Climatically, New Orleans’ seasons aren’t as distinct as other locales’. However, here musical and cultural times of the year are quite defined. Presently, we are at the start of the second line season with five anniversary parades behind us and about 35 yet to go. It could also be said that the fall proclaims the renewal of the jazz season. Last month excellent major shows by pianist Ahmad Jamal at the CAC and Indian sarode player Aashish Khan at Snug Harbor sold out. A wealth of strong programming is yet ahead. This month prominent visiting artists trumpeter/flugelhornist Randy Brecker, keyboardist Lonnie Liston Smith and vibist Roy Ayers arrive in the city.

Wednesday, October 6 marks the fifteenth edition of the Sandbar Series on the University of New Orleans campus. The popular event heftily kicks off with the renowned Randy Brecker coming in to join the UNO Louis Armstrong Quartet including graduate students saxophonist Derek Douget, guitarist David Mooney, drummer Troy Hall and bassist Peter Harris. On Thursday and Friday (October 7 and 8) the trumpeter moves over to Snug Harbor to play with heavy-weights saxophonist Ed Petersen, pianist David Torkanowsky, drummer Adonis Rose and bassist Roland Guerin.

Brecker, who was born in Philadelphia and now resides in New York, boasts an eclectic career since starting out with Clark Terry after heading to the Big Apple in 1966. The trumpeter has long dwelled in the worlds of straight-ahead combos and big bands as well as the funkier elements of fusion. Once a member of Blood, Sweat & Tears, and a sideman with a wealth of legendary musicians such as pianist Horace Silver, drummer Art Blakey and bassist Jaco Pastorius, Brecker has earned much-deserved props as a leader and also teamed with his brother, saxophonist Michael Brecker. Simply put, Randy Brecker gets around.

“We’re going to do a preponderance of original material,” Brecker says of his Snug Harbor dates, adding that he’s sent down material for the local musicians to absorb. “It’s going to be acoustic—I’m also known for doing kind of more electric stuff—but it’s not that big of a club. If it’s an outdoor concert with a hundreds of thousands of kids, it feels very good to do the funky stuff and get the crowd involved. Since New Orleans is such a rhythmic town though, we’re not going to just do straight-ahead all night. We’ll just have a good time.

“These guys will be great because I know them all,” the trumpeter continues. “I played once with Ed in Chicago and I played with Adonis on the road with the Newport Jazz Allstars for a couple of months. Torkanowsky I’ve played with a few times when I was down there and I think a couple of times in New York—I’m familiar with his work.

“New Orleans is one of the only towns in America that’s got its own indigenous culture and I’ve always found that fascinating—all the [Mardi Gras] Indian influences and Dr. John. I’ve always been a big fan of his and have been playing with him for years. I’ll be playing with him in November. I got the Wild Tchoupitoulas record and I kinda researched the music years ago so I’ve got a vague connection and interest with the culture. Off the beaten path, I’ve read a lot of Anne Rice books too.”

GODFATHER LONNIE LISTON SMITH

“In London they gave me the label of Godfather of Jazz Fusion and Funk,” says keyboardist Lonnie Liston Smith via phone from his home in Richmond, Virginia.  He returned to his place of birth in 1987 after spending 35 years working and gaining a huge reputation on New York City’s jazz scene. It began with the pianist joining drummer Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers and moving on to another giant of drums, Max Roach.  Next up was a two-year stint with reed master Rahsaan Roland Kirk documented on the leader’s Don’t You Cry, Beautiful Edith and Here Comes the Whistleman.

“Rahsaan played those three horns and he was very serious about it,” remembers Smith, who leads his own band at Sweet Lorraine’s on October 8 and 9. “That was a good experience—it was a unique experience because of his vision. I remember one week he went on vacation to New Orleans and when he came back he played the whole week on clarinet. New Orleans really had a lot to do with Rahsaan.”

Smith continued to stretch out performing with the legendary saxophonist John Coltrane and began experimenting with electric keyboards, which today mark much of his music, in support of saxophonist Pharaoh Sanders. Smith is heard on Sanders’ signature “Creator Has a Master Plan” and contributed compositions to the leaders’ recorded works including “Astral Traveling.”

The titles to his own albums, such as the very successful Expansions as well as Visions of a New World and Love is the Answer reveal that he, like Sanders and Kirk, seeks to deliver a message with his music.

“I’ve always tried to write songs that were eternal and universal,” Smith reveals. “We definitely need to give peace a chance even in 2004 or else we’re just going to go crazy and destroy each other. When Pharaoh and I were together I wrote a lot of the songs. Music is really the universal language. Music just takes care of everything whether you’re happy or sad or sick or whatever.”

“Give Peace a Chance” will undoubtedly be on the program as Smith brings his band with vocalist Keith Rose, electric bassist Bill Dotts and drummer Abe Speller to Sweet Lorraine’s. He was glad to discover that the club comes equipped with an excellent piano and thus looks forward to playing acoustic as well as electric.

“I just found out yesterday that they have a grand piano,” Smith says with obvious surprise and pleasure, “so I can play both. For years I haven’t had the opportunity to do that.”

Smith comes from a musical family; his father was a member of the group the Gospel Harmonizing Four. Though he describes his brothers as vocally gifted tenors, he says his vocal experience was just singing bass in the back of the choir. He did, however, pick up on the piano at home and also played tuba in marching bands both in high school and college.

“I wasn’t aware of the [New Orleans] brass bands then; I wish I had been,” laments Smith who was thrilled to experience a brass ensemble during a vacation in the city and looks forward to catching one when he’s here. “It was authentic where the tuba was the bass.”