May 2013
BackTalk
- BackTalk: Live with Daryl Hall (Interview)
I'm just glad that everybody still gets so excited about us,” says a grateful Daryl Hall during a few minutes of…
Cover Story
- Big Chief Monk Boudreaux:
Shaman of the Tribe
The clouds are gathering and darkening over the corner of 2nd and Dryades on Mardi Gras 2013. Rain has been forecast.… - Walter "Wolfman" Washington's Spiritual Vibrations
The funky blues guitarist they call the Wolfman only let opportunity pass him by once. One night in the early ’60s,…
Features
- Jazz Fest 2013 Focus:
Martha Redbone
Strong-voiced women doing retro-soul are currently a hot property in the pop world. Strong-voiced women doing Appalachian folk settings of works… - Jazz Fest 2013 Focus: Phoenix
If you’re intrigued to see a European electronic art-pop band in the Jazz Fest lineup, so is the band itself. “People… - Jazz Fest 2013 Focus:
Christian Winther
"I sat in with Kermit Ruffins and the Rebirth on the street,” Christian Winther, 38, recalls about his first visit to… - Jazz Fest 2013 Focus: Yvette Landry
It’s hard to imagine life being any crazier for Yvette Landry these days between gigging in one of her four Cajun… - Jazz Fest 2013 Focus: Satan and Adam
Most blues fans have not heard of the guitarist Sterling Magee a/k/a “Five-Fingers Magee” who, after being discharged from the army… - Jazz Fest 2013 Focus:
Johnette Downing
Call it a match made in roots music heaven. Scott Billington, a two-time Grammy producer with Rounder Records, has recorded more… - Jazz Fest 2013 Focus: The Session
"Play some bossa nova,” hollers a belligerent man from his barstool. His tawdry female companion adds to the racket just as… - Jazz Fest 2013 Focus:
Hurray for the Riff Raff
One of the unspoken rules of Jazz Fest is: If you’re playing the big stage, you’d better be loud. Maybe an… - Jazz Fest 2013 Focus:
Alex McMurray
On a recent Saturday evening Alex McMurray filled Siberia with an audience that hung on every word of his compositions, a… - Jazz Fest 2013 Focus: Queen Ida
It’s a tough task to excite a musician who’s performed in 45 countries, appeared in movies and shared the stage and… - Jazz Fest 2013 Lineup A to Z Performer Guide
The producers of Jazz Fest are fond of noting that fans who come for the big names always wind up… - Guiding Spirits: Jazz Fest Tributes to Coco Robicheaux, Uncle Lionel, Bob French & Hadley Castille
Last year at French Quarter Fest, a number of his friends and bandmates joined for a tribute to the late voodoo… - Nicholas Payton: The Simple Truth
Nicholas Payton, now 39, has been a New Orleans trumpet star almost from the moment he first picked up the horn.… - Aaron Neville: One Man's True Story
The secret to Aaron Neville’s genius has been hiding in plain sight all these years. His perfectly balanced voice, a warm,… - The Mavericks: Built to Last
"This is a very masculine record,” says Cuban/American Mavericks frontman Raul Malo with profound understatement. “There’s a little bravado in there,… - Jeffrey Broussard, Cedric Watson and Corey Ledet's Waltz with History
When Jeffery Broussard left the Zydeco Force in 2005 to launch a new, more traditional group, he called it Jeffery Broussard… - Old Wine, New Bottles:
The Radiators Hit Jazz Fest
in New Incarnations
The Radiators are gone, but they haven’t gone far away. The beloved local group, which closed the Gentilly Stage for decades,… - Terence Blanchard: Jazz Messenger
In the early 1980s, trumpeter Terence Blanchard came of age on stage, succeeding Wynton Marsails in drummer Art Blakey’s vaunted Jazz… - Wayne Shorter’s Adventures in the Realm of Jazz’s Superheroes
Wayne Shorter speaks in much the same way that he plays. The saxophonist and composer articulates his unique world view, his… - Harp On: Harmonica Legend Charlie Musselwhite Is on an Up! Swing
"I was 18… I loved the music so much and I never thought of it as something I was gonna do,… - Mercy Brothers: Gospel with a Little Bit of Pro Wrestling
Kevin Sekhani has fond memories of Mid-South Wrestling. In early 1980s Louisiana and Mississippi, the pro wrestling show was a TV… - Phishy Meters
Phish's Page McConnell
Joins the Meter Men
If you’re a Meters fan you’re used to seeing the group in different combinations, whether it’s the funky Meters, Porter-Batiste-Stoltz, or…
Fresh
- Jazz Fest Art at Night
When Kate Gaar started the Frenchmen Art Market in April last year, she envisioned it as “the night shift of Jazz… - New Books at Jazz Fest
Don’t just come home from Jazz Fest with a bunch of New Orleans music for your turntable or IPod, bring some… - Cosimocode.com: Cracking the Cosimo Code
At this point, no one really needs to be reminded that Cosimo Matassa engineered thousands of recordings in the succession of… - OffBeat Cover Artist Karen Ocker Brings Work to Jazz Fest
Karen Ocker, who painted Monk Boudreaux and Walter “Wolfman” Washington for the two covers we’re doing for our Jazz Fest Bible… - Hot Topic: Regulating Culture
Jazz Fest is one of the most popular times of year in New Orleans, attracting millions in tax revenue. But Jazz… - Dumpstaphunk's Funky Decade
Ten years ago, Ivan Neville put his solo career in the dumpsta. As a solo artist during the ‘80s and ‘90s,…
Letters
- May 2013 Letters to OffBeat
THE ESSENCE OF GATEMOUTH Scott Saltzman’s photographic image of Gatemouth Brown’s hands on his guitar (March 2013 issue) brought tears to…
Mojo Mouth
- How Much Work Is This? A Lot.
For anyone who attends anoutdoor music festival or special event in New Orleans:You know you love it. We know you really…
OffBeat Eats
- Dining Out: Morning Call Coffee Stand (Restaurant Review)
New Orleans has long been the center of caffeine culture in North America. With bags upon bags of green coffee beans… - Shamarr Allen Hits the Spot at Katie's
Why did you choose to come to Katie’s today? I love the food, man, the food is great. You can get… - New Eats on the Block: New Orleans' Restaurant Expansion Reaches New Neighborhoods
It has been said that New Orleans is the only city in the world where new restaurants open, but no restaurants… - Jazz Fest Food Vendors Dish on Their Top Eats
Ever loved a dish from a restaurant? Really loved it? As in, no matter how many times you visit the restaurant,…
Dining Out
- Dining Out: Morning Call Coffee Stand (Restaurant Review)
New Orleans has long been the center of caffeine culture in North America. With bags upon bags of green coffee beans… - New Eats on the Block: New Orleans' Restaurant Expansion Reaches New Neighborhoods
It has been said that New Orleans is the only city in the world where new restaurants open, but no restaurants… - Jazz Fest Food Vendors Dish on Their Top Eats
Ever loved a dish from a restaurant? Really loved it? As in, no matter how many times you visit the restaurant,…
Photo Op
- Photo Op:
Cloudy with a Chance of Jazz Fest
Golden Richard III
My primary goal in music photography is to capture as much of the energy of live performances as possible—it sounds a…
The Spot
- Shamarr Allen Hits the Spot at Katie's
Why did you choose to come to Katie’s today? I love the food, man, the food is great. You can get…
Reviews
- Davell Crawford: My Gift To You (Basin Street)
Buy on Amazon Davell Crawford often gets called the “Piano Prince of New Orleans,” but that usually isn’t meant in the… - Kermit Ruffins: We Partying Traditional Style (Basin Street)
It may have been the Beatles whose experimentation from album to album raised the expectation that recording musicians always had to… - Spencer Bohren: Tempered Steel (Valve Records)
Buy on Amazon When Spencer Bohren decided to form a group called the Whippersnappers with his son Andre, he took time… - Terence Blanchard: Magnetic (Blue Note)
Buy on Amazon Terence Blanchard brilliantly continues his life-long exploration of jazz on his latest release. As one would expect of… - Bonerama: Shake It Baby (Independent)
Don’t look now, but Bonerama has turned into a full-fledged rock band. True that classic rock was always in them, and… - David Egan: David Egan (Independent)
Buy on AmazonBuy on iTunes David Egan’s songs may be better known than he is. As the writer or co-composer of… - Gregory Agid Quartet: Mystery Blues (Independent)
Over the past few years, clarinetist Gregory Agid has seemingly remained the New Orleans jazz scene’s best-kept secret. However, with the… - Yvette Landry: No Man’s Land (Independent)
Buy on Amazon No sophomore slump here, Yvette Landry delivers a beaut that honky tonks its way through an assortment of… - Panorama Jazz Band: Dance of the Hot Earth (Independent)
For a New Orleans jazz group, the Panorama Jazz Band has a very reliable lineup. Four years after the release of… - Joel Savoy’s Honky Tonk Merry-Go-Round: Joel Savoy’s Honky Tonk Merry-Go-Round (Valcour Records)
Joel Savoy’s Honky Tonk Merry-Go-Round is a real sweetheart of an album—an informal gathering of accomplished young Cajun musicians taking their… - Big Al and the Heavyweights: Sunshine on Me (Blusiana Music)
Buy on AmazonBuy on iTunes[iframe class="spotify-right" src="https://embed.spotify.com/?uri=spotify:album:61v1nJU2Ub8vmbfqgv2gYX" width="300" height="380" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true"] When the CD cues up and the first cut “Don’t… - Steve Masakowski: Things I Like (Independent)
Things I Like Best known for his nearly three decades with Astral Project, guitarist Steve Masakowski has also forged a significant… - Honey Island Swamp Band: Cane Sugar (Louisiana Red Hot Records)
Good rock ‘n’ roll. You don’t realize how you miss it until it hits you full in the face like it… - Soul Project: Music for Movers and Shakers (Frenchmen Street Records)
Buy on Amazon It’s good to hear a band whose sound hearkens to back in the day but also has a… - New Orleans Suspects: Caught Live at the Maple Leaf (Independent)
Sometimes it helps to cut right to the chase: The New Orleans Suspects are above all a live band, so they… - Terence Higgins SwampGrease II: Rage til Sunrise (Gris Gris Bag Entertainment)
Buy on AmazonBuy on iTunes Terence Higgins’ collective Swampgrease II is aptly named. This is some slippery music, flowing but not… - John Fohl: Teeth & Bones (Independent)
John Fohl’s latest CD, his first as a leader in more than a decade, represents a satisfied man’s blues. After an… - Zachary Richard: Le Fou (Avalanche Productions)
Le Fou translates as “the crazyman,” but it’s also the French name for the Northern Gannet, a seabird that migrates between…
