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Simply the Best

Every year, OffBeat throws the first great party with the Best of the Beat, a celebration of New Orleans food, music and culture. The show is a benefit for Renew Our Music (formerly the New Orleans Musicians’ Hurricane Relief Fund), and this year we’re proud to recognize the achievements of arranger Wardell Quezergue, our Lifetime Achievement recipient in Music, for his efforts as one of the architects of the New Orleans R&B sound. Quezergue arranged “It Ain’t My Fault,” “Big Chief,” “Mr. Big Stuff” and countless other hits, and he’ll be in the spotlight with his band performing some of his best known songs with some special guests.

Once again, we’ll have music in both the House of Blues’ main room and in the Parish, with the return of Cyril Neville, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Davell Crawford, James Singleton, the Soul Rebels, the Zydepunks, Big Blue Marble, the sea shanties of Alex McMurray’s Valparaiso Men’s Chorus, Amanda Shaw, Clint Maedgen and the Special Men’s tribute to Ernie K-Doe and we have a surprise or two more up our sleeves.

A good party is fueled by good food, and once again some of the city’s finest restaurants are joining us for the occasion. Cochon, Galatoire’s, Jacques-Imo’s, Mat & Naddie’s, the Gumbo Shop, La Cote Brasserie, the Praline Connection, Slice Pizzeria, Juan’s Flying Burrito, Nirvana, Hookah Café, EAT New Orleans, Whole Foods Market, Le Citron Bistro, Hubig’s Pies, and one of the restaurants in the Dickie Brennan family will be among the participants, and we’re adding more.

The reason for the party, though, is to honor the best in our city’s music. We’ll celebrate the accomplishments of our other Lifetime Achievement honorees—Gonzales Music’s Roy Shaw and high school band director Wilbert Rawlins, Jr.—and our Heartbeat Award winner Cynthia Simien, who worked to make the Cajun and Zydeco Grammy Award a reality.

We’ll also recognize excellence in the music business with our Music Business Awards Wednesday, January 9 in Harrah’s New Orleans Theater. This event is invitation-only, but tickets are on sale now for the House of Blues. A limited number are available for $20; after that, they’re $25. We’re doing what we can to make a party like this as affordable as possible, and we appreciate our sponsors’ help. We couldn’t do it without the help of the House of Blues, Miller Lite, Glazer’s, the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival and Foundation, WWL-TV, Capital One and Harrah’s. The Wardell Quezergue tribute is sponsored by the Ponderosa Stomp Foundation and Renew Our Music.

Here are the nominees. Now it’s your turn, our readers, to make your opinion count by going to offbeat.com and/or wwltv.com and casting your vote for the best of 2007.

Best Blues Band or Performer
Tab Benoit
Mem Shannon & the Membership
Washboard Chaz Blues Trio

Best Blues Album
Tab Benoit with Louisiana’s LeRoux: Power of the Pontchartrain (Telarc)
Buddy Flett: Mississippi Sea (Out of the Past)
Andy J. Forest: Real Stories of Love, Labor and Other Man-Made Catastrophes (Independent)

Best R&B/Funk Band or Performer
Troy Andrews & Orleans Ave.
Galactic
Ivan Neville’s Dumpstaphunk

Best R&B/Funk Album
Galactic: From the Corner to the Block (Anti-)
Papa Grows Funk: Mr. Patterson’s Hat (Funky Krewe)
Various Artists: Goin’ Home: A Tribute to Fats Domino (Vanguard)

Best Rock Band or Performer
Morning 40 Federation
Rotary Downs
Supagroup

Best Rock album
The New Orleans Bingo! Show: Volume 1: Soft Emergencies (Independent)
Quintron: Jamskate (Rhinestone)
Supagroup: Fire for Hire (Foodchain)

Best Rap/Hip-Hop Band or Performer
Baby Boy the Prince
Juvenile
Truth Universal

Best Traditional Jazz Band or Performer
Tom McDermott
Preservation Hall Jazz Band
Don Vappie

Best Traditional Jazz album
Tom McDermott: Live in Paris (STR)
Matt Perrine: Sunflower City (Independent)
Preservation Hall Jazz Band: Made in New Orleans (Preservation Hall)

Best Contemporary Jazz Band or Performer
Terence Blanchard
Christian Scott
Rob Wagner

Best Contemporary Jazz album
Alvin Batiste: Marsalis Music Honors (Marsalis Music)
Terence Blanchard: A Tale of God’s Will (A Requiem for Katrina) (Blue Note)
Christian Scott: Anthem (Concord Jazz)

Best Brass Band
Hot 8 Brass Band
Rebirth Brass Band
The Soul Rebels

Best Gospel Band or Performer
Franklin Avenue Baptist Church Mass Choir
Sherman Washington & the Zion Harmonizers
Paulette Wright & Volume of Praise

Best Cajun Band or Performer
BeauSoleil
Lost Bayou Ramblers
Pine Leaf Boys

Best Cajun album
Pine Leaf Boys: Blues du Musicien (Arhoolie)
Roddie Romero and the Hub City All-Stars: The La Louisianne Sessions (Octavia)
Various Artists: Allons Boire un Coup: A Collection of Cajun and Creole Drinking Songs (Valcour)

Best Zydeco Band or Performer
Chris Ardoin and NuStep
Keith Frank
Curley Taylor

Best Zydeco album
Chris Ardoin and NuStep: M.V.P. (NuStep4Lyfe)
Geno Delafose & French Rockin’ Boogie: Le Cowboy Creole (Times Square)
Curley Taylor and Zydeco Trouble: Nothin’ Feels Like This (Louisiana Soul)

Best Country/Folk/Roots Rock Band or Performer
Susan Cowsill
Red Stick Ramblers
The subdudes

Best Country/Folk/Roots Rock album
Red Stick Ramblers: Made in the Shade (Sugar Hill)
Johnny Sansone: Poor Man’s Paradise (Shortstack)
The Zydepunks: Exile Waltz (Nine Mile)

Best World Band or Performer
Gov’t Majik
Fredy Omar con su Banda
Vivaz

Best Emerging Artist
Shamarr Allen
The Eames Era
Magnetic Ear

Best Cover Band or Performer
Bag of Donuts
The Bucktown Allstars
The Top Cats

Album of the Year
Terence Blanchard: A Tale of God’s Will (A Requiem for Katrina) (Blue Note)
Galactic: From the Corner to the Block (Anti-)
Matt Perrine: Sunflower City (Independent)

Band or Performer of the Year
Troy Andrews
Kermit Ruffins
Pine Leaf Boys

Female vocalist
Susan Cowsill
Irma Thomas
Marva Wright

Male vocalist
John Boutte
Marc Broussard
Clint Maedgen

Bass Player
Robert Mercurio
George Porter, Jr.
James Singleton

Guitar Player
Sonny Landreth
Jimmy Robinson
June Yamagishi

Drummer/Percussionist
Stanton Moore
Shannon Powell
Johnny Vidacovich

Saxophone
Tony Dagradi
Tim Green
Martin Krusche

Clarinet
Tom Fisher
Tim Laughlin
Dr. Michael White

Trumpet
Troy Andrews
Terence Blanchard
Irvin Mayfield

Trombone
Craig Klein
Mark Mullins
Rick Trolsen

Tuba / Sousaphone
Phil Frazier
Kirk Joseph
Matt Perrine

Piano/Keyboards
John Gros
Tom McDermott
Allen Toussaint