June 2015
Cover Story
- Banu Gibson and the Simple Lessons of Jazz
If f you study with Banu Gibson at her New Orleans Traditional Jazz Camp, one of the first things she’ll do…
Features
- Jazz Brunch in New Orleans
For many New Orleanians, Sunday brunch is the big socio-culinary event of the week. The free-flowing bubbly wine (it might well… - Ruben Moreno Pushes Zydeco Forward
When rising zydeco star Ruben Moreno opens the Louisiana Cajun-Zydeco Festival on the morning of Sunday, June 7, it will become… - Jazz Fest Redux
Contributors: Laura DeFazio (LD); Frank Etheridge (FE); Stephen Maloney (SM); Brett Milano (BM); David Kunian (DK); Jennifer Odell (JO); John Swenson… - Valcour Records Releases Lomax Recordings Box Set
A decade ago, a trio of like-minded 20-somethings pooled their distinct yet complimentary talents to form a record label. Even in…
Dining Out
- Dining Out: Johnny Sánchez
Celebrity chefs tend to travel in packs. So last spring, when I spotted John Besh scarfing down chicken wings at Mopho…
OffBeat Eats
- Dining Out: Johnny Sánchez
Celebrity chefs tend to travel in packs. So last spring, when I spotted John Besh scarfing down chicken wings at Mopho…
Fresh
- Cosimo Matassa on Governor Nicholls Street
UPDATE: This article was published in OffBeat's June 2015 issue. Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt's French Quarter home is no longer on… - Slim Harpo Awards
Louisiana has turned out such a baffling number of influential musicians over the centuries that it’s nearly impossible to give everyone… - Top 10 New Orleans Summer Songs
The New Orleans canon is pretty light on summer songs, probably because it’s a topic nobody can work up much enthusiasm… - Soundcheck: Five Questions with Jon Smith
This is the 29th year of the Creole Tomato Festival. What are the keys to keeping an annual event such as… - Top 10 Biggest Selling Albums of Jazz Fest 2015
Louisiana Music Factory 1. Eric Lindell: The Sun and the Sea (Sparco) 2. Kermit Ruffins & the Barbecue Swingers: #imsoneworleans (Basin… - My Music: John-Michael Early of Flow Tribe
People who live on the West Coast are similar to us on the Third Coast. We have similar lifestyles, similar tastes…
Obituaries
- Obituary: Brian Ashley White
Louisiana music lost one of its most sensitive chroniclers when photographer and former OffBeat contributor Brian Ashley White, 64, passed away… - Obituary: B.B. King
B.B. King, the singer and guitarist who took the blues sounds of the Mississippi Delta from the juke joints to palaces… - Obituary: Travis “Trumpet Black” Hill
"It has always been embedded in us to play music,” Travis “Trumpet Black” Hill once said of his musical family that…
Mojo Mouth
- Summer Festivals in New Orleans
Spring festival season has ended… let the summer celebrations commence! In June alone, there are festivals almost every weekend: the Louisiana…
Letters
- June 2015 Letters to OffBeat Magazine
JAZZ FEST The following are in response to Jan Ramsey’s Blog “The Changing Face of Jazz Fest.” I believe that the…
In The Spirit
- In the Spirit with Max Messier at Bar Tonique
"I've been in the service industry my whole life. Managed comedy clubs, nightclubs, and my dad managed nightclubs. I remember playing…
The Spot
- Bruce Sunpie Barnes hits the Spot
Is this your first time at High Hat, or are you a regular? I've been here before. I've had the catfish,…
BackTalk
- Backtalk: Johnny Sansone
Johnny Sansone had already established himself as a harmonica virtuoso in New Orleans when he released Crescent City Moon in 1997. The…
Reviews
- Steve Riley & the Mamou Playboys, Voyageurs (Independent)
“Voyageurs” mean travelers, something which Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys has done on many levels over the course of 14… - George Porter Jr., It’s Time to Funk (Independent)
Bassist George Porter Jr. is the link between generations of New Orleans schools of funk, a member of the Meters when that… - Irene Sage, Love Is Good (Independent)
Irene Sage is a direct link to the carefree pre-Katrina days when New Orleans was a true musicians’ town and you… - Sasha Masakowski & the Sidewalk Strutters, Old Green River (Independent)
Sasha Masakowski’s third album may be a surprise for those who’ve heard the last one, 2012’s Wishes. That disc was largely… - Rewind: Better Than Ezra, Deluxe (Electra)
Kevin Griffin looks back at the making of Better Than Ezra’s platinum-selling 1995 Electra release, Deluxe. “I was living in L.A.,… - Gina Forsyth, The Fiddle EP (Blue Dot Music)
As a musical artist, Gina Forsyth isn’t an easy one to pin down. She’s been riding shotgun in Bruce Daigrepont’s Cajun… - Billy Iuso, Overstanding (Nawlins Music)
With a crew like the one on this album—George Porter Jr., Art and Ivan Neville, Uganda Roberts, Jimmy Carpenter and Irene… - The Sweetwater Hillbillies, On the Road (Merrimack Records)
These hillbillies are from the butt end of Appalachia, good old Muscle Shoals, Alabama, land of Southern-rock swampers and deep-soul legends,… - Funky Butt Brass Band, Sugar Sugar Whomp Whomp (Independent)
Let’s be perfectly honest: there is little here to distinguish Sugar Sugar Whomp Whomp from most of the other funk and… - The Legendary Doctor Generosity, Oolah Malla Walla (Independent)
Oolah Malla Walla is a record of new compositions written in the style of Professor Longhair and played by an All-Star… - Woodenhead, Live at Tipitina’s (Independent)
This isn’t Woodenhead’s only live album—one of the band’s first releases was a long-gone LP recorded at Jimmy’s—but it is the…
