Music
Jeff Coffin & Helen Gillet, Let it Shine (Ear Up Records)
Jeff Coffin and Helen Gillet’s new cello/reeds duet record is both head-bopping in its meditative moments and thoughtful even when it hits a groove. Coffin, best known for his work […]
Best of the Beat: Positive Vibrations Heartbeat Award – Cherice Harrison-Nelson
As Ellis Marsalis is often quoted (but never enough, really), “In other places culture comes down from on high. In New Orleans, it bubbles up from the streets.” And on […]
Bookmark: Bryan Wagner, The Wild Tchoupitoulas (Bloomsbury Academic – 33 1/3 Series)
Bloomsbury Academic has been publishing short books that analyze classic albums from different perspectives. The subjects of these books range from Rolling Stones to Bob Mould to Prince to Celine […]
L.E.S. Douze, The Stoned (Nouveau Electric Records)
In the beginning of the summer of 2016, Louis Michot of the Lost Bayou Ramblers and Michot’s Melody Makers had a residency at one of the centers of forward thinking […]
Johnette Downing with Scott Billington, Swamp Romp (Wiggle Worm Records)
The new record by nationally recognized children’s music maven Johnette Downing and harp player Scott Billington (whose second career as a music producer has been our reward) is entertaining for […]
Michot’s Melody Makers, “Blood Moon” (Sinking City Records)
Not since the madmen of Fat Possum Records got Tom Rothrock (engineer of Beck’s early recordings) to remix R.L. Burnside’s Hill Country blues-drone on Come On In has someone so […]
Neslorchestra, The Primordial Epiphany (Album Review)
Not all records can combine gonzo, dystopian conspiracy narratives and heartfelt pretty playing, but somehow long-awaited Neslorchestra record makes these seeming opposites work. It might be due to leader Rick […]
Cats on Fats
In April 2015 OffBeat writer David Kunian asked New Orleans piano players three questions: What is your favorite Fats Domino tune and why? What does Fats Domino and his music […]
Lifetime Achievement in Music Business: Sonny Schneidau
In New Orleans, there are people who make the music and people who make the music happen. The people who make the music happen are the record store owners, the […]
You Blows Who You Is: Louis Armstrong embodied the folksy sophistication that marks New Orleans
It is difficult to say something about Louis Armstrong that is original or new. He is one of the most analyzed and debated American and New Orleans figures. As I […]
