidacovich was eight years old he asked his mother to get him a set of drums. He remembers her saying, “If I buy you a drum set then you have to study.” At 13, he began taking lessons with percussionist and author Charlie Suhor, who taught music in a small room above Campo’s Music Store on North Broad Street and Esplanade Avenue. He continued the sessions with Suhor until he was almost 18.

Suhor’s connection to Vidacovich was to become very important in the young student’s musical progression. Suhor, who describes Johnny as a total natural when he first heard him play, told his friend and band director Clem Toca at St. Aloysius about his gifted student.

Vidacovich had his eyes on the school, which had a strong reputation for its band programs. He remembers pleading with his www.OFFBEAT.com

mother to let him at least audition for the opening drum spot. Even though they both knew that the family didn’t have enough money for tuition, his mother allowed him to audition.

When she got the call that her son had been accepted, her response was, “He’s going to be broken-hearted because there is no way we can afford to send him to that school.” The next day, there was another phone call and they learned Johnny was given a full, four-year scholarship for music.

“That was unheard of,” Vidacovich explains, “because they only gave out academic and basketball scholarships.”

“I was just a lucky, lucky guy and I still am,” he declares, crediting Suhor for mentioning him and Toca for the scholarship. “I went from going to S.J. Peters High School, which was a bad school right across the street from the jail and that was about where I was heading, to St. Aloysius.”

Vidacovich’s early instructors, including Joe Hebert (who was a band director at both St. Aloysius and Loyola University), contributed their special gifts to his musical and personal development. In turn, Johnny’s presence has influenced his own drum students at Loyola University and those he instructed privately.

“Charlie Suhor taught me everything that I needed to know to work as a functioning musician—how to be an accompanist, how to be a part of a whole,” Vidacovich says. “He made me understand that playing drums was a supportive role and that your purpose was to make the music sound better and to do everything you could to make musicians feel comfortable so they would play well. He gave me a wide palette of tools that could get me through almost any kind of gig. That way, when I was very young, like 17, I was playing with older men because I had the tools and I could follow instructions. These older men liked me because I tried to do what they said and I had a good attitude.”

“If it wasn’t for Charlie, I wouldn’t get such enjoyment from the whole concept of music being 360 degrees. To me, music is all the same. People ask me, ‘What kind of music do you play?’ I say, ‘Well, it depends on the music. The music will tell me what to play.’ I never said I was a jazz drummer—other people said that.”

“I met a guy up north and he couldn’t believe that I knew anything about trad music. I said, ‘Man, that was the first music I ever played as a kid—that was the first music that I learned. I was playing trad music when I was 12 years old.’”

Some of Johnny’s first gigs were with a band called Dunc’s Honky Tonks. “Old man Warren Duncan, a pianist, owned a junkyard on Willow Street and every Saturday morning young kids would go to his shed that had a piano in it. He would teach us all the songs we needed to know and we’d play at hospitals, the Lighthouse for the Blind and veterans’ hospitals. Eventually, he put me with a better band—he had several—and we’d play at dances, officers’ clubs.

We got paid. I was having a ball. I was learning, learning, learning, learning. Every day was a learning experience.”

“From there, I met older kids who would show me funk and R&B. When I was in high school and I started playing more with guys my same age, we played rock ’n’ roll, funk, and R&B of the early ’60s. In

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“He would put on Bach’s ‘Brandenburg Concerto’ and have me play brushes to that. You can’t play a beat to it, you have to play colors—you have to play musically.”—Stanton Moore

the rock bands you met older guys who would take you home and say ‘listen to this.’ And ‘this’ would be jazz.”

“Johnny could change his style to fit the style of music to whichever was called for,” says bassist/educator Joe Hebert. “He was extremely teachable and I just helped him to become more of a musician rather than a drummer.”

Vidacovich embraced the importance of what he now calls “melodic rhythm,” a concept he shares with his students and that sets him far apart from many drummers.

“I’m trying to make the drums sound like they have a mouthpiece and I’m blowing air through them,” Vidacovich humorously explains.

“I’ve become more linear through the years—more song-like. Less virtuosity and more musicality.”

From student to teacher Vidacovich first started teaching in 1966 in that same tiny room above Campo’s Music Store where he took lessons from Suhor. He also made a return trip in the early 1980s to become an adjunct professor at his alma mater, Loyola University. A wealth of students have benefited from his accumulated knowledge and unique approach.

“Johnny encouraged me to develop my own voice,” says drummer Stanton Moore, who is a founding member of Galactic and leader of his own bands. He began studying with Vidacovich when he was around 17. “He would really try to get me out of playing drum-based ideas, what he would call ‘drum-istically.’ I was coming out of a rudimental—drum line—background at Brother Martin. He would put on Bach’s ‘Brandenburg Concerto’ and have me play brushes to that.

You can’t play a beat to it, you have to play colors—you have to play musically.”

Johnny is a guy who definitely sees the world through his own lens.

Moore continues “he sees the world in his own color palette so he sees the drums differently, he sees music differently, he sees people differently. A lot of times he’s similar to Yoda. He’ll speak in these weird riddles that don’t give you the answer but they make you think of the answer yourself. He’s one of the funniest people I know—he’s hilarious.”

Another one of Vidacovich’s now–high-profile students is drummer Brian Blade, 46, who has been a member of the legendary saxophonist Wayne Shorter’s quartet since its onset in 2000 and also leads his own band, the Fellowship. Blade made a point to come down from his home in Shreveport in 1988 to study with Vidacovich at Loyola University. “Hearing him for the first time was a revelation,” Blade remembers. “I wanted to be around these inventors, these sound makers and Johnny was at the heart of that. What touched me was the depth of expression and the joy in the sound and the spark in everything that he played. The drumming is a reflection of the man.

When you watch him walk or when he talks to you there is such a swing and groove in it and humor and joy.”

Most often as a way of exchanging ideas, Vidacovich and Blade would play drums together as part of a lesson. Blade laughingly tells of one particular day when he went over to “Johnny V’s” house. Vidacovich let Blade play his Gretsch set and he sat down at a child’s, his daughter’s,

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drum set. “He had that thing singing!” Blade relates. “It made me know that the sound was in him and that we don’t need a lot to make something great happen. He’s imparting more than what a second line is, he’s showing me how to live. I’m eternally thankful for that.”

French Quarter nights By age 16, Vidacovich was already heading down to the French Quarter to keep the beat going behind strippers as well as picking up some traditional jazz gigs at spots like the Famous Door. At 19, he played with the Real Dukes of Dixieland led by Frank Assunto. “They called me for one night and kept me for two weeks.”

It was in the middle of Bourbon Street that the drummer, 17, first met bassist George Porter. The two introduced themselves to each other and began playing “a bunch of joints.” “The money was low but we were having fun playing music—funk and the popular songs of 1966. The Meters were just forming and played down at the Ivanhoe.”

“If you just make rock ’n’ roll a little sloppier, it’s funk,” Vidacovich offers. “There ain’t no difference. It’s syncopated rock ’n’ roll, that’s all it is.”

Piano bars were popular in the era and as he often did in his younger years, Vidacovich did these gigs with older musicians. “They were playing bebop based on standards—they were the vehicle. We would take every opportunity we could to not only please the people by playing the standards but to please ourselves by improvising.

Standards were essential to know because they gave you perimeters and at the same time you could make variations. It’s just like keeping the ball in the yard and having fun with the game—keeping the game going.”

Vidacovich took several breaks from college, the first during the summer of 1967. He scurried back to school to avoid being drafted into the armed services. He headed to Las Vegas in 1970 with thoughts of heading to California to become a studio musician.

Then he got a call from bandleader and saxophonist Al Belletto, who wanted Johnny to come home and join his quartet at the Playboy Club. At first he said no, but then Belletto called back offering more money.

“Al Belletto became my next mentor—my next big brother,” says Vidacovich, who played in the saxophonist’s combos and big band and is heard on Belletto’s 1997 album Jazznocracy. “We hung out, we played music together. He’d tell me when something was good and when something was not good. He took care of me and watched out for me.” Vidacovich points out that Belletto also put money in pension plan for him. “There were certain cats that stepped up to the plate.

Thanks to him, I get a little pension check. Bless his heart.”

The ’70s and ’80s Vidacovich was playing a gig in 1977 at the French Quarter’s Blues Saloon with pianist and vocalist Angelle Trosclair the night he met bassist James Singleton, who had just moved to New Orleans from the Midwest. Johnny had broken his hand so he was playing drums one-handed. Somebody told him that there was a guy who just got to town who wanted to meet him. www.OFFBEAT.com

Photo: ELSA HAHNE

“Playing with Fess was like playing with another drummer...

He would show me rhythms that he liked—he would tap them out riding in the van or sitting in the dressing room.”

“His reputation preceded him,” Singleton remembers. “Everybody told me that he was the best drummer in town. What they didn’t tell me was that he might have been the best musician in town. He was playing with one arm and playing so much music. So yeah, I fell in love from the jump.”

Vidacovich introduced James to pianist Michael Pellera and suggested that they form a trio and he’d work on getting them a gig.

“So I went to Tyler’s [Magazine Street’s Tyler’s Beer Garden] and looked around,” Vidacovich says. “I told [owner] Fred Laredo, ‘What you need is a trio.’ That was the beginning of Tyler’s. I don’t know if we were the www.OFFBEAT.com

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first band to play there but it surely wasn’t a music club. It was basically an oyster, beer and college bar.”

“James and I have put in the most time together as far as how many gigs and how many years,” says Vidacovich, who continues to have Singleton by his side in Astral Project, Nolatet and often at the drummer’s standing Maple Leaf gig, the Trio featuring Johnny Vidacovich and Special Guests. “We’ve been in every kind of musical situation that you can imagine, even playing with the symphony. People would come to town and say, ‘Hire those guys, they can make you sound good.’

With me and James if you put a clown in front of us we can figure out a way to make it sound good.”

Uptown was jumping during this period, particularly with the opening of Tipitina’s, which honored the great pianist and vocalist Professor Longhair and at last provided him with a steady home base and income. Vidacovich was on the scene at the club and played on Fess’ final recording, 1980’s Crawfish Fiesta, an award-winning album released just months after Longhair’s death.

“Playing with Fess was like playing with another drummer,” Vidacovich says. “He would show me rhythms that he liked—he would tap them out riding in the van or sitting in the dressing room.

He didn’t want anything laid back he wanted me to push, push, push.

People think it is all about being laid-back and funky, but that’s not the case with Fess at all. Fess wanted everything on the edge. He wanted it faster, he didn’t want the old tempos that the songs were recorded at. He didn’t want me to ever let up off the gas pedal.

He’d say, ‘Jawoski, keep pushin’, keep pushin’.’ He wouldn’t say Vidacovich, he’d call me Jawoski. He was a funny guy and he was fun—very rhythmic, very drum-istic.”

“You didn’t push with Booker—he was the opposite of Fess in a way,” says Vidacovich of the innovative pianist/vocalist/composer James Booker. “Booker did the pushing. He wanted you to kind of chill and you were basically accompanying. Good thing when I was JA N U A RY 2 017

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“We basically played for fun... We were never a serious business band... We were young, dumb and having fun.”

young, I was made aware of all these things and learned to be an accompanist,” notes Vidacovich, who played with Booker from 1973 until the time of his death in 1983. The drummer backed Booker often at his steady gig at the Maple Leaf, as well as at North Rampart Street jazz club Lu & Charlie’s. He is heard, along with Singleton and saxophonist Alvin “Red” Tyler, on Booker’s exemplary 1982 album Classified.

“Fess was pushy, rock ’n’ rolly, louder and harder. Booker was pianoistic and more laid-back. There’s no comparing Mose to anybody.”

The first time Vidacovich played with Mose Allison, a highlyregarded pianist/vocalist/composer, was in 1970 when the drummer was just 21 years old and some 25 years younger than the veteran.

The performance was for a PBS special about famous musicians from Mississippi, of which Allison was one.

“He started calling me—he called me a lot,” says Vidacovich. “I had a long relationship of playing as an occasional sideman for him, though it would be several times a year over a period of over 40 years.”

“My relationship with Mose was deep,” Vidacovich says. “He taught me a lot about literature, about family, about life, about children. He reshaped my whole concept of music. He totally got me hip to what I call melodic rhythm. He had a concept of the way he wanted the drums to be and I could do it. The drummer, along with fellow Astral Project members saxophonist Tony Dagradi and Steve Masakowski, plus bassist Bill Huntington, are heard on Allison’s fine 1989 album My Backyard.

The Makings of a Team – Vidacovich and Singleton Throughout music history, there have been musicians who have been considered a great team. Vidacovich and Singleton reign in that number for one reason. They jive.

“We obviously have common tastes and vocabulary and we are both very curious about the steps that need to be taken to get the music to the highest level,” Singleton says. “We’re both open to different means of doing that. Beyond all of that, it was kind of mysterious. It always felt so limitless in terms of what might be possible with the rhythms.

I think a lot of that comes from just having a similar notion of what ‘right down the middle’ of the beat means.”

“It’s the empathy we have for each other and the way we listen to each other,” Vidacovich offers. “When we come together it becomes a oneness. It has nothing to do with technical things, it’s just strictly a sense of listening and allowing yourself to be taken with the music and letting the music tell you what to play. We both know that taking chances is part of the game. If something falls down, it just can very easily be picked up. The two of us have created a third party and that is the two of us playing together. That’s the third party.”

Apparently, 1977 marked a convergence of sorts as saxophonist Tony Dagradi also moved to New Orleans that year. He played with Vidacovich at Lu & Charlie’s and was looking to put a band together of like-minded musicians. Astral Project, which for years included pianist David Torkanowsky, first appeared as a group at Bourbon Street’s Old Absinthe Bar. “Everything was pretty loose back then so sometimes it was called the Johnny Vidacovich Quartet or

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something,” Dagradi remembers. The band made its debut at the 1978 Jazz and Heritage Festival and got the gig in part on Johnny’s recommendation to producer Quint Davis. “He told Quint it’s like James Brown playing jazz, or something like that,” Dagradi recalls with a laugh.

Dagradi and Vidacovich surprisingly use the exact same words in describing Astral Project: “It was fun.”

“We were all in our twenties and everything musical was exciting,” Dagradi says. “I wouldn’t be the musician I am today if I had not had the opportunity to play with Johnny. He was an incredible powerhouse who was playing things I’d never heard a drummer play before.”

“We basically played for fun,” Vidacovich echoes. “We were never a serious business band. We didn’t go after the business part of music— at least that’s the way I feel. Everybody in the band was always doing other things too. We were young, dumb and having fun. I wasn’t thinking about the future, about being popular or thinking about managers and percentages.”

Despite, or maybe because of the musicians’ “having fun” attitude, Astral Project’s reputation as a unique, intuitive group of artists gained nationwide respect and admiration. It released its first album, 1995’s New Orleans LA and its most recent recording, 2007’s Live in New Orleans. As leader, Vidacovich put out two fine releases, 1995’s Mystery Street and 1996’s Banks Street, as well as collaborating with George Porter and guitarist June Yamagishi on We Came to Play. His sensitive drums were also heard behind the late, great vocalist Johnny Adams, including on one of the drummer’s favorite albums, Johnny Adams Sings Doc Pomus.

These days, Vidacovich can most easily be found at his standing gig at the Maple Leaf, a club he’s hit his drums at for almost four decades.

He credits his wife of 37 years, Deborah, for setting up the residency and booking the special guests who make up the trio each Thursday night.

“It’s her gig, she decides who plays,” Vidacovich explains. “Her decisions are always better than mine. She knows what the people need to hear and what they can be pushed to. I like to not just satisfy but challenge an audience. She has made me accessible to a whole lot of different people that I might never have played with.”

Johnny Vidacovich is, and always has been, a hometown guy haunting the clubs he’s performed throughout his life, teaching at Loyola where he earned his Bachelor of Music degree and playing with the all-local Astral Project. Recently, however, he made a shift and hit the road with another exceptional band, Nolatet. It pairs him once again with Singleton and includes now New Orleans resident, vibraphonist/percussionist Mike Dillon and pianist Brian Haas. The recently formed group released its solid debut recording, Dogs, this year. “It’s a new ballgame,” Vidacovich declares, though he regrets that because everyone is so busy trying to earn a living, the members aren’t really able to make Nolatet a priority.

“I’m just going to follow the bouncing ball,” Vidacovich says of his future plans. “I look forward to the next gig—every gig—because I know it’s going to be a good one. I’m just going to try to have as much fun as I can. I’m just a lucky so and so—that’s me babe.”

O www.OFFBEAT.com

EATS

photos: Elsa Hahne

Jacob Cureton/Annunciation

“I

just met George [Porter, Jr.] at Dos Jefes. I was sitting there with one of my good friends and he was all drunk and it was his birthday and he was like, ‘Play some Meters!’

And I’m not lying, but two seconds later George Porter walks in through the front door. My jaw dropped. ‘You’ve got to be kidding me...’ And my friend went, ‘Hey, that’s George right there!’

One of my favorite drinks to have—besides a whiskey sour—is a margarita with beer. I like a salt rim, but I don’t follow the salt around. I take a sip and then go back to that same spot. A little salt is enough. It’s the same in my cooking. I love to use acid and sugar and hot, instead of a lot of salt. I use fish sauce and soy sauce a lot; I go to Hong Kong Market and stock up. I make sure it doesn’t have high fructose corn syrup or caramel color or all of this

extra stuff. I’ll sit there on the soy sauce aisle for 30 minutes just comparing each one.

Why do I do the bar and the kitchen? Well, because I can. One night, we were slammed in the bar so I came out in my chef coat and started mixing drinks. The next day, this guy calls and I happened to pick up the phone and he says, ‘We were there last night with a ten-top, and we want to come back tonight! The chef was making drinks...’ ‘Yes, hello, that’s me. How are you today?’

I started bartending when I got tired of working the hot line every night and scrubbing the floors until two in the morning while the bartenders all went out and had fun. This was after four years of culinary school... But nobody gave me a job. Nobody wanted a chefbartender. They didn’t even want to talk to me. So I never got to do it, but here [at Annunciation] I can.

www.OFFBEAT.com

By Elsa Hahne

I went to De La Salle High School. Worked in an Italian restaurant over the summer, loved it and decided to drop out. At that time, I lived on Jackson Avenue and Prytania, and at Prytania and St. Charles, there used to be a culinary school called the Culinary Institute of New Orleans. I went up there with my dad and talked to the headmaster, and then I was in culinary school.

Later, my dad got me to apply to the CIA [Culinary Institute of America]. Cool thing about the CIA is that they teach you cocktails too.

They teach you wine and coffee and Italian food and French food...

It’s everything. It’s being a restaurant person, and that’s my whole mentality. I don’t want to be a cook.

I don’t want to be a server. I don’t want to be a bartender. I want to be a restaurant person, and one day I want to have my own restaurant.”

Fire On the Bayou 1 1/2 ounces Sazerac Rye 1 ounce fresh house-made lemon sour (equal parts fresh lemon juice and simple syrup) 1 ounce fresh lime juice 1 egg white 1/2 ounce Tawny port 2 dashes Angostura bitters Luxardo cherry for garnish Pour whiskey, sour mix, lime juice and egg white into a cocktail shaker with ice and—shake! Strain into a coupe glass, and then slowly pour port into middle. Top with bitters and a Luxardo cherry.

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Café Degas: 3127 Esplanade Ave., 945-5635 La Crepe Nanou: 1410 Robert St., 899-2670

Howlin’ Wolf’s Wolf Den: 907 S. Peters St., 529-5844 Le Bon Temps Roule: 4801 Magazine St., 895-8117 Little Gem Saloon: 445 S. Rampart St., 267-4863 Maison: 508 Frenchmen St., 289-5648 Mid City Lanes Rock ‘N’ Bowl: 4133 S. Carrollton Ave., 482-3133 Palm Court: 1204 Decatur St., 525-0200 Rivershack Tavern: 3449 River Rd., 834-4938 Southport Hall: 200 Monticello Ave., 835-2903 Snug Harbor: 626 Frenchmen St., 949-0696 Three Muses: 536 Frenchmen St., 298-8746 Three Muses Uptown: 7537 Maple St., 510-2749

GERMAN

NEIGHBORHOOD JOINTS

FRENCH

Jaeger Haus: 833 Conti, 525-9200

ICE CREAM/CAKE/CANDY Aunt Sally’s Praline Shop’s: 2831 Chartres St., 944-6090 Bittersweet Confections: 725 Magazine St., 523-2626 La Divina Cafe e Gelateria: 621 St. Peter St., 302-2692 Sucré: 3025 Magazine St.,520-8311 Tee-Eva’s Praline Shop: 4430 Magazine St., 899-8350

INDIAN Nirvana: 4308 Magazine St., 894-9797

AFRICAN Bennachin: 1212 Royal St., 522-1230.

AMERICAN Barcadia: 601 Tchoupitoulas St., 335-1740 Brown Butter Southern Kitchen: 231 N Carrollton Ave., 609-3871 Poppy’s Time Out Sports Bar & Grill: 1 Poydras St., 247-9265 Port of Call: 838 Esplanade Ave., 523-0120 Primitivo: 1800 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd., 881-1775

BARBECUE The Joint: 701 Mazant St., 949-3232

COFFEE HOUSE Café du Monde: 800 Decatur St., 525-4544 Morning Call Coffee Stand: 56 Dreyfous Dr., (504) 300-1157, 3325 Severn Ave., Metairie, 885-4068

CREOLE/CAJUN Cochon: 930 Tchoupitoulas St., 588-2123 Cornet: 700 Bourbon St., 523-1485 Galatoire’s: 209 Bourbon St., 525-2021 Gumbo Shop: 630 St. Peter St., 525-1486 K-Paul’s Louisiana Kitchen: 416 Chartres St., 524-7394 Mulate’s: 201 Julia St., 522-1492 New Orleans Creole Cookery: 508 Toulouse St., 524-9632 Restaurant Rebirth: 857 Fulton St., 522-6863

DELI Stein’s Market and Deli: 2207 Magazine St., 527-0771

FINE DINING Bombay Club: 830 Conti St., 586-0972 Broussard’s: 819 Conti St., 581-3866 Commander’s Palace: 1403 Washington Ave., 899-8221

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IRISH The Irish House: 1432 Saint Charles Ave., 595-6755

Biscuits and Buns on Banks: 4337 Banks St., 273-4600 Cake Café: 2440 Chartres St., 943-0010 City Diner: 3116 S I-10 Service Rd E, 8311030; 5708 Citrus Blvd., 309-7614 Cowbell: 8801 Oak St., 298-8689 Dat Dog: 601 Frenchmen St., 309-3362; 5030 Freret St., 899-6883; 3336 Magazine St., 324-2226 Live Oak Cafe: 8140 Oak St., 265-0050 Parkway Bakery and Tavern: 538 Hagan Ave., 482-3047 Phil’s Grill: 3020 Severn Ave., Metairie, 324-9080; 1640 Hickory Ave., Harahan, 305-1705 Sammy’s Food Services: 3000 Elysian Fields Ave., 948-7361 Tracey’s: 2604 Magazine St., 897-5413

ITALIAN

Chiba: 8312 Oak St., 826-9119 Mikimoto: 3301 S. Carrollton Ave., 488-1881 Seoul Shack: 435 Esplanade Ave., 417-6206 Sukho Thai: 4519 Magazine St., 373-6471; 2200 Royal St., 948-9309 Wasabi: 900 Frenchmen St., 943-9433

LOUISIANA / SOUTHERN Fulton Alley: 600 Fulton St., 208-5593 Mondo: 900 Harrison Ave., 224-2633 Praline Connection: 542 Frenchmen St., 943-3934

MEDITERRANEAN Byblos: 3218 Magazine St., 894-1233 Mona’s Café: 504 Frenchmen St., 949-4115

MEXICAN/CARIBBEAN/SPANISH Barú Bistro & Tapas: 3700 Magazine St., 895-2225 Juan’s Flying Burrito: 2018 Magazine St., 569-0000 El Gato Negro: 81 French Market Place, 525-9846

MUSIC ON THE MENU Banks Street Bar & Grill: 4401 Banks St., 486-0258 Buffa’s: 1001 Esplanade Ave., 949-0038 Chickie Wah Wah: 2828 Canal St., 304-4714 Dmac’s Bar & Grill: 542 S Jefferson Davis Pkwy, 304-5757 Gattuso’s: 435 Huey P Long Ave., Gretna, 368-1114 Hard Rock Café: 125 Bourbon St., 529-5617 House of Blues: 225 Decatur St., 412-8068

Midway Pizza: 4725 Freret St., 322-2815 Pizza Delicious: 617 Piety St., 676-8482 Slice Pizzeria: 1513 St. Charles Ave., 525-7437 Theo’s Pizza: 4218 Magazine St., 894-8554; 4024 Canal St., 302-1133; 1212 S Clearview, 733-3803

SEAFOOD Basin Seafood and Spirits: 3222 Magazine St., 302-7391 Crazy Lobster Bar & Grill: 1 Poydras St. 569-3380 LeBayou Restaurant: 208 Bourbon St., 525-4755 Pier 424 Seafood Market: 424 Bourbon St., 309-1574 Royal House Oyster Bar: 441 Royal St., 528-2601

SOUL Praline Connection: 542 Frenchmen St., 943-3934

STEAKHOUSE La Boca: 870 Tchoupitoulas St., 525-8205

VIETNAMESE Namese: 4077 Tulane Ave., 483-8899

WEE HOURS Buffa’s Restaurant & Lounge: 1001 Esplanade Ave., 949-0038 Mimi’s in the Marigny: 2601 Royal St., 872-9868

Paul Sanchez hits the

Adolfo’s: 611 Frenchmen St., 948-3800 Little Vic’s: 719 Toulouse St., 304-1238

JAPANESE/KOREAN/SUSHI/THAI

PIZZA

Spot

What are you getting?

I’ve been on the road a lot this year, so I wanted to come someplace really New Orleans. I’ve been coming here since the 1970s, since I was a young man.

Napoleon House has the best warm muffuletta in the city and it’s a cold day, so I wanted a warm muff.

How does their muffuletta compare to Central Grocery’s?

The big difference is that these are heated, and a bit smaller, which I don’t mind.

How often do you come here?

If I have friends in town, I come. It’s a place I like to meet people. The bar is never too loud. You’re not going to be able to not have a conversation. I love coming here when I’m in this part of town, or I go out Napoleon House of my way to get here. They play classical 500 Chartres Street music, and I just love the ambiance.

(504) 524-9752 —Elsa Hahne www.OFFBEAT.com

Photo: ELSA HAHNE

Kingfish: 337 Chartres St., 598-5005 Mr. B’s Bistro: 201 Royal St. 523-2078 Restaurant R’evolution: 777 Bienville St., 553-2277

Ye Olde College Inn: 3000 S. Carrollton Ave., 866-3683 Warehouse Grille: 869 Magazine St., 322-2188

DINING OUT

Station 6 The seafood joints of Bucktown and its acrossthe-canal neighbor West End are their own genre. Their hallmark is the overflowing platter of fried or boiled seafood complemented by cold beer in frozen mugs and a healthy dose of familial conviviality. Conventional wisdom would dictate that any newcomer to the neighborhood would fall in place among its peers, but Alison Vega and her husband (and fellow chef) Drew Knoll decided to raise the bar and follow their own legacy when they opened Station 6.

Vega is best known for the Mediterranean fare she served at her eponymous tapas café on Metairie Road, which was a local forerunner of the small-plate trend. Knoll, whose resume includes a stint as chef de cuisine at Emeril’s Delmonico, has for the last several years worked as a seafood distributor, where he has cultivated direct relationships with crabbers, shrimpers and oyster harvesters. The couple’s tandem experience and influence are the heart and soul of Station 6.

www.OFFBEAT.com

Nary a hushpuppy nor a stuffed crab can be found on the menu. Instead, begin a meal with a bubbling crock of buttery crabmeat casserole spooned over toasted french bread rounds or a mélange of chopped fresh tuna, crunchy jicama slaw and local Choupiquet bowfin caviar kicked up with ghost peppers—flavors no doubt drawn from the couple’s near-decade spent living in the Caribbean. Cracked crab stew is the kitchen’s answer to gumbo sans okra, with shrimp and oysters bobbing around its richly dark base served over rice. Toasted buns from Weiss Guys Bakery in Covington are the foundation for sandwiches such as the oyster BLT and the Sloppy Drew, a combination of braised beef, melted provolone and onion jam that requires far fewer napkins than your typical roast beef po-boy.

A small but functional oyster bar serves up expertly shucked bivalves selected by Knoll from the weekly harvest (most recently just off the coast of Terrebonne Parish). The pristine oysters need only a squeeze of lemon to enhance their briny flavor, though a small dollop of the house cocktail sauce adds an appropriately pungent accent for those so inclined. Cold seafood fans will appreciate the house seafood salad of shrimp and crabmeat over little gem lettuce tossed with green goddess dressing, although the $18 price tag warrants a more substantial serving.

Photo: RENEE BIENVENU

EATS

Instead of a claw machine and video poker, ambience is dominated by covered patio seating that can be left open to lake breezes during the spring and summer, or insulated with outdoor drapes and heaters on colder days. Smart, attentive waitstaff collaborate in an elevated dining experience that was until now missing from the lakefront. And if there was any doubt as to whether Station 6 is not ya mama’s Bucktown joint, consider that the happy hour special is a half-dozen oysters with a glass of Grand Cru champagne.

—Peter Thriffiley 105 Metairie Hammond Hwy.; Tue–Thur 11a–9p, Fri-Sat 11a–10p, Sun 11a–8p; (504) 345-2936; station6nola.com

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REVIEWS

Reviews When submitting CDs for consideration, please send two copies to OffBeat Reviews, 421 Frenchmen Street, Suite 200, New Orleans, LA 70116

CDs reviewed are available now at 421 Frenchmen Street in the Marigny 504-586-1094 or online at LouisianaMusicFactory.com

Celebrating a Fresh Beginning

James Martin Something’s Gotta Give (Independent) “It ain’t nothing you don’t already know,” singer/saxophonist James Martin declares at the start of this disc. And musically speaking, he’s right: The song lodges in a familiar, yet enjoyable post-Meters funk groove, and with one exception, the tracks here are pretty much what you’d expect from a musician who cut his teeth playing sax in Trombone Shorty’s band.

That one exception is a real ringer, though: “Another You” is a love ballad with absolutely zero characteristic New Orleans sound—it falls more into a throwback singer-songwriter mode and could pass for, say, a vintage Seals & Crofts track if not for the sousaphone doing the bassline. You’re not supposed to let your guard down and get this sentimental on a funk album, but it sounds like Martin’s getting close to the heart here—the lyrics about trying to be with someone else when you’re not over a breakup. The sincerity works and in all honesty, this kind of song is far more suited to his singing voice than the funkier stuff he attempts.

Read between the lines and this

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is a loose-knit concept album, with the title track sounding a bit like the recovery songs Anders Osborne was writing for a while; it’s a deceptively upbeat one about the consequences of bad habits. And though “Too Much Blues” was borrowed from James Booker, it fits the album’s tone by celebrating a fresh beginning, and it’s creatively arranged with only brass for accompaniment.

A little more of this—and a little less of things like the standardissue cover of “Southern Nights’—and Martin could carve out his own corner of the funk world.

—Brett Milano

Louie Ludwig I Got Nothin to Say (Zzi Music) The song “Blame It on the Storm” was reviewed here not that long ago (by yours truly), but the rest of this release by Louie—NOLA’s finest and wittiest folkie, although that’s really just his jumping off point—is significantly less upbeat. To be sure, it’s an odd comparison to make, considering just how well “Storm” wryly demonstrates the city’s ability to turn even tragedy into a lockdown tradition. But Louie is, like so many of us these days, even angrier than before,

yet simultaneously convinced that neither his anger nor his hardwon bursts of optimism are going to do the world any good. And despite that occasional optimism (“Best Day Ever”) or the sharp cynicism of tracks like “If You Ever Lose Jesus” (...just go look in jail), he’s still making a statement by refusing to release one. His songs may be largely gentle, quiet, reflective and immaculately self-produced, but Ludwig isn’t even rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic anymore, just trying to keep dry for as long as possible.

“World Without War,” for example, takes the exact same philosophical tack as John Lennon’s “Imagine,” but he’s not dreaming any more, much less waiting for you to join him in building Utopia. “The Day My Daddy Swam to Mexico” sounds benign until you realize his father’s starting out from Tampa Bay. His take on the folk standard “Old Virginia,” replete with vocal echo and fiddle didgeridoos, sounds less like a ballad of betrayal and more like vengeance from beyond the Confederate grave. And the closing title track is indeed his anti-anthem; eyeing millennial optimism like a cheap knockoff of his own, broken kind (“It literally kills me that totally everything is awesome and pretty okay”).

Clearly, his older-Candide cynicism would be a downer if not for his wit: We need songs titled “God Hates Flags” and tunes that rhyme “ad hominem” with “mama and dem.” But if it’s his own experience with the human race that’s keeping him from taking a stand, then why does the person on the album cover have duct tape over their mouth? Hmm. —Robert Fontenot

Kettle Black 4.28.16 (Independent) Keith Burnstein, transplanted New Yorker and lead singersongwriter of this smooth PBR&B jam band, sings a lot like Dr. John in his classic early-’70s salad days, but that’s really just his way of being sly: Wisely introducing themselves with a live set, Kettle Black are a synthesis of most of what made both New York and New Orleans so tight in the ’70s. Rolling piano, exploratory guitar solos, a strong enough pop sensibility, light and almost tropical funk grooves not heavy enough to drag down those smooth electric-piano glissandos or disturb the surface of those shimmering, exquisitely jazzy chord changes, and most notably, a mellow approach to the pain of romance that suggests that in the game of love, just being alive and fully yourself is enough. Turns out being sly is a bit of subterfuge; most of the time, just having emotions is wondrous enough for Keith.

“Gorgeous” is the word to describe where the group sound usually ends up; no matter what Keith is going on about, it sure sounds nice. Is “False Paradise” about Cuba? Why the minor key on “Brio”? Is his swamp-pop waltz www.OFFBEAT.com

REVIEWS

Race and Sexuality Michael Tisserand Krazy: George Herriman, A Life in Black and White (Harper)

bookmark

On one of my first trips to New Orleans back in the twentieth century I was in a cab in the French Quarter when we passed several strikingly beautiful young women. “You never can be sure about them,” the cabdriver said. “They pass as white, but mamma could be black as the ace of spades.” I was stunned by the statement, by the idea that racism could be so ingrained that this cabbie was capable of suspecting anyone he saw of being black. Michael Tisserand examines the phenomenon through the looking glass in his new book, Krazy, a biography of the great cartoonist George Herriman, the creator of the iconic Krazy Kat comic strip.

Herriman was the great-grandson of riverboat captain Stephen Herriman, a slave owner and possibly even a bounty hunter, and free woman of color Justine Olivier. His New Orleans birth certificate identified him as black (col.), but his parents moved to Los Angeles and decided to pass as white.

Herriman lived his entire life under the threat of losing everything if the simple fact of his black heritage was revealed. As Tisserand succinctly explains, “George Joseph Herriman was a black man born in New Orleans and raised in Los Angeles. For their own reasons, the Herrimans had obscured their identity and ‘passed’ for white. This made it possible for George Herriman to socialize easily with whites, to attend the family’s chosen school, to work on the staff of Joseph Pulitzer’s and William Randolph Hearst’s newspapers, to marry his white wife, and to purchase property in the Hollywood Hills bound by a racial covenant that prohibited ownership to blacks.”

Tisserand is a thoroughgoing researcher and a great storyteller. He delivers Herriman’s tale with a detective’s precision, rarely intruding on the narrative as he leaves the reader to ask the obvious questions and hang on the razor’s edge of suspense about how much Herriman knew about his own past, and how he reacted to his predicament. His colleagues joked about his “kinky” hair, nicknaming him “The Greek,” prompting Herriman to wear hats.

“None of us knew what he was,” wrote Herriman’s colleague Tad Dorgan. “So we called him the Greek.”

Though he made jokes at the expense of blacks in his comics, and even performed in blackface, Herriman was politically aligned with the black cause when it came to major issues like white rage against the boxer Jack Johnson.

Herriman was already considered one of the world’s greatest cartoonists when Krazy Kat finally appears roughly halfway through the book, and Tisserand guides us through the ever-morphing landscape of race and sexuality that characterizes the strip.

Krazy is an important read for its exploration of American race relations, the golden age of the newspaper business, and especially the history of comic strips. If you don’t know Krazy Kat but you like R. Crumb, Dr. Seuss, Charles Schulz or Ren and Stimpy, Krazy will be a revelation.

—John Swenson www.OFFBEAT.com

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Guitarist Steve Masakowski hits rewind on Astral Project’s Voodoo Bop.

Astral Project

“Cherry Red” celebratory or wistful or resigned? In the end, it doesn’t matter. Raja Kassis’ solos and Keith’s happy-wanderer vibe are an unbeatable combo, and the climax, a gently epic 12-minute jam called “Wishing Well,” feels like a hot tub full of oxytocins. And hey, maybe the mission statement is in there too: “Awash in the beauty/ Alive in the noise.” Or is that “her beauty”?

Damn.

—Robert Fontenot

Voodoo Bop (Compass Records)

“I

f I can speak to the Astral Project, myself and [drummer] Johnny Vidacovich were born and raised here. David [Torkanowsky, piano/organ] was born here as well, and Tony [Dagradi, saxophone] had been playing here all his life. The Astral Project represents, now, the oldest existing contemporary jazz band in New Orleans.

The Voodoo Bop record is interesting because it is the last record we did as a quintet [which also featured bassist James Singleton]. David soon after would sort of leave the scene and go do his own thing. What’s interesting is we did this under contract with Compass Records.

Not sure how the connection with Compass came about, though I was already on the label as a solo artist.

The band probably started 35 years ago—I want to say it was in the early ’80s, maybe late ’70s. I don’t really know what year exactly Astral Project started, because I’m the junior member of the band. In the early ’80s, I had my own group, called Mars. The original Astral Project had another percussionist in it, Mark Sanders, who has since moved to New York. When he left the scene, I became the fifth member of the band.

[At the time of recording Voodoo Bop in 1999], Astral Project was really on a kind of a roll. A few years before, we had started to get more serious about promoting the band as an entity. The band started out as Tony Dagradi’s conception. From there, we would all start to contribute compositions.

That’s what usually happens with jazz bands when they’ve been playing together a long time. Individual players begin to develop parts and sections of the tune, shift the tempos and the dynamics. That’s where a lot of the joy in making music is, in how it evolves over time.

When we started gigging more, started touring more, it became more of a democratic process—

much more like a collective than a leader-oriented band. We all started doing things like taking care of money collection, taking care of booking. Before that, we were not very organized as far as our direction. We got together to play because we loved to play together. It’s a very special group of musicians.

As we played more, we got more aggressive about promoting the band as an entity, more aggressive about the band as a business. We started discussing how to make it grow, how to take Astral Project to the next level. So this time represents the high point, or near the high point, of the band.

The sessions were recorded at [Grammywinning producer] Daniel Lanois’ place [Kingsway Studios] in this antebellum mansion on Esplanade. We were all set up in this big room on the ground level, with high ceilings, all facing each other. We were trying to create a situation where we played as live as possible, not blocked off from one another.

I was standing with my amp in a doorway out towards the hall. Directly across from me was Johnny, 10 or 12 feet away, some baffles built around him.

David’s piano to his left. We were trying to create some isolation within the close proximity of this circle.

What was unusual about this studio was there was no control room. The big mixing board was in the next room and connected to the open space between us.

David helped produce the record, and we brought in a pretty well-known mixing engineer, John Fischbach, who had worked with Stevie Wonder.

Voodoo Bop is a Polaroid snapshot of that particular point in time. The songs are the same, but when writing a jazz composition, you write with the idea that it’s going to be an improvisational piece. The initial composition is a final draft, but from there it evolves into something new. In Astral Project, we’re always thinking that way.”

—Frank Etheridge

“Voodoo Bop is a Polaroid snapshot of that particular point in time ... The initial composition is a final draft.”

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Sugar Ray and the Bluetones Seeing Is Believing (Severn) Sugar Ray Norcia has been a fixture on the New England blues scene since the ’70s. This, his seventh album for Severn, measures up well to the previous half-dozen as all the Bluetones are at the top of their game. The opener “Sweet Baby” is what most blues aficionados have come to expect from Sugar Ray. It’s a swinging harp-driven shuffle not outside of Little Walter’s realm of influence. The title track drops the pace as it features Monster Mike Welch playing a T-Bone Walker–influenced minorkeyed guitar figure throughout.

“Noontime Bell” swings a-plenty with its chunky rhythm and pseudo-macho lyrics. So too does “Blind Date,” but rhythmically it’s somewhat ungainly and lyrically rather awkward. “You Know I Love You”—dedicated to B.B. King (he wrote it)—is given a new lease on life as an instrumental and features sharp and to-the-point guitar from “The Monster.” The semiacoustic “Keep On Sailing” sports humorous lyrics somewhat in the www.OFFBEAT.com

REVIEWS weakness. More up the Bluetones’ alley is “Got a Gal,” one of their patented echoey shuffles, built on a foundation of rock-solid 12-bar guitar and topped with a crisp chromatic solo. Not exceedingly adventurous but a reliable blues release that will please most modern blues fans.

—Jeff Hannusch

tradition of a half-pint–fueled Sonny Boy Williamson. Bassist Mudcat Ward contributes a couple of songs—perhaps the best being the contrite “Misses Blues,” which is accentuated by Sugar Ray on chromatic harp. The changeup in the mix here is the heartfelt “Not Me,” which could actually make one misty-eyed in a moment of

A Work of Oral History Michael Tisserand The Kingdom of Zydeco (Arcade Publishing)

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The Kingdom of Zydeco was reissued in paperback after being out of print for some time. Since it was the first book ever written about zydeco, the indigenous music of Louisiana’s Frenchspeaking Creoles, Kingdom was nothing less than groundbreaking and further legitimized the genre since it was written by someone outside the culture.

The original Francis Pavy painting is once again on the cover after being replaced by a photo of Clifton Chenier’s hands playing an accordion on the second, short-lived softback edition. “That painting is incredibly meaningful to me as a representation of what I was trying to do in the book,” says Tisserand.

The idea to write Kingdom was inspired by a visit that Tisserand, then on assignment for OffBeat, paid to Boozoo Chavis at his home in Dog Hill near Lake Charles, Louisiana.

“I went out there and the first thing was ‘Hey can you wait for me? I need to go get some hay from a neighbor,’” Tisserand explains.

“Having worked on farms as a kid in Minnesota, I’ll go along. I am up there in the truck with Boozoo and bringing the hay down and then he brings me back to his kitchen. There were all the kids and he and his wife are going back and forth shouting at each other and squirrel stew is on the stove. Boozoo is holding court at his kitchen table and I’m realizing that my mind was officially blown at that point because all of this was going on and I had already felt connected to his music.”

It was at this moment Tisserand realized he wanted to cover zydeco indepth and draw the necessary connections between the music and the lives of its musicians to provide a deeper understanding of where it comes from.

Equipped with a cassette recorder, boxes of tapes and 400 notebooks, Tisserand spent 1996 in Lafayette researching and interviewing musicians, venue owners and folklorists. Oftentimes he began his day with the intention of interviewing someone and ended up interviewing someone else.

Through the recollections of Canray Fontenot, “Bois Sec” Ardoin and Milton Ardoin, who knew the legendary Amédé Ardoin, Tisserand constructs a relatively comprehensive portrait of Amédé, something he could not do the same way today since the aforementioned are now deceased.

“I consider The Kingdom of Zydeco to be very much a work of oral history” says Tisserand.

—Dan Willging www.OFFBEAT.com

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REVIEWS final cuts, which allows his driving bass to stand tall in the mix.

—Geraldine Wyckoff

Terra Terra

Drag’s Half Fast Band (GHB Records) Bassist Alcide “Slow Drag” Pavageau, a New Orleans native born in 1888, was best known as a sideman and for his long association with clarinetist George Lewis. The first nine selections on Drag’s Half Fast Band, which were captured in 1965, represent the only time the bassist recorded under his own name. As pointed out in the very informative liner notes by pianist Butch Thompson and Paige Van Vorst, Pavageau never takes a solo on these cuts.

Unfortunately, while the heartbeat of his bass can be realized in the solid rhythm of tunes such as “I Can’t Escape from You (Slowly),” and the wonderful “Creole Song,” his work is sometimes buried in the recording of the ensemble that notably includes trombonist Jim Robinson, clarinetist Albert Burbank and pianist Don Ewell.

The final three selections find Pavageau right at home and sounding great with the Kid Thomas and George Lewis Stompers. The tunes—“Battle Hymn of the Republic,” “Salty Dog” and “Bucket’s Got a Hole in It”—are never-before-released alternative takes that were recorded in 1961 at Cosimo Matassa’s Jazz City Studios. Lewis’ full tone on the clarinet and Pavageau’s rich bass notes reveal why they made such an enduring team. Banjo ace Emmanuel Sayles provides the vocals on the lively “Salty Dog” and encourages the guys to give it their all. Trumpeter Kid Thomas utilizes a mute, accenting the good-time grit of the tune. Understandably, these all-stars outshine Pavageau’s band, as does the recording quality of the

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Big Bad Wrong (Four Cats / Radionic Records)

synthesis of the Eagles. And with no particular freak flag to fly, Buzzy and co-leads Don Schulz and Richard Duncan can focus on the slippery nature of romance itself.

While there’s nothing particularly surprising in either their themes or their presentation, it’s the slight differences in their three approaches that prove to be the most fascinating element. Duncan is the less-is-more pop classicist, as simple and straightforward as Buddy Holly or early Marshall Crenshaw; Buzzy’s the heartland meat-and-potatoes rock balladeer; Schulz the jaded California vet who goes back to the country, Neil Young–style, to unravel where it all went wrong. You won’t hear the seams unless you’re listening hard, though. Hopalong’s three-headed cowboy rock blends their sensibilities as neatly as their harmonies. And that’s saying quite a bit.

—Robert Fontenot

“Best kept secret” is a cliché, but like so many clichés, it’s one that appeared out of necessity.

And for three albums now, ex–Vince Vance and the Valiants The jazz-rock trio Terra Terra and Topcats member Buzzy Beano understands one very important element of science fiction: Be sure to has been replicating the classic desert country of those poststop every once in a while and instill hippie So Cal bands that weren’t awe. They actually have a vague, too hip to rifle through dad’s overarching, space-rock operaish record collection and jumpstart theme, some wharrgarbl about halting the expansion of the universe the whole Americana movement.

Not quite outlaw or psychedelic, before it violates the laws of physics this five-piece nevertheless applies or something, laced with some singer-songwriter discipline to appropriately cosmic, Hitchhiker-y that movement, recalling no one black humor and a healthy dose of Utopian philosophy, a post-humanism so much as the Flying Burrito Brothers—it’s those harmonies, through music. And they get it all really—but also approximating the across, which is no mean feat for ragged soul of Buffalo Springfield, an instrumental band. A little Zappa the raw natural beauty of Poco, here, a little Primus there, a touch of and even the slightly airbrushed Sun Ra. No libretto necessary.

It’s impressive, but not nearly as much as their focus and their Gospel Righteousness restraint. Progs or not, they bring most of their alien-sounding, off-time, structurally complex soundscapes The Asylum Chorus in at around four or five minutes.

Take A Piece Repeated listening actually rewards (Independent) the Terra Terra voyager, because structures do reveal themselves before If this debut EP were only an long. Pun intended: The form of these excuse to create a supergroup out excursions is complex but sturdy, of organist Joe Krown, drummer and every so often they’re actually Doug Belote, and Groovesect and anchored down by huge formations Gravity A guitarist Danny Abel, it that can take your breath away. While would demand attention, but the their contemporaries are content to Asylum Chorus is just that—eight float, Terra Terra take big fat guitar of the city’s finest vocalists gathered together as a bulwark of sorts riffs and produce Death Star–size way against ignorance, not so much a glee club with balls or even a chorale stations out of them. covering rock but a Crescent City Staple Singers writ large, complete “War of the Worlds” is ostensibly with their own in-house songs, trained in soul but also the very the single because it starts out as their definition of musically multipurpose.

“Planet Caravan” with violin before Nevertheless, gospel righteousness fuels everything they do here—six the stomping moon monster enters songs which promote love, inclusion, truth and spiritual fortitude in a stage left. “Big Pharma” feels like a world which appears to have given up on them all. (“Buy new shoes spidery Ritalin freak out before Pfizer and we keep on walking. The truth depends on whoever’s talking.”) zooms in and firebombs everything. It’s And eight vocalists just means there’s more of them to love: Five of the not always done with crunch, either. eight get to sing their own words, which means you can enjoy the flavor Witness “Bernie’s Song,” where a of their individual personalities just like they were a boy band for smart marching army of 99 percenters is adults. Amy is the romantic with the electric piano. Roan wants a lover blindsided by an ’80s discobot. You with a brain. Hannah keeps her eyes on the prize, while Sybil knows don’t need to know what any of this the odds are against her and Lucas is determined to lead the charge. If means, by the way. The sheer majesty that sounds dismissive, it isn’t meant to be: The Grammys, in particular, of it all is enough: Like any space are dying for a positive, progressive blended family of roots-music opera, the main objective is to remind powerhouses just like this. As for the other three voices, they need a you how small you are. spotlight, too. But that’s what the full album is for. And they will get one.

—Robert Fontenot —Robert Fontenot

Terra Terra (Independent)

Alcide “Slow Drag” Pavageau

Hopalong Catastrophe

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These listings are abbreviated. For complete daily listings, go to offbeat.com. These listings were verified at the time of publication, but are of course subject to change. To get your event listed, go to offbeat.com/add-new-listings or send an email to listings@offbeat.com.

AF African AM Americana BL Blues BU Bluegrass BO Bounce BB Brass Band BQ Burlesque KJ Cajun CL Classical CR Classic Rock CO Comedy CW Country CB Cover Band DN Dance DX Dixieland DB Dubstep EL Electro FO Folk FK Funk GS Gospel GY Gypsy HH Hip-Hop HS House IN Indian Classical ID Indie Rock IL Industrial IR Irish JB Jam Band

MJ Jazz

Contemporary TJ Jazz Traditional JV Jazz Variety KR Karaoke KZ Klezmer LT Latin MG Mardi Gras

Indian ME Metal RB Modern R&B PO Pop PK Punk RE Reggae RC Rockabilly RK Rock RR Roots Rock SS Singer/

Songwriter SK Ska PI Solo Piano SO Soul SW Spoken Word SP Swamp Pop SI Swing VR Variety ZY Zydeco

SATURDAY DECEMBER 31 Alto (Ace Hotel): Alynda Lee Segarra (ID) 10p Blue Nile: Naughty Professor and friends, Stooges Brass Band (FK) 8p Bombay Club: Leroy Jones (JV) 10p Buffa’s: Alexandra Scott and her Magical Band (VR) 5p, Michael Liuzza (VR) 8p, Antoine Diel and the Misfit Power (VR) 9p, Keith Burnstein (VR) 1a Burgundy Bar (the Saint Hotel): New Orleans Swamp Donkeys (VR) 9p Cannery: New Year’s Eve at the Cannery feat. the Wiseguys (VR) 8:30p Carrollton Station: Eric Lindell and friends (BL) 10p Chickie Wah Wah: James McMurtry Band, Dana Abbott Band, Helen Gillet (VR) 8p Crazy Lobster: Poppy’s Poppin’ New Year’s Eve Review (VR) 11a & 4p Creole Cookery: Trad Stars Jazz Band (JV) 11a d.b.a.: Soul Rebels (BB) 11p Dragon’s Den: Eight Dice Cloth (JV) 7p, New Year’s Eve Dance Party (VR) 10p; Upstairs: Talk Nerdy to Me (BQ) 8p Funky Pirate: Mark and the Pentones (BL) 2p, Blues Masters feat. Big Al (BL) 8:30p Hi-Ho Lounge: Pretty Lights Pre-Party feat. Mikey Thunder, Wax Future, Robbie Dude, Dino Brawl (VR) 4p, Hustle with DJ Soul Sister (FK) 11p House of Blues: Shamarr Allen, Big Easy Brawlers, DJ Dirty Red, DJ Sir Real (VR) 6p House of Blues (the Parish): Bad Girls of Burlesque NYE Blowout (BQ) 8 & 11p Howlin’ Wolf: Rebirth Brass Band (BB) 9p Hyatt Regency: Big Night New Orleans’ NYE Gala feat.

Cowboy Mouth, Chee-Weez, Big Sam’s Funky Nation, Kid Kamillion and others (VR) 9p Jazz Playhouse: the Original Tuxedo Jazz Band (JV) 9p Joy Theater: Foundation of Funk and Dumpstaphunk feat.

Zigaboo Modeliste, George Porter Jr., Eddie Roberts, Robert Walter (FK) 10p

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Kermit’s Mother-in-Law Lounge: Neisha Ruffins (JV) 8:30p Kerry Irish Pub: Patrick Cooper (FO) 5p, Roux the Day (FO) 9p Little Gem Saloon: Kermit Ruffins and the BBQ Swingers (JV) 7p, Reid Poole Quartet (JV) 9:30p, NYE Blowout with Kermit Ruffins and the BBQ Swingers (JV) 10:30p Little Tropical Isle: Jay B. Elston (RK) 5p, Reed Lightfoot (RK) 9p Louisiana Children’s Museum: New Year’s Eve Kids’ Countdown (VR) 9:30a Mahalia Jackson Theater: Amy Schumer (CO) 8p Maison: Chance Bushman and the Ibervillianaires, Royal Street Winding Boys, Smoking Time Jazz Club (JV) 1p, New Orleans Suspects, Glen David Andrews, No Good Deed (FK) 10p Maple Leaf: the Heart Attacks (FK) 11p Mardi Gras World: Pretty Lights, Emancipator, Maddy O’Neal (EL) 9p Morning Call City Park: Billy D. Chapman (JV) 10a Old Point Bar: One Percent Nation (RK) 9:30p One Eyed Jacks: Squirrel Nut Zippers (SI) 10p Orpheum Theater: NYE Celebration feat. the Revivalists, Seratones (SO) 9p Palm Court Jazz Café: New Year’s Eve Gala feat. Lars Edegran, Will Smith, Louis Ford, Benny Amon and Richard Moten (TJ) 9p Preservation Hall: NYE Show with the Preservation Hall-Star Band and Shannon Powell (TJ) 10p Republic: Modern Measure (EL) 2a Rock ‘n’ Bowl: Jonathon Boogie Long, Tab Benoit (BL) 8p Sanctuary Cultural Arts Center: Debauche, Roxie le Rouge’s Big Deal Burlesque, Belly Dance with Kerry Lynn, Backyard Balkan Brass Band, Andrew Ward (VR) 9p Siberia: Valparaiso Men’s Chorus, Happy Talk Band, the Angry Lovers (FO) 9p Snug Harbor: Topsy Chapman and Solid Harmony (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Sarah McCoy (JV) 12p, Ecirb Mueller’s Twisted Dixie (JV) 2p, Shotgun Jazz Band (JV) 6p, Jazz Vipers (JV) 10p Three Keys (Ace Hotel): Tank and the Bangas (FK) 10p Three Muses: Bailey Hinton (JV) 9:30p Tipitina’s: Galactic, Boyfriend (VR) 10p Tropical Isle Bayou Club: the Troubadour (KJ) 1p, Bayou Cajun Swamp Band (KJ) 5p, T’Canaille (KJ) 9p

SUNDAY JANUARY 1

Bacchanal: the Tangiers Combo (JV) 12p, the Tradsters (JV) 4p, Roamin’ Jasmine (JV) 7:30p Bombay Club: David Boeddinghaus (JV) 8p Buffa’s: Some Like It Hot! (TJ) 10:30a, Renee Gros (JV) 7p Circle Bar: Micah McKee and Little Maker, Blind Texas Marlin (FO) 6p Crazy Lobster: the Gator Bites (VR) 11a, the Neon Shadows (VR) 4p d.b.a.: Palmetto Bugs Stompers (SI) 6p Dragon’s Den: the Zen Future Sessions Jazz Jam with Anuraag Penyal and Dignity Reve (JV) 7p, Church (EL) 10p Funky Pirate: Mark and the Pentones (BL) 4p, Willie Lockett Band (BL) 8p Hi-Ho Lounge: NOLA Comedy Hour (CO) 8p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Hot 8 Brass Band (BB) 10p Kermit’s Mother-in-Law Lounge: Kermit Ruffins and the BBQ Swingers (JV) 5:30p Kerry Irish Pub: Will Dickerson (FO) 8:30p Maison: Chance Bushman and the NOLA Jitterbugs (SI) 10a, Eight Dice Cloth, Swamp Kitchen (JV) 1p, Higher Heights (RE) 10p Maple Leaf: Joe Krown Trio feat. Russell Batiste and Walter “Wolfman” Washington (RB) 10p Morning Call City Park: Billy D. Chapman (JV) 10a Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall Legacy Band feat. Gregg Stafford (TJ) 5p, Preservation Hall All-Stars feat. Wendell Brunious (TJ) 8p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: Cameron Dupuy and the Cajun Troubadours (KJ) 5:30p Snug Harbor: John Mahoney Big Band (JV) 8 & 10p Three Keys (Ace Hotel): Helen Gillet +1 Music Series (MJ) 9p Three Muses: Raphael Bas (JV) 5p, Linnzi Zaorski (JV) 8p Three Muses Maple: Debbie Davis and Josh Paxton (JV) 11a

Tropical Isle Bayou Club: Brandon Moreau and Cajungrass (KJ) 2p, Bayou Cajun Swamp Band (KJ) 7p

MONDAY JANUARY 2

Bacchanal: Raphael Bas (JV) 12p, Helen Gillet (JV) 7:30p Bombay Club: John Royen (PI) 8p Buffa’s: Arsene DeLay (VR) 5p, Antoine Diel (JV) 8p Chickie Wah Wah: Benny Maygarden and Thomas Walker (VR) 6p, Alex McMurray (SS) 8p d.b.a.: Alexis and the Samurai (ID) 7p, Glen David Andrews (JV) 10p Dragon’s Den: Hot Club de Cosmos (GY) 7p, Hangover Monday with DJ Ill Medina (VR) 11p Hi-Ho Lounge: Bluegrass Pickin’ Party (BU) 8p, Instant Opus Improvised Series (VR) 9p Kerry Irish Pub: Patrick Cooper (FO) 9p Little Tropical Isle: Frank Fairbanks (RK) 5p, Reed Lightfoot (RK) 9p Maison: Chicken and Waffles, Aurora Nealand and the Royal Roses, RnR Music Group (JV) 4p Maple Leaf: George Porter Jr. Trio feat. Mike Lemmler and Terrence Houston (FK) 10p Morning Call: Valerie Sassyfras (VR) 10a Ooh Poo Pah Doo: James Andrews and the Crescent City All-Stars, Bobby Love (VR) 8p Snug Harbor: Charmaine Neville Band (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Royal Street Winding Boys (JV) 12p, Sarah McCoy (JV) 4p, Dominick Grillo and the Frenchmen St. All-Stars (JV) 6p, Jazz Vipers (JV) 10p Three Muses: Monty Banks (JV) 5p

Spotted Cat: Chris Christy (JV) 2p, Shotgun Jazz Band (JV) 6p, Antoine Diel and the New Orleans Power Misfits (JV) 10p Three Muses: Leslie Martin (JV) 5p, Hot Club of New Orleans (JV) 7p Three Muses Maple: Joy Patterson and Matt Bell (JV) 7p

THURSDAY JANUARY 5

Bacchanal: Raphael Bas (JV) 12p, Mark Weliky (JV) 7:30p Bombay Club: Matt Lemmler (PI) 8p Buffa’s: Tacos, Tequila and Tiaras with Vanessa Carr (VR) 8p Chickie Wah Wah: Albanie Falletta (VR) 6p, Jon Cleary (FK) 8p d.b.a.: DinosAurchestra (JV) 7p, Treme Brass Band (BB) 10p Funky Pirate: Blues Masters feat. Big Al (BL) 8:30p Hi-Ho Lounge: Marshland (FO) 8p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Comedy Beast (CO) 8:30p Kerry Irish Pub: Jason Bishop (FO) 8:30p Little Gem Saloon: Marc Stone (BL) 7p Maison: Claire and the Company, Gregory Agid Quartet, Corporate America (VR) 4p Maple Leaf: Rebirth Brass Band (FK) 11p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall-Stars (TJ) 5p, Preservation Hall All-Stars feat. Charlie Gabriel (TJ) 8p Snug Harbor: Stanton Moore Trio (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Andy J. Forest (JV) 2p, the Little Big Horns (JV) 6p, Smoking Time Jazz Club (JV) 10p Tropical Isle Original: the Hangovers (RK) 5:15p, Jay B. Elston Band (RK) 9:15p

Bombay Club: Jemma Mammina and Rolf Sturm (JV) 8p Buffa’s: Yvette Voelker and the Swinging Heathens (VR) 5p, Tom McDermott and Chloe Feoranzo (JV) 8p Chickie Wah Wah: Phil DeGruy (VR) 6p, Dave Stryker, Michael Pellera and friends (VR) 8p d.b.a.: Little Freddie King (BL) 10p Dragon’s Den: Dave Easley (VR) 6p, Black Laurel (RK) 9p Funky Pirate: Mark and the Pentones (BL) 4p, Blues Masters feat. Big Al (BL) 8:30p Hi-Ho Lounge: Kelcy Mae, the Light Set (FO) 8p House of Blues: Brothers Osborne (CW) 8p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Comedy Gumbeaux (CO) 8:30p Jazz and Heritage Center: Conservatorio Amadeo Roldan (LT) 7:30p Kerry Irish Pub: Chip Wilson (FO) 8:30p Le Bon Temps Roule: Soul Rebels (FK) 11p Little Gem Saloon: Michael Watson presents the Alchemy (JV) 7p Maison: Good for Nothin’ Band, Sweet Substitute, Dysfunktional Bone (VR) 4p Maple Leaf: the Trio feat. Johnny Vidacovich and guests (FK) 11p Ogden Museum of Southern Art: After Hours feat. Walter “Wolfman” Washington (BL) 6p Old Point Bar: Gregg Martinez (RK) 9p Orpheum Theater: Anne-Marie McDermott (CL) 7:30p Palm Court Jazz Café: Tim Laughlin and Crescent City Joymakers (TJ) 8p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall Legacy Band feat. Gregg Stafford (TJ) 6p, Preservation Hall All-Stars feat. Louis Ford (TJ) 8p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: Horace Trahan (ZY) 8:30p Snug Harbor: Wycliff Gordon and Lowdown Brass Band (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Monty Banks (JV) 2p, Sarah McCoy (JV) 4p, Miss Sophie Lee (JV) 6p, Jumbo Shrimp (JV) 10p Three Keys (Ace Hotel): Sam Price and the True Believers (FK) 9p Three Muses: Tom McDermott (PI) 5p, Jermal Watson (JV) 7:30p Three Muses Maple: Arsene DeLay (JV) 7p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Beach Combers (RK) 5p, Debi and the Deacons (RK) 9p Vaughan’s Lounge: Corey Henry and Treme Funket (FK) 10p

WEDNESDAY JANUARY 4

FRIDAY JANUARY 6

TUESDAY JANUARY 3

Bacchanal: Raphael Bas (JV) 12p, Jesse Morrow (JV) 7:30p Bombay Club: Kris Tokarski (JV) 8p Buffa’s: Open Mic Night with Nattie Sanchez (SS) 7p Chickie Wah Wah: Dave Hickey and Jacob Tanner (VR) 6p, Aurora Nealand and Tom McDermott (JV) 8p d.b.a.: Tin Men (BL) 7p, Walter “Wolfman” Washington and the Roadmasters (BL) 10p Dragon’s Den: Groove Therapy (HH) 9p, Reggae Night (RE) 10p Hi-Ho Lounge: Noelle Tannen, Toonces, Harbinger Project (VR) 8p Kerry Irish Pub: Paintbox with Dave James and Tim Robertson (FO) 8:30p Little Gem Saloon: Evan Christopher’s Clarinet Road presents Fairwell to Storyville (JV) 7p Little Tropical Isle: Jay B. Elston (RK) 5p, Reed Lightfoot (RK) 9p Maison: Amina Scott, Jazz Vipers, Dana Abbott Band (VR) 4p Maple Leaf: Nolatet feat. Mike Dillon, Johnny Vidacovich, James Singleton and Brian Haas (FK) 10p Morning Call: Valerie Sassyfras (VR) 10a, Krewe du Two (VR) 1p Palm Court Jazz Café: Lars Edegran and Topsy Chapman with Palm Court Jazz Band (TJ) 8p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall-Stars (TJ) 5p, Preservation Hall All-Stars feat. Charlie Gabriel (TJ) 8p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: the Yat Pack (SI) 8p Snug Harbor: Uptown Jazz Orchestra with Delfeayo Marsalis (JV) 8 & 10p

Bombay Club: Russell Welch (JV) 8:30p Buffa’s: Pfister Sisters (VR) 5p, Twelfth Night Ball with Davis Rogan and Al “Carnival Time” Johnson (VR) 8p, Tuba Skinny (JV) 11p Chickie Wah Wah: Michael Pearce (BL) 6p, Creole String Beans (VR) 8p, Mike Dillon and friends (MJ) 10:30p Civic Theatre: 12th Night Bal Masque feat. Benni, Gnaw, King James and the Special Men (RK) 9p Crazy Lobster: Ken Swartz and the Palace of Sin (VR) 5p d.b.a.: Hot Club of New Orleans (JV) 6p, Brass-A-Holics (BB) 10p Dragon’s Den: Loose Marbles (JV) 7p, the Tipping Point with DJ RQ Away (HH) 10p; Upstairs: Comedy Fuck Yeah (CO) 7p, Latin Night (LT) 11p Funky Pirate: Mark and the Pentones (BL) 2p, Blues Masters feat. Big Al (BL) 8:30p Hi-Ho Lounge: Relapse with DJ Matt Scott (VR) 10p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): LowDown Brass Band, Charles Mantis and friends (FK) 5p Kerry Irish Pub: Patrick Cooper (FO) 5p, Van Hudson and friends (FO) 9p Little Gem Saloon: Nayo Jones Experience (JV) 8p Maison: Geovane Santos Brazilian Jazz Quartet (JV) 1p, Swing Dance Class with Swinging Gypsies, Shotgun Jazz Band (JV) 4p, Soul Project, the Resident Aliens (FK) 10p Maple Leaf: Fareed Haque, Tony Monaco, Stanton Moore and Roosevelt Collier (FK) 11p

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LIVE LOCAL MUSIC Palm Court Jazz Café: Kevin Louis and Palm Court Jazz Band (TJ) 8p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: Contraflow (RK) 9:30p Snug Harbor: Ellis Marsalis Quintet (JV) 8 & 10p Southport Hall: Art of the Process, Cutthroat, Nun Remains (VR) 9p Spotted Cat: Andy J. Forest (JV) 2p, Rhythm Stompers (JV) 6p, New Orleans Cottonmouth Kings (JV) 10p Three Muses: Royal Roses (JV) 5:30p, John and Tyler (JV) 9p Three Muses Maple: Monty Banks (JV) 5p, Linnzi Zaorski (JV) 7p Tipitina’s: 101 Runners’ 10th Anniversary Show and Twelfth Night Carnival Kick-Off Party (VR) 10p

Maple Leaf: Joe Krown Trio feat. Russell Batiste and Walter “Wolfman” Washington (RB) 10p Morning Call City Park: Billy D. Chapman (JV) 10a One Eyed Jacks: Run For The Shadows: A David Bowie Birthday Tribute (VR) 7p Palm Court Jazz Café: Sunday Night Swingsters (TJ) 8p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall Legacy Band feat. Gregg Stafford (TJ) 6p, Preservation Hall All-Stars feat. Wendell Brunious (TJ) 8p Snug Harbor: Nolatet (JV) 8 & 10p Three Muses: Raphael et Pascale (JV) 5p, Linnzi Zaorski (JV) 8p Three Muses Maple: Debbie Davis and Josh Paxton (JV) 11a Tipitina’s: Sunday Youth Music Workshop (VR) 1p

SATURDAY JANUARY 7

MONDAY JANUARY 9

Blue Nile: Washboard Chaz Blues Trio (BL) 7p Bombay Club: Matt Johnson (JV) 8:30p Buffa’s: Red Hot Jazz Band (JV) 11a, Jerry Jumonville (JV) 5p, Silver City Bound (VR) 8p, Ben Fox Trio (JV) 11p Carver Theater: Johnny Sketch and the Dirty Notes (FK) 10p Chickie Wah Wah: Mulligan Brothers (VR) 8p Circle Bar: Lucy, Dingle, Goatlab, Dritta Vita, Molestar, Pockets McCoy, Corey Cruse (EL) 9p d.b.a.: Pine Leaf Boys (KJ) 11p Dos Jefes: Beyyt Shirley Band (VR) 10p Dragon’s Den: Rhythm Regulators (JV) 7p, Sexy Back with DJ Dizzi and DJ Ill Medina (VR) 10p; Upstairs: Talk Nerdy to Me (BQ) 8p Funky Pirate: Mark and the Pentones (BL) 2p, Blues Masters feat. Big Al (BL) 8:30p Hi-Ho Lounge: Close Me Out (CO) 7p, Hustle feat. DJ Soul Sister (FK) 11p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): LowDown Brass Band, Charles Mantis and friends (FK) 8p Joy Theater: Last Dance: A Tribute to Donna Summer with Anais St. John (SS) 8p Kermit’s Mother-in-Law Lounge: Neisha Ruffins (JV) 8:30p Kerry Irish Pub: the One Tailed Three (FO) 5p, Beth Patterson (FO) 9p Krewe Lounge: Karaoke (KR) 8p Little Gem Saloon: Kermit Ruffins and the BBQ Swingers (JV) 7 & 9p Louisiana Music Factory: Bon Bon Vivant (JV) 2p, Gregory Agid Quartet (JV) 3p Maison: Chance Bushman and the Ibervillianaires, Leah Rucker, Smoking Time Jazz Club (JV) 4p, Big Easy Brawlers (BB) 11:59p Maple Leaf: Jeff Coffin and Victor Wooten, Fareed Haque, Tony Monaco, Stanton Moore and Roosevelt Collier (MJ) 11p Morning Call City Park: Billy D. Chapman (JV) 10a Orpheum Theater: Bal Masque feat. Dr. John and the Nite Trippers, Big Sam’s Funky Nation, Cha Wa, Roots of Music (VR) 7p Palm Court Jazz Café: Palm Court Jazz Band with Brian O’Connell (TJ) 8p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall Legacy Band feat.

Gregg Stafford (TJ) 6p, Preservation Hall All-Stars with Shannon Powell (TJ) 8p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: Deacon John and the Ivories Tribute to Allen Toussaint (RB) 9p Snug Harbor: Gabriel Alegria Afro Peruvian Sextet (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Antoine Diel and Arsene DeLay (JV) 2p, Panorama Jazz Band (JV) 6p, Davis Rogan (JV) 10p Three Muses: Chris Christy (JV) 5p, Russell Welch (JV) 6p, Shotgun Jazz Band (JV) 9p Three Muses Maple: Davy Mooney (JV) 5p, Marc Stone (BL) 7p Time Out: Andre Bouvier and the Royal Bohemians (VR) 11a

SUNDAY JANUARY 8

Bacchanal: the Tangiers Combo (JV) 12p, the Tradsters (JV) 4p, Roamin’ Jasmine (JV) 7:30p Bombay Club: David Boeddinghaus (JV) 8p Buffa’s: Some Like It Hot! (TJ) 10:30a, Nattie’s Songwriters Circle (SS) 7p Chickie Wah Wah: Amy Lavere and Will Sexton (VR) 8p Circle Bar: Three-Brained Robot, Damn the Scene, Jaguardini, Ships in the Night (EL) 10p Crazy Lobster: the Gator Bites (VR) 11a, the Neon Shadows (VR) 4p d.b.a.: Palmetto Bugs Stompers (SI) 6p Dragon’s Den: the Zen Future Sessions Jazz Jam with Anuraag Penyal and Dignity Reve (JV) 7p, Church (EL) 10p Funky Pirate: Mark and the Pentones (BL) 4p, Willie Lockett Band (BL) 8p Hi-Ho Lounge: NOLA Comedy Hour (CO) 8p House of Blues: Willie Nelson and family (CW) 8p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Hot 8 Brass Band (BB) 10p Kermit’s Mother-in-Law Lounge: Kermit Ruffins and the BBQ Swingers (JV) 5:30p Kerry Irish Pub: Mark Appleford (FO) 8p Maison: Chance Bushman and the NOLA Jitterbugs (JV) 10a, Slick Skillet Serenaders, Royal Street Winding Boys, Meghan Stewart (JV) 1p, Higher Heights (RE) 10p

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Bombay Club: Josh Paxton (PI) 8p Buffa’s: Arsene DeLay (VR) 5p, Antoine Diel (JV) 8p Carver Theater: Louisiana Harmonica Players Tribute to Little Walter (BL) 8p Chickie Wah Wah: Benny Maygarden and Thomas Walker (VR) 6p, Alex McMurray (SS) 8p d.b.a.:Alexis and the Samurai (ID) 7p, Glen David Andrews (JV) 10p Dragon’s Den: the Nutria Strutters (GY) 7p, Hangover Monday with DJ Ill Medina (VR) 11p Funky Pirate: Willie Lockett Band (BL) 8p Hi-Ho Lounge: Bluegrass Pickin’ Party (BU) 8p, Instant Opus Improvised Series (VR) 9p Kerry Irish Pub: Patrick Cooper (FO) 8p Maison: Chicken and Waffles, Aurora Nealand and the Royal Roses, Organized Crime (VR) 4p Maple Leaf: George Porter Jr. Trio feat. Mike Lemmler and Terrence Houston (FK) 10p Morning Call: Valerie Sassyfras (VR) 10a Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall Jazz Masters feat. Leroy Jones (TJ) 8p Snug Harbor: Charmaine Neville Band (JV) 8 & 10p Three Muses: Bart Ramsey (JV) 5p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Rhythm and Rain (RK) 5p, Beach Combers (RK) 9p

TUESDAY JANUARY 10

Banks Street Bar: Sam Price and the True Believers (FK) 9p Bombay Club: Matt Lemmler (PI) 8p Buffa’s: Tacos, Tequila and Tiaras with Vanessa Carr (VR) 8p Chickie Wah Wah: Albanie Falletta (VR) 6p, Jon Cleary (FK) 8p d.b.a.: DinosAurchestra (JV) 7p, Treme Brass Band (BB) 10p Funky Pirate: Blues Masters feat. Big Al (BL) 8:30p Hi-Ho Lounge: Marshland (FO) 8p House of Blues (the Parish): Kate Voegele, Tyler Hilton (SS) 8p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Comedy Beast (CO) 8:30p Kerry Irish Pub: Jason Bishop (FO) 8:30p Little Gem Saloon: NOLA Dukes (JV) 7p Little Tropical Isle: Mark Pentone (RK) 5p, Frank Fairbanks (RK) 9p Maison: Kala Bazaar Swing Society, Gregory Agid, Mutiny Squad (JV) 4p Maple Leaf: Rebirth Brass Band (FK) 11p Old U.S. Mint: Richard Scott (TJ) 12p, Down on Their Luck Orchestra (JV) 2p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall All-Stars feat. Charlie Gabriel (TJ) 8p Smoothie King Center: Red Hot Chili Peppers (RK) 7p Snug Harbor: Davell Crawford Solo (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Andy J. Forest (JV) 2p, the Little Big Horns (JV) 6p, Smoking Time Jazz Club (JV) 10p Trinity Episcopal Church: Organ and Labyrinth feat. Albinas Prizgintas (VR) 6p Tropical Isle Bayou Club: Cajun Drifters (KJ) 7p Tropical Isle Original: the Hangovers (RK) 5:15p, Jay B. Elston Band (RK) 9:15p

WEDNESDAY JANUARY 11

Bacchanal: Raphael Bas (JV) 12p, Jesse Morrow (JV) 7:30p Bombay Club: John Royen (JV) 8p Buffa’s: Open Mic Night with Nattie Sanchez (SS) 7p Carver Theater: Aurora Nealand and the Royal Roses (JV) 8p Chickie Wah Wah: Dave Hickey and Jacob Tanner (VR) 6p, Helen Gillet, Mark Southerland, Annie Ellicott Trio (MJ) 8p Crazy Lobster: Ken Swartz and the Palace of Sin (VR) 5p d.b.a.: Tin Men (RK) 7p, Walter “Wolfman” Washington and the Roadmasters (BL) 10p Dragon’s Den: Groove Therapy (HH) 9p, Reggae Night (RE) 10p Funky Pirate: Blues Masters feat. Big Al (BL) 8:30p Hi-Ho Lounge: Thibault (SS) 8p Kermit’s Mother-in-Law Lounge: Spodie and the Big Shots (JV) 6:30p Kerry Irish Pub: Beth Patterson (FO) 8:30p Little Gem Saloon: Evan Christopher’s Clarinet Road presents Fairwell to Storyville (JV) 7p Maison: Eight Dice Cloth, Jazz Vipers, In Business (JV) 4p Maple Leaf: Mike Dillon’s Combinations and Collisions feat.

Jean-Paul Gaster, Norwood Fisher, Brian Haas and Cliff Hines (FK) 10p Morning Call: Valerie Sassyfras (VR) 10a, Krewe du Two (VR) 1p

Palm Court Jazz Café: Lars Edegran and Topsy Chapman with Palm Court Jazz Band (TJ) 8p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall All-Stars feat. Charlie Gabriel (TJ) 8p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: Johnny Angel and the Swingin’ Demons (SI) 8p Snug Harbor: Honoring Allen Toussaint Day with Uptown Jazz Orchestra and Delfeayo Marsalis (JV) 8 & 10p Three Muses: Hot Club of New Orleans (JV) 7p

THURSDAY JANUARY 12

Bombay Club: Kris Tokarski with Larry Scala (JV) 8p Buffa’s: Gumbo Cabaret (JV) 5p, Tom McDermott and Aurora Nealand (JV) 8p Carver Theater: Young Pinstripe Brass Band (BB) 8p Chickie Wah Wah: Phil DeGruy (VR) 6p, Mikayla Braun (VR) 8p, Dave Easley and friends (VR) 9p Dragon’s Den: Elizabeth McBride (JV) 6p, Hip-Hop Show with Que Hefner (HH) 9p Funky Pirate: Mark and the Pentones (BL) 4p, Blues Masters feat. Big Al (BL) 8:30p Hi-Ho Lounge: American Wrestlers (ID) 8p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Comedy Gumbeaux (CO) 8:30p Kerry Irish Pub: Will Dickerson (FO) 8:30p Le Bon Temps Roule: Soul Rebels (FK) 11p Little Gem Saloon: Danny Barker Symposium (JV) 4p, Michael Watson presents the Alchemy (JV) 7p Little Tropical Isle: Allen Hebert (RK) 5p, Frank Fairbanks (RK) 9p Maison: Good for Nothin’ Band, Asylum Chorus, Dysfunktional Bone (VR) 4p Maple Leaf: the Trio feat. Johnny Vidacovich and guests (FK) 11p Ogden Museum of Southern Art: After Hours feat. Alex McMurray (SS) 6p Palm Court Jazz Café: Clive Wilson and Crescent City Joymakers (TJ) 8p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall Legacy Band feat. Gregg Stafford (TJ) 6p, Preservation Hall All-Stars feat. Louis Ford (TJ) 8p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: Chubby Carrier (ZY) 8:30p Snug Harbor: Danny Barker Birthday Bash (JV) 8 & 10p Three Keys (Ace Hotel): Little Cosmicana, Motel Radio, Coyotes (FO) 9p Three Muses Maple: Linnzi Zaorski (JV) 7p Three Muses: Tom McDermott (PI) 5p Tipitina’s: the Radiators (RB) 10p Vaughan’s Lounge: Corey Henry and Treme Funket (FK) 10p

FRIDAY JANUARY 13

Bacchanal: the Tangiers Combo (JV) 12p, Harmonouche (JV) 5p, Willie Green (JV) 7:30p Blue Nile: Soul Rebels (FK) 11p Bombay Club: Banu Gibson (JV) 8:30p Buffa’s: Michel Pellera and Miles Berry (JV) 5p, Gentilly Stompers (JV) 8p, Swamp Kitchen (JV) 11p Chickie Wah Wah: Michael Pearce (BL) 6p, Erica Falls Band (VR) 8p, Corey Henry and Treme Funktet (FK) 9p d.b.a.: Cyril Neville and Swamp Funk (FK) 10p Dragon’s Den: Loose Marbles (JV) 7p, the Tipping Point with DJ RQ Away (HH) 10p; Upstairs: Comedy Fuck Yeah (CO) 7p, Latin Night (LT) 11p Funky Pirate: Mark and the Pentones (BL) 2p, Blues Masters feat. Big Al (BL) 8:30p Hi-Ho Lounge: Harumph, Second Hand Street Band (VR) 8p House of Blues: Locash, the Fighters, Ryan Follese, Michael Tyler (CW) 9p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Royal and Toulouse, Deltaphonic (VR) 9p Kermit’s Mother-in-Law Lounge: Guitar Slim Jr. (BL) 9p Kerry Irish Pub:Vincent Marini (FO) 5p, Hurricane Refugees (FO) 9p Lawless Memorial Chapel (Dillard University): Jazz and the Civil Rights Movement feat. Houston Person, Herlin Riley Quintet and Leah Chase (JV) 7p Little Gem Saloon: Danny Barker Banjo Showcase with Detroit Brooks (JV) 5p Little Tropical Isle: Reed Lightfoot (RK) 5p, Frank Fairbanks (RK) 9p Maison: Amina Scott Trio, Swing Dance Class with the Swinging Gypsies, Shotgun Jazz Band (JV) 1p, Ramblin’ Letters, Shotgun Jazz Band, Los Po-boy-citos (VR) 4p, Raw Deal, Big Easy Brawlers (FK) 10p Maple Leaf: Honey Island Swamp Band Radiators’ Afterparty with special guests (FK) 11p Orpheum Theater: Edgar Meyer (CL) 7:30p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall Legacy Band feat.

Wendell Brunious (TJ) 6p, Preservation Hall Brass Band feat. Daniel Farrow (TJ) 8p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: Supercharger (RK) 9:30p Snug Harbor: Ellis Marsalis Quintet (JV) 8 & 10p Three Muses: Matt Johnson (JV) 5:30p, Johnny Angel and the Swingin’ Demons (JV) 9p Three Muses Maple: Monty Banks (JV) 5p Tipitina’s: the Radiators (RB) 10p

SATURDAY JANUARY 14 Blue Nile: Washboard Chaz Blues Trio (BL) 7p Bombay Club: Peter Harris (JV) 8:30p

Buffa’s: Red Hot Jazz Band (JV) 11a, Fraulein Frances’ Sleazeball Orchestra (JV) 5p, the Royal Rounders (VR) 8p, Harry Mayronne (VR) 11p Burgundy Bar (the Saint Hotel): New Orleans Swamp Donkeys (VR) 9p Carver Theater: the Revealers, Brass-A-Holics (FK) 10p Chickie Wah Wah: C.C.Adcock and the Lafayette Marquis (VR) 9p Crazy Lobster: the River Gang (VR) 11a, Poppy’s Poppin’ Saturday Review (VR) 4p d.b.a.: Corey Henry and the Treme Funktet (FK) 11p Dragon’s Den: Claire and the Company (JV) 7p, Sexy Back with DJ Dizzi and DJ Ill Medina (VR) 10p; Upstairs: Talk Nerdy to Me (BQ) 8p Funky Pirate: Mark and the Pentones (BL) 2p, Blues Masters feat. Big Al (BL) 8:30p Hi-Ho Lounge: Brown Improv (CO) 7p, Hustle feat. DJ Soul Sister (FK) 11p House of Blues (the Parish): Bad Girls of Burlesque (BB) 9p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Stoked: NOLA’s Best Comedians (CO) 8p Howlin’ Wolf: Pharoahe Monch (HH) 9p Kermit’s Mother-in-Law Lounge: Neisha Ruffins (JV) 8:30p Kerry Irish Pub: Denise Marie and Marcel Koster (FO) 5:30p, David Bandrowski (FO) 9p Little Gem Saloon: Kermit Ruffins and the BBQ Swingers (JV) 7 & 9p Little Tropical Isle: Jay B. Elston (RK) 5p, Reed Lightfoot (RK) 9p Louisiana Music Factory: Doombalaya (FK) 2p, Rudy and the Caribbean Funk Band (FK) 3p, James Martin (JV) 4p Maison: Chance Bushman and the Ibervillianaires, Kala Bazaar Swing Society, Smoking Time Jazz Club (JV) 1p, Pinettes Brass Band, Soul Company (FK) 10p Maple Leaf: Honey Island Swamp Band Radiators’ Afterparty with special guests (FK) 11p Morning Call City Park: Billy D. Chapman (JV) 10a Orpheum Theater: Edgar Meyer (CL) 7:30p Palm Court Jazz Café: Brian O’Connell and Palm Court Jazz Band (TJ) 8p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall Jazz Masters feat. Leroy Jones (TJ) 6p, Preservation Hall All-Stars with Shannon Powell (TJ) 8p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: Colin Lake, Sonny Landreth, Eric Lindell (BL) 8p Snug Harbor: Donald Harrison and Willie Pickens Quintet (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Shotgun Jazz Band (JV) 2p, Panorama Jazz Band (JV) 6p, Jazz Vipers (JV) 10p Three Muses: Chris Christy (JV) 5p, Debbie Davis (JV) 6p, Shotgun Jazz Band (JV) 9p Three Muses Maple: Lynn Drury (JV) 5p, Davy Mooney (JV) 7p Time Out: Andre Bouvier and the Royal Bohemians (VR) 11a Tipitina’s: the Radiators (RB) 10p

SUNDAY JANUARY 15

Bombay Club: David Boeddinghaus (JV) 8p Buffa’s: Some Like It Hot! (TJ) 10:30a, Gerald French Trio (JV) 7p Chickie Wah Wah: Edgardian Angels (VR) 7p Crazy Lobster: the Gator Bites (VR) 11a, the Neon Shadows (VR) 4p d.b.a.: Palmetto Bugs Stompers (SI) 6p, Soul Brass Band (BB) 10p Dragon’s Den: the Zen Future Sessions Jazz Jam with Anuraag Penyal and Dignity Reve (JV) 7p, Church (EL) 10p Funky Pirate: Mark and the Pentones (BL) 4p, Willie Lockett Band (BL) 8p Hi-Ho Lounge: NOLA Comedy Hour (CO) 8p, Stripped into Submission (BQ) 10p House of Blues: the Devil Makes Three (FO) 8:30p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Danny Barker Festival (BL) 3p, Hot 8 Brass Band (BB) 10p Howlin’ Wolf: Danny Barker Banjo and Guitar Festival Grand Finale (BL) 5p Kerry Irish Pub: Patrick Cooper (FO) 8p Maison: Chance Bushman and the NOLA Jitterbugs (SI) 10a, Eight Dice Cloth, Royal Street Winding Boys, Leah Rucker (JV) 1p, Higher Heights (RE) 10p Maple Leaf: Joe Krown Trio feat. Russell Batiste and Walter “Wolfman” Washington (RB) 10p Morning Call City Park: Billy D. Chapman (JV) 10a Old Point Bar: Gregg Martinez (RK) 3:30p Palm Court Jazz Café: Sunday Night Swingsters (TJ) 8p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall Legacy Band feat. Gregg Stafford (TJ) 6p, Preservation Hall All-Stars feat. Wendell Brunious (TJ) 8p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: Fais Do Do feat. Bruce Daigrepont (KJ) 5:30p Snug Harbor: Donald Harrison and Willie Pickens Quintet (JV) 8 & 10p Three Muses: Raphael et Pascale (JV) 5p, Linnzi Zaorski (JV) 8p Three Muses Maple: Debbie Davis and Josh Paxton (JV) 11a Tropical Isle Bayou Club: Brandon Moreau and Cajungrass (KJ) 2p, Bayou Cajun Swamp Band (KJ) 7p UNO Lakefront Arena: Ladies Choice Concert Series feat.

Joe, Dru Hill and Jagged Edge (RB) 8p

MONDAY JANUARY 16 Bombay Club: Josh Paxton (PI) 8p

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LIVE LOCAL MUSIC Buffa’s: Arsene DeLay (VR) 5p, Antoine Diel (JV) 8p Carver Theater: Little Freddie King (BL) 8p Chickie Wah Wah: Benny Maygarden and Thomas Walker (VR) 6p, Alex McMurray (SS) 8p d.b.a.: Alexis and the Samurai (ID) 7p Dragon’s Den: Andy Reid’s Imagination Council (GY) 7p, Hangover Monday with DJ Ill Medina (VR) 11p Hi-Ho Lounge: Bluegrass Pickin’ Party (BU) 8p, Instant Opus Improvised Series (VR) 9p Kerry Irish Pub: Mark Appleford (FO) 8p Maison: Chicken and Waffles, Aurora Nealand and the Royal Roses, the Resident Aliens (VR) 4p Maple Leaf: George Porter Jr. Trio feat. Mike Lemmler and Terrence Houston (FK) 10p Morning Call: Valerie Sassyfras (VR) 10a Snug Harbor: Charmaine Neville Band (JV) 8 & 10p Three Muses: Monty Banks (JV) 5p, Washboard Rodeo (JV) 7p

Maison: Good for Nothin’ Band, Roamin’ Jasmine, Dysfunktional Bone (VR) 4p Maple Leaf: the Trio feat. Johnny Vidacovich and guests (FK) 11p Old U.S. Mint: New Orleans Cigar Box Guitar Festival (VR) 7p Palm Court Jazz Café: Leroy Jones and Katja Toivola with Crescent City Joymakers (TJ) 8p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: Wayne Singleton and Same Ol’ 2 Step (ZY) 8:30p Snug Harbor: Stephanie Nilles Trio (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Monty Banks (JV) 2p, Sarah McCoy (JV) 4p, Miss Sophie Lee (JV) 6p, Jumbo Shrimp (JV) 10p Three Keys (Ace Hotel): T-Ray the Violinist and Dreams2Reality record-release show (VR) 9p Three Muses: Tom McDermott (PI) 5p, April Mae and the Junebugs (JV) 7p Three Muses Maple: Linnzi Zaorski (JV) 7p

TUESDAY JANUARY 17

FRIDAY JANUARY 20

Bombay Club: Matt Lemmler (PI) 8p Buffa’s: Tacos, Tequila and Tiaras with Vanessa Carr (VR) 8p Chickie Wah Wah: Albanie Falletta (VR) 6p, Jon Cleary (FK) 8p Crazy Lobster: AC and the Heat (VR) 5p d.b.a.: DinosAurchestra (JV) 7p, Treme Brass Band (BB) 10p Funky Pirate: Blues Masters feat. Big Al (BL) 8:30p Hi-Ho Lounge: Marshland (FO) 8p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Comedy Beast (CO) 8:30p Kerry Irish Pub: Jason Bishop (FO) 8:30p Little Gem Saloon: Marc Stone (BL) 7p Little Tropical Isle: Mark Pentone (RK) 5p, Frank Fairbanks (RK) 9p Maison: Luneta Jazz Band, Gregory Agid, the Key Sound (VR) 4p Maple Leaf: Rebirth Brass Band (FK) 11p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall All-Stars feat. Charlie Gabriel (TJ) 8p Republic: Lettuce, Jaw Gems (FK) 8p Snug Harbor: Stanton Moore Trio (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Andy J. Forest (JV) 2p, the Little Big Horns (JV) 6p, Smoking Time Jazz Club (JV) 10p Tropical Isle Original: the Hangovers (RK) 5:15p, Jay B. Elston Band (RK) 9:15p

WEDNESDAY JANUARY 18

Bombay Club: Kris Tokarski (JV) 8p Buffa’s: Open Mic Night with Nattie Sanchez (SS) 7p Carver Theater: Panorama Jazz Band (JV) 8p Chickie Wah Wah: Dave Hickey and Jacob Tanner (VR) 6p, Aurora Nealand and Tom McDermott (JV) 8p Crazy Lobster: Ken Swartz and the Palace of Sin (VR) 5p d.b.a.: Tin Men (RK) 7p, Walter “Wolfman” Washington and the Roadmasters (BL) 10p Dragon’s Den: Groove Therapy (HH) 9p, Reggae Night (RE) 10p Funky Pirate: Blues Masters feat. Big Al (BL) 8:30p Hi-Ho Lounge: Bionica, Sharks’ Teeth (RK) 8p House of Blues: Badfish: A Tribute to Sublime, Fayuca (SK) 8p House of Blues (the Parish): Rhett Miller, Evan Felker (CW) 8p, Jet Lounge (HH) 11p Kerry Irish Pub: Tim Robertson (FO) 8:30p Little Gem Saloon: Evan Christopher’s Clarinet Road presents Fairwell to Storyville (JV) 7p Maison: Slick Skillet Serenaders, Jazz Vipers, Brass Lightning (VR) 4p Maple Leaf: Jam Cruise Send-Off Show (FK) 10p Morning Call: Valerie Sassyfras (VR) 10a, Krewe du Two (VR) 1p Palm Court Jazz Café: Lars Edegran and Topsy Chapman with Palm Court Jazz Band (TJ) 8p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: Joe Krown (SI) 8p Snug Harbor: Uptown Jazz Orchestra with Delfeayo Marsalis (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Chris Christy (JV) 2p, Shotgun Jazz Band (JV) 6p, Antoine Diel and the New Orleans Power Misfits (JV) 10p Three Muses: Leslie Martin (JV) 5p, Schatzy (JV) 7p Three Muses Maple: Joy Patterson and Matt Bell (JV) 7p

THURSDAY JANUARY 19

Bombay Club: Kris Tokarski with James Evans (JV) 8p Buffa’s: Al Farrell (JV) 5p, Tom McDermott and Chloe Feoranzo (JV) 8p Burgundy Bar (the Saint Hotel): the Yat Pack (VR) 9p Chickie Wah Wah: Phil DeGruy (VR) 6p, Kevin Galloway (VR) 8p, Colin Lake Band (BL) 10p Dragon’s Den: Dave Easley (VR) 6p; Upstairs: Soundclash (HH) 10p Funky Pirate: Mark and the Pentones (BL) 4p, Blues Masters feat. Big Al (BL) 8:30p Generations Hall: OffBeat’s Best of the Beat Awards feat.

Naughty Professor, Khris Royal and Dark Matter, the Fortifiers feat. Sonny Boy Schneidau, Tribute to Johnny Vidacovich by Stanton Moore and others, Soul Brass Band, Mia Borders, Valerie Sassyfras (VR) 6p Hi-Ho Lounge: Noruz (MJ) 8p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Comedy Gumbeaux (CO) 8:30p Kerry Irish Pub: Foot and friends (FO) 8:30p Little Gem Saloon: Michael Watson presents the Alchemy (JV) 7p

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Bombay Club: Kris Tokarski with Evan Christopher (JV) 8:30p Buffa’s: Dirty Rain Revelers (VR) 5p, Asylum Chorus (VR) 8p, Michael Liuzza (VR) 11p Chickie Wah Wah: Michael Pearce (BL) 6p, Jontavious Willis (BL) 8p, Grayson Capps (RR) 9p Civic Theatre: Tom Segura (CO) 7:30p Crazy Lobster: Ken Swartz and the Palace of Sin (VR) 5p d.b.a.: Tuba Skinny (JV) 6p Dragon’s Den: Loose Marbles (JV) 7p, the Tipping Point with DJ RQ Away (HH) 10p; Upstairs: Comedy Fuck Yeah (CO) 7p, Latin Night (LT) 11p Frenchmen Theatre: New Orleans Cigar Box Guitar Festival feat. Jonathon “Boogie” Long, April Mae and the June Bugs and others (VR) 1p Funky Pirate: Mark and the Pentones (BL) 2p, Blues Masters feat. Big Al (BL) 8:30p Hi-Ho Lounge: Burris, CoolNasty (FK) 8p, Relapse with DJ Matt Scott (VR) 10p House of Blues: Clapton is God Tribute feat. Chuck Credo IV, Jimmy Robinson, Dave Rosser, Dwight Breland, Jimmy Messa (CR) 9p Kermit’s Mother-in-Law Lounge: Guitar Slim Jr. (BL) 9p Kerry Irish Pub: Will Dickerson (FO) 5p, Beth Patterson (FO) 9p Little Gem Saloon: Dr. Michael White (JV) 7p Maison: Kala Bazaar Swing Society, Swing Dance Class with Swinging Gypsies, Shotgun Jazz Band (JV) 1p, Organized Crime, Big Easy Brawlers (FK) 10p Maple Leaf: the Wild Magnolias’ Big Chief Bo Dollis Jr.’s Birthday Bash (MG) 11p Old U.S. Mint: Kenny Neal (BL) 7p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall Legacy Band feat.

Wendell Brunious (TJ) 6p, Preservation Hall Brass Band feat. Daniel Farrow (TJ) 8p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: Bag of Donuts (VR) 9p Saturn Bar: Alex McMurray and his Band (RK) 10p Snug Harbor: Ellis Marsalis Quintet (JV) 8 & 10p Southport Hall: 69 Boyz, Partners N Crime (HH) 9p Spotted Cat: Andy J. Forest (JV) 2p, Washboard Chaz Blues Trio (JV) 6p, New Orleans Cottonmouth Kings (JV) 10p Three Muses: Royal Roses (JV) 6p Three Muses Maple: Monty Banks (JV) 5p, Marc Stone (BL) 7p

SATURDAY JANUARY 21

30/90: Sam Price and the True Believers (FK) 8p Blue Nile: Washboard Chaz Blues Trio (BL) 7p Bombay Club: David Torkanowsky (JV) 8:30p Buffa’s: Red Hot Jazz Band (JV) 11a, Yardbird Sweethearts (JV) 5p, Freddie Blues and the Friendship Circle (VR) 8p, Jimbo Walsh (VR) 11p Carrollton Station: Debauche (GY) 10p Chickie Wah Wah: Susan Cowsill’s Covered In Vinyl (VR) 9p d.b.a.: Lost Bayou Ramblers (KJ) 11p Dragon’s Den: Sexy Back with DJ Dizzi and DJ Ill Medina (VR) 10p; Upstairs: Talk Nerdy to Me (BQ) 8p Frenchmen Theatre: New Orleans Cigar Box Guitar Festival feat. Shane Speal, Jontavious Willis, AJ Gaither, Amzie Adams (VR) 1p Funky Pirate: Mark and the Pentones (BL) 2p, Blues Masters feat. Big Al (BL) 8:30p Gretna Rivershack: Christian Serpas and Ghost Town (RR) 9p Hi-Ho Lounge: Drunktoons (CO) 7p, Hustle feat. DJ Soul Sister (FK) 11p House of Blues: Rumours: A Fleetwood Mac Tribute (CR) 9p Kermit’s Mother-in-Law Lounge: Neisha Ruffins (JV) 8:30p Kerry Irish Pub: Denise Marie and Marcel Koster (FO) 5p, Will Dickerson Trio (FO) 9p Little Gem Saloon: New Soul Finders feat. Marilyn Barbarin with guests Papa Mali and Reggie Scanlan (JV) 8p Louisiana Music Factory: New Orleans Cigar Box Guitar Festival presents New Orleans Swinging Gypsies (JV) 1p, April Mae and the June Bugs (VR) 2p Maison: Chance Bushman and the Ibervillianaires (SI) 1p, Cajun/Zydeco Fais Do Do with T’Canaille (KJ) 4p, Smoking Time Jazz Club, Brass-A-Holics, Mutiny Squad (VR) 7p

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LIVE LOCAL MUSIC Maple Leaf: Jake Eckert Band (FK) 11p Morning Call City Park: Billy D. Chapman (JV) 10a Palm Court Jazz Café: Brian O’Connell and Lester Caliste with Palm Court Jazz Band (TJ) 8p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall Jazz Masters feat. Leroy Jones (TJ) 6p, Preservation Hall All-Stars with Shannon Powell (TJ) 8p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: Foret Tradition (VR) 9:30p Snug Harbor: Donny McCaslin Quartet (JV) 8 & 10p Three Muses: Chris Christy (JV) 5p, John Rodli (JV) 9p Three Muses Maple: Davy Mooney (JV) 5p, Lynn Drury (VR) 7p Tipitina’s: J. Boog, Jemere Morgan (RE) 10p

SUNDAY JANUARY 22

Bombay Club: David Boeddinghaus (JV) 8p Buffa’s: Some Like It Hot! (TJ) 10:30a, Gerald French Trio (JV) 7p Bullet’s: VL and Just Eight Band (RB) 6p d.b.a.: Palmetto Bugs Stompers (SI) 6p, Margie Perez CDrelease party (VR) 10p Dragon’s Den: the Zen Future Sessions Jazz Jam with Anuraag Penyal and Dignity Reve (JV) 7p, Church (EL) 10p Funky Pirate: Mark and the Pentones (BL) 4p, Willie Lockett Band (BL) 8p Hi-Ho Lounge: NOLA Comedy Hour (CO) 8p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Hot 8 Brass Band (BB) 10p Kermit’s Mother-in-Law Lounge: Kermit Ruffins and the BBQ Swingers (JV) 5:30p Kerry Irish Pub: Chip Wilson (FO) 8p Maison: Chance Bushman and the NOLA Jitterbugs (SI) 10a, Higher Heights (RE) 10p Maison: Roamin’ Jasmine, Holkum High Rollers, Royal Street Winding Boys (JV) 1p Maple Leaf: Joe Krown Trio feat. Russell Batiste and Walter “Wolfman” Washington (RB) 10p Morning Call City Park: Billy D. Chapman (JV) 10a Rock ‘n’ Bowl: Fais Do Do feat. Bruce Daigrepont (KJ) 5:30p Snug Harbor: Roderick Harper Quintet (JV) 8 & 10p Three Muses: Raphael et Pascale (JV) 5p, Linnzi Zaorski (JV) 8p Three Muses Maple: Debbie Davis and Josh Paxton (JV) 11a

MONDAY JANUARY 23 Bombay Club: Josh Paxton (PI) 8p Buffa’s: Arsene DeLay (VR) 5p, Antoine Diel (JV) 8p

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Carver Theater: Ladies of the Blues feat. Margie Perez, Dana Abbott Band, Big Pearl (BL) 8p Chickie Wah Wah: Benny Maygarden and Thomas Walker (VR) 6p, Alex McMurray (SS) 8p Crazy Lobster: the Insta-Gators (VR) 5p d.b.a.: Alexis and the Samurai (ID) 7p, Glen David Andrews (JV) 10p Dragon’s Den: Coquette Jazz Band of New Orleans (GY) 7p, Hangover Monday with DJ Ill Medina (VR) 11p Funky Pirate: Willie Lockett Band (BL) 8p Hi-Ho Lounge: Bluegrass Pickin’ Party (BU) 8p, Instant Opus Improvised Series (VR) 9p House of Blues (the Parish): Brujeria, the Casualties, Pinata Protest (ME) 8p Kerry Irish Pub: Patrick Cooper (FO) 8p Maison: Chicken and Waffles, Aurora Nealand and the Royal Roses, Vegas Cola (VR) 4p Maple Leaf: Khris Royal, Mike Lemmler, Terrence Houston (FK) 10p Morning Call: Valerie Sassyfras (VR) 10a Snug Harbor: Charmaine Neville Band (JV) 8 & 10p Three Muses: Bart Ramsey (JV) 5p, Charlie Halloran (JV) 7p

TUESDAY JANUARY 24

Bombay Club: Matt Lemmler (PI) 8p Buffa’s: Tacos, Tequila and Tiaras with Vanessa Carr (VR) 8p Chickie Wah Wah: Albanie Falletta (VR) 6p, the Tumbling Wheels (JV) 8p Crazy Lobster: AC and the Heat (VR) 5p d.b.a.: DinosAurchestra (JV) 7p, Treme Brass Band (BB) 10p Funky Pirate: Blues Masters feat. Big Al (BL) 8:30p Hi-Ho Lounge: Marshland (FO) 8p House of Blues: Pop Evil (RK) 8p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Comedy Beast (CO) 8:30p Kerry Irish Pub: Jason Bishop (FO) 8:30p Little Gem Saloon: Marc Stone (BL) 7p Maison: Amina Scott and friends, Gregory Agid, Kristina Morales and the Inner Wild (VR) 4p Maple Leaf: Rebirth Brass Band (FK) 11p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall All-Stars feat.

Charlie Gabriel (TJ) 8p Republic: Atmosphere (VR) 7p

Snug Harbor: Alex Bosworth and Hank Mackie (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Andy J. Forest (JV) 2p, the Little Big Horns (JV) 6p, Smoking Time Jazz Club (JV) 10p

WEDNESDAY JANUARY 25

Bombay Club: Kris Tokarski (JV) 8p Buffa’s: Open Mic Night with Nattie Sanchez (SS) 7p Carver Theater: Snake and the Charmers (JV) 8p Chickie Wah Wah: Dave Hickey and Jacob Tanner (VR) 6p, Aurora Nealand and Tom McDermott (JV) 8p Crazy Lobster: Ken Swartz and the Palace of Sin (VR) 5p d.b.a.: Tin Men (RK) 7p, Walter “Wolfman” Washington and the Roadmasters (BL) 10p Dragon’s Den: Groove Therapy (HH) 9p, Reggae Night (RE) 10p Funky Pirate: Blues Masters feat. Big Al (BL) 8:30p Hi-Ho Lounge: Little Bags, Cauche Mar, Quintessential Octopus (ME) 8p House of Blues (the Parish): Jet Lounge (HH) 11p Joy Theater: Aaron Lewis (SS) 8p Kermit’s Mother-in-Law Lounge: Spodie and the Big Shots (JV) 6:30p Kerry Irish Pub: Beth Patterson (FO) 8:30p Little Gem Saloon: Evan Christopher’s Clarinet Road presents Fairwell to Storyville (JV) 7p Little Tropical Isle: Jay B. Elston (RK) 5p, Reed Lightfoot (RK) 9p Maison: Swamp Kitchen, Jazz Vipers, RnR Music Group (VR) 4p Maple Leaf: Mike Dillon’s Punk Rock Percussion Consortium (FK) 10p Morning Call: Valerie Sassyfras (VR) 10a, Krewe du Two (VR) 1p Palm Court Jazz Café: Lars Edegran and Topsy Chapman with Palm Court Jazz Band (TJ) 8p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall All-Stars feat.

Charlie Gabriel (TJ) 8p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: Jerry Embree (SI) 8p Snug Harbor: Uptown Jazz Orchestra with Delfeayo Marsalis (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Brett Richardson (JV) 12p, Chris Christy (JV) 2p, Shotgun Jazz Band (JV) 6p, Antoine Diel and the New Orleans Power Misfits (JV) 10p Three Keys (Ace Hotel): Jim Lauderdale (BU) 9p

Three Muses: Leslie Martin (JV) 5p, Sarah McCoy (JV) 7p Three Muses Maple: Charlie Halloran (JV) 7p

THURSDAY JANUARY 26

Bombay Club: Kris Tokarski with Tim Laughlin (JV) 8p Buffa’s: Gumbo Cabaret (JV) 5p, Tom McDermott and Aurora Nealand (JV) 8p Chickie Wah Wah: Phil DeGruy (VR) 6p, Colin Lake Band (BL) 8p d.b.a.: Funk Monkey (FK) 10p Dragon’s Den: Elizabeth McBride (JV) 6p, Desert Hearts presents City Hearts feat. Mikey Lion, Lee Reynolds, Marbs, Porkchop (EL) 10p Funky Pirate: Mark and the Pentones (BL) 4p, Blues Masters feat. Big Al (BL) 8:30p Hi-Ho Lounge: Sharkzilla (VR) 8p House of Blues (the Parish): Retchy P (HH) 9p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Comedy Gumbeaux (CO) 8:30p Kerry Irish Pub: Will Dickerson (FO) 8:30p Little Gem Saloon: Reid Poole Duo (JV) 7p Maison: Tuba Skinny, Good for Nothin’ Band, Dysfunktional Bone (VR) 4p Maple Leaf: the Trio feat. Johnny Vidacovich and guests (FK) 11p Old Point Bar: Kettle Black (VR) 9p Palm Court Jazz Café: Leroy Jones and Katja Toivola with Crescent City Joymakers (TJ) 8p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: Geno Delafose (ZY) 8:30p Snug Harbor: Shannon Powell Quartet (JV) 8 & 10p Three Keys (Ace Hotel): Mia Borders (SO) 10p Three Muses: Tom McDermott (JV) 5p Three Muses Maple: Russell Welch (JV) 7p Vaughan’s Lounge: Corey Henry and Treme Funket (FK) 10p

FRIDAY JANUARY 27

Bombay Club: Riverside Jazz Collective (JV) 8:30p Buffa’s: Davis Rogan (VR) 5p, Greg Schatz (VR) 8p, Keith Burnstein (VR) 11p Chickie Wah Wah: Michael Pearce (BL) 6p, Greasy Alice with special guests (VR) 8p Crazy Lobster: Ken Swartz and the Palace of Sin (VR) 5p d.b.a.: Tuba Skinny (JV) 6p, Feufollet, Alligator Chomp Chomp (KJ) 10p Dragon’s Den: Loose Marbles (JV) 7p, the Tipping Point with DJ RQ Away (HH) 10p; Upstairs: Comedy Fuck Yeah (CO) 7p, Latin Night (LT) 11p

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LIVE LOCAL MUSIC Funky Pirate: Mark and the Pentones (BL) 4p, Blues Masters feat. Big Al (BL) 8:30p Hi-Ho Lounge: Sam Price and the True Believers (SO) 8p, Relapse with DJ Matt Scott (VR) 10p Kerry Irish Pub: Van Hudson (FO) 5p, Hurricane Refugees (FO) 9p Little Gem Saloon: Nayo Jones Experience (JV) 8p Maison: Slick Skillet Serenaders (JV) 1p, Swing Dance Class with Swinging Gypsies, Shotgun Jazz Band (JV) 4p, the Resident Aliens, Big Easy Brawlers (FK) 10p Maple Leaf: Dave Jordan and the NIA (RR) 11p Palm Court Jazz Café: Kevin Louis and Palm Court Jazz Band (TJ) 8p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall All-Stars feat.

Wendell Brunious (TJ) 5p, Preservation Hall Brass Band feat. Daniel Farrow (TJ) 8p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: the Topcats (VR) 9:30p Shamrock: the Revealers CD-release party (RE) 10p Snug Harbor: Ellis Marsalis Quintet (JV) 8 & 10p Three Muses: Matt Johnson (JV) 5:30p, Russell Welch (JV) 9p Three Muses Maple: Monty Banks (JV) 5p, Linnzi Zaorski (JV) 7p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Jay B. Elston Band (RK) 5p, Debi and the Deacons feat. Maggie Havens (RK) 9p

SATURDAY JANUARY 28

Blue Nile: Washboard Chaz Blues Trio (BL) 7p BMC: Sam Price and the True Believers (FK) 8p Bombay Club: Los Tres Amigos (JV) 8:30p Buffa’s: Red Hot Jazz Band (JV) 11a, Jon Roniger (VR) 5p, Dinosaurchestra (JV) 8p, Miles Lyons Trio (JV) 11p Circle Bar: Mod Dance Party with DJ Matty (RB) 10p d.b.a.: Little Freddie King (BL) 11p Dragon’s Den: Amina Scott Trio (JV) 7p, Sexy Back with DJ Dizzi and DJ Ill Medina (VR) 10p; Upstairs: Talk Nerdy to Me (BQ) 8p Funky Pirate: Mark and the Pentones (BL) 2p, Blues Masters feat. Big Al (BL) 8:30p Hi-Ho Lounge: the Rip Off Show (CO) 7p, Hustle feat. DJ Soul Sister (FK) 11p Jazz and Heritage Center: Marcus Roberts and the Modern Jazz Generation (MJ) 8p Joy Theater: Reel Big Fish, Anti-Flag, Ballyhoo!, Pkew Pkew Pkew (SK) 8p Kermit’s Mother-in-Law Lounge: Neisha Ruffins (JV) 8:30p Kerry Irish Pub: Speed the Mule (FO) 5p, Roux the Day (FO) 9p Little Gem Saloon: Kermit Ruffins and the BBQ Swingers (JV) 7 & 9p Louisiana Music Factory: Gravy (FK) 2p, Mia Borders (FK) 3p Maison: Chance Bushman and the Ibervillianaires, Smoking Time Jazz Club (JV) 1p, the Nightowls (SO) 10p Maple Leaf: James Martin CD-release party (FK) 11p Morning Call City Park: Billy D. Chapman (JV) 10a Palm Court Jazz Café: Brian O’Connell and Palm Court Jazz Band (TJ) 8p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: Louisiana Spice (VR) 9:30p Snug Harbor: Jazz Griots: Germaine Bazzle, David Torkanowsky, George French, James Rivers and Herlin Riley (JV) 8 & 10p Three Keys (Ace Hotel): Margie Perez and Muevelo (LT) 9p Three Muses: Chris Christy (JV) 5p, Debbie Davis (JV) 6p, Shotgun Jazz Band (JV) 9p Three Muses Maple: Davy Mooney (JV) 7p Time Out: Andre Bouvier and the Royal Bohemians (VR) 11a

SUNDAY JANUARY 29

Bombay Club: David Boeddinghaus (JV) 8p Buffa’s: Some Like It Hot! (TJ) 10:30a, Banu Gibson CD-release party (JV) 7p Circle Bar: Micah McKee and Little Maker, Blind Texas Marlin (FO) 6p, Boneshaker (VR) 10p Crazy Lobster: the Gator Bites (VR) 11a, the Neon Shadows (VR) 4p d.b.a.: Palmetto Bugs Stompers (SI) 6p Dragon’s Den: the Zen Future Sessions Jazz Jam with Anuraag Penyal and Dignity Reve (JV) 7p, Church (EL) 10p Funky Pirate: Mark and the Pentones (BL) 4p, Willie Lockett Band (BL) 8p Hi-Ho Lounge: NOLA Comedy Hour (CO) 8p House of Blues: DNCE (PO) 8p House of Blues (the Parish): Sevyn Streeter (RB) 8p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Hot 8 Brass Band (BB) 10p Kermit’s Mother-in-Law Lounge: Kermit Ruffins and the BBQ Swingers (JV) 5:30p Kerry Irish Pub: Traditional Irish Session (IR) 5p, Patrick Cooper (FO) 8p

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Maison: Chance Bushman and the NOLA Jitterbugs (SI) 10a, Tuba Skinny, Roamin’ Jasmine, Brad Walker (JV) 1p, Higher Heights (RE) 10p Maple Leaf: Joe Krown Trio feat. Russell Batiste and Walter “Wolfman” Washington (RB) 10p Morning Call City Park: Billy D. Chapman (JV) 10a Palm Court Jazz Café: Sunday Night Swingsters (TJ) 8p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall Legacy Band feat.

Gregg Stafford (TJ) 5p, Preservation Hall All-Stars feat. Wendell Brunious (TJ) 8p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: Paul Varisco and the Milestones (BL) 5p Snug Harbor: James Singleton Quartet (JV) 8 & 10p Three Muses: Raphael et Pascale (JV) 5p, Linnzi Zaorski (JV) 8p Three Muses Maple: Debbie Davis and Josh Paxton (JV) 11a Tipitina’s: Sunday Youth Music Workshop feat. Johnny Vidacovich Trio (VR) 1p

MONDAY JANUARY 30

Bombay Club: Josh Paxton (PI) 8p Buffa’s: Arsene DeLay (VR) 5p, Antoine Diel (JV) 8p Carver Theater: Papa Mali with Blues Guitar Heroes (BL) 8p Chickie Wah Wah: Benny Maygarden and Thomas Walker (VR) 6p, Alex McMurray (SS) 8p Crazy Lobster: the Insta-Gators (VR) 5p d.b.a.: Alexis and the Samurai (ID) 7p, Glen David Andrews (JV) 10p Dragon’s Den: Ultrafaux (GY) 7p, Hangover Monday with DJ Ill Medina (VR) 11p Hi-Ho Lounge: Bluegrass Pickin’ Party (BU) 8p, Instant Opus Improvised Series (VR) 9p Kerry Irish Pub: Mark Appleford (FO) 8p Maison: Chicken and Waffles, Aurora Nealand and the Royal Roses, Mutiny Squad (JV) 4p Maple Leaf: George Porter Jr. Trio feat. Mike Lemmler and Terrence Houston (FK) 10p Morning Call: Valerie Sassyfras (VR) 10a Snug Harbor: Charmaine Neville Band (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Royal Street Winding Boys (JV) 2p, Sarah McCoy (JV) 4p, Dominick Grillo and the Frenchmen St. All-Stars (JV) 6p, Jazz Vipers (JV) 10p the Saint: Motown Mondays with DJ Shane Love (SO) 10p

TUESDAY JANUARY 31

Bombay Club: Matt Lemmler (PI) 8p Buffa’s: Tacos, Tequila and Tiaras with Vanessa Carr (VR) 8p Chickie Wah Wah: Albanie Falletta (VR) 6p, Alvin Youngblood Hart (BL) 8p d.b.a.: DinosAurchestra (JV) 7p, Treme Brass Band (BB) 10p Hi-Ho Lounge: Marshland (FO) 8p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Comedy Beast (CO) 8:30p Kerry Irish Pub: Jason Bishop (FO) 8:30p Krewe Lounge: Open Mic Night (SS) 8p Little Gem Saloon: Marc Stone (BL) 7p Little Tropical Isle: Mark Pentone (RK) 5p, Frank Fairbanks (RK) 9p Maison: Ramblin’ Letters, Gregory Agid, Native Swing (VR) 4p Maple Leaf: Rebirth Brass Band (FK) 11p Preservation Hall: Preservation Hall All-Stars feat.

Charlie Gabriel (TJ) 8p Snug Harbor: Stanton Moore Trio (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Andy J. Forest (JV) 2p, the Little Big Horns (JV) 6p, Smoking Time Jazz Club (JV) 10p

FESTIVALS JANUARY 12-15 The Danny Barker Banjo and Guitar Festival features panel discussions, music clinics, a parade and concert at various locations including Little Gem Saloon, Bullet’s Sports Bar and the Howlin’ Wolf. DannyBarkerFestival.com

SPECIAL EVENTS DECEMBER 31 The French Quarter celebrates New Year’s Eve with live music in Jackson Square, a fleur de lis drop at Jax Brewery and midnight fireworks at the river.

CrescentCityCountdown.com DECEMBER 31 Crescent Park hosts New Year’s Eve at the Mandeville Wharf beginning at 7 p.m. with music and beverages for sale. Fireworks are at midnight. FrenchMarket.org JANUARY 4-7 The Jazz Education Network Conference at the Hyatt Regency Hotel includes performances, workshops, panel discussions and mentoring clinics. JazzEdNet.org JANUARY 19-22 & 26-29 Junebug Productions presents “Gomela/to Return: Movement of Our Mother Tongue, ” a theatrical dance performance, at the Ashe Powerhouse.

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BACKTALK

Detroit Brooks [Positive Vibrations HeartBeat Award]

Photo: ELSA HAHNE

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hen Detroit Brooks walks through a door—of a church, a club, a coffeehouse—he’s greeted with smiles, hugs, handshakes and kisses. Though the New Orleans native is renowned as a fine guitarist, banjo player, vocalist and composer, Brooks also boasts a reputation for being just a really nice guy. When asked if he has any enemies, he humorously answers, “I don’t seek ’em,” and quickly adds, “I don’t know anybody who has or should have anything against me—if I done anybody wrong, I’m available to apologize to them.”

Brooks, 65, grew up in a musical family with a foundation in gospel music—he and his siblings all sang in church. In the secular music world, of which he is also a part, his best-known relations are his sister, the late vocalist Juanita and brother bassist Mark Brooks.

Primarily heard performing both traditional and modern jazz, Brooks recorded with such diverse artists as pianist/ vocalist Eddie Bo and, along with clarinetist Michael White, trumpeter Wynton Marsalis.

In 2010, he released an album as leader, On My Way Back Home, that was filled with guest artists. Organ trios are a Brooks specialty as he often gets the call for gigs with two kings of the B-3, Dr. Lonnie Smith and Ike Stubblefield. Brooks’ very rhythmic guitar style is reminiscent of his personality—laid-back, warm and solid— and often backs up major New Orleans modern jazz men including saxophonist Donald Harrison Jr. and drummer Herlin Riley.

Interviewed for this article in December, Brooks was extremely busy putting the finishing touches on the third edition of the Danny Barker Banjo and Guitar Festival (January 12–15, 2017), which he produces.

“I can’t keep my phone charged, I’m getting so many calls,” he complains, while loving people’s interest.

Brooks, who regrets never having the opportunity to play with Barker but gladly took and went to him for advice, not only acts as the festival’s ringleader but also performs in respect and love for Danny Barker.

How did you choose to play guitar?

My dad’s gospel group needed a guitarist.

I used to play bass—I played bass before I played guitar. He would always have these guitarists come and play for his group and every time some other group like the Zion Harmonizers or another local gospel group would come and take them and he was without a guitarist. Mark came along and I gave the bass to Mark and he started to learn how to play bass and I learned how to play the guitar. So my dad would always have a guitar. Eventually, I started venturing

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By Geraldine Wyckoff

talks back

off to secular music with Juanita and other people. I started liking that.

Did anybody in your family or church disapprove of you playing secular music?

My aunt, she was my godmother, she didn’t beat me down about it but she would always say you can’t play both musics. You need to stop playing that. Like I tell people today, just because you drive a liquor truck, don’t mean you’re an alcoholic. If I’m playing this music and it’s my profession JA N U A RY 2 017

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When I was at St. James Methodist Church, we—my whole family— would always do benefits to reach out to people. Sometimes we would get together and buy bibles and put them in the church for people.

and my career, I still go to church. I find that playing this [secular] music, I have the opportunity to go and talk more about what I believe in. How we live is more important than what we do.

Do you still sing in church?

I attend the Franklin Avenue Baptist Church—a great church. I’ve been thinking about joining the music ministry or the choir. I feel like I want to serve the church in some way. A lot of the people know that I play and they’d be like, ‘Why are you sitting upstairs? You need to be down there playing or you need to be with the choir.’ So that’s what’s motivating me. I just wrote a song to give to the choir to sing.

It seems you participate in a lot of benefits for musicians. Did your family do benefits for your church when you were growing up?

I do benefits now when somebody is really in need of money for whatever it is. If it’s just some organization that is putting on a benefit where the people [the beneficiaries] don’t get the money, I won’t do them, I’m sorry. If I know it’s for a good reason, I don’t care who it is, I’ll be there.

When I was at St. James Methodist Church, we—my whole family—would always do benefits to reach out to people.

Sometimes we would get together and buy bibles and put them in the church for people.

The Guitar Extravaganza series, which began in 2002, was an entity of its own though it sort of led to the establishment of the Danny Barker festival. Had you previously ever produced an event?

No, the Extravaganza was first. That was something that [guitarist/banjoist] Carl LeBlanc and [guitarist] Anthony Brown and I would always talk about—musicians getting together and instead of competing with each other that we’d be together and share our gifts and give ideas to one another. We were all friends. We decided we wanted to play and all get on stage and have a good time. The band would get paid and the

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front guys would get a stipend. That’s why I love those guys.

Eventually, we decided we wanted to honor someone and Danny’s name came up. I started looking into it. We would talk about the things that Danny did other than play guitar and banjo. We talked about his contributions and his view on what the music meant. I decided to take it [organizing the festival] on and see what could happen with it. I decided I would go with it.

From the beginning of the festival—as well as for the Extravaganza series—the programming was very ambitious especially since they were, for the most part, run by you, a one-man wrecking crew. The festival always included concerts, school clinics and panel discussions.

Yeah, we had a whole host of guitarists at the Extravaganzas—King Bee from Russia, Mark Whitfield, Henry Johnson out of Chicago, June Yamagishi, Vasti Johnson from Mississippi, Mem Shannon, Steve Masakowski, Walter ‘Wolfman’ Washington and more.

Yes, it could have been ambitious. But I was trying to involve some of all that Danny touched on and also bring to the attention of young students who Danny was. His whole thing was to make sure that kids would be educated not only on school subjects and music but in their conduct—how they live, their culture, and have an understanding of how to present their culture.

What has surprised you most about the first Danny Barker festival? Do you have any favorite moments through the years?

The biggest surprise was that everybody showed up, participated and played their hearts out. Even through there were some gripes about scheduling, it all went wonderfully. It all depends on how you equate success, and as far as I was concerned it was a success.

I have to say Bullet’s—Bullet’s had a different vibe from everything. Bullet’s was

like sitting in your living room with your friends and family and you’ve got musicians sitting there and you’re close enough that you can touch. The crowd was participating with the music. It was strictly participation from both sides. People were just having fun.

Has the festival grown in its short history? How important is it that the spotlight has been shining on Barker with the recent republication of his autobiography, A Life in Jazz as well as last year’s release of the album, Danny Barker—New Orleans Jazz Man and Raconteur?

I think the festival has grown. We’re getting the attention of people who really see the vision and they want to participate in the vision. I think the audience is also catching on. People are looking forward to the festival happening again. I think it’s going to be great.

It all supports what we’re doing. The Historic New Orleans Collection [which published Barker’s book and is a sponsor of the festival], we’re all on the same page. It’s a boost to what we’re doing and vice versa.

Books and albums will be available at most events.

The HeartBeat Award isn’t about musicianship but honors those who live their lives with a spirit of humanitarianism, kindness and generosity. Danny could have received one in, well, a heartbeat. How do you try to emulate his spirit?

Danny came back to New Orleans and he could have done like Louis or Bechet and formed a band and took off on the road and done exactly what he wanted to do.

But he opened himself to teach kids—he gave himself to kids and the world. He saw something bigger than just playing music.

I hope that I am emulating him by what I’m trying to do with this festival. We don’t want this to be just another music festival. We want people to look at it as a component that brings the attention to what he did—what he tried to bring. It’s like picking up the torch.

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