December 2019
Cover Story
- Adonis Rose and the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra Swing Back onto the Scene
“We’re the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra; we live in New Orleans,” declares drummer Adonis Rose, who in 2016 took over the…
Features
- Christmas Gumbo: The ultimate New Orleans holiday playlist
New Orleans’ history of Christmas music actually begins fairly recently: For all the great records that came out of this city… - The Pogues plus Lost Bayou Ramblers equal Poguetry
When Spider Stacy and Cait O’Riordan from the Pogues meet the Lost Bayou Ramblers, they make Poguetry together. The Pogues, of… - Michael Cerveris and Loose Cattle celebrate “The Day it Snows on Christmas”
It’s a bright sunny afternoon in late October at Hansen’s Sno-Bliz, and with temps in the mid-70s, the line of folks… - Heartbreak & Cocaine: Andre Lovett and his band are not easily pinned down
Any musician who plays in crowded New Orleans bars gets used to people coming up to them between sets and saying…
BackTalk
- Jimmy “Duck” Holmes talks back
Mississippi’s Jimmy “Duck” Holmes is the keeper of the Bentonia blues tradition flame. He follows such earlier practitioners of the country-blues…
Fresh
- What we do in the shadows: Bar Marilou is for everyone
Nestled into the ribs of the newest Atelier Ace hotel, Maison de la Luz, is Bar Marilou, one of New Orleans’s… - Chinese Bandits: An early musical tribute to LSU football champs
As a tip of the hat to the success of the current LSU football squad, OffBeat takes pleasure in recalling a… - Debbie Davis’ show keeps her from getting cynical about Christmas
Christmas can be a time for kicking up and celebrating, for gathering friends together, for taking solace after a tough year,… - My Music: Drummer Jarrel Allen
“I was born in New Orleans, grew up in the 9th Ward, some in the Lower 9th Ward in my early… - Harold Battiste and Cher: I Got You Babe
When Cher brings her Here We Go Again Tour to New Orleans on December 13, she’ll be in the hometown of…
Letters
- Letters to the Editor, OffBeat Magazine December 2019
Overwhelmed? This letter is in response to Jan Ramsey’s blog “Not Dead Yet—Distribution Snafu Affects Retailers and Bands.”—ED Major labels have…
Mojo Mouth
- Mojo Mouth December 2019: Do We Really Want Shiny and Soulless?
I’m sitting on my perch on Frenchmen and Decatur, preparing to send this issue to our printer, all the while listening…
Dining Out
- The Elysian Bar
After a four-year, $20 million rehabilitation project, ASH NYC and New Orleans resident Nathalie Jordi transformed the 19th century St. Peter…
OffBeat Eats
- The Elysian Bar
After a four-year, $20 million rehabilitation project, ASH NYC and New Orleans resident Nathalie Jordi transformed the 19th century St. Peter… - Food and Lagniappe: Midnight Noodle is much more than just a meal
Melvin Rogers Stovall III wants to dish out a new kind of dining experience in New Orleans, one bao at a…
Reviews
- Bruce Sunpie Barnes and Rachel Breunlin, Le Kèr Creole: Creole Composition & Stories from Louisiana (University of New Orleans Press)
The Louisiana Creole language, referred to by many as Creole French, surrounds those living in Louisiana even more than most people… - Charlie and the Tropicales, Presents for Everyone (Independent)
Do you know what goes great with kitsch? More kitsch! By early December, some of us are about to gag on… - Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis, Big Band Holidays II (Blue Engine Records)
Playing live on its home turf in New York City, the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis celebrates the season… - Lost Bayou Ramblers, On Va Continuer! (DVD) / Asteur (CD) (Lost Bayou Records)
This combined DVD-CD offering of the documentary On Va Continuer! and the live album Asteur celebrates the Lost Bayou Ramblers’ 20th… - Dr. John & the WDR Big Band, Big Band Voodoo (Orange Music)
Dr. John is an essential piece of New Orleans for his R&B and rock ’n’ roll sessions at Cosimo Matassa’s studio,… - Billy Vera, Rip It Up—The Specialty Records Story (BMG)
Part of the RPM series of recent books documenting the history of U.S. independent record labels from the mid- 1940s to… - Dave Jordan, Burning Sage (Independent)
Let’s get this out of the way from the get-go. Dave Jordan has crafted a great album; perhaps the best of… - Jon Batiste, Chronology of a Dream – Live at the Village Vanguard (Verve)
Chronology of a Dream represents the second installment of pianist/vocalist/composer Jon Batiste captured live in the fall of 2018 during his… - Samantha Fish, Kill or Be Kind (Rounder)
Following five albums with Germany’s Ruf Records, blues, rock and more singer—guitarist Samantha Fish—moves to the great American roots-music label, Rounder… - The Tangiers Combo, Tangerine (Independent)
In fine print on the back cover of The Tangiers Combo’s new album, Tangerine, it says “this album is dedicated to… - Leyla McCalla, The Capitalist Blues (Jazz Village)
Leyla McCalla’s third solo release The Capitalist Blues is remarkable in terms of ambition, scale, and realization. Whereas her first efforts… - Warren Storm, Taking the World By Storm (APO Records)
At some point when Yvette Landry was writing her book Taking the World, by Storm—A Conversation with Warren Storm Schexnider, The… - Charlie Dennard, Melodias (Independent)
Dennard, a New Orleans pianist who nevertheless makes most of his living on the road with Cirque du Soleil, has put… - Hanna Mignano Quartet, Hanna Mignano Quartet (Independent)
If you are in the mood for jazz manouche, you can set Peabody’s wayback machine to 1930’s Paris or just pop… - In Business, Space Story (Independent)
If any cultural capital in the world could possibly reboot the adventures of the P-Funk mothership, the Crescent City would be… - Frog and Henry, England 2019 / 2019 II (Independent)
Similar to the methods of Tuba Skinny, string and brass band Frog and Henry draw inspiration from the dawn of early… - The New Orleans Swinging Gypsies, Hot Boudin (Independent)
The swing music scene in New Orleans is in full swing, if you’ll pardon the play on words. As new bands… - Roadside Glorious, Brawn and Bone (Independent)
Roadside Glorious styles itself as a blues-rock group, but there’s a surprisingly strong soul element that lands them more on the… - Georgi Petrov, Alien of Extraordinary Abilities (Breakfast for Dinner Records)
An “Alien of Extraordinary Abilities” is not a Grey with telekinesis or something like that, as jazz guitarist Georgi Petrov playfully… - Feufollet, Prends Courage (Feufollet Records)
Christened after the boisterous garage rocker from Feufollet’s 2008 Cow Island Hop, Prends Courage marks the group’s 20th anniversary with 17… - Brad Walker Quartet, Live at Snug Harbor (Independent)
As pointed out in the liner notes, this recording, Live at Snug Harbor, was initially captured purely to be used as… - Eyope, Elevation (Independent)
Eyope is an acronym for “elevate your own personal expression” and this new band’s debut EP, Elevation, is a statement of… - Byron Asher, Byron Asher’s Skrontch Music (Sinking City Records)
Reed player and composer Byron Asher, a Maryland native based in New Orleans for the past decade, has been exploring the… - Dukes of Dixieland, New Orleans Voodoo (Leisure Music Group)
With its release year printed as 2015 on the CD’s slipcase packing, Dukes of Dixieland’s voodoo-themed three- song EP is a… - Max and the Martians, Curtains (Independent)
With only four tracks on Curtains, the latest release from Max and the Martians leaves no room for a false step.… - HeavyDrunk, Holywater (Independent)
Raised in Monroe, Louisiana, and Jackson, Mississippi, Rob Robinson leads the Nashville-based soul-blues- Southern rock band HeavyDrunk. On record, the group… - The Rakers, Five (Independent)
Forget Area 51 and Roswell—those hotbeds of paranormal activity ain’t got nothin’ on the psychedelic swamp- gas hoodoo of “Gonzales Lights,”… - Smithfield Fair, Gospelesque (Stevenson Productions)
With its existence inching towards the half-century mark—46 years to be exact—Smithfield Fair is believed to be the longest running folk/singer-songwriter…
