Drummer Jason Marsalis has decided to leave Los Hombres Calientes, the popular Afro-Latin New Orleans jazz group which has been closely associated with his name ever since their first gig in the spring of 1998.

“The main reason I’m going is that it isn’t musically what I want to pursue right now,” he said by phone recently. “I was losing interest in that concept with Los Hombres. It’s a great concept, but it wasn’t what I wanted to pursue. For me, the gig had just run its course.” He added that this move will allow him to devote more time and energy to his ongoing work with pianist Marcus Roberts’ trio. “What I want to do in the long run is the stuff with Marcus Roberts. I’m also going to do some things with my own quintet, but I’m only touring (with the quintet) this year. In 2001 and so forth, that’s going to be with Marcus. That’s really what I want to do.” Possible replacement candidates include Jaz Sawyer and Ricky Sebastian, who have both filled in for Jason on previous Los Hombres gigs. The rest of the line-up, with trumpeter Irvin Mayfield, percussionists Bill and Yvette Summers, pianist Victor Atkins, and bassist Edwin Livingston, remains unchanged.

As it turns out, their last performance with Jason occurred in Cancun, Mexico, on May 12. The last local performance occurred during Jazz Fest when they opened for King Sunny Ade at House of Blues on May 7. An additional “farewell” local concert with Jason may be arranged, but details are still up in the air at this point.

Fest Highlights
Wednesday night before the first weekend I was hanging on the patio at Le Bon Temps, reacquainting with some old friends who had just arrived in town, when the sound of Kermit Ruffins’ band became too irresistible. I walked back and saw that the great New Orleans drummer Ernie Elly (who played with Ray Charles for a period) was sitting in. Elly stayed for the entire show, and the band swung with enormous gusto, especially Kermit, who was even more infectiously cheerful than usual. The overflowing crowd swayed and swooned as the band drove them to hysterics. “Jazz Fest has begun,” I thought to myself. Kermit, of course, was an irrepressible presence throughout the Fest, at the “battle of the bands” with Irvin Mayfield at Tip’s Uptown, at the Fair Grounds (where he sang a magical version of “What a Wonderful World”), sitting in at Donna’s on Monday night, even during his short set at the Louisiana Music Factory on May 3.

That night at Le Bon Temps I watched Wynton Marsalis attempt to enter the club from the side entrance, but it was so crowded he could barely open the door, so he left. (Wynton did manage to sit in with Irvin Mayfield the following night at Snug Harbor.) Henry Butler was also a force to be reckoned with. Showing great versatility, he sat in on organ with funk-guru Zigaboo Modeliste at Tip’s late the first Sunday night, playing the daylights out of “People Say” and “Just Kissed My Baby.”

The following Saturday, after opening for Medeski, Martin & Wood at the Saenger with his blues cohort Corey Harris, Butler sat in with MMW to create one of the most intense, expansive jazz explorations this writer has ever witnessed. Only a few feet from each other, Butler played acoustic grand piano while John Medeski was on organ, and it was fascinating to watch them establish musical communication. They took turns leading and comping in a free-form jam (no tune was called, as far as I could tell) which led them from clever R&B riffs to the depths of avant-garde, glass-breaking expressionism, back out to the sunny shores of Latin and resolving somewhere between Brazil and Memphis circa 1965.

The entire MMW show was outstanding, in fact. The trio consistently moved from loud electric effects to more delicate instrumental expression, forcing the large crowd in the theater to gradually get quiet and really listen. This progression reached its pinnacle during the encore when, after a remarkable solo by Chris Wood (he played the acoustic bass like a slide guitar), all three musicians completely unplugged. They walked to the front of the stage where there were no microphones, Medeski playing a small mouth organ, Billy Martin a shaker and Wood bowing his bass. The theater became so quiet you could hear them from the balcony. After a minute or so, they walked off continuing to play second-line style. The perfect exit.

At the beginning of Naked Orchestra’s set at the Lagniappe stage, guitarist/leader Jonathan Freilich said, “We’re gonna give you everything today, far out, far in, ups, downs, inside-out, upside-down, in-between… and maybe some things we don’t even know about yet.” It was a promise that only this all-star avant-garde big band could keep. They blazed through a remarkably tight and varied song selection; some were composed, some improvised, some were both. The climax was “Little One,” which gradually built up with intense trumpet, flute, sax, guitar and drum solos into an explosive moment when all 17 pieces erupted into a volcano of sound.

Trumpeter Nicholas Payton seemed to be in an exceptionally fun-loving mood for his Jazz Tent performance, cracking plenty of jokes during band introductions (calling Anthony Wonsey “the greatest pianist in the whole band,” and describing saxophonist Tim Warfield as “cleaner than a Safeway chitlin”). But there was no fooling around when Payton’s band dove into white-hot versions of “Nick @ Night,” “Blacker Black’s Revenge,” and other scintillating material from his new album. They also performed exuberantly on “Night Train” and the classic Armstrong piece “West End Blues.” Not surprisingly, McCoy Tyner was mind blowing in the Jazz Tent again this year, in no small part because of his trio mates, bassist Avery Sharpe and drummer Aaron Scott. At one point during “Mellow Minor,” Sharpe took a phenomenal bass solo using many techniques—strumming, slapping and even plucking in an almost country-like fashion—and the audience began clapping spontaneously to the groove, which is very unusual during a contemporary jazz solo.

Trumpeter and NOCCA jazz instructor Clyde Kerr, Jr. showcased several promising young jazz talents with his Jazz Tent set, such as trumpeter Christian Scott, saxophonist Devon Phillips and Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews. During a Kerr composition dedicated to the Treme neighborhood, 14-year-old Andrews took the first truly “modern” trombone solo I’ve heard him play, using faster lines based on complex harmonies. Obviously, new worlds are opening up to him at NOCCA, and he has a bright future if he continues to develop.