Eleventh Commandment Records and the Saint Hotel have joined forces to present a six-month residency on Friday nights at the Burgundy Bar, located at 931 Canal Street. The residency will feature a roster of 11th Commandment’s signed acts: The Original Tuxedo Jazz Band, The Creole Sweet Tease Burlesque Show featuring Trixie Minx and the Creole Syncopators Jazz Band, Jayna Morgan and the Sazerac Sunrise Jazz Band, Abstract Jazz Band and the Original Deja Vu Brass Band.

The program is anchored by the Original Tuxedo Jazz Band, a New Orleans music institution. In its 103-year history, the band has had only five leaders, the most recent of whom is Gerald French, who took the reins of the band in 2011 in order to further the legacy of his uncle and fellow drummer Bob French. Bob French passed away in November of 2012, but Gerald is making a concerted effort to raise the profile of the band and its record label in the wake of their album, A Tribute to Bob French, released this past January.

The Burgundy Bar offers the perfect venue for this program. Designed to communicate a sense of the past, present and future, of New Orleans nightlife, the bar is richly appointed with red velvet, footrests, black-and-white photographs and red chandeliers hanging from a polished copper ceiling. It exudes an intimate atmosphere where patrons can enjoy Pimm’s Cups, Sazeracs and Ramos Gin Fizzes among other signature New Orleans cocktails.

On Friday, February 22, the Original Déjà vu Brass Band will kick the program off in style. Residency shows are free and open to the public, running from 9 p.m. to midnight every Friday. The bar itself is located inside the Saint Hotel at 931 Canal Street.

–Alex Jennings