Music
The Desert Nudes: Keep A-Movin’, Dan (Lazy Dan Records)
The cover of the debut recording from the Desert Nudes features three smiling gents in cowboy hats and promises “songs of hydration, vigor, horses and wide-open spaces.” The three cowpokes are André Bohren, David Pomerleau and John Paul Carmody, but it keeping with the tongue-in-cheek presentation all three have stage names beginning with “Danny.”
James Martin: From Here. (Independent)
Saxophonist and singer/songwriter James Martin’s latest release, From Here., opens with a piano riff right out of an old school New Orleans R&B sensibility.
The Colombian Connection: Jazz Fest celebrates Columbia with 17 bands.
The musicians will put a brilliant spotlight on the rich heritage of Colombia across most of the stages and inside the Expedia Cultural Exchange Pavilion. It is the largest celebration of a single country in the long history of the Jazz Fest’s annual cultural exchange. Here’s brief description of some of these great musicians and bands.
Forgotten Souls Honor Tradition and Memory
Ever since the jazzman Danny Barker returned to New Orleans in the mid-‘60s after a successful career in New York, the once-moribund brass band culture in his hometown has reinvented itself with each new generation of musicians. When Barker discovered there were very few young musicians playing the old songs in the old style, he almost singlehandedly was responsible for reviving the tradition with the Fairview Baptist Church Marching Band.
Rory Danger and the Danger Dangers: The Age of Invention (Independent)
For anyone who has seen one of the infrequent performances by Rory Danger and the Danger Dangers, the inherent joy of their live set includes a sense of mystery about the experience, the obvious pleasure the musicians take in playing together and the wide range of musical influences behind the group’s inventive sound.
Abdullah Ibrahim: 3 (Gearbox Records)
At 89 years old, the legendary South African pianist Abdullah Ibrahim has released a double album of live performances.
Adam Deitch Quartet: Roll the Tape (Golden Wolf Records)
Adam Deitch writes in his liner notes, “I’d like to thank all the drummers who have albums under their own names. Drummers are composers too, and the music in our heads must be heard.” His new album proves the point in droves.
Mikayla Braun: Drift (Independent)
Singer/songwriter Mikayla Braun has been working in the trenches of New Orleans music for over a decade, carving a place for herself and connecting with musicians in the tight-knit circle of players breaking out of the “New Orleans music” mold.
New Orleans Electronica Funk: Gravity A announces reunion at the Toulouse Theatre
Sometimes bands in New Orleans make a big splash, earn some press and develop a following. Then they seemingly disappear. Gravity A made more than just a splash in a relatively short time. Though the band’s recorded releases were limited, they burst onto the live local scene with a scintillating blend of rocking funk and electronica, alternately being dubbed “homegrown jamtronica” and “space rock” by this magazine.
The Secret Six Jazz Band: Centennial Tribute To King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band (Independent)
The Secret Six Jazz Band is at it again. Barely ten months after the release of their fourth album, Chicken You Can Roost Behind the Moon, clearly the most prolific neo-trad band in New Orleans is back with a new one, recorded live at the New Orleans Jazz Museum on April 6, 2023.
