Jazz in Japan | Three Weeks in New Orleans

“Do you know what it means to BE in New Orleans?”

I spent three weeks in New Orleans doing research at the archives at Tulane University and the Historic New Orleans Collection. My topic was jazz photographs and their meanings. But both those archives close at four-thirty sharp, so what’s a poor boy to do in the Big Easy but head out into the New Orleans night for music, food, and drink. And the inevitable conversation with anyone within hearing distance.

So, here’s a short review of what I heard. I didn’t write up everything, and there were a coupl of so-so gigs in there, but those were the exception to a dozen-plus nights of outstanding music. Is New Orleans the premier music city in America? It sure felt like it. And that’s not just the gumbo talking. You can hear more music, and more different kinds of music, a walk or streetcar or Uber ride away in New Orleans than in perhaps any city in the world.

October 5 Jon Cleary at Zony Mash Beer Project

Though he’s British, Cleary is as New Orleans as they come. He’s taken in the tradition of piano playing from piano professors and uses it to scintillating effect. At the converted theater (the first black-owned theater in New Orleans), Cleary and band jumped into a great set that included his own tunes, classic N.O. R&B like “Sea Cruise,” and ended with a Meters song. The sound echoed off the massive beer tanks on either side of the room, but the full impact of the music made it hard to sit down. People shook it on the dance floor from the first song. Jon Cleary is a masterful musician. If he only played New Orleans classics and Meters tunes, he’d have a fine career and a good living, but his own magnificent originals and his unique take on funky New Orleans music were outstanding.

October 6 Brad Walker and Stanton Moore at Snug Harbor

Snug Harbor, an intimate venue offering the best of New Orleans jazz, was packed for these two great musicians. The airplane-tight seating didn’t bother anyone because the music was so good. With an outstanding pianist and bass player, Walker and Moore were free to wander far and wide, with tight rhythms and soaring solos. Walker displayed a kind of new age-y approach to creating music, breathing deeply, and even kneeling on stage for the last two numbers, but wrapped inside was a dedication to fundamentals of creativity and originality and musical energy. On his recordings, Walker pushes the edges of the music more than with the live audience, but that was fine. Moore’s drumming kept everything lively, spicy, and true to New Orleans. The tunes moved from straight-ahead to second-line rhythms to contemplative jazz. The melodies were lovely, and the improvisations were compelling.

October 9 Serabee at Bourbon O Bar

Wandering down Bourbon Street, music pours out of every other door and window. It sounds like a cliché, but I’d met a roots music aficionado at one club and, cliché though it is, we talked and walked until we were drawn into the Bourbon O Bar by the soulful singing of Serabee. She was a great singer of the old school, meaning gospel church choir, Aretha Franklin soul, and Irma Thompson energy level great. What a find! She had a small, practiced band who had their own ideas that somehow merged with Serabee’s voice and keyboards. Serabee also wrote most of the songs, and even when she pulled out a Meters song, she made it her own. Her singing was moving and her keyboard work so engagingly two-fisted that I looked around for the bass player, but it was just her left hand on the keyboard. She was a force of nature.

October 10 Lyle Lovett and Big Band with opening act Hayes Carll at Tipitina’s

Hayes Carll is a Texas singer-songwriter in the long, esteemed tradition of Townes Van Zandt, Guy Clark, Steve Earle, and other songwriters. He was outstanding, though the crowd seemed to be only half listening, which pissed me off. Few solo artists would be brave enough to open for a well-known fifteen-piece big band, but Carll has presence. He can really tell a story with words that draw you in. He is a master of irony, word craft, and feeling, all key parts of the tradition of singer-songwriting. His songs are clever, funny, humane, and insightful. A delight.

Lyle Lovett was fantastic. The fifteen-piece band came to play. To have two of the greatest session musicians, Leland Sklar on bass and Russ Kunkel on drums, made me think he was making a recording. If so, he didn’t announce it. But he has the pull to get those kinds of musicians on stage. When the band played Western swing, more people would have danced, but the Tipitina floor was too crowded to hoist a drink, much less swing dance. Lovett played not only dance-ready songs but a nice selection of songs from his vast repertoire. He can play a love song with guitar and two backing musicians before kicking it back up for wilder numbers like “That’s Right, You’re Not from Texas.” What a pleasure to hear biggest hits concert from a band like that. They played the songs, yes, but delivered tasteful solos one after the other, too.

October 12 and 13 Crescent City Blues and BBQ Festival at Lafayette Park

I picked two of the best from each day, but could have written more.

Joe Krown and Papa Mali

A fantastic New Orleans old-school performance that should have been later in the day, not that there was any ranked order. They played Professor Longhair tunes like they should be played and other classics with a New Orleans rhythm that was completely infectious. Despite the heat, the crowd listened in rapt attention, swaying, bouncing, and appreciating that those rhythms still sound so relevant and so pleasing. It was a musical history lesson that was front-page fun.

Sue Foley

Her straight-ahead electric guitar blues is something special. Though she hails from Canada, she’s spent serious time in Austin, Texas. Soaking up the blues guitar tradition from there, and all through the south can be heard in her clean, sharp guitar lines, tight soloing, and vocals laden with nuance and irony. When she sings, “Send me to the electric chair,” as an updated Texas blues, she means it. Jumping around to “Barefoot Rock” was no act. She really feels the blues and blasts them out with delight. Her guitar playing and singing is better than ever.

Mitch Woods and his Rocket 88s

Keeping the tradition of rock and roll, New Orleans R&B, and good-time blues flowing with a tight band and a no-nonsense approach is harder than it looks. It’s good-time dance music, sure, but Woods brings out old nuggets and dusts them off to hear them fresh. The band locked into the different rhythms closely and carefully. They know how each subtle shift in the beat carries meaning and energy. They delivered it all with dedication and energy and made it all fit the good-time vibe of the whole city.

Eric Lindell

Playing both his own tunes and several blues, Lindell’s voice and guitar playing have mellowed and deepened into something tasteful and calming. He’s loved by music fans in New Orleans, where he’s lived, but he’s more than just a local guitar hero. He writes tasteful, moving songs with a particular brand of southern, swamp, singer-songwriter mix that really pleases the crowd. His songs have a wistful, knowing vibe that feels like staring out at the Gulf and thinking of past loves, old deeds, and life changes. Some music makes you see the world directly. An honest performer like Lindell doesn’t come along often.

October 14 Stanton Moore at Columns

With James Singleton on bass, and David Torkanowsky on piano, Moore gave a lesson in piano trio intensity and virtuoso percussion. If that sounds overly refined, it was not. Something is just open inside Moore that allows him to move from rhythm to rhythm and make them all unique, but all one. It might feel like one different style after the next, but it’s just him. The rhythms are strong, nimble, whole, foot-tapping, and kind of bewildering to listen to in their subtle virtuosity. Torkanowsky kept up with him all through, delivering thoughtful, full-on solos, and Singleton added percussive playing and a dash of vocals, not because anything was missing, but just because it flowed out. Torkanowsky’s piano held sway with great, full-on improvisations on whatever tune was called while Moore made it all seem so easy.

October 14 House Band at Mahogany Bar

Once upon a time, bars in the French Quarter packed in tourists and locals alike for music originating from a century ago. At the Mahogany bar, they still do. It was not only hard to find a seat, it was hard to even walk into the place. Squeezing through to the back of the bar was well worth it, though. The energy flowed in all directions. The band is not miked, but it’s not needed. Their sound exploded out of the instruments and reverberated off the walls, jiggling the listeners, as if they learned to play before amplification. On old songs like Louis Armstrong’s “Muskrat Ramble” the band played like they were written yesterday. It’s too easy to play this kind of music as corny nostalgia, but it’s not so easy to make it vital and current. The Mahogany Bar is a full-on experience that transports you back in time, but nails you to the present moment.

October 15 Chris Smither at Chickie Wah Wah

This performance was one of the highlights of my stay in New Orleans. I’ve been a fan of Chris Smither for years. He plays blues, Dylan, and his own original songs in very clever and appealing ways. Stomping his foot and working a muscular fingerstyle approach to the guitar, but creates a huge soundscape for his tales of love, loss, life, and laughs. He played some of this old songs, a couple new ones, and one from Tom Petty even, in his own inimitable style. His guitar playing is rooted in old-school blues, but he’s a guitarist’s guitarist. His playing has always been tight and precise, and he hasn’t lost any of that as he’s aged. He sinks deep into bluesy depths but enjoys the beauty of life, too. With only his producer/friend/guitarist as accompaniment, he played one song after the next for two hours with barely a break. Some in the crowd danced, others focused on the lyrics, others on the melodies, and a core group of guitarists in front watched his fretwork. He’s a treasure of a performer.

October 18 Funkfest at New Orleans Jazz Museum

I picked three of my favorites, but it was three days of funky gems.

Corey Henry and Treme Funktet

Treme-born trombonist Henry has a tight, accomplished Funktet that knows how to lay down a groove. Actually, many grooves. Setting the groove from the get-go, Henry and Funktet members didn’t waste time with intros or frills. They just started funking hard. The audience, comfy in chairs in the afternoon sun, didn’t sit for too long after the first song started. They couldn’t. The groove was too infectious. With enough variation to keep jazz lovers’ attention, the group layered horn and vocals onto rhythms churning and bubbling below. Their repeated patterns were practiced and propulsive, with nice turns of melody, and vocals that made you smile with fun.

Eddie Roberts and the Lucky Strokes

The only group not from New Orleans, Roberts and band hail from England where Roberts has led funky, jazzy outfits like The New Mastersounds, among others. He also has his own style of guitar which fits Funkfest perfectly. The band started out with full-on funk but then moved easily into funky blues with raw vocals. The tunes, mostly from the Lucky Strokes’ first CD, featured great vocals in and around Roberts’ masterful guitar. The bass and drums really held the unit together with a rock-solid foundation that let everyone stay fluid and energetic. Their hour-long set upped the level of everything the festival aims for.

New Orleans Suspects with Dirty Dozen Horns

An amazing supergroup from New Orleans, you can hear each member’s experience dripping from every song. They are not just experienced; they boil down their experience into a tight, vibrant sound. The songs were funky, bluesy, gutsy, and would fit any Mardi Gras celebration. When the horn section from Dirty Dozen Brass Band came on stage, the party started heartier. With long, vibrant solos, the band blended jazz, funk, blues, rock, and all points in between. It’s the oldest cliché about New Orleans, but “gumbo” is the only metaphor that really describes their music. And, oh yeah, “delicious” does, too.

New Orleans Suspects and the Dirty Dozen Brass Band Horns

That’s the short report. There was so much more. Not to mention outstanding cuisine. Thanks to WWOZ, 90.7, Guardians of the Groove. Their music calendar is the envy of the world. On any given day, they list 70 venues with everything from ragtime piano to steamboat Dixieland to zydeco to funk to…well, you get the idea. WWOZ also has cool background info, streamable shows, recorded lectures, and even musical walking tours that cover all aspects of the music of this magical city. I can’t wait to go back.