OffBeat Magazine August 2017

HAPPY SATCHMO SUMMER FEST!

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Tower of Power Social Distortion Ecirb Müller’s Twisted Dixie Catherine Russell Naughty Professor

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

David L. Harris Young trombonist with an old soul

Old Soul

BLAST FROM THE PAST

David L. Harris: Upholding the New Orleans musical continuum.

“Stanley Crouch on Louis Armstrong”

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LETTERS

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MOJO MOUTH

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FRESH

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Five Questions with Danny Kadar, production engineer at the Old U.S. Mint; My Music with Drew Meez on the Keys; The 19th Annual Mardi Gras Indian Hall of Fame Awards and more.

OBITUARY

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OPINIONATED AND UNPREDICTABLE 16 Louis Armstrong as music critic.

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Ecirb Müller’s Twisted Dixie puts a new spin on the classics.

PASSIONATE ABOUT POPS Vocalist Catherine Russell presents The Vocal Artistry of Louis Armstrong.

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IN THE SPIRIT

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Norton Christopher at Sac-a-Lait mixes up the Opelousas Air Compressor for Wayne Toups.

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King James is In the Spot at Frady’s One Stop Food Store and Peter Thriffiley reviews Piccola Gelateria.

Women of Note exhibit opens at the Old U.S. Mint.

JAZZ WITH A TWIST

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Mike Ness of Social Distortion is gaining momentum.

OFFBEAT EATS

Isaac “Mr. Ike” Edward

WONDER WOMEN

MORE THAN PUNK

REVIEWS

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Naughty Professor, The New Orleans Jazz Vipers, Dayna Kurtz, Brad Walker, Guitar Slim Jr., Shotgun Jazz Band, Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah, Erica Falls, Vox and the Hound, Charlie Halloran, Tom Leggett, High Performance and more.

REWIND

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Singer-songwriter and guitarist Johnny J. hits rewind on Nuclear Hayride, produced by Alex Chilton.

LISTINGS

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Plan A: Whitney White Linen Night

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BACKTALK with Emilio Castillo of Tower of Power

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by Geraldine Wyckoff August 2002 “Whenever you hear anybody get into that rhythm that’s called swing, Armstrong is on the bandstand… Armstrong brought together all of those elements—the street music, the operas, the stuff that was left over from the plantations, the funeral parades—I mean everything that was central to the spirit and feeling of New Orleans.”

Purchase this issue at www.offbeat.com/issues/ august-2002/.

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Letters

“I made more money back in the day playing matinees 4 days a week at the old raggedy-ass ‘A Bar’ than I make now.”—Mem Shannon, New Orleans, Louisiana

Louisiana Music, Food & Culture

August 2017 Volume 30, Number 9 Publisher and Editor-in-Chief Jan V. Ramsey, janramsey@offbeat.com Managing Editor Joseph L. Irrera, josephirrera@offbeat.com

Jazz Fest Interviews You guys over the years have been a wonderful source of information; I thought I’d try you again to see if you could help me out. Do you know if the Allison Miner Stage interviews at Jazz Fest are stored for podcast/download somewhere online?

So many great interviews take place there every year: Unfortunately I couldn’t make Jazz Fest this year and really would enjoy hearing some of the interviews, especially the Kidd Jordan one (big fan plus he is such a cool character!).

Any information, including the answer that they are not stored anywhere (so I can get past my hope of hearing them), would be very helpful.

—Bill Marvin, Bloomington, Indiana The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation unfortunately does not have the right to post the interviews with musicians from the Alison Miner Musical Heritage Stage online or to grant the right to publish them in print. Some interviewers refuse to give rights to the public to hear (or read) their interviews with musicians. If you want to listen to anything from the Musical Heritage stage, you must go to the Jazz and Heritage Archives at 901 Toulouse Street to listen to them.—Ed.

Musician’s Pay The following letter is in response to James Markway’s guest editorial, “Why Musicians Don’t Get Paid.”

I think that every club that has live music should be required to pay a minimum, living wage to their musicians. It’s up to the club if they want to charge a cover, but the wages should be higher. I also believe that some of those millions of dollars spent marketing New Orleans music by the hotels, city, state and NOMCVB should go towards a musician’s healthcare and pension fund.

—Kimberlee Lauer, New Orleans, Louisiana

Devalued The following letter is in response to Jan Ramsey’s blog post, “Why Are Frenchmen Street Musicians Undervalued?”

I have done posts on FB about this situation off and on for a while now. I play 6 nights a month in Frenchmen. Everything you say here is dead on.

I played Bourbon Street the weekend before the

most recent FQ Fest. When it was all over I felt like a piece of shit. I felt as if I had been cleaning the toilets for two weeks. Used and disrespected. I cut my teeth on Bourbon. I made more money back in the day playing matinees 4 days a week at the old raggedy-ass “A Bar” than I make now. Those days are gone. The mantra on Bourbon now is “Play 2-hour-plus sets with very short breaks so we don’t lose the crowd.” Bands are “used” for two things at these clubs and only two things: (1) sell beer and (2) get blamed for when business is bad.

Sell beer and take the blame—period. The main problem I’m seeing is the fact that musicians out here now don’t seem to think that they should be paid well. They are so tied up in getting gigs at any price/wage and trying to make it that they have devalued themselves.

—Mem Shannon, New Orleans, Louisiana

Beth Arroyo Utterback The following letter is in response to Jan Ramsey’s Mojo Mouth, July 2017, “It’s Not Easy Being Queen,” announcing WWOZ’s new General Manager.

WWOZ’s new GM Beth Arroyo Utterback knows her audience. Her “church member” analogy for frequent visitors to New Orleans matches the spiritual experience my family has long associated with the city. Visits for Jazz Fest, Saints games, and Mardi Gras were not trips or vacations; they were pilgrimages. And while I was raised in a secular household with few memories of going to church, an Irma Thomas performance or Cyril Neville’s sermon to conclude the Brothers’ Live on Planet Earth album provided powerful connections to God that were missing in my life. While my parents remain devoted pilgrims, I’m fortunate to be in New Orleans where I can worship at Tipitina’s and find peace in OZ 90.7.

Wishing Beth power, glory, and unprecedented prosperity in her new mission.

—Andrew Gibbs, New Orleans, Louisiana Jan Ramsey wrote: “There’s something we call the ‘church of New Orleans’—people who love the city so much they come here multiple times…”

In the same column, Beth Utterback coined another gem: “If you can’t live in New Orleans, let New Orleans live in you.”—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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Consulting Editor John Swenson Food Editor Elsa Hahne, elsahahne@offbeat.com Listings Editor Katie Walenter, listings@offbeat.com Contributors Sam D’Arcangelo, Frank Etheridge, Robert Fontenot, Elsa Hahne, Jeff Hannusch, Tom McDermott, Brett Milano, Jennifer Odell, John Swenson, Peter Thriffiley, Melissa Weber, Dan Willging, John Wirt, Geraldine Wyckoff Cover Elsa Hahne 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/Promotions Coordinator Camille A. Ramsey, camille@offbeat.com Advertising Design PressWorks, 504-944-4300 Business Manager Joseph L. Irrera Interns Emily Carmichael, Gracie Davis, Alex Guior, Marine Laval, Elina Tons 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 Birthday, Louis

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e are so immersed in a modern “post-racial” world that it’s hard to imagine how a dirt-poor black kid born in New Orleans who came from some pretty desperate circumstances became such a major influence on music for all time.

That was Louis Armstrong (please don’t call him Louie).

Surprisingly, many people who love music but perhaps don’t know the history of jazz don’t understand the impact of Armstrong. It’s one thing to hear about it, and another to hear what jazz was before his revolutionary approach, and how jazz changed as a result of his influence. Listen to “West End Blues,” recorded almost

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By Jan Ramsey

90 years ago. I never get tired of the thrill of it.

Listen to what “jazz” was like before Louis Armstrong. He wasn’t the first jazzman, but his innovation in the art form literally created and shaped jazz into a totally new way.

I’m certainly a neophyte when it comes to jazz history, but artists like Wynton Marsalis are not: “Louis Armstrong is jazz. He represents what the music is all about.” In early jazz, arrangements tended to be highly orchestrated, but Armstrong broke that mold, introducing extended solos that included improvisation as an integral part of the music.

Armstrong was a musical innovator, a skillful and soulful

musician, an incredible entertainer, and a renowned singer. Not only that, he was a raconteur, an author, a philanthropist, a seeker of truth, and an activist, among many other things.

In other words, he was a miracle, and a true cultural icon.

If you haven’t seen it already, a great introduction to Louis Armstrong’s importance in music is to watch Ken Burns’ series Jazz, released in 2000. Viewing this will show you why Armstrong is the architect and father of modern jazz.

Armstrong was obviously the inspiration for New Orleans’ Satchmo SummerFest, which celebrates local jazz music and

local culture. But Satchmo SummerFest continues to pay tribute not only to the music, but to the man, which is so important.

Every year, the event includes workshops and lectures on the many facets of Armstrong, and celebrates his legacy in the city in which he was born. It’s about a lot more than music, and that’s appropriate to honor the incredible legacy of Louis Armstrong.

If you’re interested in and appreciative of American music, you should make an extra effort to attend the Satchmo SummerFest workshops, the weekend of August 4 through 6, this year returning to the Old U.S. Mint.

Happy Birthday, Louissss.

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FRESH

Drew Meez on the Keys

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SWEET TWEETS

[Andrew Meehan] go with Drew Meez on the Keys. It rhymes.

The ‘Keys’ helps, because people have said when they try to Google it, they get Drew Brees memes. So I say go with ‘on the Keys’ and it’ll get you there every time.

I started [on piano] in third grade. Where I went to school, we started band in fourth grade, so my parents put me in piano lessons the year before. I played horns in some bands, but piano I’ve stuck with the whole time.

For PYMP, I use a lot of synthesizers and a laptop. There’s a lot of preprogrammed stuff that I do at home—loops and things—that I trigger on the laptop. I have a bunch of synthesizers and a [Yamaha] motif to incorporate on top of my loops.

Gravity A, I was asked to join about 11 years ago when I ran into Mike [Michael Fouquier, drummer for Gravity A, PYMP, Iko Allstars] at a bar.

We went to grammar school and high school together and he just sort of mentioned something. I went by for a jam session and a week later we had a gig at the Dragon’s Den. I don’t know how we booked that—we didn’t have anything rehearsed. Drums-and-bass, jungle jams, was the idea.

With [Grateful Dead tribute band] Iko Allstars, there’s a lot less synthesizers, a lot less pre-programmed. But there are a lot of similarities, too—so many sections open for interpretation, long hippie jam-outs. One’s more of an electronica vibe, one’s more of a rock ‘n’ roll vibe. It’s not quite jazz, but it’s still improv, so that’s similar. KC & the Irresistibles, a new project, is different from anything I’ve ever done. I play a grand piano. We play a lot of swing—we’ll even do [rap artist] Big Punisher swing interpretations.

I have one solo album, Dressed, No Pickles, I put out in ’13. That was my first foray as a solo artist. It was really eclectic—some electronica, even had a ballad.

Now I do more of a hip-hop thing. I do everything on these—the beats, the lyrics. It’s closer to 100 percent of my real personality. You don’t have to share the stage, literally or figuratively. I’m sure some of these ideas with the bands I’ve had would be seen as too silly, or not the vibe we’re going for.

I got [new singles] ‘Cast Iron Skillet’ and ‘$30k’ out right now and the idea is to put out a new track once a month. Not an album. My videos for these are getting some [YouTube] hits—between the two, more than 3,000 views, which I’m stoked about. I try not to be too egotistical about it, but it’s nice to be your own boss, even though it’s a bit more daunting. But try and fail or try and succeed, it’s all good.”

—Frank Etheridge Catch Drew Meez on the Keys as part of the Iko Allstars at Tipitina’s on Friday, August 4.

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Photo: corey ware

Essence of the Soul Festival at the Carver Theater

MY MUSIC

AUGUST 2017

@miaborders When I think my crush is texting me, but it’s just CVS. @ArmstrongHouse We shared this photo the other day and came across it again today—on Louis’ 1967 passport! Has anyone ever taken a better passport photo!? @mpatrickwelch All my tattoos are on the inside of my skull. #YesTheyHurt @AlisonF_NOLA Man in his 60s (maybe 70s?) cruising Frenchmen Street in a yellow Mustang convertible, blasting “Let’s Get It On.” @nolacampanella This. Is. Bourbon Street.

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FRESH

SOUNDCHECK

THE 19TH ANNUAL MARDI GRAS INDIAN HALL OF FAME AWARDS

Five Questions with Danny Kadar, Production Engineer, Old U.S. Mint Photo: FRANK ETHERIDGE

A Celebration of Culture

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hat all does the Old U.S. Mint’s third-floor Performing Arts Center encompass?

We do a lot of music. We have a partnership with the National Park Service, which does a lot of programming in the daytime. The state museum does quite a bit of programming during the evening. On Fridays, we have our residency program, which is as many Fridays in a row as we can get of an artist, and we ask them to do a different program each week. It’s been very successful.

The facility opened in 2012 at a cost of around $4 million. What did that money pay for?

About two-thirds of that is the build-out of the space on the third floor and structurally fixing the space so it could house what was needed in the proper way. So, we obviously have this wonderful performance space on the third floor. But we also have this control room, which has full Pro Tools set up, with twocamera video shoot. We web stream every program; we record every program; we archive every program. A lot went into in the acoustic design and materials. Brazilian cherry on the floors, American cherry on the walls. Really nice, sound-absorbing walls.

In your opinion, what distinguishes this venue?

The fact that it is just a listening room. It’s not a bar. It’s not a nightclub. It’s a museum space. Its main function is to have a space that is for the music that is from this town.

We do have some national acts. But the music that comes through here, it’s homegrown.

Is there a particular concert or recording you’re most proud of?

We did an Allen Toussaint holiday show [2013] that was fantastic.

He was booked to play 90 minutes, but wound up playing two-anda-half hours. I think he enjoyed having a hometown audience. He was asking for requests and getting songs that only people from New Orleans would request.

We had Frank Black [the Pixies frontman] here. A solo show, just him and his guitar. 200 or so people here. It was a blast. Something we don’t normally do—a rock show.

What do you hope visitors to the admission-free Mint experience during their visit?

I would hope that they catch a really great jazz show up on the thirdfloor venue. And also get a real good sense of where the music came from.

—Frank Etheridge

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he scene at the Oretha Castle Haley Elementary School when the Mardi Gras Indian Hall of Fame first presented its awards almost 20 years ago was a sweet, significant ceremony attended primarily by the school’s young students. Co-founded by teacher Cherice “Queen Reesie” Harrison-Nelson and principal Roslyn Smith, its purpose was to pay tribute to Harrison-Nelson’s father, the then–recently deceased Big Chief Donald Harrison Sr. and others who had contributed to the Black Indian Nation, as well as to educate the children about the tradition.

On Sunday, August 13, the 19th Annual Mardi Gras Indian Hall of Fame Induction, Awards & Memorial Ceremony takes place at 3 p.m. at the Ashe Cultural Center before a much larger and more diverse, though probably no less enthusiastic, audience than that of the schoolyard filled with kids.

This year, the highly prestigious Donald Harrison Sr. Chrystal Feather Award, a beautifully delicate glass trophy, will be presented to Big Chief Keith “Keitoe” Jones of the Seminoles Mardi Gras Indian gang. The chief began masking Indian in 1974 with the Ninth Ward Hunters under the leadership of Big Chief Rudy Bougere. It was watching his brother Johnny sew that initially sparked Keitoe’s interest in the Black Indian culture. “I liked it and I wanted to get involved with what was going on,” he said in a 2012 interview. When Keitoe joined the White Eagles in 1977, Chief Felton Brown became his mentor. “He would teach me to lay my beads down flat,” Jones, the son of the late blues singer Little Sonny Jones, remembered, adding that his sister Linda and brother Darryl were both in the gang.

Jones held the spyboy position in most of the tribes he ran with, including the Creole Wild West and the Golden Sioux. He moved to gang flag when he joined the Big Chief Keith Seminoles, led by “Keitoe” Jones another legendary chief and artist, Joe Pete. “He taught me how to decorate and stick a crown and do wings,” recalled Chief Keitoe, who took over the Seminoles in 1992, after the passing of Chief Joe Pete.

Big Queen Kim Boutte, who began masking as Little Queen with her cousin, Victor Harris the Spirit of Fi Yi Yi and Chief of the Mandingo Warriors, will be receiving the Queen’s Choice award, another highly coveted honor. The Capturing the Spirit honor goes to Royce Osborn, the producer of the outstanding documentary All on a Mardi Gras Day. The annual occasion is free and open to the public and includes presentations to all of the inductees into the Hall of Fame, the solemn release of homing doves by Chief Clarence Delcour in remembrance of the Black Indians who have passed and a joyful celebration of the culture’s spirit and longevity.

—Geraldine Wyckoff www.OFFBEAT.com

IN MEMORIAM

Isaac “Mr. Ike” Edward (1923 – 2017)

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hen Isaac “Mr. Ike” Edward sat in a chair on Martin Luther King Jr Boulevard watching the 2015 and 2016 Uptown Indian Super Sunday parades, his continued love of the culture beamed from his presence and smile. Though he hadn’t masked Indian since he went into the military in 1952, Mr. Ike cherished his memories and continued to keep his needle and thread busy creating patches for his youthful “adopted” gang, the Young Guardians of the Flame. Black Indians in the colorful procession stopped to pay their respects to the elderly Mr. Ike, shaking their tambourines and his hand. Isaac “Mr. Ike” Edward, the oldest known Mardi Gras Indian, died on Wednesday, July 5, 2017 at the age of 94.

As a teenager, Edward initially masked with the first Indian gang, the Creole Wild West, then led by the renowned Brother Tillman, who was his Uptown neighbor. Edward rose to the position of flagboy with the tribe, an active role he loved.

But he, along with about 15 or 20 other Indians, became discouraged with the Creole Wild West as its aging chief began hitting the streets later and later on Carnival day.

“You know, we were young and we wanted to come out early in the morning,” Edward explained in a 2002 interview. So he and the others left the gang to join the Golden Blades. That association lasted just one year before Edward, with the now-legendary Robert “Robbe” Lee and Lawrence Fletcher, established the White Eagles, of

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which he became Second Chief. This influential gang, which was formed in 1948 at an Uptown barroom, spawned a host of other gangs and has been led by such notables as Donald Harrison, Sr., Jake Millon and Eugene “Junior” Thomas.

“Everybody from the neighborhood used to mask with us,” remembered Edward of the gang that once boasted as many as 50 to 60 members. Yet, as one of Edward’s final requests he was quoted saying, “I don’t want to be remembered as a Second Chief, I want to be remembered as a Big Flag.”

“We used to love to be out there naked—with just an arm band, no shirts or nothing,” Edward once said with a laugh. “Crowns were made from turkey feathers purchased from local poultry stores. If they got white ones they’d dye them various colors. Indians headed to junkyards to shear off decorations from old beaded dresses to use for their designs. They’d decorate their tennis shoes with little bells so you could hear Indians coming for three or four blocks.”

As an ancestor, Edward takes with him a portion of the collective memory of the Black Indian Nation.

Fortunately for all, he passed on many of his recollections, like White Eagle member Bernard Lomax writing the now classic song “Shallow Water” that he sang Creole. Edward’s signature patch was the butterfly, a symbol of beauty and freedom, which he created for his first green suit and decades later for the children he adored.

—Geraldine Wyckoff www.OFFBEAT.com

WOMEN OF NOTE

Wonder Women

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avid Kunian, Music Curator of the New Orleans Jazz Museum at the Old U.S. Mint, places a Billie and DeDe Pierce 45-rpm record circa 1978 on a tall stack of silver shelving. Occupying the same shelves in the Mint’s “Jazz Tower” archival storage area are a tambourine, hand-painted by Charmaine Neville, an Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong 78-rpm record whose Decca label reads “The Frim Fram Sauce” on one side and Helen Gillet’s “Van Helen cello,” a custom cello painted in red, black and white à la Eddie Van Halen’s guitar.

“Oh, you’re gonna love this,” Kunian says, tugging at the rubber gloves he wears to handle items from the museum’s 37,000-odd pieces of local music history.

Thumbing through the contents of a nearby photo cabinet, he selects a large, ’60s-era photo of Blue Lu Barker and Jeannette Kimball— frequent collaborators whose joint efforts include landmark recordings of “Don’t You Feel My Leg” and “I Wish I Could Shimmy Like My Sister Kate.” In the photo, the singer and pianist pose before a piano and a microphone emblazoned with the call letters “WDSU.” “That one’s definitely going in there,” he says.

It’s late June and Kunian is in the final stages of curating an exhibition focused on the contributions women have made to New Orleans jazz since the music’s early days. Dubbed Women of Note, the interactive, multimedia exhibit opens with a reception and live trio performance at the New Orleans Jazz Museum on August 3, the day before Satchmo SummerFest kicks off on the grounds just outside the doors.

Women of Note tells its story chronologically through a combination of photos, instruments, promotional posters and programs

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Blue Lu Barker and Jeanette Kimball

and classic 45s and 78s. Early artists represented in the exhibit range from the swing harmony–focused Boswell Sisters to lesser known singers who straddled the jazz and blues line in the ’20s like Blanche Thomas. Four listening stations feature recordings including music captured from reelto-reel tape of live performances hosted by the New Orleans Jazz Club. A video station offers a look at rare footage by the likes of pianist Sweet Emma Barrett, who worked with Oscar “Papa” Celestin, John Robichaux and others before becoming one of Preservation Hall’s first female star players.

Other “firsts” in the exhibit are more modern, like the “Street Kings” sign presented to the Pinettes brass band when the group, comprised entirely of women, won Red Bull’s 2013 “Street Kings” competition.

Pinettes bandleader and snare drummer Christie Jourdain recalls being asked in an interview after the contest what she was going to do now that she’d earned

By Jennifer Odell

the “Red Bull Street Kings” title. “We’re gonna change that name,” she said at the time.

Speaking to OffBeat in July, she explained, “It’s not cocky, it’s just confidence. I have to change the name.” The sign now reads “Street Queens.”

Another section is dedicated to women who worked behind the scenes of the city’s traditional jazz revival, which contributed to the establishment of Preservation Hall in 1961.

“The [New Orleans] Jazz Club had Myra Menville, Helen Arlt, Carolyn Kolb who were all instrumental in making the museum happen,” Kunian says.

“And Preservation Hall had Sandra Jaffe and Barbara Reid.

They all make it in there as well.”

As the inclusions of Gillet’s cello and Jourdain’s drum suggest, the exhibit was curated with an eye to New Orleans’ contemporary jazz scene as well as the historical foundation on which that landscape developed.

“If we don’t make it more modern it becomes a museum piece,” he says, before chuckling. “I mean, it is a museum piece because it’s in a museum, but ... If we don’t make it any more modern, we’re not going to get any younger or newer people in here.”

Citing items slated for presentation like Aurora Nealand’s saxophone, Courtney Bryan’s scores and photos of Germaine Bazzle, Debbie Davis and Meschiya Lake, Kunian points out he curated the show, in part, with the Mint’s proximity to Frenchmen Street in mind.

“It’s like, ‘Did you like seeing Aurora Nealand’s soprano? She’s gonna play another one of those a block away in two hours and rock the house.’”

In addition to the “Street Queens” sign, the Pinettes, who close out Satchmo SummerFest on Sunday, August 6, at the Cornet Chop Suey Stage, contributed the drum Jourdain left behind when she evacuated for Hurricane Katrina. Friends encouraged her to have it restored, but she opted to leave it in its post-K destroyed condition as a piece of history.

In Jourdain’s eyes, the destroyed drum and edited sign work in tandem to remind viewers—particularly aspiring female musicians—that a successful music career doesn’t come without hard work.

“Besides the storm, adversity is gonna try to knock you out. I want them to walk away knowing if this is something they want to do, then stick with it. It’s hard. We’re women in jazz but we also have full-time jobs and that’s not including what we have when we go home as mothers and wives,” she says.

“When life knocks on the door, you have to be ready to answer it with a Wonder Woman on your chest.”

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PHOTO COURTESY OF NEW ORELANS JAZZ MUSEUM, 1978.118(B).04282

Women of Note exhibit opens at the Old U.S. Mint.

LOUIS ARMSTRONG

Opinionated and Unpredictable PHoto: Courtesy of the Louis Armstrong House Museum

Louis Armstrong as music critic.

Armstrong’s prose style included unorthodox capitalizations, italics and punctuations. Excerpts from his writing are produced as is.

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ouis Armstrong is known for many things involving his playing and singing, his global popularity and his tireless efforts to promote the music he loved through a nonstop performance schedule.

But he was also a man of letters who kept copious journals, produced a legendary amount of correspondence, and wrote several versions of an autobiography.

His writings, carefully collected during his life and now archived mostly in the Louis Armstrong House Museum at Queens College and the Institute of Jazz Studies at Rutgers University, prove Armstrong was an important twentieth century commentator on popular music. He was opinionated and unpredictable. Unlike many jazz critics, Armstrong didn’t couch his criticism in academic terms. He was plainspoken and descriptive, and his observations reflected personal taste more than musicological analysis. “All of my records ‘Knocks’ me out... After all -- I am the public too... I criticizes myself too... When I find it necessary... Some people criticizes just to be saying something that’s unbecoming -- or -- something like that... tee hee...”

These observations were often forward-looking. Armstrong had more in common with writers from the 1960s who wrote about popular music from John Coltrane and Ornette Coleman to the Fugs and Bob Dylan in the context of contemporary life.

The key word there is “popular.” Even though jazz was mainstream popular music right

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up through the 1950s, and in hybrid forms to this day, many jazz critics criticized Armstrong during his later years for being a popular musician as opposed to an art musician. But Armstrong always wanted to please large audiences and thought that by crafting durable melodies and solo parts he would achieve greater success. Though he was a great improviser -- he had to be to excel at playing traditional New Orleans jazz -- Armstrong worked on composing set themes and solos that he would repeat each time he played a song.

By John Swenson

In an article from The Record Changer in 1950, Armstrong gave a definition of great music that could well have been written

by Lester Bangs: “Fire – that’s the life of music, that’s the way it should be.”

The music that Armstrong grew up in New Orleans playing and listening to had yet to be called jazz. He wrote, “In those days it was called Rag Time Music.” Armstrong was asked to define jazz in an interview. “I wouldn’t say I know what jazz is, because I don’t look at it from that angle. I look at it from music

-- we never did worry about what it was in New Orleans, we just always tried to play good.

And the public named it. It was ragtime, Dixieland, gutbucket, jazz, swing -- and it ain’t nothin’ but the same music.”

That sense of the universality of music was also present in the pages of Crawdaddy magazine during the late 1960s and the early-to-mid 1970s when I was an editor there and the magazine published writers such as Michael Cuscuna and John Storm Roberts.

We covered rock, jazz, blues, folk, R&B, country, electronic and www.OFFBEAT.com

“Speaking of the Trumpet again, there was a good one named Arnold Metoyer. A very good first Sight Reader with a very beautiful tone… He was a good Triple Tonguer.” classical music as overlapping genres. The line between “jazz” writers and “rock” writers was starkly drawn back then despite the fact that jazz musicians were being written about in so-called rock magazines -- Sun Ra was an early Rolling Stone cover subject -- and jazz magazines were being forced by the success of Miles Davis, Weather Report and others to treat fusion jazz as a legitimate genre. A few visionaries like Rolling Stone co-founder Ralph J. Gleason wrote about all kinds of music without prejudice.

To a large extent Armstrong anticipated this approach.

It’s true that Armstrong was critical of bop and free jazz, saying that the players were hitting wrong notes and were just screeching. In doing so he was defending his turf in economic terms, but also adhering to the discipline he’d mastered to develop his own reliance on strong melodic content. In that sense he was more critical of the jazz musicians who sought to replace him in the pantheon than he was of different genres of music, from Guy Lombardo to country music.

While Armstrong became the first great jazz soloist and created a vocal style that influenced all American popular music to this day, he was also arguably the harbinger of rock ’n’ roll, at its roots a blues-based music that excelled at distilling riffs and obbligatos into big beat dance material. In groups like the Harlem Hamfats you can hear how Armstrong’s music became that of Muddy Waters. From there it’s an easy step to the Rolling Stones.

When I was in college a friend of mine, Mike Creegan, had a band called Nanker Phelge www.OFFBEAT.com

that unsurprisingly did a lot of Rolling Stones covers. They also did originals, all of which were based on riffs transposed from Armstrong’s trumpet to guitar. The guitarist Jay Geils, who launched one of the most successful blues-based American rock bands in the 1970s, learned music from his father, an avid Armstrong fan. If you listen to the arrangement of “House Party” that opens up the band’s Bloodshot album, you’ll hear a direct quote from Armstrong’s terrifically exciting solo on “St. Louis Blues.”

Like most of the early rockers, Armstrong was deeply influenced by blues. Blues predated jazz and was the first music young Louis learned to play proficiently. He played with the Kid Ory band in 1914, his first “professional” work. Even then, Armstrong was a master on cornet playing blues.

Many of his early recordings were instrumentals with “blues” in the title.

Armstrong’s favorite music brought with it vivid mental pictures of New Orleans.

“Weary Blues,” he wrote, “reminded me so much of New Orleans, until I was looking direct into New Orleans from where we recorded it.”

“Potato Head Blues,” Armstrong noted, “really gassed me because of the perfect phrasing by Johnny [Dodds] and [Kid] Ory... I could look direct into the Pelican Dance Hall, at Gravier and Rampart streets in New Orleans, during the days of the First World War... That was in the years of 1918-1919...

And their bandstand was built in the left-hand corner of the hall... And the stand was up over everybody’s head... in order to say hello to any member of the band,

you had to look up... And all that good music was pouring out of those instruments -- making you want to just dance and listen and wishing they’d never stop...”

Armstrong’s writings offer an important look into the early days of jazz “during those real beautiful days in different places in the District way back from 1910 to 1917, when they closed it down,” he wrote.

“Here is a short rundown of my idea of the choice musicians in my young days in New Orleans… Henry Kimball Bass Violin. Manuel Perez Cornet – Manuel and Joe King Oliver played together in the Onward Brass Band, really something to listen to when they played for Parades and Funerals. They had Twelve musicians in their Brass Band. Eddie Jackson used to really Swing the Tuba when the band played Marches. They sounded like a forty piece brass swing band… The Onward Brass Band, Broke up a Baseball game, over in Algiers, La, when they passed by the game playing – “When the Saints Go Marching In.” The Game Stopped immediately and followed the parade.

“Henry Zeno was a popular drummer during the days of the Red Light District. He was also a pretty good card player, well like by people in every walk’ of life.

When he died he had people of All Races at his Funeral.

“Speaking of the Trumpet again, there was a good one named Arnold Metoyer. A very good first Sight Reader with a very beautiful tone… He was a good Triple Tonguer.

“Henry Martin was a fine Drummer. I should mention here’ A perfect beat – A beautiful roll on his snare drum, the Bass Drum with a double beat at the same

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time. Henry would pull his pants legs way up to his Garters, when he starts to Swing. Better than anyone I know. He used to kill me, watching him do it. A big cigar hanging from his mouth while he played in Kid Ory’s early string band. Kid Ory’s band would Cut All of the bands, during his Tail Gate Advertising. The Crowd would Roar and Applaud when Kid Ory would blow a few bars on his trombone, as his wagon was leaving, of a tune called ‘Kiss My Ass.’ “Kid Ory had a trumpet player who played in his band, in the early days – way before my time.

Mutt Carey. I enjoyed him every time that I could listen to him…

Joe Oliver was my idol and my only love on the trumpet until the day that he died. No one has replaced him as yet in my heart, trumpetly. Eddie Garland was a popular Bass Player at all times…

Joe Oliver used to tell me about the double beat Garland had.”

In Armstrong’s biography, accounts of his experiences in New Orleans overlapped with those of his time in Chicago playing with other New Orleans expatriates.

“In 1925 in Chicago I had the pleasure of playing with Erskine Tate’s Symphony Orchestra…

We played for Silent pictures and all of the Pathe News, etc…

Boy, did we Rock that theater.

An Indian Reservation came up on the Screen during the Pathe News during their war dance. We faked the music to it and how. Imagine ‘five Scenes later’ the Audience were still applauding for that same scene and the same music. I hadn’t ever seen anything like it. Eddie Atkins (N.O. boy’) played the Trombone in that Orchestra.

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“In my days there were 126 gig bands. And they were all booked up every night of the week.”

“Erskine Tate’s Symphony Orchestra in Chicago’ made several recordings’ while I was with them. Two of them were called, ‘Static Strut’ – ‘Stomp Off Let’s Go.’ I had feature solos in those tunes. I admired Teddy Weatherford’s fine piano playing very much. Here’s another Trombone Man who was very good, playing nightly in the Red Light District – his name is Zoo Robinson. Every musician had ‘great respects for Zoo… He blew his trombone with no effort at all – no facial expressions etc.”

“Here are some more of the great pioneers… Alphonse Picou Clarinet… the one who took the tune ‘High Society’ and transposed the piccolo part for the clarinet… I’ve heard Barney Bigard play it note for note. Since Picou died – Barney – is in a class by his li lol self – still’ great. I went to the Lyric Theater quite often. Located downtown on Iberville and Burgundy streets.

Robichaux orchestra was always the best. They all read music.

John Robichaux. They used to play for the stage shows. Andrew Kimball was the cornetist in the band (my choice). Speaking of a young cornetist around New Orleans in my younger days, there was Buddy Petit. I thought Buddy was very good. He had a little style all his own. He blew from the side + his jaw poked on one side.

“In my days there were 126 gig bands. And they were all booked up every night of the week. Even when Buddy Petit’s band and my band would be on the Tail Gate Advertising for different dances or advertising for a fight – Gun Boat Smith or Harry Wills (good fighters) – we both would meet on a corner,

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play our tune or a couple of tunes and we would cut out into different directions and give a big wave, playing our cornets with Admirations of each other’s Blowing, which was really Something to hear. That alone cheered both of us up…

“The Excelsior Brass Band, a good one – Something in the same order as the Onward Brass Band. Had a Tall Fantastic Drummer named Cottrell. He would come on the streets in each parade with a Brand new Snare Drum, which would Break it up. Black Benny the Bass Drummer Beats a whole lot of Bass Drum. And will fight at the drop of the Hat.” Armstrong wrote a lot more about his music, life and times.

The best collection of his work is Louis Armstrong In His Own Words (Oxford University Press), edited with an introduction by Thomas Brothers.

Armstrong lasted through the era of the Beatles, notoriously knocking the Fab Four out of the top spot on the hit parade at the height of the band’s popularity on May 9, 1964.

The song Armstrong achieved that milestone with was “Hello, Dolly!” the title song of the Broadway show which is once again the hottest ticket of the day in its current revival.

A lot of speculation about Louis Armstrong versus the Beatles ensued. But were Armstrong and the Beatles really rivals or just different versions of the same pop ideal?

O “Louis Armstrong as Music Critic” will be a multimedia presentation at Satchmo SummerFest at the Old Mint.

Saturday, August 5 at 1:30 p.m. www.OFFBEAT.com

O TWISTED DIXIE

SSF Ecirb Müller’s Twisted Dixie

Jazz with a Twist

Fri. August 4, 6:20p Red Beans and Ricely Yours Stage

PHoto: riccardo emilien

Ecirb Müller’s Twisted Dixie puts a new spin on the classics.

“I

have an experiment that I do in all of my classes, both high school and college, where I tell this fictitious story about the first governor of Louisiana—Abraham Lincoln,” Dr. Brice Miller says from Spotted Cat’s green room before a gig on a sweltering July Saturday night.

“I tell the students of how Lincoln was the first governor of Louisiana, how before that he was mayor of New Orleans, and how he had to do those things to become president of the United States,” Miller continues. “Very few students would challenge me.

And I would put on the first test, ‘Who was the first governor of

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Louisiana?’ ‘Abraham Lincoln.’

Every time. And what that tells me is that, we as Americans, if we hear the shit enough times, it’s true.”

A sad parallel to today’s Trump-era notion of “fake news,” Miller’s example is given in context of the concept behind his funkified trad-jazz band, Ecirb Müller’s Twisted Dixie (EMTD).

Musically swinging and sensual in a style dubbed “NuTrad,” the rising Frenchmen Street staple has its origin in a conversation Miller had on the set of HBO’s Treme with EMTD bass/piano player, Dr. Jimbo Walsh. Miller’s inter-disciplinary PhD from

By Frank Etheridge

the University of Alabama is in higher-education administration with a concentration in sociocultural anthropology. Discussing how his dissertation research into brass bands in post-Katrina New Orleans (work leading to his forthcoming book, Feet Don’t Fail Me Now), Miller says he “shared my frustration with these false narratives” with Walsh surrounding the written history of jazz.

Miller, who in seventh grade began playing alongside his father Dwight in the Pinstripes Brass Band, explains “In doing my research into New Orleans jazz bands and brass bands, and

its intersection with everyday geographies, I realized none of this stuff had been written by black folks. One of the few things people of color are given credit for is the creation of jazz. I’m really big on history and this history was all second- and third-hand insight.”

Thus, Ecirb Müller was born.

“So the idea with Ecirb Müller is he’s this fictitious character who’s done all these great things for America,” say Miller of a jazzman who, according to EMTD’s Facebook page, was the first one labeled “baby daddy” (due to his 669 legitimate/369 illegitimate children and 21,169 great-grandchildren). www.OFFBEAT.com

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He also introduced Palm Sunday customs to Seventh Ward creoles.

“Anything that’s made America great, Ecirb Müller did it.”

“It’s about challenging our belief systems,” he continues on the concept, “while also being entertaining. Like Danny Barker, who I love. Ecirb Müller allows me to be as crazy as need be.”

Trumpeter and bandleader for EMTD, Miller adds that the name represents “a total democracy” and thus avoids the star-attraction status in the New Orleans tradition of Louis Armstrong and the Hot Five, Kermit Ruffins and the Barbecue Swingers, etc.

“It really comes down to the beats Frog [drummer David Wallace] makes with his drums that allows for our range of songs,” explains guitarist Ed Barrett, seated next to Miller in the Spotted Cat green room.

“Frog is a pretty happening drummer, so with him we’re a jazz band, but we have these funky, rocking beats.”

“We aim to be not archival, but authentic,” adds Walsh, “playing the sound that’s coming out of New Orleans right now.”

Miller then explains that EMTD’s song ideas “come from me at 2 a.m. listening to music and sending out texts.” The farranging inspiration can vary from Michael Jackson songs applied with a go-go beat, featuring the bass line from “Down by the Riverside” to the rhythm guitar riffs in James Brown’s “I’m Black and I’m Proud.”

“During our cover of ‘All of Me,’” [Ruth Etting’s 1931 jazz/ swing classic] Miller boasts, “somebody is going to twerk.”

“When you think about it,” he continues, “none of these things, musically or rhythmically, make sense. It’s the band’s www.OFFBEAT.com

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objective to make it work—not just us riffing, but organized and composed. We take four measures and stretch it to eight measures, all as we rely on Frog to take it to a whole new sphere. It’s a challenge for everybody—but it’s a challenge we want.”

Spontaneous narratives— fantastically tall tales spun

by Miller in the spirit of Ecirb Müller—separate each song, always beginning with the standard New Orleans BS starting point, “What had happened was …” with that phrase also forming the title of EMTD’s forthcoming debut album.

All acknowledging their sense of humble honor to play EMTD’s second Satchmo SummerFest—“It’s a privilege to do anything associated with Louis Armstrong,” Barrett says—the group’s approach to tackling the tunes of the jazz icon mirrors their overall social philosophy and musical vibe.

“Our set will ask: ‘What would Louis say in 2017?’”

Brice explains of the gig, which will feature trombonist/ vocalist Robert Harris (who was touring Europe at the time of this interview). “Yes, ‘What a Wonderful World,’ but also, ‘Hello, Brother,’ a powerful song of Louis’s from the late ’60s that’s still so relevant today.

When I think about those lyrics, as an educated black man, sometimes I begin to cry. What he was saying is that we’re all brothers. And that’s what the essence of this band is.”

O Ecirb Müller’s Twisted Dixie plays Satchmo SummerFest 6:20-7:30 p.m. Friday, August 4 on the Red Beans and Ricely Yours Stage.

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O CATHERINE RUSSELL

SSF

Passionate About Pops

Catherine Russell

Sun. August 6, 1:40p Cornet Chop Suey Stage

C

atherine Russell and Satchmo SummerFest go together like red beans and rice. A Grammy-nominated jazz singer whose credits also include decades of backup singing for major stars, Russell is the daughter of Luis Russell, Louis Armstrong’s music director from 1935 to 1943.

Because Russell’s father and Armstrong stayed friends long after they stopped working together, she has vivid childhood memories of the larger-than-life music star and personality from New Orleans. Her father also shot many home movies of Armstrong.

The singer’s website features film of herself with Armstrong taken in 1960 during a party at his home in Queens, New York.

“It was a festive occasion,” Russell recalled from her home in Lower Manhattan. “I was the only child there and Pops picked me up. It was overwhelming for me because he actually did have a very large mouth! But he was always very nice to me. And Pops and his wife, Lucille, loved to entertain.

They liked to eat and laugh and everything. That evening, Pops was happy to have his friends with him.

He was a loyal friend who visited my dad when he was ill. They kept in touch.”

Despite being a young child, Russell instinctively recognized Armstrong’s depth and dynamism.

“He had a big energy,” she remembered. “I also knew he was serious about what he did, but he could also have a good time and mug for the cameras in the setting of his home.”

Russell made her Satchmo SummerFest debut last year. She’s returning this year to the festival named in Armstrong’s honor for a performance on Sunday, August 6.

She’ll also present “The Vocal Artistry

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of Louis Armstrong, From a Vocalist’s Perspective” at the Satchmo Symposium, Friday, August 4.

Russell loved every second of her 2016 visit to Satchmo SummerFest. “Everyone was so passionate about Pops,” she said.

“Every symposium was inspiring.

And all of the music that was outside, the food and everything, it was a beautiful experience. When we were leaving, I said, ‘We must come back every year.’ We started talking about that last August.”

Following last year’s festival, Russell quickly picked a topic for the Satchmo SummerFest Symposium.

“I’ll talk about Louis Armstrong purely as a singer,” she said. “He was an incredible interpreter of song and an incredible actor. This is why one believes everything that he sings.”

Armstrong sang with vocal groups on the streets of New Orleans at an early age, Russell said.

By John Wirt

“His work with the Mills Brothers highlights how he loved singing in a vocal group,” she said. “And his album, Louis and the Good Book, with the Sy Oliver Choir singing behind him, was like being in church. He understood every genre that he sang in.”

Armstrong’s singing is not as simple as it may sound, Russell added.

“He could make his voice sound like his trumpet,” Russell said. “Or he could focus on the story in the lyrics and give you an intimacy about that. Because I’m doing my own thing as a solo artist and reaching deeper into his interpretation, it’s clear to me that he’s even more of a genius than I’d realized before.”

Like Armstrong, Russell is a jazz artist who interprets multiple musical styles. Her repertoire embraces jazz giants Armstrong and Duke Ellington, for instance, as well as such blues, jump-blues and rhythm and blues artists as Howlin’ Wolf, Wynonie Harris and Little Willie John.

“If it’s good writing, I love it,” she said. “And when I pick tunes, I like a good story, humor, a good melody and something that’s fun for the musicians to play. I like the writing style from the 1920s through 1940s, but I also love Dinah Washington, Howlin’ Wolf, Abbey Lincoln, Nina Simone. I’m always gathering material and seeing if I can live through it.”

A late-blooming solo act, Russell sang backup from the 1980s on for such major artists as David Bowie, Paul Simon, Dr. John, Wynton Marsalis, Steely Dan, Cyndi Lauper, Jackson Browne, Michael Feinstein, Levon Helm, Rosanne Cash and Joan Osborne. Her recording session credits include more than 200 albums.

Russell loved singing backup but, following a 2002–2004 tour with Bowie, her business partner suggested she finally make a solo album. Russell soon signed with Harmonia Mundi’s World Village Records. The label released her debut, Cat, in 2006.

“It happened quickly,” she remembered. “And then we started doing gigs. I’d sung with many bands before that, but never under my own name. The first couple of gigs, I thought, ‘Oh, why am I doing this?’ Because it takes time to find the musicians who align with the music you want to do. It’s been quite a learning curve, but it turned out incredible. I’m glad that I took that step. Now I do things I’d never imagined I’d be doing.”

O Catherine Russell sings at 1:40 p.m. Sunday, August 6, on Satchmo SummerFest’s Cornet Chop Suey Stage. She’ll also present The Vocal Artistry of Louis Armstrong, From a Vocalist’s Perspective, at the Satchmo Symposium, 11:30 a.m. Friday, August 4, at the New Orleans Jazz Museum at the Old U.S. Mint, third floor. www.OFFBEAT.com

PHoto: SANDRINE LEE

Catherine Russell presents The Vocal Artistry of Louis Armstrong.

SOCIAL DISTORTION

More than Punk Mike Ness of Social Distortion is gaining momentum.

M

ike Ness, leader of Social Distortion, forged a multidimensional punk-rock band.

Aerosmith and Bad Company shaped Ness as much as the Sex Pistols and the Ramones.

The Carter Family, Johnny Cash, Hank Williams, the Rolling Stones and Motown all play into Social Distortion.

Ness formed Social Distortion in 1979. In doing so, the angry 17-yearold from Orange County, California, joined the Los Angeles–area punk and roots music scenes that included X, Black Flag, Minutemen, Los Lobos and the Blasters.

A music lover since early childhood, Ness and his eclectic inspirations soon made Social Distortion more than punk. His affection for the Stones, for instance, showed up in the band’s album debut, 1983’s Mommy’s Little Monster. Arriving five years

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later, Prison Bound revealed his American roots music influences.

Ness showed his country roots again with Social Distortion’s 1990 self-titled album. The album features the popular, countryfied lament, “Ball and Chain,” and a churning punk rendition of Cash’s “Ring of Fire.” Social Distortion is the band’s best-selling album and was the first to reach the Billboard 200 albums chart. Its songs “Ball and Chain,” “Story of My Life,” “Let It Be Me” and “Ring of Fire” all reached the Top 25 in Billboard’s Top 100 singles chart.

Four more studio albums followed: Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell (1992); White Light, White Heat, White Trash (1996); Sex, Love and Rock ’n’ Roll (2004) and Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes (2011). Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes, the first Social Distortion album solely

By John Wirt

produced by Ness, became the band’s highest-charting album, debuting at Number 4 on the Billboard 100.

Ness’ discography further includes two solo albums, the mostly original, rockabillyoriented Cheating at Solitaire and influence-filled Under the Influences, both released in 1999.

Following Social Distortion’s 2017 summer tour, the band will begin months of pre-production for their eighth studio album. Ness spoke to OffBeat in advance of the band’s return to New Orleans, August 30 at House of Blues.

What was your reaction to punk rock when you first heard it?

When I heard the [Sex] Pistols, they sounded like how I felt inside.

I was from a broken home. When I was 16, 17, I was an angry kid who was searching for his voice.

It was a voice I was never allowed

to have before. When I started a band, the world said, ‘You can’t do that.’ I was like, ‘Watch me.’

But you loved music years before the rise of punk rock.

I started listening to music when I was about four years old.

That was 1966. The AM and FM radio in the late ’60s. My uncles gave me rock ‘n’ roll records.

The Rolling Stones, Creedence Clearwater Revival. Most kids weren’t into music like I was. I played albums and stared at them for hours, studying them.

Sometime in the mid ’80s, I went back to the Carter Family. I remembered how that music made me feel. I brought American roots music to punk with Prison Bound.

But prior to punk, basically it was classic rock. Most people don’t know that I was into bands like Bad Company and the Eagles and all the Motown stuff. And then I got www.OFFBEAT.com

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“Yeah, whenever I’m writing a record, I want to outdo the previous one. That’s always my objective.”

into the punk. But my foundation is blues-based rock. That’s why Social Distortion has always been a little bit more traditional, why we weren’t just a punk band. The country and blues influences, the folk music, it’s all in there, because I enjoy that just as much as an old punk record.

Social Distortion is returning to New Orleans to play House of Blues. Has the city been a good stop for you through the years?

Always has been. Close to 30 years, New Orleans has been a staple for us. It’s a musical town.

It’s perfect for us.

House of Blues’ main music room is an intimate venue. Do you prefer playing for hundreds or thousands of people?

Some of my best shows have been on big stages in front of 10,000, 20,000, 30,000 people. But you don’t have as much control in those kinds of environments. You’re exposed to the elements. The sound isn’t always great on stage. There’s no preparation, no soundchecks. You just plug in and go. And I think rock and roll is a nocturnal thing, but sometimes it’s not dark.

So, you do prefer smaller venues?

In clubs and theaters, the venue is yours for that day. And we always do soundcheck. I know bands that never soundcheck. I can’t relate to that at all. It isn’t that we need to practice, it’s just a work ethic that I have. I get acclimated to the room. I start to focus early.

You care about details?

The details of everything.

Does the attention to details especially apply to the recording studio? www.OFFBEAT.com

On the stage and in the studio—I enjoy them both equally. Yeah, I remember a drummer we had. He did something wrong in the outro of a song. I said something to him about it after the show. He said, ‘I don’t even know how you heard that.’ I said, ‘I hear everything.’ In the studio, it’s even more scrutiny.

I love that focus. That’s when I’m firing on all cylinders.

You have your own studio, but isn’t it more a rehearsal space than a recording studio?

It’s a place where we can go write and rehearse. I write there. There’s a room strictly for listening to music. There’s an inspiration area decorated with all of my entertainment memorabilia (including jukeboxes, a pinball machine, vintage radios, amps and microphones and a collection of gangster movie posters).

You released Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes in 2011. How far along are you on a followup?

Once this tour ends, we’ll spend six to nine months in preproduction. Then we’ll record the album. I’ll do some reference recordings at our studio, but they’ll be pretty crude. For arrangements and experimenting with stuff, the recordings don’t need to be high-quality.

Journalists often ask you why many years elapse between the release of Social Distortion albums. Is it a matter of getting the songs, the production, the details, just the way you want them?

Journalists will say, ‘It’s been seven years since your last record.’ But it didn’t take seven years to write the record. It probably took seven years to

wind down from five years of touring. And I have a family, I have responsibilities. Sometimes I need five years to live life, so I have stuff to write about.

Sometimes I don’t pick up a guitar for six months, but when I do pick it up, the past six months pour out of me.

Is it too early to give us a preview of the next Social Distortion album?

There are things about Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes I want to keep, but the next album may have more of a garage feel to it.

I want it to have a little bit more high energy. And for this new record, unfortunately, I feel like I have to write the album of my career. There’s going to be a lot of thought put into it.

So, you think you must top Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes?

Yeah, whenever I’m writing a record, I want to outdo the previous one. That’s always my objective. But Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes is my favorite record, because it’s rootsy. I think it could have followed the self-titled album or Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell. It also shows we’ve learned a lot since those earlier records. You want to show people what you’ve learned and what you’ve absorbed from your influences and expand on it.

For Hard Times and Nursey Rhymes, you were the sole producer of a Social Distortion album for the first time. Will you produce your next album as well?

We thought maybe now is a good time to bring somebody in. I love Rick Rubin’s stuff. There are a handful of producers whose stuff I

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like. But I want to do this next one myself. I eventually want to become a producer [for other artists]. The more I do, the more I’ll learn.

In 2015, you marked the 25th anniversary of your self-titled 1990 album by performing the album on tour. Did playing some of those songs for the first time in many years give you a different perspective on the album?

I didn’t know if I liked some of those songs anymore. I’m super critical of myself. So, they never made any set list. But it was great to go back to those songs. I wondered how I thought of that or how I did that. I wondered what I was thinking when I wrote this or that song. Not so much the lyrics as the arrangements. I remembered that something happened by accident, but it sure was cool.

The 40th anniversary of Social Distortion is just a few years away.

Hard to believe. Most bands that have been together 30, 35 years, they were popular 35 years ago.

Now they’re trying to recapture that. It’s the opposite for us. 35 years ago, we were playing in front of 75 people. But each year we slowly gained momentum. It’s been very organic. We don’t really know what we did. We just know that the music seems timeless and three generations have passed it on.

We’re lucky that way. Certainly, I’m still enjoying it.

So, at this point in Social Distortion history, you could be in your mid-career?

I’m going to live to be 100.

That’s how I’m looking at it.

Social Distortion performs August 30 at House of Blues.

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SSF David L. Harris Sat. August 5, 1:50p Cornet Chop Suey Stage

Old Soul

David L. Harris: Upholding the New Orleans musical continuum.

By Geraldine Wyckoff Photography by Elsa Hahne

“Y

ou’ll be able to tell that I’ve been influenced by the tradition,” promises trombonist David L. Harris, who is perhaps better known as a modern jazz artist and makes his debut at Satchmo SummerFest on Saturday, August 5.

“I never intend to pick up my horn and not lay down some remnants of all of the great guys I’ve played with,” he adds, mentioning noted classic New Orleans jazz musicians like clarinetists Dr. Michael White and Tom Fischer, fretman Don Vappie and drummers Shannon Powell and Gerald French. “So hopefully, my set will be enjoyable to the strictly traditional listeners.”

Harris, 29, a Baton Rouge native who recently released a fine new album, Blues I Felt, will be heading a quartet that includes pianist Shea Pierre and bassist Jasen Weaver—both of whom are on the disc—plus drummer and recent Crescent City resident Gerald T. Watkins Jr. All of these guys, as well as Miles Labat, who’s at the trap set on the disc, represent a stunningly impressive group of talented millennials making an impact on the New Orleans jazz scene.

Each of these musicians enjoyed different journeys in reaching this point in their careers, though their paths crossed at similar junctions primarily in the Crescent City.

Playing the trombone came by chance for Harris, who had several friends that were members of his high school’s marching band. So he was interested in joining them, though he didn’t even really know what instrument he wanted to play.

“I sat with the band director and he sang a note and said, ‘Match that pitch,’” Harris remembers. “I went ‘dah’ and he said, ‘Okay I’ll put you on trombone.’ You really have to hear the pitches to play the trombone because it’s not as precise as a trumpet or saxophone.”

After high school graduation, Harris headed to Southern University where he played in the trombone section of the institution’s legendary marching band. “It was very stylistic—very gusto,” says Harris, adding that it taught him to have fun and not be afraid to dance. He also was a member of Southern’s concert band.

“Playing in a marching band definitely teaches you how to use your air and project. It’s actually not about playing loud, it’s about projecting your sound.”

Those lessons would remain with Harris when later he moved on to play with the Michael Foster Project brass band, the aforementioned traditional New Orleans musicians, and veteran modern bandleaders such as trombonist Delfeayo Marsalis, drummer Herlin Riley and trumpeter Irvin Mayfield. www.OFFBEAT.com

Harris gives credit to Southern’s late arranger and assistant of bands, director Carnell Knighten, who also oversaw the concert band, for instilling a sense of seriousness when it came to music. The word “serious” can definitely be used to describe Harris’ attitude toward the music as well as that of his fellow bandmates and the crop of musicians of a like age, who wonderfully keep popping up to add their “voices” to sets around the city.

“The seriousness comes with the deliverance of the music,” explains Harris, who began his jazz journey in the tradition. “If I’m playing with Dr. Michael White, Shannon [Powell] or Gerald French, they have years of history of how the music should be played and the role of the trombone. The trumpeter plays the melody, the clarinetist usually dances around the melody and the trombonist, I’d say he’s like the meat, he kind of fills in the gaps and is very rhythmic and adds more of a bounce to the music. I think of the trombone’s job as instilling the dance element into the music.”

Harris left Southern after two years and headed to LSU to further pursue his development on the trombone and his interest in studying classical music that was sparked by his time with the Knighten-led concert band. With some wonder, he also viewed videos of noted classical trombonist Christian Lindberg.

“When I watched him perform, it looked like he was almost improvising and putting his own personality on these compositions,” Harris remembers. “He wasn’t exactly emulating recordings—he put vibrato where he wanted it. It opened my eyes up to seeing that you could play classical music and still make it your own. Your best bet is to learn as much as you can from those you admire the most and when it’s time to play, just be yourself. Of course, the things that you learn from your greatest role models will come out.”

Interestingly, both pianist Pierre and bassist Weaver, who graduated from the New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts (NOCCA), also boast backgrounds that include classical training. As a child, Pierre received lessons in the genre and furthered his classical studies while attending Oberlin Conservatory. At age 11, Weaver performed with the New Orleans String Project Performing Arts School.

Considering things to come, Harris’ move to LSU and his increased interest in improvisational music, thus jazz, could be deemed as his eventual link to Pierre, Weaver, drummer Miles Labat (heard on Blues I Felt) and other young cats who have been making waves on New Orleans’ modern jazz scene.

Harris was already listening to notable trombonists such as Wycliffe Gordon, J.J. Johnson and Jack Teagarden, though he found that the charts he was playing at the University weren’t really reminiscent of AU G U ST 2 017

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“I like to communicate. I like to talk.

So if I can communicate with my instrument to some cat, they’ll listen to me and say something back to me.”

their styles—they weren’t blues-oriented. He got to practice some of that style with fellow LSU student and Baton Rouge native, trumpeter Stephen Lands, who, eventually, also moved to the Crescent City.

Fate stepped in one day when Harris was rehearsing by himself in one of LSU’s practice rooms. Next door, the Michael Foster Project brass band was also rehearsing.

“Terrance ‘Tap’ Taplin found me in the practice room one day,” remembers Harris of his fellow trombonist. “He said, ‘Hey man, you should come and check out our rehearsal.’ That’s when I started learning about more theoretical stuff and how to apply it to jazz music—like arpeggios. That’s when it started making more sense.”

Harris made his first professional gig as a musician with the Michael Foster Project, including a weekly date at Baton Rouge’s Chelsea’s Cafe as well as performing at private events.

Inevitably, Harris decided that he had to be more in the scene where jazz music was happening and that was in its birthplace of New Orleans. While still in Baton Rouge, the trombonist began coming down to sit in with clarinetist Dr. Michael White and trumpeter Gregg Stafford at their regular Sunday brunch sets at the InterContinental Hotel. “That’s when I first started learning traditional tunes,” Harris recalls, adding that he enjoyed and continues to enjoy the interaction between the instruments that traditional jazz allows as compared to brass bands that are more ensemble oriented.

“For me, it’s harder to bring my personality and to communicate with the clarinet and trumpet in a brass band,” he explains. “I like to communicate. I like to talk. So if I can communicate with my instrument to some cat, they’ll listen to me and say something back to me.”

Taplin, who had recruited Harris into the Michael Foster Project, started bringing his fellow trombonist to New Orleans to sit in with trombonist Delfeayo Marsalis and the Uptown Jazz Orchestra for its weekly Wednesday night shows at Snug Harbor. The large ensemble, which barely manages to squeeze onto the club’s small stage, remains a hot bed for upcoming talent as they join seasoned veterans like Marsalis and longtime member, baritone saxophonist Roger Lewis.

“A lot of us played that gig,” says bassist Jasen Weaver. “I did that most of the time I was at college [at the University of New Orleans]. I got to meet a lot of people that way and I ended up working with a lot of those musicians outside of that gig as a sideman at their gigs.” Weaver, who graduated from both NOCCA and UNO, agrees that especially in New Orleans, one thing leads to another. It was while playing with Marsalis’ big band that he met Harris and eventually introduced him to pianist Pierre. The beat, as they say and sing, goes on.

“The whole history of the music is like a fellowship, like a communicative effort to keep the music alive and keep it relevant,” Harris offers on his and his peers’ contribution to the music’s continuum. “We’re always humble when it comes to learning what the more seasoned musicians have to teach us and we always take that stuff and try to commit it to our reality and portray it no matter whatever style of music we play.”

“The thing that makes New Orleans so special and the thing that separates New Orleans from many of the other cities that I’ve been to is that the musicians’ community is very close knit—the bond is very strong,”

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Pierre observes. “There’s very little jealousy or envy. Mostly cats in our generation are looking out for each other. I think that’s due to us watching the older cats because they did the same thing—Alvin Batiste, Harold Battiste, Ellis Marsalis. Everybody was playing on each other’s projects during their era,” Pierre continues while mentioning the name of Battiste’s label, All for One. “That sentiment has definitely been passed on. And here there’s a culture that tries to embrace [new] people.”

Harris stepped into the modern world of jazz and swing on joining Delfeayo Marsalis’ Uptown Jazz Orchestra, a university in itself for many younger musicians. “The interpretations of the rhythms were different—that’s the biggest thing I had to learn,” Harris explains.

“With a big band there are a lot of rhythms that aren’t exact. It’s more like feeling what’s happening around you and then interpreting what’s on the page. The main point of playing jazz music is that you’re playing with people. You never want to ignore the people that you’re playing with because that makes bad music.”

Delfeayo Marsalis was certainly a catalyst in steering these and so many other guys in a true direction in their musical pursuits. Moreover, other artists also played important roles in their development and understanding of what makes New Orleans jazz important, unique and great. Drum master Herlin Riley, who boasts a rich history in the music, has definitely been in that number in providing a link to this generation of musicians.

“Herlin has been a really key mentor figure for me,” says Pierre, who credits bassist Weaver for hooking him up with the drummer. “Playing with Herlin is almost like going to grad school. Herlin brings a special vibe to the music.”

“I definitely consider him one of my mentors,” echoes Weaver. “I definitely learned from him just by watching how he runs his gigs—the way he plans out his sets, his general demeanor with other musicians and his perception on how he puts on a show. I try to apply it to my own band. I have heard him mention how he almost feels like it is a responsibility on his part and that of his peers to pass on what they know to us and keep the cycle going.”

Harris had been focused on being a sideman and remains active in that role, as evidenced at this year’s Jazz Fest, where he performed an impressive nine gigs including those with Shannon Powell, another musician whose name comes up as a strong mentor; Dr. Michael White; Don Vappie; vocalists Quiana Lynell and Stephanie Jordan; drummer Andrew Hall; the tribute to the legendary Blue Lu Barker and Jesse McBride and the Next Generation. Pianist McBride, who was mentored

by Harold Battiste and continues his Next Generation legacy, also gets props from the younger musicians for his guidance and the opportunities he offers to gain experience and exposure from performing at local gigs.

Props also go out to saxophonist Donald Harrison, Jr. for leading the way as an involved musician and head of the Tipitina’s Internship Program and trumpeter Irvin Mayfield and the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra.

“We work hard but they make sure we’re in the position to succeed,” says Weaver of the mentors.

With a new CD on the racks, Harris naturally also led his own band in the Jazz Tent at the festival. “Being a sideman was great but I noticed that cats don’t always hire you,” says Harris, repeating the old lament of trombonists who weren’t necessarily crucial to the makeup of a band. “I would leave www.OFFBEAT.com

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vocalist Quiana Lynell. However, she thought he should do his own CD. “The night I heard those words, I sat at a piano at the Huntington Theatre all night and pretty much wrote that song.” His despair is evident in the tune’s opening, though with the help of his more optimistic bandmates and the gentle tones of Pierre’s piano, he and the song find lift.

“Shea has a very sensitive touch and his background is in the realm of where my music is coming from—the church,” Harris offers.

“I’m a big fan of gospel music and he’s willing to give you what you need.”

“David has an old soul and he really digs deep into the culture and really tries to show the importance of blues and swing,” Pierre says of the leader. “That’s something that is very critical to me too. My approach was to keep the aesthetic rooted in swing and blues and still add some things that I studied and bring my influence and my creativity to the vibe he was looking for. He was specific about some things but he trusted us. From him trusting us, it gave us the space to trust each other.”

“I think how we click is that everybody in the band, we’re all really serious about putting on the best show that we can and we’re all trying to play at a very high level of musicianship,” Weaver offers. “We’re having fun, but it’s also very serious. It makes it easy to work with everybody because we all know why we’re there. We’re all trying to get better together.”

About three years ago, Harris began singing on his gigs, and he adds his voice to several tunes on the new CD. “I asked Quiana [who leads her own band at Satchmo SummerFest on Friday] for some advice. She’s a great singer; so I would get little tips from her,” says the trombonist, who has recently started to get more formal vocal coaching from a local town and come back and I wouldn’t have a gig.” There’s that old joke that asks, “What’s a trombonist with a pager?” The answer: “An optimist.”

As leader, Harris, who at this writing was heading out on a national and international tour with his band, has more control of his own career and destiny. He is, of course, out there in promotion of his new release, Blues I Felt, an impressive album featuring Pierre, Weaver and drummer Miles Labat, who, incidentally, was Pierre’s roommate at Oberlin. The hard work is evident when the music kicks off strongly on the first cut, Harris’ original “A Pisces’ Dream.”

Harris wrote the tune several years ago when he was performing in Boston in a play based on the book A Confederacy of Dunces. At the time he had a vision—a dream—of doing an album with his girlfriend, www.OFFBEAT.com

singer, Clarence Carter.

“I love music and I love the way music makes me feel. So singing is just another avenue for me to portray how I feel, portray my emotions.

It also allows me to connect to the people who, for some reason, just can’t connect to a horn. Some people just don’t pay attention when they hear a horn. But don’t get me wrong, the reason I sing is more for me,” Harris confesses with a laugh.

“The reason that brass band and traditional music is still around is because how human it is,” says Harris, adding that whenever he picks up his plunger, the sound of Tyree Glenn, one of Louis Armstrong’s go-to trombonists, runs through his brain. “I hear those humanistic qualities in the playing of the musicians in my band.”

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photos: Elsa Hahne

Norton Christopher/Sac-a-Lait

“I

picked Wayne Toups, Louisiana native and one of the only zydeco musicians to ever win a Grammy.

We’ve done several events with him, and he’s a real big Caymus [Cabernet Sauvignon] drinker. So this cocktail is based off of red wine flavor profiles. I did a bell pepper–infused brandy, tobacco syrup and there are chocolate bitters in there—everything that makes cabernets what they are.

Also, I’ve got some lime juice and stuff from the garden—just as we do farm to table food, we do garden to glass drinks—at any given time I use about 8 to 10 fresh herbs at the bar, but we have about 30 to 40 to choose from out there in our garden.

Lemon verbena is what’s going into this cocktail.

I grew up in Northwest Louisiana in a small town about 30 minutes from Shreveport. I grew up every day going outside, picking

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fresh ingredients off of vines, so to me, working with herbs brings up memories; it’s nostalgic.

I moved to East Texas when I hit high school, so my working years began there and in East Texas there are no private, mom-and-pop, fine dining anything—it’s corporate America all the way. Chili’s, Applebee’s, Cheddar’s... The whole run. So I started off that way and my first fine dining experience was in Shreveport at a place called Wine Country and I just really enjoyed it—they welcomed creativity and there were no mistakes; there was no plethora of comps and voids— just a full change of pace.

At one point, and this will sound like a country song, but I loaded up my truck and grabbed my dog, got rid of everything I owned and moved to Florida. Bartended little dive bars and ended up at Fisher’s in Orange Beach. Fisher’s is kind of the pinnacle out there; there’s not much room for growth, and that’s

By Elsa Hahne

how I ended up in New Orleans.

Started off at CellarDoor, helped open Kenton’s, and then got invited to come over here.

We’re neither a Cajun nor Creole restaurant; we’re Louisiana to the core. Sac-aLait literally means ‘milk sack’ in French, but here in Louisiana it’s a fish, actually—a crappie, or a white perch.

Wayne Toups is as Louisiana as it gets. We’ll call this drink the Opelousas Air Compressor, which is another name for the accordion.”

Opelousas Air Compressor 2 sprigs fresh lemon verbena 5 dashes Cocktail Experiment chocolate bitters 1 dash Angostura bitters 2 ounces bell pepper–infused Copper & Kings brandy (see recipe on offbeat.com)

1/2 ounce tobacco syrup (see recipe on offbeat.com) 3/4 ounce Cabernet Franc or Cabernet Sauvignon red wine 3/4 ounce fresh lime juice Ginger beer Add one sprig of lemon verbena and bitters to shaker tin and muddle. Add remaining ingredients (except for ginger beer) along with ice, shake, and then double-strain into a rocks glass over fresh ice. Top off with ginger beer. Garnish with the remaining sprig of lemon verbena. www.OFFBEAT.com

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

GERMAN 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

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

JAPANESE/KOREAN/SUSHI/THAI 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 B.B. King’s Blues Club: 1104 Decatur St., 934-5464 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

NEIGHBORHOOD JOINTS 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 Sammy’s Food Services: 3000 Elysian Fields Ave., 948-7361 Tracey’s: 2604 Magazine St., 897-5413

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

PIZZA 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 Deanie’s Seafood: 841 Iberville St., 581-1316; 1713 Lake Ave. Metairie, 834-1225 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

King James [Jimmy Horn] hits the

Spot

How did you pick this place?

I know people who’ve been coming here from the Westbank for plate lunches for 30 years. ‘Don’t they have plate lunches on the Westbank?’ Of course they do.

‘But Frady’s is better.’

How long have you been coming here?

I’ve only been coming here for 20–25 years.

You tend to stick with the shrimp po-boy?

The truth of the matter is that I go for the plate lunches. Meatloaf, or tamales—that and a cold drink.

Seems like a good neighborhood hang.

The best thing about Frady’s is that as much as this neighborhood has changed in the last couple of decades, this place hasn’t changed a lick. What you’re getting is basically like if family that loved Frady’s One Stop you was serving you a school lunch. It’s not Food Store vegetables from out of the garden, but it was prepared with love.

3231 Dauphine Street —Elsa Hahne (504) 949-9688 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

Hard Rock Café: 125 Bourbon St., 529-5617 House of Blues: 225 Decatur St., 412-8068 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

DINING OUT

Piccola Gelateria Despite Jon Snow’s Sunday evening proclamations, winter is certainly not here. A newcomer to the list of local summer oases is Piccola Gelateria, which Ross and Ria Turnbull opened late last year in fulfillment of a longawaited goal and in culmination of their decades of experience in the hospitality industry.

Ross Turnbull, the chef of this husbandand-wife entrepreneurial team, has worked in professional kitchens all over Europe and the U.S. He developed an affinity for gelato early in his career and studied the craft in Bologna, a region he professes as the epicenter of the Italian dessert. Those years of experience are manifested in a soft, silky, dense and lusciously textured gelato that surpasses all local competitors. Daily smallbatch production creates a revolving inventory to ensure freshness, as does the pozzetti case whose century-old design maintains a constant temperature noticeably warmer than ice cream.

www.OFFBEAT.com

The pozzetti holds up to 18 different gelato and sorbetto flavors, and choosing among them is an exercise in anxiety-inducing FOMO. Classic flavors such as pistachio (the chef’s favorite), bacio (chocolate and hazelnut) and stracciatella (Italian chocolate chip) are always available, but the rotating list of specialties garners the most attention. Rich and thick chocolate made with 70 percent dark chocolate is addictively intense, while the salted peanut flavor pops with pebbles of chocolate candies. Ground almonds and flaky sea salt create a nutty combination, and the “kookie karamel” satisfies the sweet tooth of all ages. Sorbetti made sans dairy feature the season’s best fruit, such as watermelon, nectarine and blood orange.

On the more substantive side, the menu includes crepes and piadina, sandwiches made from Italian flatbread that is a doppelgänger to flour tortillas.

While her husband works the culinary side of the operation, Ria Turnbull serves as marketing manager, sales director and artistic guru. Inside the store she’s created a living room atmosphere with Italian plastered walls, Venetian tile, a couch and two love seats. The environment encourages customers to linger, relax and enjoy each other’s company. The Turnbulls are forever gracious hosts, whether Ross is offering recommendations

Photo: RENEE BIENVENU

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to customers traveling abroad or Ria is suggesting a gelato cake as a surprise gift for a new mother recovering at Ochsner Baptist around the corner.

The decadent dessert—built with layers of cake, gelato and chocolate ganache enveloped in a chocolate shell—guarantees a few extra visits from the nurses in the maternity ward. Just be sure to share.

—Peter Thriffiley 4525 Freret Street, Suite 103; Sun, TueThur: 9a–9p, Fri-Sat: 9a–10p, closed Mon; (504) 493-5999; piccolagelateria.com

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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

A Goddamn Party

Naughty Professor Identity (Independent) It’d be unfair to categorize Naughty Professor as a mere backing band on their latest set, since they’ve already got three fantastic instrumental albums under their belt (two studio, one live), not to mention what was probably tens of thousands of miles of road work to become among the finest jazz-funk bands in New Orleans. (Stop for a second and think about what a high bar that is to clear.)

Their fourth full-length album, however, features guest vocalists and musicians on every single track in an effort to show off their musical prowess—and yet they’re trying to blend all these excursions together into one singularity. (Why else would you name it Identity?)

What’s remarkable is not that they pull it off with so much experience already under their belt, but that they manage to do it with what is arguably the cream of the crop of NOLA’s best recent transplants, few of whom have gotten the national recognition they deserve.

Except for Jurassic 5’s Chali 2na guest-rhyming on two tracks and Ivan Neville singing on one, these are all hungry upstarts and shadowy vets—not just a class

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move but a smart one in fueling the fire of what Naughty Fess does every night. Everyone here has something to prove, whether it’s Chicago neo-soulster Cole DeGenova, lo-fi psych-soul guitarist Dexter Gilmore, jazz chanteuse Sasha Masakowski (finally getting her national notices), lead singer David Shaw of the Revivalists, Eric “Benny” Bloom of Lettuce on trumpet augmenting their already formidable horn section—or speaking of which, the brash brass fury of the closer, “Funk 4 Lunch,” where the Soul Rebels finish blurring the line between funk and Crescent City Jazz forever.

Overall, it sounds like the world’s most progressive R&B album, and Naughty Professor manages to make it all of a piece. How do they pull it off?

One, by soloing behind big fat vocal hooks, as they do behind Ivan on “Sugarcoat”; by doubling the horn section with the more jazzy vocal runs, like what they do behind Sasha on “Through It All”; or by heading off into an entirely different mood in what would normally be the funk bridge, which is where the instrumentals like “Funk 4 Lunch” come into play. And though they keep the structure a little simpler on the vocal numbers, there are several killer instrumentals here to back up their street cred, like the straight fusion of “Venison Poetry,” featuring the vibes of Garage A Trois’ Mike Dillon, and “Do You Like Dragons?” where jazzgospel session mainstay Jason Butler takes that spotlight.

In the end, this is not just the full flowering of one of

the city’s funkiest fusion bands: Identity is a scene record, a perfect amalgamation of all the good things that have been happening to New Orleans music in the past decade. It’s like Jazz Fest if you divided your schedule between nothing but Congo Square and the Jazz Tent—the good stuff, in other words. And here’s how you know the six transplants in Naughty Professor got it right: It’s also a goddamn party.

—Robert Fontenot

The New Orleans Jazz Vipers Live & Viperizin’ (Independent) The Jazz Vipers helped to inaugurate the traditional jazz scene on Frenchmen Street, and their music embodies that scene’s attitude: Be respectful with your sources, but don’t forget to have a little fun. On their second live CD—probably recorded during their regular gigs at the Maison or the Spotted Cat, though the liner notes don’t say—they channel the spirit of the most raucous 1940s swing bands, maximizing the chances that any random tourists who stick their heads into the club might hear a good lick or a hot solo and come in for the full set.

The opening version of Count Basie’s “Jumpin’ at the Woodside” would draw them right in—both because it’s familiar as big-band tunes get (thank you, Gene Gene the Dancing Machine), and because the band pretty much nails it, doing a clever job of transposing the orchestral arrangement for a six-piece (guitarist Molly Reeves covers for the horn-section flourishes with some hard-strummed chords). Fats

Waller’s “The Joint is Jumpin’” lives up to its title, with lots of quick exchanges between the band’s three sax/clarinet players, but it’s the fast-thinking Joshua Gouzy whose upright bass keeps it all moving. All six band members take lead vocals (as does most of the audience on “S’Wonderful”) and maintain the right mix of respect and high spirits. Jelly Roll Morton’s “Winin’ Boy Blues” (mistitled here as “Whinin’ Boy”—it’s about drinking wine, not griping) gets a suitably boozy treatment, and “Viper Mad” is as peppy as a reefer song is likely to get. The old Danny Barker number “Save the Bones for Henry Jones” is often played just for laughs, but here it’s treated as the surreal poetry that it is. Sources are respected and fun is had.

—Brett Milano

Dayna Kurtz Here Vol. 1 (Kismet) Dayna Kurtz was a natural fit in New Orleans even before she moved to the city a few years back. Her love of New Orleans R&B and thirst for deep tracks of any description gave her records an esoteric flavor that places her in the tradition of the city’s www.OFFBEAT.com

REVIEWS ongoing musical eccentricity. Her powerful, dramatic singing is as rooted as her taste. Now she’s part of the local canon and Here Vol. 1, presumably referring to her new residence in Louisiana, reflects her sensibility as a denizen. Though the album only contains eight songs, it was recorded live with none of the tracks less than 4 minutes 37 seconds and a total running time of around 45 minutes, which is pretty standard for a full album release. Guitarist Robert Mache offers understated and thoughtful accompaniment, framing Kurtz’s versatile voice delicately on the waltz-time “Fred Astaire” and the Betty Harris classic “I’ll Be a Liar.”

The applause really kicks in when

Kurtz belts out the slow burning “Billboards for Jesus.” She includes an outstanding remake of “Love Gets in the Way,” from her first album Postcards From Downtown, and matches the heartrending pairing of “If I Go First,” a lover’s pledge from beyond the grave, with “Raise the Last Glass,” which she calls “a drinking song for the apocalypse.” Many have sung the praises of New Orleans, but few as effectively as Kurtz does in “NOLA.” “I’ve nothing of value to bring you,” she sings. “I come to you, you wasted and poor/ Please take me in your scented arms/ New Orleans I’m coming for more.”

—John Swenson

Limitless Possibilities Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah Diaspora (Ropeadope/Stretch Music) Trumpeter Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah continues his exploration of what he describes as “stretch music,” as he did on his 2015 album of the same name and another release this year, Rebel Ruler. As the term implies, the innovative jazzbased leader pulls from the limitless possibilities of genres and use of instrumentation and electronics to create elasticity in his approach. The forward-thinking trumpeter also turns to some of the artists who have been along on the journey, most notably flautist Elena Pinderhughes, who is prominent on several cuts.

The album opens strongly yet lovingly on the title cut with keyboardist Lawrence Fields, who co-wrote the tune with Scott, lightly stating the melody. As has become characteristic of Scott’s latest works, the ensemble plays an important role in the music’s overall sound. He steps forward to let his trumpet’s brilliance become the focus followed by Pinderhughes’ fluttering and intricate solo. The diaspora connection is most evident in the group’s large percussion section. It includes Corey Fonville on drums and Joe Dyson working on Pan African drums with both applying electronics, plus percussionists Weedie Braimah and Chief Shaka Shaka.

A Latin tinge, enhanced by guitarist Cliff Hines, rhythmically and tonally distinguishes “Our Lady of New Orleans (Herreast Harrison).” It was written by Scott in tribute to his grandmother, who is the widow of Big Chief Donald Harrison Sr. Hines sets the mood on “No Love,” which with its straight-up, emptier arrangement, offers Scott more room to strut his stuff as a trumpeter and trade bars with saxophonist Braxton Cook.

Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah proves himself again to be a generous leader on Diaspora. Generosity is naturally a positive trait. That is unless one wants to hear the talented trumpeter just stand up and blow.

—Geraldine Wyckoff www.OFFBEAT.com

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Shotgun Jazz Band

Guitar Slim Jr.

Steppin’ on the Gas (Independent)

The Story of My Life (Orleans Records)

The SJB is at the forefront of an exciting traditional jazz renaissance taking place in New Orleans, with most of the action on Frenchmen Street. The drumless rhythm section is stellar: rock-solid banjoist John Dixon, hard-thumping Twerk Thomson on bass and the driving but always fastidious David Boeddinghaus on piano. Leader Marla Dixon plays superbly punchy trumpet and sings with intense period flavor. James Evans plays about as modern as you can and still be trad, and is a crazy-good singer to boot. A freakish talent.

Charlie Halloran, showing up in half of the hotter bands in town, rounds out the front line on trombone.

As a bonus, for this disc they’re augmented by two of the city’s finest tradsters: clary/saxman Tom Fischer and trumpeter Ben Polcer.

The 18-tune lineup has unusual moments: archaic but rarely played numbers like “Moonlight Bay,” “Old Miss Rag” and Stephen Foster’s “My Old Kentucky Home”; Randy Newman’s “Guilty” and the famous but seldom played spiritual “Deep River.” I’d never heard “Rose of Bombay” before this disc, nor ever heard a cover of Jelly Roll’s “I Hate a Man like You,” which Dixon and Boeddinghaus really nail.

As a final plus, the band was recorded by Earl Scioneaux, who has a splendid knack for bringing this music alive. Kudos as well to Bruce Barielle for the mastering.

It’s refreshing to hear a New Orleans trad band pay this much attention to the recording side of things. These players deserve it.

—Tom McDermott

Originally released in 1988, Guitar Slim Jr.’s The Story of My Life earned a Grammy nomination in the Best Traditional Blues category. The album sounds just as good now as it did back then and is ready to be discovered by a new audience.

This stood as the debut album for Rodney Armstrong, a.k.a.

Guitar Slim Jr., the son of legendary guitarist and vocalist Guitar Slim, Eddie Jones, who rose to fame with his giant hit, 1954’s “The Things That I Used to Do.” The Story of My Life was recorded when Guitar Slim Jr. was in his mid-thirties and already a veteran guitar player and vocalist on the club scene. It put him on the map, seemingly to many, to emerge from the blue.

From the first notes of “Trouble Don’t Last,” it’s easy to tell why the release made such an impact. The slow, slow blues, which was written by his father—as were the next three cuts plus more later—begins with just Guitar Jr.’s totally expressive voice. Backed by drummer Shannon Powell, bassist Rene Coman, trumpeter Milton Batiste and saxophonist Ernest Watson, Guitar Slim Jr. was in good hands. An inventive soul, the guitarist offers up anything but a standard solo.

New Orleans rhythm and blues is represented on “Letter to My Girlfriend, a 1:53 selection that features just the trio. Simple proves it can go a long, long way as demonstrated on this cut plus the title tune, “The Story of My Life.”

Guitar Slim Jr. does some

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solid work both vocally and instrumentally, covering soul classics like “Can I Change My Mind,” with drummer Kerry Brown, bassist Charles Moore and keyboardist Keith Fazarde.

Returning to the tunes penned by his father and the musicians heard on the first cut, Guitar Slim Jr. gets back into that R&B mode with some solid help by pianist Jon Cleary mixing it up with veterans.

The leader poignantly takes it

out with the late night sound of “Sufferin’ Mind.”

The Story of My Life belongs in any comprehensive New Orleans music collection. It’s an essential.

—Geraldine Wyckoff

Brad Walker ep1 (Independent) It’s been a few years since saxophonist Brad Walker—whose

Tour de Force Erica Falls HomeGrown (Vintage Soul) After years of working in the perfectionist atmosphere of Allen Toussaint’s band and the energy of Galactic, Erica Falls has released an album that is all about her.

Fall’s professionalism is evident from start to finish. Every detail of the recording, every gesture of the intricate backing tracks and vocal accompaniments, is perfectly gauged to support her virtuoso vocal performance, which ranges from the delicacy of “Lovin’ the Feelin’” and “Alright” to the full out power of the title song.

Her range and tonal control are superb, a breath of fresh air in an era when electronically enhanced vocal tracks lead critics who don’t know any better to favorably compare today’s chart toppers to Aretha Franklin. Though Falls recalls the old-school greats, her voice is unique. She is not trying to be the next big thing. Like Sharon Jones or Gladys Knight, she knows who she is and offers a complete, polished and professional R&B performance, packed with energy, nuance and well-crafted arrangements.

The project is a tour de force for a singer who is far more than some producer’s diva. Falls wrote all of the songs on the album except for her mentor Allen Toussaint’s “Old Records” and a suitably dramatic cover of Stevie Nicks’ “Dreams” which showcases her vocal range and features a Joni Mitchell–like chorus of her own backing vocals.

Her backing vocals perform similar miracles elsewhere on the album, especially the gospel-influenced “Without You.” She co-produced the majority of the tracks over the course of sessions at local studios 636 and the Shed. Her collaborators are all deeply involved in the project.

Five songs are co-written with bassist Donald Ramsey, who plays great parts on those tracks. Keyboardist Nigel Hall co-wrote and played on “Makings of Love.” And the show-stopping “Don’t Stop Your Lovin’,” written by bassist Tony Hall and New Orleans singer/songwriter Leslie Smith, is co-produced by all three. This funk excursion is one song on the album that would seem to fit easily into Galactic’s repertoire.

Falls gets great contributions from her backing band, including Nick Mercadel and Terence Higgins, Shamarr Allen on trumpet, Corey Henry on trombone, and guitarists Chris Adkins, Wendell Tilley and June Yamagishi.

Erica Falls took her time and did it right with HomeGrown. Mr. Toussaint would have been proud of her.

—John Swenson www.OFFBEAT.com

REVIEWS work with Sturgill Simpson and a slew of New Orleans funk and jazz acts kept him busy for much of 2016—went into the studio with his own band. His first release as a leader in 2017 is ep1, a dramatic set comprised of music from the worlds of electronic pop (Little Dragon’s “Twice”); indie-folk (Sun Kil Moon’s “Half Moon Bay”); a pair of tunes, “Lullaby” I and II, written by tabla and sitar player Collin Walcott and recorded for ECM in 1982 by Codona; plus “Horizon,” an original composition from Walker.

Reaching into such diverse musical backgrounds could lead to some disjointedness on a 27minute EP. But not Walker and his band—pianist Oscar Rossignoli, guitarist Danny Abel, bassist Nathan Lambertson, drummers G. Maxwell Zemanovic and A.J. Hall and singer Mikayla Braun. Instead, the group finds cohesion in the similar movement that drives each song.

“Twice,” featuring Braun’s rich vocals against a spare, soft piano-and-drums exchange, gets an edge courtesy of rock-tinged horn lines and guitar growls.

From there, the group returns to its usual quintet format, setting up the rest of the album as “The Living Room Suite,” which ebbs and flows between four tracks without ever quite going silent.

Within each of those initially peaceful, even romantic tracks is a common core of fomented combustion that throws knots and tension into the songs’ otherwise glassy calm. The fiery horn dissonance that infiltrates “Half Moon Bay” sees Walker playing with timbre, texture and other elements of his sound before the energy shifts back. The brief “Lullaby I” begins where “Half Moon Bay” left off, with underlays of glimmering effects and swirls of electronic and piano color. By the time “Horizon” rolls in, the mood is decidedly more intense; the storm that brews at the center of the other tracks takes little time to find its eye here. “Lullaby II,” the shortest piece on the album, brings a handful of previous themes back to center, giving the www.OFFBEAT.com

whole album a welcome sense of resolution.

If the energy and emotion that transpires on ep1 is any indication, it will be worth keeping an eye out for the full-length follow-up Walker plans to release later this year.

—Jennifer Odell

Sabra & the Get Rights Sabra & the Get Rights (Valcour Records) Lafayette’s Sabra & the Get Rights never intended to be a band, but after having such a blast at a oneoff gig, sojourning on seemed like the get right thing to do. Though the group’s eponymous debut is a mere four tracks, it’s still quite the kicker and will likely have listeners clamoring for more. Sabra’s sassy original “Forever More” opens the proceedings and features electric guitarist Joel Savoy trading twangy licks with fiddler David Greely’s lickety-split bowing. Each track spotlights a different aspect of Sabra’s vocal versatility and the Get Rights’ instrumental chemistry, such as the sleek, spot-on “Fist City” intro. While the emphasis may be on honky-tonk, the rendition of Sam Cooke’s “I’ll Come Running Back to You” is its most surprising cover and reveals how the Get Rights are not about to be genre-constrained.

The song’s sauntering tempo allows Sabra to stretch out over a dreamy arrangement resulting in her best vocal performance of the disc.

Rockabilly queen Wanda Jackson’s “Funnel of Love” hints that the band could have ventured into psychedelia, if so desired. The seeds have been sown, germinated and blossomed. Hopefully time will tell if they were perennials.

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Tom Leggett Jewel In My Crown (Independent) We liked Leggett’s debut, a representative product of the New Orleans club scene, which features so many hard working and underpaid musicians of merit.

It’s good to see Leggett continuing on in a similar vein with a more polished and fully realized work.

Leggett’s affinity for New Orleans music is strongly evident on the album’s first three tracks, which have that touch of second line swing endemic to New Orleans and get just the right seasoning from the punchy horn arrangements played

by Leon “Kid Chocolate” Brown on trumpet, James Martin on tenor and Terrance Taplin on trombone.

Taplin trades solos with Leggett’s guitar on “She Prays.” “Jewel in My Crown” celebrates the happygo-lucky lifestyle of a working musician who likes the work, no matter how impecunious. Leggett’s guitar is featured over a reggae beat on his ode to the Crescent City, “Further I Roam.” Leggett’s engaging songwriting produces the toe-tappers “Edward” and “Happy Song,” the easy swinging waltz “Come on Back Home” on and good-timey finale “Whiskey Goin’ Round.” Recorded at Word of Mouth, mastered at Esplanade, the record has a full, clean and professional sound.

—John Swenson

Van Morrison The Authorized Bang Collection (Exile/Legacy) Van Morrison’s first solo collaboration with songwriter, producer and record company

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owner Bert Berns yielded the Irish soul man’s debut solo hit, “Brown Eyed Girl.” As overexposed as a song played billions of times by millions of bands for 50 years is, Morrison’s original “Brown Eyed Girl” remains an ageless pop-soul classic.

“Brown Eyed Girl” captures Morrison fresh from the breakup of his British invasion band, Them, and at the beginning of his brilliant solo career. Berns, whose previous credits included the Drifters’ “Under the Boardwalk,” the Isley Brothers’ “Twist and Shout” and Them’s “Here Comes the Night,” was in top form, too.

“Those first sessions were really great,” Morrison says in his six pages of notes for The Authorized Bang Collection. The singer praises the musicians, arranger, engineer and producer who participated in the March 1967 sessions. “He [Berns] was able to take the bull by the horns and deliver great performances,” Morrison writes.

Eight songs from those sessions appeared on Morrison’s 1967 album, Blowin’ Your Mind! “He Ain’t Give You None” blends his singular Northern Irish soul with the American rhythm-and-blues he loves. “T.B. Sheets” grooves through a droning soul-blues jam.

“Spanish Rose” uses the Latin tinge that Berns, an aficionado of Cuban music, knew so well.

“Who Drove the Red Sports Car?” pairs blues-jazz piano with psychedelicized soul jamming.

But “Sports Car,” “Ro Ro Rosey” and other songs suffer from obtrusive electric guitar and overall clutter. Despite everything coming together for “Brown Eyed Girl,” that doesn’t happen in most of the other songs. But the latter missteps are minor compared to the chaotic

Morrison-Berns sessions that happened later in 1967.

Morrison explains the challenging circumstances that surrounded those failed sessions in his notes.

Later, just as he and Berns were planning to meet again, Berns died on December 30, 1967, at 37. “He was a brilliant songwriter and he had a lot of soul, which you don’t find nowadays,” Morrison writes.

The Authorized Bang Collection’s discs one and two contain the original Bang masters and alternative takes and rarities. Disc three, the “Contractual Obligation Session,” offers a frustrated, derisive Morrison in throwaway, voice and guitar–only performances. He’s obviously ready to move on to the great music he’d soon make.

—John Wirt

The low tones of Jansen’s bari accent the mournfulness of his ballad “Soul Loss,” which is presented in a quartet format. His pain is felt through his horn and the slow pace of the song.

“Bucket Full of Soul,” a 1968 groove by drummer William Carney Jr., remains in the era including essential honking by Jansen. Most of the band members get their pens out for the title track that gives the players free and creative rein. They all take advantage of the openness though none more so than Jansen, who moves from a certain spirituality to finally taking it out.

Common Ground represents a mutual understanding of jazz music by this diverse group of dedicated musicians. They share the language.

—Geraldine Wyckoff

B.J. Jansen Common Ground (Ronin Jazz) The baritone saxophone tends to bring a unique voice to any setting. It’s the instrument of choice for Cincinnati-born, New York by way of Philadelphia musician B.J. Jansen. He uses it with authority on this his tenth release as leader on a program that includes bebop, swing, ballads, blues, free jazz and even a groove-based funk number that is dance-ready.

Jansen leads a strong group of musicians who were handpicked for the album and jive together well during ensemble work and stand out during frequent solos. Bassist Dezron Douglas gets the first nod to take front and center on a Jansen original, a beboppin’ “Stacey’s Pace.” Trumpeter Duane Eubanks follows up while drummer Ralph Peterson sets the tune’s ferocious tempo and excitedly smashes his way through the entire selection.

His drums and Jansen’s soaring baritone share a flair for intensity.

When it’s time to swing, as on Jansen’s “Relaxin’ with Jessica” and “Angela’s Aggravation,” trombonist Delfeayo Marsalis is the man for the job. His easy gait warms both tunes with some nice piano articulations by Zaccai Curtis, who is super solid in every style.

Joe Hall and Friends Massé Family Two Step (Fruge Records) What Joe Hall is the most proud of on his first CD since 2011 are not his own performances per se but his grandfather Clement “King” Ned’s solo rendering of “Le Valse De Samedi Apres Midi” which was recorded by Library of Congress folklorist Ralph Rinzler in 1965. After lying dormant for decades, it only now makes its public debut and reveals Ned’s raw talent, explosive vocals and masterful accordion playing.

“I’m also proud of the “Massé Family Two Step” because I descend from the slaves and slave owners of the Massé Family who are documented as the first free family of color in Southwest Louisiana,’ Hall explains.

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REVIEWS Prairie Blues” references the locale of many of his farming ancestors.

Several selections salute Creole music patriarchs Canray Fontenot and “Bois Sec” Ardoin but it’s important to realize Hall’s music sees no color, especially considering the joyous Cajun fiddle duets led by fellow kindred spirit Forest Huval.

While Hall’s accordion technique is impeccable with quick, sharp accents, Carol Palms’ acoustic string bass adds a hefty punch to the already motoring arrangements.

Ned’s track isn’t the only thing unveiled here. “Nu Nu Breakdown,” a rousing 2013 live recording, features Christine Balfa (guitar) and the late Al Berard (fiddle). If there is a theme to these proceedings, it’s the cultural ties and people Hall cherishes the most.

—Dan Willging

Charlie Halloran

David Lynchian effect that to these ears, completely undercuts the joy in the music. It’s also an anachronism, since the era he’s trying to evoke is the early ’50s—by which time the LP had been invented and studio technology had come a ways along. Even once you get used to it, the 78 sound has the effect of making the music sound frozen in time, when he’s aiming for timeless.

—Brett Milano

Cé Biguine!

(Twerk-O-Phonic)

Sean Hobbes

For better or worse, this doesn’t sound like any other modern CD that you own. Trombonist Charlie Halloran, who’s played with a long roster of jazz and alternative artists (and is currently a Squirrel Nut Zipper), has a thing for the beguine music that flourished in Martinique during the early ’50s. This is society dance music, elegant and flirtatious, and whether borrowed or original (the credits don’t say) it’s full of graceful melodies and quick bursts of hot soloing (every track here is three minutes or under). Halloran assembles a fine band, mostly members of Tuba Skinny joined by pianist Tom McDermott and Iguanas drummer Doug Garrison. He also includes a rum punch recipe on the cover (and a mighty strong one at that), so the aim of the album is to be festive and fun. So far, so good.

The catch is that he went highconcept with the recording, doing the whole thing direct to 78-rpm acetate, so everything sounds like an antique record complete with surface noise and scratches.

Neil Young did the same thing on his recent A Letter Home, but in that case the haunting effect was intentional. Here it gives a surreal, www.OFFBEAT.com

About Myself (Independent) Sean Hobbes is a Philadelphia expat who’s engendered some buzz around town with a series of mixtapes that bind his love of modern R&B (Philly natives seem to be born with it in their veins) and the kind of pop that crosses over to the mainstream but still maintains a healthy amount of soul (think Maroon 5). This proper fulllength debut is the very definition of a sleeper, unassuming in almost every way: Hobbes surrounds himself with several unnamed but quality musicians, all of whom do a great job injecting just a little bit of modern jazz into his confessionals, but the production still feels a little thin and Hobbes’ voice occasionally gets pitchy. Yet this music will stay with you, if only for its honesty.

His songs, short and self-effacing and very much the product of a millennial mindset—endlessly hopeful, centered, grounded, meditative if not quite mystical, fascinated with his own search for identity yet not to the point of narcissism—don’t have much to say lyrically, at least not anything you can’t already get from the radio.

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REVIEWS The sheer force of his awareness is nevertheless subtly fascinating: Whenever he opens his mouth, he sounds like someone amazed just to be alive and fully invested in his own potential, mesmerized by the power of his own innocence.

It’s practically a commencement speech, done up with a series of short, almost haiku-simple ballads that radiate enough warmth to push most criticisms aside. He can learn the nuances. Right now it’s enough that he’s got the form. His muse is already present.

—Robert Fontenot

North Mississippi Allstars Prayer for Peace (Songs of the South/ Sony Music Entertainment) North Mississippi Allstars recorded their characteristically raw new album in Memphis, Nashville, New Orleans, Brooklyn, Austin, St. Louis, Kansas City, Missouri, and Hernando, Mississippi. Echoing the album’s scattered studio locations, singerguitarist Luther Dickinson mentions another list of cities in the album’s title song, “Prayer for Peace.”

“Chicago, Paris, Charleston, New Orleans, San Bernardino, Boston, Orlando,” Dickinson laments of cities shaken by violence. “Let us pray together. Let us pray for peace.”

“Prayer for Peace” mixes urgency and uplifting energy reminiscent of the Staple Singers’ civil rights-era freedom songs. Shardé Thomas’ guest vocals and fife playing complement the message.

There’s more social commentary in the rough neo-psychedelic rock of “Need to Be Free.” Written

by Luther Dickinson and Junior Kimbrough and recorded at New Orleans’ Music Shed Studios, the

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song pleads for peace and justice in the Dickinson brothers’ home state of Mississippi.

Following the messages in the album’s opening few songs, the Dickinson brothers turn to more traditional topics. There are fresh takes on the traditional songs “Deep Ellum” and “Bid You Goodnight.” There’s also a raw power-trio rendition of classic North Mississippi blues man Fred McDowell’s “61 Highway.”

The Dickinsons interpret three songs by another archetypal North Mississippi blues artist, R.L. Burnside. True to the source, the Dickinsons don’t do anything fancy with Burnside’s music.

“Miss Maybelle,” featuring Luther Dickinson’s slide guitar, rides a downhome groove. “Bird Without a Feather,” one of the album’s two songs recorded in New Orleans, is another noisy, primal performance.

The simplicity of the largely instrumental “Long Haired Doney” can put a listener in a blues trance.

Several guests, including Allman Brothers Band bassist Oteil Burbridge and Mississippi Hill Country guitarist Kenny Brown, enhance Prayer for Peace. Worthy contributions, but nothing obscures the Dickinson brothers, who formed North Mississippi Allstars 21 years ago, as they reach their mid-career stride.

—John Wirt

High Performance Cajun Cool (Swallow Records) There’s nothing more fun than sifting through someone else’s record collection, especially when there are forgotten gems, diamonds in the rough and totally new and unexpected discoveries. That’s the atmosphere Cajun superpower High Performance (HP) creates on its fourth disc overall and second studio effort. Recorded at Travis Matte’s Kingpin Studio, the trademark throttling, full-bore HP sound is still wonderfully intact with Richard Comeaux’s dancing steel, Steve Riley’s precisely played accordion, Jamie Bearb’s and Jason Bergeron’s luscious twin fiddles.

Additionally, HP is also well stocked

in quality vocalists with Riley and Bearb, a master at singing slow, majestic waltzes with his deep baritone voice.

Indeed, there’s a rich assortment of selections here from Aldus Roger, Jimmy C. Newman and Shirley Bergeron as well as a reminder of other great songwriters like Pierre Daigle (“Little Short Dress”) and Camey Doucet (“Merry Maker,” “Greener Grass”).

But what distinguish this outing more than any other of HP’s discography are the handful of

English-sung songs, most notably the two by Johnnie Allan. “Cajun Man,” sung by Riley, addresses the toiling life of a rice farmer and features the most melodic solo of the entire disc. Riley also applies a swinging swagger to “I’m Cajun Cool” while Bergeron pumps accordion at warp drive speed.

Of the new treasures, Bearb unveils his first original, the poignant, English-sung, sans accordion dancehall number “Old Memories.” “Chez Waby,” written

by Riley and professor emeritus

Reaching Outside the Box Vox and the Hound Aloha Shores (Independent) Lots of things make me think of David Bowie nowadays, and this CD is one of them. Not that Vox and the Hound ape Bowie to any great extent, but they do hark back to something that he set in motion during the ’80s—when his Let’s Dance album spawned a movement of stylish, elegant dance-rock, with the singers reaching for the heavens. Bowie (and to a lesser extent Bryan Ferry) practically dared a generation of singers to be soulful and great. The likes of ABC and Paul Young took up the challenge in the ’80s, and Vox and the Hound are doing it now.

There’s good reason why vocals feature prominently in the band’s name: Frontman Leo DeJesus’ emotive tones usually carry the show; the band’s arrangements—with textural use of sax, guitar and synths—are about building a wall of sound, not showing off soloists (exception: Rory Callais’ tasty slide guitar solo on “Moxie”). Instead of hiding their ’80s inspirations, the band have some fun with them: Opening track “Recapitated” opens with a sampled voice repeating one rhythmic syllable—think of Laurie Anderson’s “O Superman”—and “The New 30” has some drum flourishes out of the Phil Collins bag of tricks (the most retro moment, however, has to be a mention of VCR’s on the title track). Local influences aren’t out of the mix altogether—“I Can Taste the Himalayas” pairs an airy melody with a funky George Porter Jr.-esque bassline—but it’s refreshing to hear a soul-based local band reaching outside the box for influences.

The production is likewise more detailed than you hear on many local releases; the layered vocals on “Ethyl” and the sonic layering on “The New 30” make good use of studio possibilities. And of course, none of this would matter if the songwriting didn’t hit the target: The standout, “Heart and Spade” is a terrific song with some Costello-style wordplay (“The taste of her lips lingers on my spine”) and a chorus hook that won’t quit. Lots of albums make you want to see a band live; this one also makes me wish I could turn on MTV and catch their video.

(Disclaimer: Lead guitarist Callais, who I’ve never met in person, is a frequent OffBeat collaborator.)

—Brett Milano www.OFFBEAT.com

REVIEWS Barry Ancelet, is about a guy en route to a bar for a beer and a game of bourré. With this as his life’s soundtrack, he can’t lose.

—Dan Willging

moods. Light Green is a primer on how many NOLA jazzfunkers actually lead from the back of the stage; CoolNasty exists just as much in the street as it does in your mind.

—Robert Fontenot

Tabby Thomas Meets Lonesome Sundown Down in Louisiana (Jasmine Records)

CoolNasty Light Green (Independent) If there was ever any true indication that hip-hop has evolved into the go-to AfricanAmerican improvisational form, this jazz-funk ensemble is it.

There’s not one bit of spoken word on these ten songs, yet hip-hop as a modern classical art form moves through all of them, though they’re straight fusion all the way. Wayne “Doc” Matthews’ drums are always front and center, with the kind of swinging snap usually heard in hip-hop, while Ben Kahn’s guitar (and, one assumes, basses) squirm around in the middle providing a shifting foundation for Phil Sylve’s cosmic explorations on sax. Myla Bocage’s cool vibes and synth washes usually provide the atmosphere when she’s not going totally old school on a Moogish lead. God only knows how they all work it out with four people on stage.

Still, it’s a heady mixture. The big standouts are “Marigny Jam,” in which Doc alternates between a maniacal disco hi-hat and a timbales-tinged breakdown; “5 Minute Miracle,” which actually runs 8:42 and features Phil’s sax playing backup to Doc’s brutal improv; and the 10-minute opus “Soaring Flower,” where CoolNasty’s straightest and most swaggering groove gets incongruously used as a backdrop for its mellowest series of shifting www.OFFBEAT.com

South Louisiana blues legends Tabby Thomas and Lonesome Sundown only share a co-billing on these vintage JD Miller sessions.

Each is showcased separately with Baton Rouge’s Thomas having 18 tracks while Sundown has 10. Though this collection chronologically presents the early career evolution of both well, regrettably, it lacks details regarding which instruments each played as well as any sidemen information.

Since Thomas played both piano and guitar, one could assume that any of the wicked piano playing was his. Lonesome Sundown was primarily a guitar man.

Thomas’ first two tracks were on Delta Records, where he exhibited a Roy Brown influence backed by a swanky orchestra. In 1954 Thomas began his association with JD Miller and recorded the tuneful local hit “Tomorrow” with a similar arrangement as the Delta sessions. He wouldn’t record again for Miller until ’59 and by then his sound was funkier and horn-propelled, with a New Orleans R&B edge. The tracks recorded from ’61 to ’62 are where he really hits his stride as a big-voiced performer. The colorful carnival “Hoodoo Party” was a Southern hit in ’61 and a year later Thomas landed another lucrative hit, “Popeye Train,” based on the popular Popeye dance craze occurring in the South at the time.

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raw, dark and swampy sound. His best sides of this timeframe are included here: “Leave My Money Alone” from his first record, the plaintive “My Home is a Prison” and jukebox favorite “I’m a Mojo Man.” It’s obvious he varied his textures and tones to always be stylistically evolving. Several tracks feature a pounding pianist in the arrangement.

Overall, the disparate styles of Thomas and Sundown are what make this collection sound eternally fresh.

—Dan Willging

Vanessa Collier Meeting My Shadow (Ruf) Vanessa Collier is a quadruple threat. A Maryland-based singer, songwriter, arranger and multiinstrumentalist, she’s released a soul, blues and gospel–touched second album, Meeting My Shadow, via Germany’s Ruf Records.

A follow-up to Collier’s 2014 album debut, Heart Soul & Saxophone, the new album effectively showcases her extensive talent. A graduate of the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Collier is a gifted composer, adept in several roots-music styles. She’s also an engaging saxophonist who favors the alto. Her playing for Meeting My Shadow further includes soprano and tenor sax, flute and six more instruments.

Collier casts her original song, “Meet Me Where I’m At,” as a swinging hybrid of New Orleans jazz and rhythm-and-blues. The track features simultaneous horn solos, spirited percussion and a first-verse mention of Frenchmen

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Street. She visits the juke joint for “Two Parts Sugar, One Part Lime,” a blues-rocking story about enduring the never-ending school of hard knocks.

Collier is a tough vocalist on “Poisoned the Well,” a funky contemporary blues number.

She finds an upbeat, classic soul groove for “Dig a Little Deeper.”

In the simmering blues of “When It Don’t Come Easy,” Collier’s singing recalls one of the great ladies of American roots music, Bonnie Raitt. One of Collier’s original compositions, “When It Don’t Come Easy” would fit any Raitt album. The same goes for the soul ballad “You’re Gonna Make Me Cry.” Of the non-original songs on Meeting My Shadow, Collier’s take on U2’s collaboration with B.B. King, “When Love Comes to Town,” seems commercially calculated. But another song from a classic source, Sister Rosetta Tharpe’s “Up Above My Head, I Hear Music in the Air,” is a joyful addition to the album and more evidence of Collier’s versatility.

“Devil’s on the Downslide” is a gospel song of her own creation. The ballad, featuring Charles Hodges’ churchy organ, showcases the lovely voice Collier has for the quieter styles of blues, gospel and soul. Here, as elsewhere in the album, her vocal resemblance to Raitt is clear.

—John Wirt

Paul Simon The Concert in Hyde Park (Legacy) Paul Simon’s concert at the UNO Lakefront Arena in

November 2011 was one of the most satisfying music events I’ve ever attended. I’d seen Simon perform before and I’ve seen him since, but no other Simon show, in my experience, matches the joy and in-sync musicality Simon and his band demonstrated at his UNO show. All the while, Simon’s artful songwriting and his ability to absorb worlds of music into his compositions are the foundation for his performances.

On July 15, 2012, eight months after Simon’s concert at the UNO Lakefront Arena, he headlined the closing night of the Hard Rock Calling Festival in London. The set list was much the same as the previous year’s New Orleans show. So was the spirit.

The Hyde Park concert, performed for 60,000 people, is available in the CD/DVD/Bluray package Paul Simon—The Concert in Hyde Park. Simon marked the 25th anniversary of his landmark 1986 album, Graceland, at the London event.

Following an engaging first set with his regular touring band, Simon reunited with South African musicians and singers who appear on Graceland and toured with him in the ’80s. The guests include Ladysmith Black Mambazo and trumpeter Hugh Masekela.

Disc one of The Concert in Hyde Park covers Simon’s post– Simon and Garfunkel solo career.

Enduring old favorites show up, including “Kodachrome,” “Mother and Child Reunion” (with guest Jimmy Cliff) and “Me and Julio Down by the School Yard.” Simon also performs his high-spirited homage to zydeco, “That Was Your Mother.”

Disc two features Simon’s Graceland collaborators and most of the album’s songs.

There’s more, including the only Simon and Garfunkel song of the night, Simon’s solo rendition of “The Sound of Silence.” But “Graceland” is the apropos centerpiece of the London performance. The audience, the performance and the anniversary

combined make the Graceland concert in Hyde Park one of the most notable performances of the groundbreaking album.

—John Wirt

Rick Bear and Friends Sweetness (Independent) Like the perfect butler, the perfect jazz drummer is usually invisible but crucial, and Rick Bear takes that lesson to heart on his debut solo album, sitting comfortably in the pocket and becoming the engine that drives these dozen Great American Songbook war horses. Most of the interesting interplay comes courtesy of his friends— specifically, Ken Gregory on trumpet and trombone and the formidable John Fohl on guitar— throughout, there’s an unusual balance between Gregory, who takes on every song with a brassy strut that’s half Dixieland and half Latin, Arturo Sandoval meets Al Hirt. Fohl can’t help but bring a little St. Louis or maybe West Coast blues, no matter how complex the chords get.

This holds true for everything from “’Round Midnight” to “Cantaloupe Island” to “My Funny Valentine,” the main difference being that on the slower, more ponderous numbers Gregory switches over to what sounds like a cup-muted trombone. It’s a fun set, loose and not over-indulgent, and it’s always great to hear a NOLA jazz summit meeting; none of these standards are being redefined here, but it still makes for a perfect soundtrack when it comes wine o’clock again. Most www.OFFBEAT.com

REVIEWS

Singer songwriter and guitarist Johnny J. hits rewind on Nuclear Hayride, produced by Alex Chilton.

Johnny J. and the Hitmen Nuclear Hayride (Blue Viper)

“T

he Hitmen were Dave Clements (bass) and Joey Torres (drums). We recorded that album in the later part of 1984 and it came out in January of 1985. We were the last guys around here playing rockabilly. We cut that at a small studio near Bayou St. John on North Hagan—Niteshade.

All the songs were originals that me or Dave wrote.

Alex Chilton produced it. We’d been knowing Alex since he moved here from Memphis. We worked with him on a four-song Blue Vipers [previous band] session that never came out.

He played piano and sang background on several cuts. Alex was the kind of guy that wanted to cut things raw. He didn’t want you to warm up, he wanted to turn on the knobs and get you to play right away. He always wanted that first take because he felt there was more energy.

More often than not, he was right. He was real helpful with the mix too.

The album title came from an old ad we did with the Blue Vipers. We had a gig at an old theatre up in Shreveport and we needed something to put on the marquee. Shreveport had the Louisiana Hayride, so we thought it was clever to advertise us presenting a ‘Nuclear Hayride.’ I thought it would be a good title for an LP.

Rico [Rick Olivier] did the artwork—he still does artwork on my CDs. He got a Tulane coed and dressed her up Western style. He also got a bale of hay and got her to sit on top of it like she was riding a horse.

There were a lot of good songs on it. My favorite was ‘I Just Don’t Care.’ I really liked the riff we played on there. That’s my riff.

To this day, Dave still does ‘Don’t Treat Me Like (I Treated You)’ on his gigs.

The album did real well locally. We sold out the first pressing pretty quickly. Back then we played Jazz Fest, Jimmy’s, Tip’s, the Rivershack. Mostly we played at Carrollton Station almost every week.

John Berthelot at Great Southern distributed the second pressing and he had connections in Europe.

The album started selling over there. It got us a tour through Scandinavia, Belgium, Holland and Germany.

It sold real well in Germany. We toured Canada too. We drove all across Canada in my old van.

Me, Dave and Joey started playing together again recently. But you know it’s hard playing some of those old songs because I forget the words.”

—Jeff Hannusch

“Alex was the kind of guy that wanted to cut things raw. He didn’t want you to warm up, he wanted to turn on the knobs and get you to play right away. He always wanted that first take because he felt there was more energy. More often than not, he was right.

He was real helpful with the mix too.”

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notable, however, is what may be the very last recorded performance of jam-band godfather Col. Bruce Hampton, who recently passed at the age of 70—his half-spoken, half-warbled take on “Sweet Georgia Brown” is a textbook example of his Beefheartian approach, and while it may seem a little jarring and out-of-place with this set’s mellow mood, it’s still great to hear from him one last time. Hopefully, these guys get together again soon and take on some pop standards; it’d be great to hear them really stretch out like the good Colonel used to.

—Robert Fontenot

Gary Nichols featuring Charlie Musselwhite & Spooner Oldham Field of Plenty (Merrimack Records) From the early–twentieth century illustration on the front that celebrates youth and bounty to the striking classic Dust Bowl photograph on the back that reveals the truth about our priorities, you might think of Field of Plenty as a good old-fashioned political folk album. But Gary Nichols is an established country artist, albeit one with deeper roots than most—and while his guitar probably would do a great job killing fascists, he spends most of his time on his first acoustic album essaying country blues filtered through a rock star swagger.

These songs move like they’ve got a full electric band behind them, and that’s not a bad thing.

Unfortunately, there’s not a lot of point to being that declamatory when you don’t have much to say: His heart’s definitely in the right www.OFFBEAT.com

REVIEWS place, but Nichols spends a little too much time venerating his gods lyrically, whether to convince us of his authenticity or just to make a statement of purpose.

It’s great that “The Medicine Show” realizes the real value of Blind Willie McTell to modern society, or that Gary namechecks the Bakersfield sound in “Bakersfield Bound” or that he casually drops Merle Haggard’s lost classic album Same Train, A Different Time into his own Jimmie Rodgers tribute. But too often he’s losing himself in the music in all the wrong ways.

“To Get Out of Pickin’ Cotton” is constructed from nothing but repurposed John Lee Hooker clichés, and “I Ain’t Comin’ Back” is a honky-tonk weeper that mentions Merle Haggard and San Quentin in the very first verse.

After a while it sounds less like a tribute then someone desperately looking for inspiration, but the strange thing is all the other pieces are already there: The pickin’ and singin’ are just fine, he does a great “Hobo’s Meditation” and “Down by the Riverside,” and when you’ve already got Charlie Musselwhite on harp and Spooner Oldham on piano, everything else should fall naturally into place.

Gary Nichols shouldn’t be losing himself in his music, he should be finding himself in it. God knows we could use an advertisement for classic country—but where we could use him most are on some new classic songs.

—Robert Fontenot

Various Artists Swamp Pop by the Bayou: Let’s Get Together Tonight (Ace Records) This is the eighth release in this series of Ace CDs celebrating the indigenous rock ’n’ roll and R&B of South Louisiana and East Texas. Among the 28 rare and vintage tracks, one will find a few familiar names (Warren Storm, Rod Bernard, Jivin’ Gene, the Boogie Kings), but the majority are complete unknowns—Everett Daigle and the Tune Tones, Robert www.OFFBEAT.com

Owens and the Owens Singers.

Unknowns or not, these are healthy servings of classic swamp pop. The set gets in motion with the incomparable Rocket Morgan ballad “Whatcha Gonna Do?” (Morgan of course is best known for the rocker “You Humbuggin’ Me.”) No less brilliant is the wetland weeper “This Life I Live.”

(The mournful guitar break on this track is to die for.) Two other Morgan tracks are included here, and to be honest, most of the rest of this collection doesn’t quite measure up. One track that does, though, is the Texas Guitar Slim (Johnny Winter) instrumental treat of Buck Rogers’ “Crazie Baby.”

Several of the lesser-known tracks are blatant—and slight humorous—emulations of Fats Domino. Include Hal Young’s “I’m Falling For You Darling” and “I’ll Be Coming Home To You” in that category. So too are Jivin’ Gene’s “Go On, Go On” as well as Doug Ardoin and the Boogie Kings’ “Lost Love.” Of the three Warren Storm efforts, the best is the J. D. Miller upbeat composition “Thank You So Much.” Of course there’s a swamp pop track with a girl’s name in it, and that would be Vince Anthony’s lament “Lucy Lou.” Standard great Ace package—well researched, scans of rare 45s and as always several vintage photos. If you’re familiar with this series, or have a hankering for old-school swamp pop, you might want to seek this one out. In fact, I’d say it’s worth the price of admission just for the Rocket Morgan selections.

Thankfully several of these artists are still active and have appeared at the Ponderosa Stomp.

—Jeff Hannusch AU G U ST 2 017

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Find complete listings at offbeat.com—when you’re out, use offbeat.com/mobile for full listings on any cell phone.

Listings

EXPRESS

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.

Spotted Cat: Andy J. Forest (JV) 2p, Meschiya Lake and the Little Big Horns (JV) 6p, Smoking Time Jazz Club (JV) 10p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Jay B. Elston Band (RK) 5p, Jezebels Chill’n (RK) 9p Tropical Isle Original: the Hangovers (RK) 5:15p, Jay B. Elston Band (RK) 9:15p

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

WEDNESDAY AUGUST 2

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

TUESDAY AUGUST 1

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: Chip Wilson (VR) 6p, John Fohl and Johnny Sansone (VR) 8p Circle Bar: Carl LeBlanc (RB) 7p, Rudy Stone, 100 Watt Horse, Washboard Abs (ID) 9:30p Crazy Lobster: AC and the Heat (VR) 5p d.b.a.: Treme Brass Band (BB) 10p Ellis Marsalis Center for Music: Leroy Jones (JV) 6:30p Funky Pirate: Blues Masters feat. Big Al (BL) 8:30p Gasa Gasa: Nite Jewel, Geneva Jacuzzi, Harriet Brown (PO) 9p Hi-Ho Lounge: New Orleans Theatre Factory presents NOLA Backwards (CO) 8p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Comedy Beast (CO) 8:30p Jazz Playhouse: Mario Abney (JV) 8p Kerry Irish Pub: Jason Bishop (FO) 8:30p Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop: Lucky Lee (SS) 9p Little Gem Saloon: Gary Leming Duo (JV) 7p Little Tropical Isle: Mark Pentone (RK) 5p, Frank Fairbanks (RK) 9p Maison: Max Bronstein Music, Gregory Agid Quartet, the Resident Aliens (JV) 4p Maple Leaf: Rebirth Brass Band (FK) 11p Preservation Hall: Preservation All-Stars (TJ) 6p, Preservation All-Stars feat. Charlie Gabriel (TJ) 8p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: Latin Night (LT) 7p Snug Harbor: Annie Ellicott and James Singleton Trio (JV) 8 & 10p

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Bacchanal: Raphael Bas (JV) 12p, Jesse Morrow (JV) 7:30p Banks Street Bar: Major Bacon (BL) 10p Bombay Club: Josh Paxton (JV) 8p Buffa’s: Open Mic Night with Nattie Sanchez (SS) 7p Champions Square: Incubus, Jimmy Eats World (RK) 7p Chickie Wah Wah: Lillie Lewis (VR) 6p, Meschiya Lake (JV) 8p, Mike Doussan Band (VR) 10p Crazy Lobster: Ken Swartz and the Palace of Sin (VR) 5p d.b.a.: Walter “Wolfman” Washington and the Roadmasters (BL) 10p Davenport Lounge (Ritz-Carlton): Jeremy Davenport (JV) 5:30p Dragon’s Den: Groove Therapy (HH) 9p, Reggae Night (RE) 10p Hi-Ho Lounge: Progression Music Series (VR) 9p Jazz Playhouse: Glen David Andrews (JV) 8p Kerry Irish Pub: Chip Wilson (FO) 8:30p Little Gem Saloon: Marc Stone (BL) 7p Little Tropical Isle: Jay B. Elston (RK) 5p, Reed Lightfoot (RK) 9p Maison: Dinosaurchestra, Jazz Vipers, Ricio and Reece’s Pieces (VR) 4p Maple Leaf: the Jordan Anderson Band (VR) 10p Morning Call: Valerie Sassyfras (VR) 10a, Krewe du Two (VR) 1p One Eyed Jacks: Crystal Garden feat. Boyd Tinsley, South Jones (VR) 8p Preservation Hall: Preservation All-Stars (TJ) 6p, Preservation All-Stars feat. Charlie Gabriel (TJ) 8p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: the Yat Pack (SI) 8p Snug Harbor: Uptown Jazz Orchestra (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: Sam Cammarata (VR) 5p, Messy Cookers (JV) 8p Tropical Isle Bayou Club: Cajungrass (KJ) 7p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Jezebels Chill’n (RK) 5p, Debi and the Deacons (RK) 9p

THURSDAY AUGUST 3

Bacchanal: Raphael Bas (JV) 12p, Mike Harvey’s Hot Club (JV) 7:30p Bombay Club: Kris Tokarski and Duke Heitger (JV) 8p Buffa’s: Andre Bohren (PI) 5p, Tom McDermott and James Evans (JV) 8p Chickie Wah Wah: Phil DeGruy (VR) 6p, John “Papa” Gros Band (VR) 8p Circle Bar: Gina Leslie (CW) 7p, No Movement with DJ Ham Sandwich (PK) 9:30p Crazy Lobster: the Spanish Plaza 3 (VR) 5p d.b.a.: Shag Fest with Wake of the Flood, Shag Fest All-Stars feat. George Porter Jr., Dave Malone and others (VR) 5p Davenport Lounge (Ritz-Carlton): Jeremy Davenport (JV) 5:30p

Dos Jefes: Todd Duke Trio (JV) 9:30p Dragon’s Den: Crescent Fresh Stand-Up (CO) 7p, DJ Davoyse presents Throwback Thursday (VR) 10p Funky Pirate: Mark and the Pentones (BL) 4p, Blues Masters feat. Big Al (BL) 8:30p Gasa Gasa: Adam Torres, Julie Odell (SS) 9p Hi-Ho Lounge: Naughty Nick Toons: A Burlesque Tribute to Nickelodeon (BQ) 9p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Comedy Gumbeaux (CO) 8:30p Jazz Playhouse: James Rivers Movement (JV) 8p Joy Theater: 2 Chainz, Young Dolph (HH) 8:30p Kerry Irish Pub: Vincent Marini (FO) 8:30p Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop: Lucky Lee (SS) 9p Little Gem Saloon: Seva Venet (JV) 7p Maison: Novos Sapatos, Sweet Substitute, Dysfunktional Bone (VR) 4p Maple Leaf: the Trio feat. Johnny Vidacovich and special guests (FK) 11p NOSH: Matt Lemmler (JV) 7p Ogden Museum of Southern Art: Troy Sawyer (JV) 6p Old Point Bar: Johnnie B. Sanders and Ms. Iretta (JV) 9p Preservation Hall: Preservation All-Stars feat.

Lucien Barbarin (TJ) 8p Prime Example: Nicholas Payton Trio (JV) 8p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: Strikes for Sight Blindfold Bowling Tournament (VR) 7p, Chris Ardoin (ZY) 8:30p Smoothie King Center: James Taylor, Bonnie Raitt (SS) 7:30p Snug Harbor: Mahmoud Chouki (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Up Up We Go (JV) 2p, Sarah McCoy (JV) 4p, Miss Sophie Lee (JV) 6p, Jumbo Shrimp (JV) 10p Three Muses: Leslie Martin (JV) 5p, Hot Club of New Orleans (JV) 8p Tropical Isle Bayou Club: Cajun Drifters (KJ) 5p, Nonc Nu and Da Wild Matous (KJ) 9p Tropical Isle Original: the Hangovers (RK) 5:15p, Late As Usual (RK) 9:15p

Hi-Ho Lounge: Tranche, the Chris Lenox Band (VR) 8p, Relapse with Matt Scott (VR) 11p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Muvva Erff and the Iceman Special (HH) 9:30p Jazz Playhouse: Nayo Jones Experience (JV) 7p, Trixie Minx’s Burlesque Ballroom feat. Romy Kaye and the Mercy Buckets (BQ) 11p Kerry Irish Pub: Chip Wilson (FO) 5p, Jamie Lynn Vessels (FO) 9p Little Gem Saloon: the Diaz Trio (TJ) 7p Little Tropical Isle: Reed Lightfoot (RK) 5p, Frank Fairbanks (RK) 9p Maison: Swinging Gypsies, Shotgun Jazz Band (JV) 4p, Gumbo Funk (FK) 11:59p Maple Leaf: Mike Zito (VR) 11p Morning Call: Valerie Sassyfras (VR) 10a NOSH: Tom Hook and Wendell Brunious (JV) 8p Old Point Bar: Rick Trolsen (PI) 5p, Revival (RK) 9:30p One Eyed Jacks: DJ Soul Sister presents Soulful Takeover (SO) 10p Preservation Hall: Preservation Brass feat. Daniel “Weenie” Farrow (TJ) 8p Republic: Boogie T (VR) 11p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: Groovy 7 (VR) 9:30p Snug Harbor: Ellis Marsalis Trio (JV) 8 & 10p Southport Hall: the Black Dahlia Murder, Dying Fetus (ME) 6:30p Spotted Cat: Andy J. Forest (JV) 2p, Washboard Chaz Blues Trio (JV) 6p, New Orleans Cottonmouth Kings (JV) 10p Three Keys (Ace Hotel): Troy Sawyer Albumrelease party (SO) 10p Three Muses: Royal Roses (JV) 5:30p, Doro Wat Jazz Band (JV) 9p Tipitina’s: Foundation Free Fridays feat. IKO AllStars, Daria and the Hip Drops (VR) 10p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Jay B. Elston Band (RK) 5p, Debi and the Deacons (RK) 9p Tropical Isle Original: Down River (RK) 1p, the Hangovers (RK) 5:15p, Late As Usual (RK) 9:15p

FRIDAY AUGUST 4

Bacchanal: the Tangiers Combo (JV) 12p, Red Organ Trio (JV) 4p, Jasen Weaver Band (JV) 7:30p Blue Nile: Washboard Chaz Blues Trio (BL) 7p Bombay Club: Todd Duke (JV) 8:30p Buffa’s: Jazz Brunch with Dapper Dandies (JV) 11a, Heather Holloway and the Heebie Jeebies (JV) 3p, Tom Saunders and the Hotcats (JV) 6p, Banu Gibson (JV) 9p Chickie Wah Wah: Aden Paul with Dr. Sick (VR) 9p, Uncle Lucius (VR) 10p Circle Bar: OSBM Soul presents the Whyte Devylz (SO) 6:30p, Yawn, Particle Devotion (ID) 10p Crazy Lobster: the River Gang (VR) 11a, Poppy’s Poppin’ Saturday Review (VR) 4p Creole Cookery: Trad Stars Jazz Band (JV) 11a d.b.a.: Soul Brass Band (BB) 11p Dragon’s Den: Sexy Back with DJ Dizzi (VR) 10p; Upstairs: Talk Nerdy to Me (BQ) 7p Funky Pirate: Mark and the Pentones (BL) 2p, Blues Masters feat. Big Al (BL) 8:30p Hi-Ho Lounge: Close Me Out (CO) 7p House of Blues: Rumours: A Fleetwood Mac Tribute, DJ Raj Smoove (CR) 9p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Shy Gemini, Civil Youth, Ventruss (RK) 10p Howlin’ Wolf: Where Y’acht (RK) 10p Jazz Playhouse: Mario Abney (JV) 8p

Apple Barrel: Adam Crochet (BL) 6:30p Bacchanal: the Tangiers Combo (JV) 12p, Harmonouche (JV) 5p, Willie Green Project (JV) 7:30p Banks Street Bar: Tangerine Dreams (BQ) 10p Bombay Club: Riverside Jazz Collective (JV) 8:30p Buffa’s: Meryl Zimmerman (JV) 6p, James Evans (JV) 9p Bullet’s: Original Pinettes Brass Band (BB) 9p Café Negril: Carolyn Broussard (VR) 4p, Dana Abbott (VR) 7p, Higher Heights (VR) 10p Champions Square: 311, New Politics (SK) 7p Chickie Wah Wah: Michael Pearce (BL) 6p, Woodenhead with Mark Mullins and Helen Gillet (VR) 8p Crazy Lobster: Ken Swartz and the Palace of Sin (VR) 5p d.b.a.: Hot Club of New Orleans (JV) 6p, George Porter Jr. and his Runnin’ Pardners (FK) 10p Davenport Lounge (Ritz-Carlton): Jeremy Davenport (JV) 9p Dragon’s Den: Abner Deitle (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 Golden Lantern: Nighthawk (CR) 7p

SATURDAY AUGUST 5

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LIVE LOCAL MUSIC Kerry Irish Pub: Vali Talbot (FO) 5p, Patrick Catania and friends (FO) 9p Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop: Lucky Lee (SS) 9p Little Gem Saloon: Seva Venet New Orleans Banjo Celebration with guests (JV) 7p Little Tropical Isle: Jay B. Elston (RK) 5p, Reed Lightfoot (RK) 9p Maison: Chance Bushman and the Ibervillianaires, Leah Rucker, Smoking Time Jazz Club (SI) 1p, Chegadao, Big Easy Brawlers (FK) 10p Maple Leaf: Cleopatra Jones (VR) 11p Morning Call City Park: Billy D. Chapman (JV) 10a NOSH: Tom Hook Trio (JV) 8p Preservation Hall: Preservation All-Stars feat.

Shannon Powell (TJ) 8p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: Category 6 (VR) 9:30p Saenger Theatre: Bring It Live (DN) 7p Snug Harbor: Catherine Russell (JV) 8 & 10p Southport Hall: Sledgehammer (ME) 9p Spotted Cat: Antoine Diel and Arsene DeLay (JV) 2p, Panorama Jazz Band (JV) 6p, Meschiya Lake and the Little Big Horns (JV) 10p Three Keys (Ace Hotel): Ashlin Parker’s Trumpet Mafia (JV) 10p Three Muses: Chris Christy (JV) 5p, Sarah McCoy (JV) 6p, Shotgun Jazz Band (JV) 9p Time Out: Andre Bouvier and the Royal Bohemians (VR) 11a Tipitina’s: Wanda Jackson, Gal Holiday and the Honky Tonk Revue, Shawn Williams (VR) 8:30p Tropical Isle Original: Down River (RK) 1p, the Hangovers (RK) 5:15p, Late As Usual (RK) 9:15p

SUNDAY AUGUST 6

Bacchanal: the Tangiers Combo (JV) 12p, the Tradsters (JV) 4:30p, Roamin’ Jasmine (JV) 7:30p Banks Street Bar: Ron Hotstream and Tina Jamieson’s Open Stage (SS) 5p, Kenny Triche Band (SS) 8p Bombay Club: Kris Tokarski (JV) 8p Buffa’s: Some Like It Hot (TJ) 10:30a, Rebecca Leigh and the Crocodile Tears (JV) 4p, Gerald French Trio (VR) 7p Café Negril: Ecirb Muller’s Twisted Dixie (JV) 6p, John Lisi and Delta Funk (RB) 9:30p Chickie Wah Wah: Meschiya Lake and the Little Big Horns Quartet (JV) 8p, Uncle Lucius (VR) 10p Circle Bar: Micah McKee and friends, Blind Texas Marlin (FO) 7p, Country Night with DJ Pasta (CW) 10p Crazy Lobster: the Gator Bites (VR) 11a; the Neon Shadows (VR) 4p d.b.a.: Palmetto Bugs Stompers (SI) 6p, Andy J. Forest (JV) 10p Dos Jefes: Michael Mason and friends (JV) 9p Dragon’s Den: Open Jazz Jam with Anuraag Pendyal (JV) 7p, Church (VR) 10p Funky Pirate: Mark and the Pentones (BL) 4p, Willie Lockett Band (BL) 8p Hi-Ho Lounge: NOLA Comedy Hour Open Mic (CO) 8p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Hot 8 Brass Band (BB) 10p Jazz Playhouse: Germaine Bazzle (JV) 8p Kermit’s Mother-in-Law Lounge: Kermit Ruffins and the BBQ Swingers (JV) 5:30p Kerry Irish Pub: Irish Session (FO) 5p, Patrick Cooper (FO) 8p Little Gem Saloon: Glen David Andrews’ Gospel Brunch (GS) 11a Maison: Chance Bushman and the NOLA Jitterbugs, Roamin’ Jasmine, Eight Dice Cloth (JV) 10a, Meghan Stewart, Higher Heights (VR) 7p Maple Leaf: Jammin’ for Josh Benefit for a Rock & Roll Soldier feat. Johnny Sketch and the Dirty Notes, Marc Stone Band, New Soul Finders with Marilyn Barbarin, Hill Country Hounds and guest appearances by Kirk Joseph, Rockin’ Dopsie Jr., Lynn Drury, Reggie Scanlan, Jeff Watkins, John Paul Carmody (VR) 8p

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Morning Call City Park: Billy D. Chapman (JV) 10a Preservation Hall: Preservation All-Stars feat.

Wendell Brunious (TJ) 8p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: the Foret Extravaganza feat. Ryan Foret, Aaron Foret, Brandon Foret and Chris Daigle (VR) 4:30p Smoothie King Center: Lionel Richie, Mariah Carey (PO) 7p Snug Harbor: Evan Christopher and Clarinet Road with Jon-Erik Kellso (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: John Lisi and Delta Funk (JV) 2p, Kristina Morales and Bayou Shufflers (JV) 6p, Pat Casey and the New Sound (JV) 10p Three Muses: Raphael et Pascal (JV) 5p, Linnzi Zaorski (JV) 8p Time Out: the Moxie Kings (VR) 11a Trinity Episcopal Church: Armand St. Martin (PI) 5p Tropical Isle Bayou Club: Brandon Moreau and Cajungrass (KJ) 2p, Bayou Cajun Swamp Band (KJ) 7p Tropical Isle Bourbon: BC and Company (RK) 1p, Rhythm and Rain (RK) 5p, Debi and the Deacons (RK) 9p UNO Lakefront Arena: Bryson Tiller, Metro Boomin, H.E.R. (HH) 8p

MONDAY AUGUST 7

Bacchanal: Raphael Bas (JV) 12p, Helen Gillet (JV) 7:30p Banks Street Bar: Chris Dibenedetto’s Piano Showcase (JV) 7p, Montague (RL) 9p Bombay Club: John Royen (PI) 8p Buffa’s: Arsene DeLay (VR) 5p, Antoine Diel (JV) 8p Chickie Wah Wah: Justin Molaison (VR) 6p, Cary Hudson with Katrina Miller (VR) 8p Circle Bar: Phil the Tremelo King (VR) 7p; Bitter Inc., Maxwell Boecker (VR) 9:30p Crazy Lobster: the Insta-Gators (VR) 5p d.b.a.: John Boutte (JV) 7p, Bon Bon Vivant (JV) 10p Dragon’s Den: Monday Swing Night feat.

Tom Saunders and the Hot Cats (JV) 7p, Hangover Mondays 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 (MJ) 10p Jazz Playhouse: Gerald French Quartet (JV) 8p Kerry Irish Pub: Mark Appleford (FO) 8p Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop: Lucky Lee (SS) 9p Maison: Chicken and Waffles, Aurora Nealand and the Royal Roses, RnR Music Group (VR) 4p Maple Leaf: the Porter Trio feat. George Porter Jr., Terrence Houston and Michael Lemmler (FK) 10p Morning Call: Valerie Sassyfras (VR) 10a One Eyed Jacks: Waxahatchee, Palehound, Outer Spaces (VR) 9p Preservation Hall: Preservation All-Stars (TJ) 6p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: West Coast Swing Night (SI) 7p Snug Harbor: Charmaine Neville Band (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Caroline Broussard (JV) 12p, Sarah McCoy and the Oopsie Daisies (JV) 2p, Dominick Grillo and the Frenchmen St. All-Stars (JV) 6p, Jazz Vipers (JV) 10p Three Muses: Bart Ramsey (JV) 5p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Rhythm and Rain (RK) 5p, Beach Combers (RK) 9p Tropical Isle Original: Graham Robinson Band (RK) 5:15p, Trop Rock Express (RK) 9:15p

TUESDAY AUGUST 8

Bacchanal: Raphael Bas (JV) 12p, Mark Weliky (JV) 7:30p Banks Street Bar: Ricky T. and the Robots (RK) 9p Bombay Club: Matt Lemmler (PI) 8p Buffa’s: Tacos, Tequila, and Tiaras with Vanessa Carr (VR) 8p Café Istanbul: Black Laurel (RK) 7p Chickie Wah Wah: Chip Wilson (VR) 6p, Andrew Duhon (VR) 8p Circle Bar: Carl LeBlanc (RB) 7p AU G U ST 2 017

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LIVE LOCAL MUSIC Crazy Lobster: AC and the Heat (VR) 5p d.b.a.: Treme Brass Band (BB) 10p Funky Pirate: Blues Masters feat. Big Al (BL) 8:30p Hi-Ho Lounge: Me and the Aral Sea, Melon Kids (RK) 9p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Comedy Beast (CO) 8:30p Jazz Playhouse: George French and Gerald French (JV) 8p Kerry Irish Pub: Jason Bishop (FO) 8:30p Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop: Lucky Lee (SS) 9p Little Gem Saloon: Gary Leming Duo (JV) 7p Maison: Christien Bold’s Quartet, Gregory Agid, Steve Lands and Mood (VR) 4p Maple Leaf: Rebirth Brass Band (FK) 11p Old U.S. Mint: Down on Their Luck Orchestra (JV) 2p Preservation Hall: Preservation All-Stars (TJ) 6p, Preservation All-Stars feat. Charlie Gabriel (TJ) 8p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: Latin Night (LT) 7p Snug Harbor: Tom McDermott Tribute to Scott Joplin (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Andy J. Forest (JV) 2p, Meschiya Lake and the Little Big Horns (JV) 6p, Smoking Time Jazz Club (JV) 10p Three Muses: Sam Friend (FO) 5p, Messy Cookers (JV) 8p Tropical Isle Bayou Club: Cajun Drifters (KJ) 7p Tropical Isle Original: the Hangovers (RK) 5:15p, Jay B. Elston Band (RK) 9:15p

WEDNESDAY AUGUST 9

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: Lillie Lewis (VR) 6p, Meschiya Lake (JV) 8p, Mike Doussan Band with Marc Stone (VR) 10p Crazy Lobster: Ken Swartz and the Palace of Sin (VR) 5p d.b.a.: Walter “Wolfman” Washington and the Roadmasters (BL) 10p Davenport Lounge (Ritz-Carlton): Jeremy Davenport (JV) 5:30p Dos Jefes: George French Trio (RB) 9:30p Dragon’s Den: Groove Therapy (HH) 9p, Reggae Night (RE) 10p Funky Pirate: Blues Masters feat. Big Al (BL) 8:30p Hi-Ho Lounge: Progression Music Series (VR) 9p Jazz Playhouse: Glen David Andrews (JV) 8p Kerry Irish Pub: Patrick Cooper (FO) 8:30p Little Gem Saloon: Marc Stone (BL) 7p Little Tropical Isle: Jay B. Elston (RK) 5p, Reed Lightfoot (RK) 9p Maison: Jon Bauer Quintet, Jazz Vipers, B. Miller Zone (VR) 4p Maple Leaf: the Jordan Anderson Band (VR) 10p Morning Call: Valerie Sassyfras (VR) 10a, Krewe du Two (VR) 1p Preservation Hall: Preservation All-Stars (TJ) 6p, Preservation All-Stars feat. Charlie Gabriel (TJ) 8p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: Rocky’s Hot Fox Trot Orchestra (SI) 8p Smoothie King Center: John Mayer (SS) 7p Snug Harbor: Uptown Jazz Orchestra (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, Hot Club of New Orleans (JV) 8p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Jezebels Chill’n (RK) 5p, Debi and the Deacons (RK) 9p Tropical Isle Original: Debi and the Deacons (RK) 5:15p, Late As Usual (RK) 9:15p

THURSDAY AUGUST 10

Bacchanal: Raphael Bas (JV) 12p, Mike Harvey’s Hot Club (JV) 7:30p Bombay Club: Kris Tokarski and Larry Scala (JV) 8p

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Buffa’s: Gumbo Cabaret (VR) 5p, Tom McDermott and Antoine Diel (JV) 8p Bullet’s: Kermit Ruffins and the BBQ Swingers (JV) 6p Chickie Wah Wah: Phil DeGruy (VR) 6p, Lynn Duruy and Arsene DeLay (VR) 8p Circle Bar: Gina Leslie (CW) 7p, HXXS (EL) 9:30p Crazy Lobster: the Spanish Plaza 3 (VR) 5p d.b.a.: the Fu Fu All-Stars (VR) 10p Davenport Lounge (Ritz-Carlton): Jeremy Davenport (JV) 5:30p Dmac’s: American Jam with Jason Bishop (BL) 7p Dos Jefes: Wendell Brunious (JV) 9:30p Dragon’s Den: Crescent Fresh Stand-Up (CO) 7p Funky Pirate: Mark and the Pentones (BL) 4p, Blues Masters feat. Big Al (BL) 8:30p Hi-Ho Lounge: Chapter Soul, Amina Scott and friends (JV) 9p House of Blues (the Parish): Barrett Barber (FO) 8p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Comedy Gumbeaux (CO) 8:30p Jazz Playhouse: James Rivers Movement (JV) 8p Kerry Irish Pub: Paintbox feat. Dave James and Tim Robertson (FO) 8:30p Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop: Lucky Lee (SS) 9p Little Gem Saloon: Seva Venet (JV) 7p Little Tropical Isle: Allen Hebert (RK) 5p, Frank Fairbanks (RK) 9p Maison: Amina Scott Trio, James Williams, Dysfunktional Bone (VR) 4p Maple Leaf: the Trio feat. Johnny Vidacovich and special guests (FK) 11p NOSH: Larry Sieberth and Ed Wise (JV) 7p Ogden Museum of Southern Art: Asylum Chorus (SO) 6p Orpheum Theater: Hot Summer Nights in the Ice Pit feat. Amanda Ducorbier (SS) 10p Preservation Hall: Preservation Legacy Band feat.

Gregg Stafford (TJ) 6p, Preservation All-Stars feat. Lucien Barbarin (TJ) 8p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: Chubby Carrier (ZY) 8:30p Snug Harbor: David L Harris Quartet (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Up Up We Go (JV) 2p, Sarah McCoy (JV) 4p, Miss Sophie Lee (JV) 6p, Jumbo Shrimp (JV) 10p Three Muses: Tom McDermott (JV) 5p, Gal Holiday and the Honky Tonk Revue (CW) 8p Tropical Isle Bayou Club: Cajun Drifters (KJ) 5p, Nonc Nu and Da Wild Matous (KJ) 9p Tropical Isle Original: the Hangovers (RK) 5:15p, Late As Usual (RK) 9:15p

FRIDAY AUGUST 11

Bacchanal: the Tangiers Combo (JV) 12p, Harmonouche (JV) 5p, Willie Green Project (JV) 7:30p Bombay Club: Tim Laughlin Trio (JV) 8:30p Buffa’s: Carolyn Broussard (VR) 6p, Greg Schatz (VR) 9p Bullet’s: Original Pinettes Brass Band (BB) 9p Chickie Wah Wah: Michael Pearce (BL) 6p Circle Bar: Natalie Mae (CW) 7p Crazy Lobster: Ken Swartz and the Palace of Sin (VR) 5p d.b.a.: Roamin’ Jasmine (JV) 6p, New Orleans Nightcrawlers (VR) 10p Davenport Lounge (Ritz-Carlton): Jeremy Davenport (JV) 9p Dos Jefes: Carl LeBlanc Trio (JV) 10p Dragon’s Den: Abner Deitle (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) 4p, Blues Masters feat. Big Al (BL) 8:30p Hi-Ho Lounge: Linear A, the Other LA, the Ivory Sons, Emily Davis, the Murder Police (VR) 8p, Relapse with Matt Scott (VR) 11p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Canvas (BL) 10p Jazz Playhouse: Little Freddie King (BL) 7:30p, Trixie Minx’s Burlesque Ballroom feat. Romy Kaye and the Mercy Buckets (BQ) 11p Kerry Irish Pub: Roy Gele (FO) 5p, Crossing Canal feat. Patrick Cooper (FO) 9p Little Gem Saloon: the Diaz Trio (TJ) 7p

Maison: Swinging Gypsies, Shotgun Jazz Band (JV) 4p, Miss Mojo, Big Easy Brawlers (FK) 10p Maple Leaf: John “Papa” Gros Band (VR) 11p Morning Call: Valerie Sassyfras (VR) 10a NOSH: Walter “Wolfman” Washington with Steve Detroy Trio (JV) 8p Old Point Bar: Rick Trolsen (PI) 5p, Marshland (RK) 9:30p Preservation Hall: Preservation Legacy Band feat.

Wendell Brunious (TJ) 6p, Preservation Brass feat. Daniel “Weenie” Farrow (TJ) 8p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: Karma (VR) 9:30p Snug Harbor: Ellis Marsalis Trio (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Andy J. Forest (JV) 2p, Washboard Chaz Blues Trio (JV) 6p, New Orleans Cottonmouth Kings (JV) 10p Three Muses: Matt Johnson (JV) 5:30p, Doro Wat Jazz Band (JV) 9p Tipitina’s: Foundation Free Fridays feat. Gravity A, the N’awlins Johnnys (VR) 10p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Jay B. Elston Band (RK) 5p, Debi and the Deacons (RK) 9p UNO Lakefront Arena: R. Kelly (RB) 8p

SATURDAY AUGUST 12

Bacchanal: the Tangiers Combo (JV) 12p, Red Organ Trio (JV) 4p, Jasen Weaver Band (JV) 7:30p Bombay Club: Leroy Jones (JV) 8:30p Buffa’s: Odd Fellows Rest (VR) 6p, Marina Orchestra (VR) 9p Chickie Wah Wah: Papa Mali’s Wake of the Flood (VR) 9p Crazy Lobster: the River Gang (VR) 11a, Poppy’s Poppin’ Saturday Review (VR) 4p Creole Cookery: Trad Stars Jazz Band (JV) 11a d.b.a.: Dinosaurchestra (JV) 7p, Alvin Youngblood Hart (BL) 11p Dragon’s Den: Primetime feat. DJ Legatron Prime (HH) 10p; Upstairs: Talk Nerdy to Me (BQ) 7p, Sexy Back with DJ Dizzi (VR) 10p Funky Pirate: Mark and the Pentones (BL) 2p, Blues Masters feat. Big Al (BL) 8:30p Gasa Gasa: Bantam Foxes Album-release show, Kali Masi, Quintessential Octopus (RK) 10p Hi-Ho Lounge: Brown Improv (CO) 8p House of Blues (the Parish): LouMuzik Live (HH) 10p House of Blues: Diary of an Ozzman: A Tribute to Ozzy Osbourne, Space Metal, First Fracture (CR) 8:30p Howlin’ Wolf: Money Bagg Yo (HH) 10p Jazz Playhouse: Michael Watson (JV) 8p Kerry Irish Pub: Mike Kerwin and Geoff Coats (FO) 5p, Hurricane Refugees (FO) 9p Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop: Lucky Lee (SS) 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 Maison: Chance Bushman and the Ibervillianaires, Luneta Jazz Band, Smoking Time Jazz Club (JV) 1p, Soul Project, Groove Faction (FK) 10p Maple Leaf: Walter “Wolfman” Washington and the Roadmasters (FK) 11p Morning Call City Park: Billy D. Chapman (JV) 10a NOSH: Gerald French Trio (JV) 8p One Eyed Jacks: Dylan LeBlanc, the Artisanals, Motel Radio (VR) 9p Preservation Hall: David L. Harris (TJ) 4p, Preservation All-Stars (TJ) 6p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: the Boogie Men (VR) 8p Snug Harbor: Herlin Riley Quartet (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, Arsene DeLay (JV) 6p, Shotgun Jazz Band (JV) 9p Time Out: Andre Bouvier and the Royal Bohemians (VR) 11a Tropical Isle Original: Down River (RK) 1p, the Hangovers (RK) 5:15p, Late As Usual (RK) 9:15p

SUNDAY AUGUST 13

AllWays Lounge: Smoking Time Jazz Club (TJ) 9p

Bacchanal: the Tangiers Combo (JV) 12p, the Tradsters (JV) 4:30p, Roamin’ Jasmine (JV) 7:30p Bombay Club: Kris Tokarski (JV) 8p Buffa’s: Some Like It Hot (TJ) 10:30a, Heather Holloway and the Heebie Jeebies (JV) 4p, Steve Pistorius, Orange Kellin, James Evans and Benny Amon (JV) 7p Bullet’s: Teresa B. (RB) 6p Café Negril: Ecirb Muller’s Twisted Dixie (JV) 6p Chickie Wah Wah: Meschiya Lake and the Little Big Horns Quartet (JV) 8p Circle Bar: Micah McKee and friends, Blind Texas Marlin (FO) 7p, Country Night with DJ Pasta (CW) 10p Crazy Lobster: the Gator Bites (VR) 11a, the Neon Shadows (VR) 4p d.b.a.: Palmetto Bugs Stompers (SI) 6p, Tin Men (RK) 9p Dragon’s Den: Open Jazz Jam with Anuraag Pendyal (JV) 7p, Church (VR) 10p Funky Pirate: Mark and the Pentones (BL) 4p, Willie Lockett Band (BL) 8p Hi-Ho Lounge: NOLA Comedy Hour Open Mic (CO) 8p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Hot 8 Brass Band (BB) 10p Jazz Playhouse: Germaine Bazzle (JV) 8p Joy Theater: Lil Yachty (HH) 8p Kermit’s Mother-in-Law Lounge: Kermit Ruffins and the BBQ Swingers (JV) 5:30p Kerry Irish Pub: Will Dickerson (FO) 8p Little Gem Saloon: Glen David Andrews’ Gospel Brunch (GS) 11a Little Tropical Isle: Frank Fairbanks (RK) 5p, Mark Parsons (VR) 9p Maison: Chance Bushman and the NOLA Jitterbugs, the Function (JV) 10a, G and the Swinging Three, Higher Heights (VR) 7p Maple Leaf: Cha Wa (MG) 10p Morning Call City Park: Billy D. Chapman (JV) 10a Preservation Hall: Preservation Legacy Band feat.

Gregg Stafford (TJ) 6p, Preservation All-Stars feat. Wendell Brunious (TJ) 8p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: Callahan’s Bar Reunion feat. the Original Short Circuit Band (VR) 5p Snug Harbor: Jason Marsalis and the 21st Century Trad Band (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: G and the New Orleans Swinging Gypsies (JV) 2p, Kristina Morales and Bayou Shufflers (JV) 6p, Pat Casey and the New Sound (JV) 10p Three Muses: Raphael et Pascal (JV) 5p, Linnzi Zaorski (JV) 8p Time Out: the Moxie Kings (VR) 11a Trinity Episcopal Church: the Legendary New Orleans Trombone Choir (VR) 5p Tropical Isle Original: the Hangovers (RK) 5:15p, Late As Usual (RK) 9:15p

MONDAY AUGUST 14

Bacchanal: Raphael Bas (JV) 12p, Helen Gillet (JV) 7:30p Bombay Club: David Boeddinghaus (PI) 8p Buffa’s: Arsene DeLay (VR) 5p, Antoine Diel (JV) 8p Chickie Wah Wah: Justin Molaison (VR) 6p, Alex McMurray with Debbie Davis (VR) 8p Crazy Lobster: the Insta-Gators (VR) 5p d.b.a.: John Boutte (JV) 7p, Bon Bon Vivant (JV) 10p Dragon’s Den: Swing Night feat. the Lime Tree Jazz Band (JV) 7p, Hangover Mondays with DJ Ill Medina (VR) 11p Hi-Ho Lounge: Bluegrass Pickin’ Party (BU) 8p, Instant Opus Improvised Series (MJ) 10p Jazz Playhouse: Gerald French Quartet (JV) 8p Kerry Irish Pub: Patrick Cooper (FO) 8p Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop: Lucky Lee (SS) 9p Maison: Chicken and Waffles, Aurora Nealand and the Royal Roses, Vegas Cola (JV) 4p Maple Leaf: the Porter Trio feat. George Porter Jr., Terrence Houston and Michael Lemmler (FK) 10p Morning Call: Valerie Sassyfras (VR) 10a Preservation Hall: Preservation All-Stars (TJ) 6p

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LIVE LOCAL MUSIC Rock ‘n’ Bowl: West Coast Swing Night (SI) 7p Snug Harbor: Charmaine Neville Band (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Caroline Broussard (JV) 12p, Sarah McCoy and the Oopsie Daisies (JV) 2p, Dominick Grillo and the Frenchmen St. All-Stars (JV) 6p, Jazz Vipers (JV) 10p Three Muses: Washboard Rodeo (JV) 8p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Rhythm and Rain (RK) 5p, Beach Combers (RK) 9p

TUESDAY AUGUST 15

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 Café Negril: 4 Sidemen of the Apocalypse (VR) 6p Chickie Wah Wah: Chip Wilson (VR) 6p, Andrew Duhon (VR) 8p, Jamey St. Pierre (VR) 10:30p Crazy Lobster: AC and the Heat (VR) 5p d.b.a.: Treme Brass Band (BB) 10p Funky Pirate: Blues Masters feat. Big Al (BL) 8:30p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Comedy Beast (CO) 8:30p Jazz Playhouse: the New Orleans Wildlife Band (JV) 8p Kerry Irish Pub: Jason Bishop (FO) 8:30p Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop: Lucky Lee (SS) 9p Little Gem Saloon: Gary Leming Duo (JV) 7p Maison: Gregory Agid, CoolNasty (VR) 6:30p Maple Leaf: Rebirth Brass Band (FK) 11p Old U.S. Mint: Down on Their Luck Orchestra (JV) 2p One Eyed Jacks: Mark Normand (CO) 8p Preservation Hall: Preservation All-Stars (TJ) 6p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: Latin Night (LT) 7p Snug Harbor: Pellera-Richburg Quintet (JV) 8 & 10p

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Spotted Cat: Andy J. Forest (JV) 2p, Meschiya Lake and the Little Big Horns (JV) 6p, Smoking Time Jazz Club (JV) 10p Three Muses: Sam Cammarata (VR) 5p, Messy Cookers (JV) 8p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Jay B. Elston Band (RK) 5p, Jezebels Chill’n (RK) 9p Tropical Isle Original: the Hangovers (RK) 5:15p, Jay B. Elston Band (RK) 9:15p

Preservation Hall: Preservation All-Stars (TJ) 6p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: Johnny J. and the Hitmen (SI) 8p Snug Harbor: Uptown Jazz Orchestra (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) 8p Tropical Isle Bayou Club: Cajungrass (KJ) 7p

WEDNESDAY AUGUST 16

THURSDAY AUGUST 17

Bacchanal: Raphael Bas (JV) 12p, Jesse Morrow (JV) 7:30p Banks Street Bar: Major Bacon (BL) 10p Bombay Club: Josh Paxton (JV) 8p Buffa’s: Open Mic Night with Nattie Sanchez (SS) 7p Chickie Wah Wah: Roots on the Rails feat. Dave Alvin, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Peter Case, Blind Boy Paxton (VR) 8p Crazy Lobster: Ken Swartz and the Palace of Sin (VR) 5p d.b.a.: 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 Gasa Gasa: Brick and Mortar, My Heart Will Explode, Killer Dale (PK) 9p Hi-Ho Lounge: Progression Music Series (VR) 9p House of Blues (the Parish): Mayday!, Demrick, Inner Family Legacy (HH) 8p Jazz Playhouse: Glen David Andrews (JV) 8p Kerry Irish Pub: Roy Gele (FO) 8:30p Little Gem Saloon: Seva Venet (JV) 7p Maison: Eight Dice Cloth, Jazz Vipers, Musical Expression (VR) 4p Maple Leaf: the Jordan Anderson Band (VR) 10p Morning Call: Valerie Sassyfras (VR) 10a, Krewe du Two (VR) 1p

Bacchanal: Raphael Bas (JV) 12p, Mike Harvey’s Hot Club (JV) 7:30p Bombay Club: Kris Tokarski and Tim Laughlin (JV) 8p Buffa’s: Calvin Johnson and Native Son (JV) 5p, Doyle Cooper Trio (JV) 8p Bullet’s: Kermit Ruffins and the BBQ Swingers (JV) 6p Chickie Wah Wah: Phil DeGruy (VR) 6p, John “Papa” Gros Band (VR) 8p Circle Bar: Gina Leslie (CW) 7p, White Gregg, DJ Quintron (EL) 10p Crazy Lobster: the Spanish Plaza 3 (VR) 5p d.b.a.: Funk Monkey (FK) 10p Davenport Lounge (Ritz-Carlton): Jeremy Davenport (JV) 5:30p Dragon’s Den: Crescent Fresh Stand-Up (CO) 7p; Upstairs: Soundclash (HH) 10p Funky Pirate: Mark and the Pentones (BL) 4p, Blues Masters feat. Big Al (BL) 8:30p Hi-Ho Lounge: Deltaphonic, Jelly Ellington (VR) 9p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Comedy Gumbeaux (CO) 8:30p Howlin’ Wolf: Coast 2 Coast Hip-Hop Showcase (HH) 9p Jazz Playhouse: James Rivers Movement (JV) 8p Kerry Irish Pub: Foot and friends (FO) 8:30p Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop: Lucky Lee (SS) 9p

Le Bon Temps Roule: Soul Rebels (BB) 11p Little Gem Saloon: Dr. Rackle and the Sound Griots (BB) 9p Maison: Good for Nothin’ Band, Roamin’ Jasmine, Dysfunktional Bone (VR) 4p Maple Leaf: the Trio feat. Johnny Vidacovich and special guests (FK) 11p NOSH: Larry Sieberth and Ed Wise (JV) 7p Preservation Hall: Preservation Legacy Band feat. Gregg Stafford (TJ) 6p, Preservation All-Stars feat. Lucien Barbarin (TJ) 8p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: Leroy Thomas and the Zydeco RoadRunners (ZY) 8:30p Saenger Theatre: Van Jones (VR) 8p Snug Harbor: Jeffery Miller Quintet (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Up Up We Go (JV) 2p, Sarah McCoy (JV) 4p, Miss Sophie Lee (JV) 6p, Jumbo Shrimp (JV) 10p Three Muses: Albanie Falletta (JV) 5p Tipitina’s: Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Amanda Ducorbier (VR) 9p Tropical Isle Original: the Hangovers (RK) 5:15p, Late As Usual (RK) 9:15p

FRIDAY AUGUST 18

Bacchanal: the Tangiers Combo (JV) 12p, Harmonouche (JV) 5p, Willie Green Project (JV) 7:30p Bombay Club: Joe Ashlar (JV) 8:30p Buffa’s: Phil DeGruy (VR) 6p, Margie Perez (SO) 9p Chickie Wah Wah: Michael Pearce (BL) 6p, Texas Hearts feat. Hannah Johnson, Sophia Johnson and Beth Chrisman (VR) 8p Crazy Lobster: Ken Swartz and the Palace of Sin (VR) 5p d.b.a.: Trad Stars Jazz Band (JV) 6p, Pine Leaf Boys (KJ) 10p Davenport Lounge (Ritz-Carlton): Jeremy Davenport (JV) 9p

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LIVE LOCAL MUSIC Dragon’s Den: Abner Deitle (JV) 7p, the Tipping Point with DJ RQ Away (HH) 10p; Upstairs: Comedy Fuck Yeah (CO) 7p, Latin Night (LT) 11p Gasa Gasa: Kap G., J.R. Donato, Paper Paulk, Doon (HH) 10p Hi-Ho Lounge: Jazmarae, Soltree (VR) 8p, Relapse with Matt Scott (VR) 11p House of Blues: Strangelove: the Ultimate Depeche Mode Tribute, the Siouxsies (RK) 9p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Radioactive Red (RK) 10p Howlin’ Wolf: In the Cut 504 Live (HH) 8p Jazz Playhouse: the New Orleans Wildlife Band (JV) 7p, Trixie Minx’s Burlesque Ballroom feat.

Romy Kaye and the Mercy Buckets (BQ) 11p Kerry Irish Pub: Chip Wilson (FO) 5p, Van Hudson and friends (FO) 9p Little Gem Saloon: Reid Poole Duo (JV) 7:30p; “Love Letters” with Nell Nolan and Dennis Woltering (VR) 8p Little Tropical Isle: Reed Lightfoot (RK) 5p, Frank Fairbanks (RK) 9p Maison: Swinging Gypsies, Shotgun Jazz Band (JV) 4p, Ricio and Reece’s Pieces, B. Miller Zone (FK) 10p Maple Leaf: Mia Borders (VR) 11p Morning Call: Valerie Sassyfras (VR) 10a NOSH: Don Vappie (JV) 8p Preservation Hall: Preservation Legacy Band feat. Wendell Brunious (TJ) 6p, Preservation Brass feat. Daniel “Weenie” Farrow (TJ) 8p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: Rockin’ Dopsie Jr. and the Zydeco Twisters (ZY) 9:30p Snug Harbor: Ellis Marsalis Trio (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Andy J. Forest (JV) 2p, Dominick Grillo and the Frenchmen St. All-Stars (JV) 6p, New Orleans Cottonmouth Kings (JV) 10p Three Muses: Royal Roses (JV) 5:30p, Doro Wat Jazz Band (JV) 9p Tipitina’s: Foundation Free Fridays feat. Johnny Sketch and the Dirty Notes, Sonic Boom (VR) 10p Tropical Isle Original: Down River (RK) 1p, the Hangovers (RK) 5:15p, Late As Usual (RK) 9:15p

SATURDAY AUGUST 19

Banks Street Bar: Jamie Lynn Vessels (RK) 10p Blue Nile: Washboard Chaz Blues Trio (BL) 7p Bombay Club: Kris Tokarksi Quartet (JV) 8:30p Buffa’s: Sam Cammarata (VR) 6p, Royal Rounders (VR) 9p Carrollton Station: Mid-Summer Mardi Gras with New Creations Brass Band (BB) 10p Chickie Wah Wah: Ian Moore Band (VR) 9p Crazy Lobster: the River Gang (VR) 11a, Poppy’s Poppin’ Saturday Review (VR) 4p Creole Cookery: Trad Stars Jazz Band (JV) 11a d.b.a.: Little Freddie King (BL) 11p Dragon’s Den: St. Roch Syncopators (JV) 7p, Southern Dynasty (VR) 10p; Upstairs: Talk Nerdy to Me (BQ) 7p, Sexy Back with DJ Dizzi (VR) 10p Funky Pirate: Mark and the Pentones (BL) 2p, Blues Masters feat. Big Al (BL) 8:30p Hi-Ho Lounge: Modern Vaudeville (VR) 8p House of Blues: Brewsiana Craft Beer and Music Festivat feat. Where Y’acht, Dash Rip Rock, Sexy Dex and the Fresh, Jonathon Boogie Long, DJ Raj Smoove, Jake Landry Duo (VR) 7p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Black Laurel (RK) 10p Jazz Playhouse: Shannon Powell (JV) 8p Kerry Irish Pub: Paul Tobin (FO) 5p, Lynn Drury and Chris Pylant (FO) 9p La Casita: Mi Casita es Su Casita: A Party on Oak Street feat. DJ Soul Sister (VR) 6p Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop: Lucky Lee (SS) 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 Maison: Chance Bushman and the Ibervillianaires, Leah Rucker, Smoking Time Jazz Club (JV) 1p, Big Easy Brawlers, Gumbo Funk (FK) 10p

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Morning Call City Park: Billy D. Chapman (JV) 10a NOSH: Matt Lemmler Trio (JV) 8p Old Point Bar: Ruby and the Rogues (RK) 9:30p Preservation Hall: Preservation All-Stars (TJ) 6p, Preservation All-Stars feat. Shannon Powell (TJ) 8p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: New Orleans Arrhythmia (VR) 9:30p Saenger Theatre: Musiq Soulchild (RB) 8p Snug Harbor: Kellye Gray (JV) 8 & 10p Southport Hall: the Molly Ringwalds (VR) 9p Spotted Cat: Russell Welch Band (JV) 2p, Panorama Jazz Band (JV) 6p, Davis Rogan (JV) 10p Three Muses: Chris Christy (JV) 5p, Arsene DeLay (JV) 6p, Shotgun Jazz Band (JV) 9p Time Out: Andre Bouvier and the Royal Bohemians (VR) 11a Tipitina’s: Lost Bayou Ramblers record-release show, Motel Radio (VR) 10p Tropical Isle Bayou Club: the Troubadour (KJ) 1p, Bayou Cajun Swamp Band (KJ) 5p, T’Canaille (KJ) 9p

SUNDAY AUGUST 20

Bacchanal: the Tangiers Combo (JV) 12p, the Tradsters (JV) 4:30p, Roamin’ Jasmine (JV) 7:30p Bombay Club: Kris Tokarski (JV) 8p Buffa’s: Some Like It Hot (JV) 10:30a, Nattie’s Songwriter Circle (SS) 4p, Gerald French Trio (VR) 7p Café Negril: Ecirb Muller’s Twisted Dixie (JV) 6p, John Lisi and Delta Funk (RB) 9:30p Chickie Wah Wah: Gal Hoilday and the Honky Tonk Revue (CW) 8p Circle Bar: Micah McKee and friends, Blind Texas Marlin (FO) 7p, Country Night with DJ Pasta (CW) 10p Crazy Lobster: the Gator Bites (VR) 11a, the Neon Shadows (VR) 4p d.b.a.: Palmetto Bugs Stompers (SI) 6p, Tin Men (RK) 9p Dos Jefes: Piano Bob (BL) 9p Dragon’s Den: Open Jazz Jam with Anuraag Pendyal (JV) 7p, Church (VR) 10p Funky Pirate: Mark and the Pentones (BL) 4p, Willie Lockett Band (BL) 8p Hi-Ho Lounge: NOLA Comedy Hour Open Mic (CO) 8p, Stripped Into Submission (BQ) 10p House of Blues: Tower of Power (FK) 8p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Hot 8 Brass Band (BB) 10p Jazz Playhouse: Germaine Bazzle (JV) 8p Kermit’s Mother-in-Law Lounge: Kermit Ruffins and the BBQ Swingers (JV) 5:30p Kerry Irish Pub: Chip Wilson (FO) 8p Little Gem Saloon: Glen David Andrews’ Gospel Brunch (GS) 11a Maison: Chance Bushman and the NOLA Jitterbugs, Novos Sapatos, Eight Dice Cloth (JV) 10a, Brad Walker Quintet, Higher Heights (VR) 7p Maple Leaf: Cha Wa (MG) 10p Morning Call City Park: Billy D. Chapman (JV) 10a Preservation Hall: Preservation Legacy Band feat. Wendell Brunious (TJ) 6p, Preservation Brass feat. Daniel “Weenie” Farrow (TJ) 8p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: Paul Varisco and the Milestones (VR) 5:30p Snug Harbor: Jason Marsalis and the 21st Century Trad Band (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Jamey St. Pierre and the Honeycreepers (JV) 2p, Kristina Morales and Bayou Shufflers (JV) 6p, Pat Casey and the New Sound (JV) 10p Three Muses: Raphael et Pascal (JV) 5p, Linnzi Zaorski (JV) 8p Time Out: the Moxie Kings (VR) 11a Tropical Isle Original: the Hangovers (RK) 5:15p, Late As Usual (RK) 9:15p

MONDAY AUGUST 21

Bacchanal: Raphael Bas (JV) 12p, Helen Gillet (JV) 7:30p Banks Street Bar: Chris Dibenedetto’s Piano Showcase (JV) 7p, Montague (RL) 9p Bombay Club: David Boeddinghaus (PI) 8p

Buffa’s: Arsene DeLay (VR) 5p, Antoine Diel (JV) 8p Chickie Wah Wah: Justin Molaison (VR) 6p, Alex McMurray with Glenn Hartman (VR) 8p Crazy Lobster: the Insta-Gators (VR) 5p d.b.a.: John Boutte (JV) 7p, Bon Bon Vivant (JV) 10p Dmac’s: Danny Alexander and the Monday Night Blues Jam Session (BL) 8p Dos Jefes: Michael Mason and friends (JV) 9p Dragon’s Den: Swing Night feat. Todd Yannacone and his Fully Dressed Po’ Boys (JV) 7p, Hangover Mondays 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 (MJ) 10p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Project Tone Mixer (HH) 9p Jazz Playhouse: Nayo Jones Experience (JV) 8p Kerry Irish Pub: Patrick Cooper (FO) 8p Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop: Lucky Lee (SS) 9p Maison: Chicken and Waffles, Aurora Nealand and the Royal Roses, Big Daddies (JV) 4p Maple Leaf: the Porter Trio feat. George Porter Jr., Terrence Houston and Michael Lemmler (FK) 10p Morning Call: Valerie Sassyfras (VR) 10a Republic: Betty Who (SS) 8p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: West Coast Swing Night (SI) 7p Snug Harbor: Charmaine Neville Band (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Caroline Broussard (JV) 12p, Sarah McCoy and the Oopsie Daisies (JV) 2p, Dominick Grillo and the Frenchmen St. All-Stars (JV) 6p, Jazz Vipers (JV) 10p Three Muses: Bart Ramsey (JV) 5p, Keith Burnstein (JV) 8p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Rhythm and Rain (RK) 5p, Beach Combers (RK) 9p Tropical Isle Original: Graham Robinson Band (RK) 5:15p, Trop Rock Express (RK) 9:15p

TUESDAY AUGUST 22

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: Chip Wilson (VR) 6p, Papo y Son Mandao (VR) 8p Crazy Lobster: AC and the Heat (VR) 5p d.b.a.: Treme Brass Band (BB) 10p Funky Pirate: Blues Masters feat. Big Al (BL) 8:30p House of Blues: Gente de Zona (LT) 8p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Comedy Beast (CO) 8:30p Jazz Playhouse: the New Orleans Wildlife Band (JV) 8p Kerry Irish Pub: Jason Bishop (FO) 8:30p Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop: Lucky Lee (SS) 9p Little Gem Saloon: Gary Leming Duo (JV) 7p Maison: St. Roch Syncopators, Gregory Agid, the Sierra Leone Experience (JV) 4p Maple Leaf: Rebirth Brass Band (FK) 11p Old U.S. Mint: Down on Their Luck Orchestra (JV) 2p Preservation Hall: Preservation All-Stars (TJ) 6p, Preservation All-Stars feat. Charlie Gabriel (TJ) 8p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: Latin Night (LT) 7p Snug Harbor: Stanton Moore Trio (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Andy J. Forest (JV) 2p, Jayna Morgan (JV) 6p, Smoking Time Jazz Club (JV) 10p Three Muses: Messy Cookers (JV) 8p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Jay B. Elston Band (RK) 5p, Jezebels Chill’n (RK) 9p Tropical Isle Original: the Hangovers (RK) 5:15p, Jay B. Elston Band (RK) 9:15p

WEDNESDAY AUGUST 23 Bacchanal: Raphael Bas (JV) 12p, Jesse Morrow (JV) 7:30p Bombay Club: Josh Paxton (JV) 8p Buffa’s: Open Mic Night with Nattie Sanchez (SS) 7p Chickie Wah Wah: Lillie Lewis (VR) 6p, Mike Doussan Band (JV) 10p Circle Bar: the Iguanas (RK) 7p, All the Colors of the Dark presents Beyond the Darkness (EL) 10p

Crazy Lobster: Ken Swartz and the Palace of Sin (VR) 5p d.b.a.: 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: Progression Music Series (VR) 9p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Catbamboo, the Hail Mercy, Acadian Trace (RK) 9p Jazz Playhouse: Glen David Andrews (JV) 8p Kerry Irish Pub: Tim Robertson (FO) 8:30p Little Gem Saloon: Reid Poole Duo (JV) 7p Little Tropical Isle: Jay B. Elston (RK) 5p, Reed Lightfoot (RK) 9p Maison: Quicksand, Jazz Vipers, RnR Music Group (VR) 4p Maple Leaf: the Jordan Anderson Band (VR) 10p Morning Call: Valerie Sassyfras (VR) 10a, Krewe du Two (VR) 1p Preservation Hall: Preservation All-Stars (TJ) 6p, Preservation All-Stars feat. Charlie Gabriel (TJ) 8p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: the Boogie Men (SI) 8p Snug Harbor: Uptown Jazz Orchestra (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 Keys (Ace Hotel): SONO presents the Shape of Jazz to Come feat. Magnetic Ear (JV) 9p Three Muses: Leslie Martin (JV) 5p Tropical Isle Original: Debi and the Deacons (RK) 5:15p, Late As Usual (RK) 9:15p UNO Lakefront Arena: Lost ‘80s Live Tour (VR) 7:30p

THURSDAY AUGUST 24

Banks Street Bar: Mia Borders (VR) 9p Bombay Club: Kris Tokarski and Rex Gregory (JV) 8p Buffa’s: Gumbo Cabaret (VR) 5p, Tom McDermott and Chloe Feoranzo (JV) 8p Bullet’s: Kermit Ruffins and the BBQ Swingers (JV) 6p Chickie Wah Wah: Phil DeGruy (VR) 6p, Lynn Duruy and Arsene DeLay (VR) 8p Crazy Lobster: the Spanish Plaza 3 (VR) 5p Dmac’s: American Jam with Jason Bishop (BL) 7p Dos Jefes: Loren Pickford Quartet (JV) 9:30p Dragon’s Den: Crescent Fresh Stand-Up (CO) 7p Funky Pirate: Mark and the Pentones (BL) 4p, Blues Masters feat. Big Al (BL) 8:30p Hi-Ho Lounge: Myron Thomas, Quinten Hakeem, Kristen Avian (VR) 9p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Comedy Gumbeaux (CO) 8:30p Jazz Playhouse: James Rivers Movement (JV) 8p Kerry Irish Pub: Foot and friends (FO) 8:30p Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop: Lucky Lee (SS) 9p Le Bon Temps Roule: Soul Rebels (BB) 11p Little Gem Saloon: Reid Poole Duo (JV) 7p Little Tropical Isle: Allen Hebert (RK) 5p, Frank Fairbanks (RK) 9p Maison: Good for Nothin’ Band, Sidewalk Swing, Dysfunktional Bone (VR) 4p Maple Leaf: the Trio feat. Johnny Vidacovich and special guests (FK) 11p NOSH: Larry Sieberth and Ed Wise (JV) 7p Ogden Museum of Southern Art: Sweet Olive String Band (FO) 6p Old U.S. Mint: Arrowhead Jazz Band (JV) 2p Preservation Hall: Preservation Legacy Band feat. Gregg Stafford (TJ) 6p, Preservation All-Stars feat. Lucien Barbarin (TJ) 8p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: Wayne Singleton and Same Ol’ 2 Step (ZY) 8:30p Snug Harbor: Davell Crawford (JV) 8 & 10p Southport Hall: Thy Art is Murder, Decapitated (ME) 6p Spotted Cat: Up Up We Go (JV) 2p, Sarah McCoy (JV) 4p, Miss Sophie Lee (JV) 6p, Jumbo Shrimp (JV) 10p Three Muses: Tom McDermott (JV) 5p Tipitina’s: Royal Teeth (VR) 9p

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LIVE LOCAL MUSIC Tropical Isle Bayou Club: Cajun Drifters (KJ) 5p, Nonc Nu and Da Wild Matous (KJ) 9p Tropical Isle Original: the Hangovers (RK) 5:15p, Late As Usual (RK) 9:15p

FRIDAY AUGUST 25

Bacchanal: the Tangiers Combo (JV) 12p, Harmonouche (JV) 5p, Willie Green Project (JV) 7:30p Bombay Club: Riverside Jazz Collective (JV) 8:30p Buffa’s: Larry and Haruka (VR) 6p, Davis Rogan (VR) 9p Bullet’s: Original Pinettes Brass Band (BB) 9p Chickie Wah Wah: Michael Pearce (BL) 6p, Jason Ricci and the Bad Kind CD-release party (VR) 8p Crazy Lobster: Ken Swartz and the Palace of Sin (VR) 5p d.b.a.: Big Chief Monk Boudreaux and the Golden Eagles (MG) 10p Dragon’s Den: Abner Deitle (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) 4p, Blues Masters feat. Big Al (BL) 8:30p Gasa Gasa: Sextile (PK) 10p Hi-Ho Lounge: Relapse with Matt Scott (VR) 11p House of Blues: Grunge Fest: Nirvanna: A Tribute to Nirvana, Rusted Cage Soundgarden Tribute, the Kurt Loders (RK) 9p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Stoni Taylor and Miles of Stone (FO) 10p Jazz Playhouse: Nayo Jones Experience (JV) 7p, Trixie Minx’s Burlesque Ballroom feat. Romy Kaye and the Mercy Buckets (BQ) 11p Kerry Irish Pub: Vincent Marini (FO) 5p, Hurricane Refugees (FO) 9p Little Gem Saloon: Nayo Jones Experience (RB) 8p

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Little Tropical Isle: Reed Lightfoot (RK) 5p, Frank Fairbanks (RK) 9p Maison: Swinging Gypsies, Shotgun Jazz Band (JV) 4p, Groove Faction, Soul Company (FK) 10p Maple Leaf: Chubby Carrier and Roland Cheramie, Zydeco Roots (ZY) 11p Morning Call: Valerie Sassyfras (VR) 10a NOSH: David Torkanowsky Trio (JV) 8p One Eyed Jacks: Little Maker and Mr. Universe feat. a Tribute to the Band (VR) 9p Preservation Hall: Preservation Legacy Band feat. Wendell Brunious (TJ) 6p, Preservation Brass feat. Daniel “Weenie” Farrow (TJ) 8p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: Bucktown All-stars’ Annual Throwback Night (VR) 9:30p Snug Harbor: Ellis Marsalis Trio (JV) 8 & 10p Southport Hall: Contraflow (RK) 9p Spotted Cat: Andy J. Forest (JV) 2p, Washboard Chaz Blues Trio (JV) 6p, New Orleans Cottonmouth Kings (JV) 10p Three Keys (Ace Hotel): Alvin Youngblood Hart, Cold Water Electric (BL) 10p Three Muses: Matt Johnson (JV) 5:30p, Doro Wat Jazz Band (JV) 9p Tipitina’s: Foundation Free Fridays feat. John “Papa” Gros Band, Sexual Thunder (VR) 10p Tropical Isle Original: Down River (RK) 1p, the Hangovers (RK) 5:15p, Late As Usual (RK) 9:15p

SATURDAY AUGUST 26

Antoine’s Restaurant: Symphony Chorus of New Orleans Fundraiser (CL) 7p Bacchanal: the Tangiers Combo (JV) 12p, Red Organ Trio (JV) 4p, Jasen Weaver Band (JV) 7:30p Bombay Club: James Singleton Trio (JV) 8:30p Buffa’s: Dr. Jimbo Walsh (VR) 6p, Betty Shirley (VR) 9p

Chickie Wah Wah: Johnny J. and the Hitmen CDrelease party, the Plowboys (VR) 8p Circle Bar: Mod Dance Party with DJs Matty and Kristen (RB) 10p Crazy Lobster: the River Gang (VR) 11a, Poppy’s Poppin’ Saturday Review (VR) 4p Creole Cookery: Trad Stars Jazz Band (JV) 11a d.b.a.: Hot 8 Brass Band (BB) 11p Dragon’s Den: Eight Dice Cloth (JV) 7p, Kompression (VR) 10p; Upstairs: Talk Nerdy to Me (BQ) 7p Funky Pirate: Mark and the Pentones (BL) 2p, Blues Masters feat. Big Al (BL) 8:30p Hi-Ho Lounge: the Rip Off Show (CO) 8p, DJ Chinua Back to School (VR) 11p House of Blues: Bustout Burlesque feat. the Bustout Jazz Band (BQ) 9p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Stoked Free Comedy (CO) 10p Jazz Playhouse: Michael Watson (JV) 8p Kerry Irish Pub: Patrick Cooper (FO) 5p, Roux the Day (FO) 9p Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop: Lucky Lee (SS) 9p Little Tropical Isle: Jay B. Elston (RK) 5p, Reed Lightfoot (RK) 9p Maison: Chance Bushman and the Ibervillianaires, Luneta Jazz Band, Smoking Time Jazz Club (JV) 1p, Brass-A-Holics, Gene’s Music Machine (FK) 10p Maple Leaf: New Orleans Suspects (FK) 11p Morning Call City Park: Billy D. Chapman (JV) 10a NOSH: Shannon Powell (JV) 8p One Eyed Jacks: Vox and the Hound, Midriff, Naughty Palace (VR) 9p Preservation Hall: Preservation All-Stars (TJ) 6p, Preservation All-Stars feat. Shannon Powell (TJ) 8p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: 90 Degrees West (CW) 9p Snug Harbor: Quiana Lynell and Lush Life (JV) 8 & 10p

Spotted Cat: Jazz Band Ballers (JV) 2p, Panorama Jazz Band (JV) 6p, Dominick Grillo and the Frenchmen St. All-Stars (JV) 10p Three Muses: Chris Christy (JV) 5p, Shotgun Jazz Band (JV) 9p Time Out: Andre Bouvier and the Royal Bohemians (VR) 11a Tropical Isle Original: Down River (RK) 1p, the Hangovers (RK) 5:15p, Late As Usual (RK) 9:15p

SUNDAY AUGUST 27

Bacchanal: the Tangiers Combo (JV) 12p, the Tradsters (JV) 4:30p, Roamin’ Jasmine (JV) 7:30p Banks Street Bar: Ron Hotstream and Tina Jamieson’s Open Stage (SS) 5p Bombay Club: Kris Tokarski (JV) 8p Buffa’s: Some Like It Hot (TJ) 10:30a, Rebecca Zoe Leigh (JV) 4p, Steve Pistorius, Orange Kellin, James Evans and Benny Amon (JV) 7p Café Negril: Ecirb Muller’s Twisted Dixie (JV) 6p Crazy Lobster: the Gator Bites (VR) 11a, the Neon Shadows (VR) 4p d.b.a.: Palmetto Bugs Stompers (SI) 6p, Alex, Matt and Carlo (VR) 10p Dragon’s Den: Open Jazz Jam with Anuraag Pendyal (JV) 7p, Church (VR) 10p Hi-Ho Lounge: NOLA Comedy Hour Open Mic (CO) 8p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Kabaka Pyramid (RE) 8p, Hot 8 Brass Band (BB) 10p Jazz Playhouse: Germaine Bazzle (JV) 8p Joy Theater: MattyB feat. the Haschak Sisters (PO) 6p Kermit’s Mother-in-Law Lounge: Kermit Ruffins and the BBQ Swingers (JV) 5:30p Kerry Irish Pub: Beth Patterson (FO) 8p Little Gem Saloon: Glen David Andrews’ Gospel Brunch (GS) 11a Maison: Chance Bushman and the NOLA Jitterbugs, Roamin’ Jasmine, the Function (JV) 10a, James Williams, Higher Heights (VR) 7p

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LIVE LOCAL MUSIC Maple Leaf: Cha Wa (MG) 10p Morning Call City Park: Billy D. Chapman (JV) 10a Old Point Bar: Anais St. John (JV) 3:30p Preservation Hall: Preservation Legacy Band feat. Gregg Stafford (TJ) 6p, Preservation All-Stars feat. Wendell Brunious (TJ) 8p Snug Harbor: Olivier Bou and Matt Lemmler (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: John Lisi and Delta Funk (JV) 2p, Kristina Morales and Bayou Shufflers (JV) 6p, Pat Casey and the New Sound (JV) 10p Three Muses: Raphael et Pascal (JV) 5p, Linnzi Zaorski (JV) 8p Time Out: the Moxie Kings (VR) 11a Trinity Episcopal Church: Jo “Cool” Davis Annual Memorial Concert with Cordell Chambliss and friends (GS) 5p Tropical Isle Bourbon: BC and Company (RK) 1p, Rhythm and Rain (RK) 5p, Debi and the Deacons (RK) 9p Tropical Isle Original: the Hangovers (RK) 5:15p, Late As Usual (RK) 9:15p

MONDAY AUGUST 28

Bacchanal: Raphael Bas (JV) 12p, Helen Gillet (JV) 7:30p Banks Street Bar: Chris Dibenedetto’s Piano Showcase (JV) 7p, Montague (RL) 9p Bombay Club: David Boeddinghaus (PI) 8p Buffa’s: Arsene DeLay (VR) 5p, Antoine Diel (JV) 8p Chickie Wah Wah: Justin Molaison (VR) 6p, Alex McMurray with Joe Cabral (VR) 8p Circle Bar: Phil the Tremelo King (VR) 7p, Motown Monday with DJ Shane Love (SO) 10p Crazy Lobster: the Insta-Gators (VR) 5p d.b.a.: John Boutte (JV) 7p, Bon Bon Vivant (JV) 10p Dmac’s: Danny Alexander and the Monday Night Blues Jam Session (BL) 8p Dragon’s Den: Swing Night feat. Little Coquette (JV) 7p, Hangover Mondays with DJ Ill Medina (VR) 11p Hi-Ho Lounge: Bluegrass Pickin’ Party (BU) 8p, Instant Opus Improvised Series (MJ) 10p Jazz Playhouse: Shannon Powell (JV) 8p Kerry Irish Pub: Patrick Cooper (FO) 8p Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop: Lucky Lee (SS) 9p Maison: Chicken and Waffles, Aurora Nealand and the Royal Roses, RnR Music Group (VR) 4p Maple Leaf: the Porter Trio feat. George Porter Jr., Terrence Houston and Michael Lemmler (FK) 10p Morning Call: Valerie Sassyfras (VR) 10a Preservation Hall: Preservation All-Stars (TJ) 6p, Preservation All-Stars feat. Charlie Gabriel (TJ) 8p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: West Coast Swing Night (SI) 7p Snug Harbor: Charmaine Neville Band (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Caroline Broussard (JV) 12p, Sarah McCoy and the Oopsie Daisies (JV) 2p, Dominick Grillo and the Frenchmen St. All-Stars (JV) 6p, Jazz Vipers (JV) 10p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Rhythm and Rain (RK) 5p, Beach Combers (RK) 9p Tropical Isle Original: Graham Robertson (RK) 5:15p, Trop Rock Express (RK) 9:15p

TUESDAY AUGUST 29

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: Chip Wilson (VR) 6p, Andrew Duhon (VR) 9p, Jamey St. Pierre (VR) 10:30p Crazy Lobster: AC and the Heat (VR) 5p d.b.a.: Treme Brass Band (BB) 9p Hi-Ho Lounge: High Profile (VR) 10p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Comedy Beast (CO) 8:30p

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Jazz Playhouse: K.C. and the Irresistibles (JV) 8p Kerry Irish Pub: Jason Bishop (FO) 8:30p Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop: Lucky Lee (SS) 9p Little Gem Saloon: NOLA Dukes Showcase (JV) 7p Maison: Russell Welch, Gregory Agid, BrassLightning (VR) 4p Maple Leaf: Rebirth Brass Band (FK) 11p Old U.S. Mint: Down on Their Luck Orchestra (JV) 2p Preservation Hall: Preservation All-Stars (TJ) 6p, Preservation All-Stars feat. Charlie Gabriel (TJ) 8p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: Latin Night (LT) 7p Snug Harbor: Stanton Moore Trio (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Andy J. Forest (JV) 2p, Meschiya Lake and the Little Big Horns (JV) 6p, Smoking Time Jazz Club (JV) 10p Three Muses: Sam Cammarata (VR) 5p Tropical Isle Bayou Club: Cajun Drifters (KJ) 7p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Jay B. Elston Band (RK) 5p, Jezebels Chill’n (RK) 9p

WEDNESDAY AUGUST 30

Bacchanal: Raphael Bas (JV) 12p, Jesse Morrow (JV) 7:30p Bombay Club: Josh Paxton (JV) 8p Buffa’s: Open Mic Night with Nattie Sanchez (SS) 7p Chickie Wah Wah: Lillie Lewis (VR) 6p, Miss Martha and her Goodtime Gang (VR) 8p, Mike Doussan Band (VR) 10p Circle Bar: the Iguanas (RK) 7p Crazy Lobster: Ken Swartz and the Palace of Sin (VR) 5p d.b.a.: Walter “Wolfman” Washington and the Roadmasters (BL) 10p Dragon’s Den: Groove Therapy (HH) 9p, Reggae Night (RE) 10p

PLAN A: Whitney White Linen Night The Arts District’s annual block party will return to Julia Street in the Warehouse District from 5:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. on Saturday, August 5. As its name suggests, Whitney White Linen Night attendees are encouraged to wear white linen clothing to the event, which celebrates the city’s arts scene with exhibitions at over 20 galleries and museums. Participating establishments include the Ogden Museum of Southern Art, Degas Gallery, George Rodrigue Foundation of the Arts and Octavia Art Gallery, among many others.

Of course, no New Orleans party is complete without music, food and a little booze.

There will plenty of that to go around at this gathering, with 25 local restaurants slated to offer cocktails and cuisine to the sounds of a variety of local performers.

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 Tropical Isle Bourbon: Jezebels Chill’n (RK) 5p, Debi and the Deacons (RK) 9p Tropical Isle Original: Debi and the Deacons (RK) 5:15p, Late As Usual (RK) 9:15p

THURSDAY AUGUST 31

Bacchanal: Raphael Bas (JV) 12p, Mike Harvey’s Hot Club (JV) 7:30p Bombay Club: Kris Tokarski and Tim Laughlin (JV) 8p Buffa’s: Tom Saunders and the Hotcats (VR) 5p, Tom McDermott and Chloe Feoranzo (JV) 8p Bullet’s: Kermit Ruffins and the BBQ Swingers (JV) 6p Chickie Wah Wah: Phil DeGruy (VR) 6p, John “Papa” Gros Band (VR) 8p Crazy Lobster: the Spanish Plaza 3 (VR) 5p d.b.a.: Little Freddie King (BL) 10p Dragon’s Den: Crescent Fresh Stand-Up (CO) 7p Funky Pirate: Mark and the Pentones (BL) 4p, Blues Masters feat. Big Al (BL) 8:30p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Comedy Gumbeaux (CO) 8:30p Jazz Playhouse: James Rivers Movement (JV) 8p Kerry Irish Pub: Jamie Lynn Vessels (FO) 8:30p Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop: Lucky Lee (SS) 9p Le Bon Temps Roule: Soul Rebels (BB) 11p Little Tropical Isle: Allen Hebert (RK) 5p, Frank Fairbanks (RK) 9p Maison: Sidewalk Swing, Good for Nothin’ Band, Dysfunktional Bone (VR) 4p Maple Leaf: the Trio feat. Johnny Vidacovich and special guests (FK) 11p NOSH: Larry Sieberth and Ed Wise (JV) 7p Ogden Museum of Southern Art: Paz Fest: A New Orleans Tribute to Joni Mitchell (FO) 6p Old U.S. Mint: Talkin’ Jazz with Fred Kasten (JV) 2p Preservation Hall: Preservation Legacy Band feat. Gregg Stafford (TJ) 6p, Preservation All-Stars feat. Lucien Barbarin (TJ) 8p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: Geno Delafose (ZY) 8:30p Snug Harbor: Karin Williams Quartet (JV) 8 & 10p Spotted Cat: Up Up We Go (JV) 2p, Sarah McCoy (JV) 4p, Miss Sophie Lee (JV) 6p, Jumbo Shrimp (JV) 10p Three Muses: Tom McDermott (JV) 5p, Gal Holiday and the Honky Tonk Revue (CW) 8p Tropical Isle Bourbon: Beach Combers (RK) 5p, Debi and the Deacons (RK) 9p

FESTIVALS Funky Pirate: Blues Masters feat. Big Al (BL) 8:30p Hi-Ho Lounge: Progression Music Series (VR) 9p House of Blues: Social Distortion (RK) 8p Howlin’ Wolf (the Den): Drew Dixon (SS) 9p Howlin’ Wolf: CBDB (RK) 9p Jazz Playhouse: Glen David Andrews (JV) 8p Kerry Irish Pub: Beth Patterson (FO) 8:30p Little Gem Saloon: Zakk Garner (JV) 7p Maison: Dinosaurchestra, Jazz Vipers, Midnight Love Band (VR) 4p Maple Leaf: the Jordan Anderson Band (VR) 10p Morning Call: Valerie Sassyfras (VR) 10a, Krewe du Two (VR) 1p Preservation Hall: Preservation All-Stars feat.

Charlie Gabriel (TJ) 8p Rock ‘n’ Bowl: Jerry Embree (SI) 8p Snug Harbor: Uptown Jazz Orchestra (JV) 8 & 10p

Organized by the Contemporary Arts Center (CAC), Whitney White Linen Night acts as a fundraiser for the arts complex.

While the main block party is free, food and beverages will need to be purchased with tickets that benefit the CAC and the Arts District New Orleans. Additionally, the CAC will keep the celebration going until midnight with a $10 after party.

Julia Street, Saturday, August 5, 2017, 5:30 p.m.

—Sam D’Arcangelo

AUGUST 4-6 The annual Satchmo SummerFest features live music on multiple stages, regional food vendors and a music symposium.

FQFI.org/Satchmo

SPECIAL EVENTS AUGUST 5 Whitney White Linen Night takes place at the Contemporary Art Center and at art galleries and institutions in the Warehouse Arts District.

CACNO.org/wwln2017 AUGUST 22-FEBRUARY 18, 2018 Grammy Museum Mississippi presents an exhibit celebrating the blues musician John Lee Hooker. Opens Aug. 22. GrammyMuseum.org ONGOING The New Orleans Jazz Museum at the Old U.S. Mint presents the exhibit “Pete Fountain: A Life Half-Fast.” MusicAtTheMint.org

www.OFFBEAT.com

BACKTALK

Emilio Castillo of

Tower of Power

talks back

Emilio Castillo stands third from the right

PHoto: COURTESY OF TOWER OF POWER

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n a music industry so fickle that some groups don’t make it 50 days after releasing a recording, the mighty Tower of Power will celebrate its 50th anniversary next year. The celebrated ambassadors of Oakland soul have been setting stages on fire since the group formed in 1968, through a string of memorable 1970s hits (“You’re Still a Young Man,” “So Very Hard to Go,” “What is Hip?”), a legendary association with famed concert promoter Bill Graham and a first-call horn section that remains the one to beat. Today, the 10-member band not only features a power roster of musicians’ musicians, it still specializes in (and has fun playing) music for the dance floor and for the soul—the kind of timeless soul power that inspired a young Emilio Castillo, the group’s leader, second tenor saxophonist, vocalist, writer, producer and founder of Tower of Power. His secret to keeping it going remains the same today as it has been over the years: to play it just the way you want it to be. Here, Castillo raps with WWOZ FM’s Soul Sister, a.k.a.

Melissa Weber, about Oakland, Tower of Power and all things soul.

Next year, Tower of Power will celebrate its 50th anniversary. Did you think the band would exist for so long?

No, I certainly did not. But, you know I didn’t really think in those terms when I started out. I was just a kid, I was 17... 1968. It was a special time in our country. We were caught up in the whole Bay Area thing, and knew we wanted to play music. We were into soul music, and it became a passion for us. The band I idolized was a local band called the Spiders. They were really tight. They had a horn section, and great background vocals; really soulful singing. And I remember they got a gig in Sacramento. And I thought, ‘Man, if I could get to Sacramento, that would be something.’ That’s how small my thinking was as a 17-year-old. So, yeah, 50 years in the business was not even in my scope.

www.OFFBEAT.com

By Melissa Weber a.k.a. DJ Soul Sister

How did you start Tower of Power?

We were just a bunch of kids in the neighborhood. Got in a little trouble, me and my brother and my friend Jody. We went and tried to steal some Muscle Man T-shirts. They were these popular T-shirts with the young boys at the

time. Really tight, sort of pastel colors. We had the good idea that we’d walk through Mervyn’s [Department Store] and put on three of ’em and put our shirt over it on our way to the pool, and we would get ourselves three free T-shirts, y’know? And we got caught the first time out.

I had a really short crime career. [laughs] And my dad, he came and picked us up, made us apologize to the manager. Gave us a notebook.

[He] said, ‘Go to your room, fill it with why you’re never going to steal again. And think of something that’s going to keep you out of trouble this summer—or else you’re never coming out of that room.’ The Beatles had just come out. It was 1964. And we said, ‘We want to play music, dad.’

And he took us to the music store immediately, and said, ‘Anything you want.’ And we started a band that day. We didn’t, like, practice our instruments for years and then join a band. We started the band first, and then we learned how to play. So we were just a bunch of kids that didn’t know nothing, and after a couple of years we started to play pretty good. That’s when we got turned on to soul music. I was about 16. Soul music was the thing in the East Bay. Over in San AU G U ST 2 017

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“My father came to me and said, ‘I know how important this band is to you. You can stay out here for a year, but if nothing happens, you’ve got to come back and live with us.’

And that was the arrangement.”

Francisco and different parts of the Bay Area, it was all about the psychedelic thing, but in the East Bay, it was about soul music. We got into that, and we got blinders on—we just couldn’t see nothing else. It was all about Otis Redding, James Brown, that kind of stuff. We never looked back.

Tower of Power is considered one of the anchors of the Oakland soul music scene coming out of the late 1960s and 1970s.

Some of the bands include Cold Blood, Graham Central Station, the Pointer Sisters and Azteca. What was that scene like, and what was your role in it?

As you say, there were a lot of great bands.

Sly & the Family Stone used to play right there in Hayward [California] at Frenchy’s, and me and ‘Rocco’ [Francis Prestia], my bass player, we used to go on weekends. And we would go along the back and climb over the fence, and go in the back way through the pool. And stay there all night. They had free breakfast at eight in the morning. [Sly] was there for a year.

That was the scene. Sly Stone was a disc jockey at the time—very popular, really funny on the radio. He’d play great soul music. What sort of set us apart, though, is when we got signed to Bill Graham at the Fillmore. And we went to make our first record. This guy Bruce Steinberg who was doing the album cover said, ‘You guys should claim Oakland as your home.’ And we’re like, ‘What do you mean? We live in Oakland.

What do you mean, “Claim it?”’ [laughs] He said, ‘No, with the record. We’ll call it East Bay Grease, and we’ll put a map of Oakland on it.’

We didn’t think of that being a good cover—a map? [laughs] And he says, ‘No, just think about it. The whole world talks about San Francisco and the psychedelic sound, and you just got signed by the guy who started it, Bill Graham.

But, you’re not about psychedelic music. You’re about soul music! So rather than say you’re from the San Francisco Bay Area, you guys step right out and say you’re from Oakland.’ And so we did, and we’ve been doing that ever since. Our sound was an Oakland soul sound.

The type of music that Sly played on the radio: Howard Tate and Freddie Hughes and Jesse ‘Mr. Soul’ James—all that stuff—it sounded like Oakland. That’s what people were used to in the East Bay, and we tried to emulate that sound and create our own version of it.

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I know a lot of Tower of Power fans may have first encountered your music through the hit singles that charted in the 1970s.

As a record collector, my intro was picking up a copy of East Bay Grease. Such a raw, funky record. What do you remember about writing and recording it?

We wrote the record while I was still living with my parents. We had sold our house and moved into an apartment building, and ‘Doc’ [Stephen Kupka] was living in our garage. And so he had to get an apartment. That’s when we started hanging out and writing, at that apartment complex in the suburb outside of Oakland. Then we moved into East Oakland and had a house together there. My parents left and went back to Detroit. They’re like, ‘We’re going to Detroit.’ I was like, ‘What are you talking about? I’ve got the band, I can’t [leave].’

My father came to me and said, ‘I know how important this band is to you. You can stay out here for a year, but if nothing happens, you’ve got to come back and live with us.’ And that was the arrangement. And within one year, we got signed to Bill Graham. Everyone wanted to get signed to this record label that Bill Graham started, called San Francisco Records or Fillmore Records. He had two labels. And the way you did it was you auditioned at the Fillmore Auditorium on a Tuesday night. So we got one of those auditions, and I guess it was just our time. I remember we were playing the set, and I saw a door open in the back. I saw a head stick out, and that was Bill Graham. He liked horns, he liked rhythm, and he liked exciting soul music. Next thing you know, we were signed. So we went in the studio with this producer named David Rubinson, who was sort of like the boy wonder that Bill had brought out from New York.

And we recorded it really fast. We recorded the whole album in like a week, and then he mixed it in another week. It seemed a little too fast to me. But that was our opening statement. It was kind of a local hit; it didn’t go national too well.

Locally, we were known for this uptempo funk.

But we had this one ballad [on the album] called ‘Sparkling in the Sand,’ a really light, beautiful ballad with a flute. Ironically, that was the one they were playing in regular [radio] rotation. Back then, that’s when FM radio first started. There were no program directors telling you [that] you can only play 18 songs an hour. You could play whatever you wanted. So they were playing ‘Sparkling in the Sand’ regularly. But then they’d play ‘Knock

Yourself Out’ or ‘Social Lubrication’ or ‘The Skunk, the Goose, and the Fly,’ and people were like, ‘So that’s the same band that [did] that flute song?’

They couldn’t put it together. [laughs] We went from being a nobody in the Bay Area, and all of a sudden, we got really popular. At the time, Cold Blood was the popular band. We sort of started inching up on them. Pretty soon, we were doublebilled with them. Next thing you know, we sort of surpassed them. East Bay became our world.

One of the signatures of Tower of Power’s sound is the horn section. In addition to the band’s own albums, the Tower of Power horns are recognized as an entity unto themselves, featured on hundreds of recordings and collaborations. How did that come about?

It wasn’t a plan; it was kind of an accident.

We just started getting calls, and it became this sideline thing. A lot of people, they think we’re a horn section, because they see our names on so many famous records. But really, it doesn’t take any of our time at all. We go, and it’s a three-hour session, and we’re done.

Mostly what we do is Tower of Power.

What have you learned along the way?

When things were really tough, we were being urged to try and be like other bands. The record company couldn’t get us airplay. This is late 1970s, early ’80s, and all the new wave and punk rock was coming in, Devo, and the Motels, Berlin, all these bands. They looked at us like we were a bunch of dinosaurs. And they’d say, ‘If you could try to sound like so-and-so, we can get you some airplay.’ They were giving us a ton of money, so we were trying to please them. But every time we did, we still sounded like Tower of Power, just a bastardized version because we were trying to make it sound like something else.

After all the record deals died out and everything was crumbling, we still could play live. We had fans that wanted to see us live. I remember telling the guys, ‘You know what? Let’s just quit doing all that stuff. Let’s just make the music the way we want to make it.’ That’s much more fun, and that’s what we do best. So we play the music exactly the way we want it to be.

O Tower of Power will play House of Blues on August 20. An extended version of this interview is on offbeat.com. www.OFFBEAT.com