Funky.

If you wanted to characterize what makes New Orleans music unique in the world, it’s all that. Funky and soulful and real. We pride ourselves on the authenticity of our culture—there’s nothing artificial or plastic about it, despite Hollywood’s goofy portrayal of New Orleans over the years.

I always admire people who take a risk to further propagate New Orleans’ authentic music culture. It makes me glad when I see homeboys trying to elevate and educate the homogenous masses’ intellects and tastes to something sublime—like New Orleans music.

Almost two years ago, Michael Murphy started talking to me about an idea he had to make a film about New Orleans music and musicians that would be able to get the word out to a wider audience. This film was to be his analogy to Buena Vista Social Club, the documentary film that showcased the masters of Cuban music to the world. Michael’s always shot music films; his company, founded in 1991, specializes in music-based programming. I’ve known Murphy and his family for a long time, but mostly Michael, who has always documented local music—at first going the artsy non-profit route. He teamed up with producer Cilista Eberle in 1992 and began directing projects for the House of Blues, WorldStage, Trio, and the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, among others.

Murphy has been pitching his idea to major studios, and finally Columbia-TriStar signed on to distribute a film that will showcase a singular event in New Orleans music: Make It Funky. The executive producer is Daniel Roth of Revolution Studios, with Cilista Eberle co-producing. Murphy will shoot a live concert in high-definition format at the Saenger Theatre on April 27 at 8 p.m. that will include some of the most influential musicians in New Orleans’ musical history: Allen Toussaint, the Neville Brothers, Monk Boudreaux, Lloyd Price and Earl Palmer, among many others. The influence of New Orleans R&B and funk’s legacy will be showcased by a newer generation of musicians at the event, to include Henry Butler, Jon Cleary, Irvin Mayfield, Troy Andrews, Kermit Ruffins, Big Sam’s Funky Nation and Steve Jordan. Murphy also promises that there will be “legendary” rock players who have been influenced by New Orleans music (who hasn’t?) in attendance as well. We’re hoping for Bonnie Raitt, Santana, Randy Newman…how about it, Fats?

The concert and resulting film, which will also include interviews with local musicians and footage shot around the musical neighborhoods of New Orleans, will benefit PopRox, a program of the Nobel (as in the Peace Prize) Foundation and Gibson Guitars. PopRox is an educational foundation that creates curriculum to further the study of the importance of music and cultural diversity in culture. PopRox already is established in 35,000 junior and high schools and is supposed to reach over 10-million kids. Make It Funky is slated to become the national template to create a program where kids will study the importance of New Orleans’ music, cultural heritage and legacy.

Make It Funky is just a part of the orgy of music that sweeps over New Orleans during Jazz Fest. It’s the one time of year that I wish would continue every month, because during Jazz Fest, everyone talks music, sees music, hears music. I say “more funk, less drunk” in trying to attract people to visit New Orleans. The city’s Music Office kicks off its second annual Mo’ Fest in Woldenberg Park on April 26 and 27, so if you can stay a couple of extra days after the first weekend, you’ll still get the Fest experience. There are concerts and clubs and local music retailer in-stores. It’s just too much for any music lover to gorge on! Luckily, you’ll have a guide to just about everything that’s happening music-wise in New Orleans by browsing through the pages of this month’s OffBeat. We’ve included a handy-dandy music club guide in the center spread of this month’s issue—which also contains the Jazz Fest stage schedule. There’s a list of all the music store performances; a list of concerts; daily listings; tons of reviews, and lot more. Pardon us if we’ve managed to miss something (it certainly wasn’t intentional). Our mission is to let you know about as much music as we can, and then it’s up to you to go out and experience it!

If you didn’t make it to the 35th Anniversary New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, you’ll still be able to purchase some of the performances recorded at the event. The recordings of participating artists will be available within days, and sometimes hours, after the performances have occurred at a new web site—www.jazzfestlive.com.

Customers will have a choice of downloading the recordings to their PCs in various music file formats (AAC, WMA 9, MP3, FLAC) or having the recordings shipped to them on CDs.

The festival is working with MunckMix (www.munckmix.com) to develop and distribute the new music products. MunckMix. comes to Jazz Fest on the heels of its success as the turn-key provider of live recordings of The [Grateful] Dead’s 2003 summer tour. Participating musicians will be announced in the coming weeks. For updates and details when they become available, join the Festival’s e-list at www.nojazzfest.com. Of course if you want your music jones satisfied NOW, buy a CD at a local retailer: the Louisiana Music Factory, the Virgin MegaStore (on Decatur and at their tent on the Fair Grounds) or at Tower Records, or from your favorite local musician at a gig!

Our editors had a bright idea (they actually have lots of them that don’t always make it to the magazine). We asked local musicians three questions: 1. What is your most memorable Jazz Fest Performance? 2. What three acts must you see at this year’s Jazz Fest, and 3) If you produced the Jazz Fest, how would you improve or change it?

The answers to the first two questions are scattered though out this issue. The third question usually elicited answers like: “I wouldn’t change anything. The Jazz Fest does a great job.” We did hear stuff like “Add AstroTurf to the concrete tent areas to absorb some of the sound (listen up, Festival Productions).” Rarely did we hear “Book more local music,” which seems to be the mantra of Festers when they first hear the lineup.

When the publicity folk at Festival Productions heard about our festival improvement question (we originally wanted to call that section “Quint For A Day”) they decided they should be more proactive to let the public know a little bit more about how they operate and sent us this: “Quint Davis does not own the Festival and does not have total control of the event. The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation, Inc. does. The Foundation hires Festival Productions, Inc.-New Orleans to produce the event. The Foundation’s Board of Directors has numerous committees that oversee and approve all facets of Festival operations, including music programming and all expenditures.” So the next time you try to pin all the Festival’s problems on Quint Davis, think again. Quint is the lightning rod for the Jazz Fest and takes the heat for the problems. If you have a problem with the way the festival is run, the music that’s booked, or anything else—you can pin it on both organizations who work in tandem: Festival Productions New Orleans and the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation.

Maybe the Foundation should do some more public relations work on its own to create some goodwill in the community.

But I digress. The Jazz Fest is the best thing that’s happened to local music in 35 years; you can’t deny it. We just need a Jazz Fest (or a French Quarter Fest) every month of the year, where locals and visitors focus on local music and culture. Hey Mardi Gras is fine, but our festivals are the finest.