Issue Articles — BackTalk
Ms. Hadda Brooks
This past April, overshadowed by the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, Hadda Brooks made her first appearance in New Orleans at the Shim Sham Club. On October 29th and […]
BackTalk with B.B. King
Mention the blues to the average person on the street and inevitably, the name B.B. King is the first image to enter their consciousness. He took the sounds of the […]
Taj Mahal
Taj Mahal is a master of musical masks, equally at home in the midst of an acoustic blues session, a rock festival, a Hawaiian luau, a Caribbean Carnival, a punky […]
Bo Diddley
This past May 14th, the Mississippi-born, Chicago-bred rocker marked his 49th year in the music business: it’s been that long since “Bo Diddley” debuted on the R&B charts and sent […]
BackTalk: George Wein
If you’re lucky enough to be at the Fair Grounds this year on the first Friday, you can see and hear one of those musicians, under the billing of George […]
Sam Butera
He still wears the unmistakable accent of a New Orleans native, but Sam Butera can hardly be claimed as a New Orleans musician. Born in New Orleans in 1927, the […]
Lionel Hampton
In this, the heyday for “retro-swing” performers like Cherry Poppin’ Daddies and The Brian Setzer Orchestra, it’s rare to meet someone who has clear recollections from the original swing era […]
Donald Harrison, Jr.
Donald Harrison, Jr., is one of the most influential modern jazz players of his generation, yet he remains inextricably tied to his New Orleans roots. The 38-year-old saxophonist is the […]
Buckwheat Zydeco
When Stanley Dural, Jr. better known as Buckwheat Zydeco to his many fans- titled his 1997 album Trouble, he had no idea how prophetic the title would be. Despite the […]
