Brett Milano, John Wirt and Michael Allen Zell reviews Jazz Fest Day 4: Sunday, April 27, 2025.

Political Statements
One of my big questions this year was whether anyone would risk a political statement onstage, in this time of government crackdowns on anything deemed “woke.” Most of the statements I heard came between the lines: When the Honey Island Swamp Band mentioned the Gulf of Mexico in a lyric, singer Aaron Wilkinson snuck in “…still Mexico, y’all.” Carolyn Wonderland didn’t comment before playing her Trump-era woman’s response, “I Ain’t Going Back”—but she still played it. And John Fogerty illustrated “Fortunate Son” with Vietnam-era footage, which seemed safe enough until you remembered who had to go and who had bone spurs. (Apparently John Boutte delivered some unfiltered remarks, but nobody tells Boutte to keep quiet.)

Given all that, and the recent deportation headlines, I’m pretty sure the Revivalists didn’t close their Sunday set with Dylan’s “I Shall Be Released” for no reason at all. It was a suitably somber and gospel-tinged version, with guests Ivan Neville and Tarriona (Tank) Ball trading verses with frontman David Shaw. That was the most reflective moment in the Revivalists set, which otherwise featured their most upbeat material; the hit “Wish I Knew You” (which didn’t get a stronger response than the rest) was mellow as it got. David Shaw remains the most generous of frontmen, letting his bandmates shine instrumentally and including the crowd on the joyful singalongs “Celebration” and “All My Friends.” All of which underlined the essential good heartedness of this band.

HAIM
Plenty of folks have brought their kids onstage for Jazz Fest, but the sister trio HAIM is the first I’ve seen bringing out their parents. Explaining that they were in a family covers band before the sisters got famous, they put mom on vocals and dad on drums for a very loose “Mustang Sally.” It was a bit ridiculous and a bit wonderful. And it proved that the sisters are out to work pop stardom for all the fun they can. This wasn’t always such a good thing, as they also stretched their hit “Summer Girl,” which was delightful as a four-minute single, out to epic length with solos from a guest horn section. Just when the set seemed to be turning into an informal party, they snapped into gear for two new songs “Everybody’s Trying to Figure Me Out” and “Down to Be Wrong,” both moody pop gems showing deeper feelings than they allow between songs.

The Smothered Brothers
You hear countless New Orleans anthems at Jazz Fest, but nothing makes you love this city like a well-observed, dry-humored song about the misadventures that come with living here. The duo of Paul Sanchez and Alex McMurray had two perfect examples in the former’s “Exit to Mystery Street” and the latter’s “Got to Be Crazy to Live In This Town,” played back-to-back in their acoustic set as the Smothered Brothers (the set also had a nice tribute to a missing musical partner, Spencer Bohren). Since these two have been friends and collaborators for ages, the set had the repartee you might expect. McMurray spoke for many of us when he lamented that the “Rhythmpourium” stage is no longer sponsored by AARP, so your card no longer gets you a free drink.

Cyril Neville
Cyril Neville has been doing the song “Don’t Wait Till I’m Gone” for a couple years now, but it remains the kind of song a local legend deserves. Written with his retired brother Aaron, it demands some love and respect while he can enjoy it. That song closed his set on Sunday, and he announced that it’s also the title track to an album he’s now making with producer Shamarr Allen (who guested on trumpet this weekend). Two other new songs, “Lemonade” (no relation to Beyonce) and “Positive,” both sported infectious grooves and showed he’s in an upbeat mood nowadays. Always the young and fiery one in the Neville Brothers, Cyril remains a sharp performer and has embraced the role of cultural ambassador; the second half of his set offered some new Indian-themed material with the Wild Tchopitouolas. The times may be changing, but it was refreshing to see at least two local heroes, him and Irma Thomas, featuring new songs this year.—Brett Milano

The Julio and Cesar Band
Opening Sunday’s performances at the courtyard-set Lagniappe Stage, Julio and Cesar Herrera led their five-man Julio and Cesar Band in a musical tour of Spain and Latin America.

Julio sat center stage playing flashy guitar solos while Cesar, seated to his brother’s left, sang plaintive tenor vocals, always in Spanish. The Herreras’ band features trumpet, electric bass guitar, lively congas- and tom-tom percussion and an electric piano that always sounds like steel drums.

Music from many Spanish-speaking nations filled the Julio and Cesar Band’s setlist. The group’s repertoire comes from Spain, El Salvador, Colombia, Nicaragua, Venezuela and the Herrera brothers’ native Guatemala. With the exception of a few serious pieces, nearly every song and instrumental they played spread infectious joy and dance-inducing rhythm.

Amidst all that rhythm and joy, the Spanish standard “Malaguena” emerged as a dramatic exclamation point. An instrumental showcase for Julio Herrera’s guitar skills, it prompted the biggest reaction from the Lagniappe Stage audience. Nonetheless, the audience, which kept growing throughout the band’s early Sunday set, enjoyed everything the Julio and Cesar Band offered them.

Jake Shimabukuro
A single Sunday set at Jazz Fest by Jake Shimabukuro apparently was not enough. The Hawaiian ukulele virtuoso performed twice, first in the early afternoon at the small Expedia Cultural Exchange Pavillion Stage tent and then late in the afternoon at the open-air Sheraton New Orleans Fais Do-Do Stage.

At his first show of the day, Shimabukuro, accompanied by bassist Jackson Waldhoff, continuously wowed his overflow Expedia Pavillion crowd. The most affable of performers, he greeted his fans with a hearty “Aloha! We’re so proud to be here.”

Following a tour-de-force opening number that obliterated preconceptions of what the diminutive, four-string ukulele can do, Shimabukuro performed the piece that introduced him to the world. In the mid-2000s, a YouTube clip of his passionate, technically dazzling rendition of George Harrison’s “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” went, as they say, viral.

Millions of YouTube views later at Jazz Fest, Shimabukuro’s extended intro to Harrison’s classic melody featured explosive chords and showers of rapid arpeggios. High-energy showman though he is, Shimabukuro’s sensitive, artistic expression can’t be denied when he applies it to a beloved melody.

During his Expedia Pavillion set, Shimabukuro paid tribute to two important musical people in his life, the late electric guitar master Jeff Beck and, the performer who first brought him to a Jazz Fest stage, the late Jimmy Buffett. With the help of special effects, Shimabukuro and his ukulele channeled Beck’s super-charged guitar prowess in a bittersweet performance of the Beck-Stevie Wonder piece “’Cause We’ve Ended as Lovers.” Later in the set he gratefully remembered Buffett with a “Margaritaville” and Grateful Dead mashup.

Tuba Skinny
Lowkey torchbearers of traditional jazz, the eight-members of Tuba Skinny filled the Economy Hall Tent stage Sunday afternoon. Their set featured classics and original compositions written in the spirit of jazz pioneers.

The band’s opening number took the music home to New Orleans with Johnny St. Cyr’s “Messin’ Around.” Like so much of the group’s repertoire, it was short, sweet and happy.

Hot numbers from the early 20th century—such as Jelly Roll Morton’s “Cannonball Blues” and Willie “The Lion” Smith’s “Harlem Joys”—were well-represented in Tuba Skinny’s Sunday set.

Georgia White’s “I’m Blue and Lonesome,” dating from the 1930s, slowed the tempo down for a blues ballad in which principal vocalist Erika Lewis summoned the understated style and brassy tone of Billie Holiday. Lewis and her bandmates turned to another classic singer and languid tempo for their take on early blues star Bessie Smith’s “Muddy Water.”

A large band featuring clarinet, cornet, trombone, guitar, banjo, Lewis’ bass drum and sousaphone, Tuba Skinny also features Robin Rapuzzi’s washboard and cymbals. Rapuzzi serves as this mostly non-showy group’s emcee and, scratching his washboard and banging his cymbals, its most visually demonstrative member.

Louis Armstrong Hot 5 and 7 Centennial
This year is the 100th anniversary year for Louis Armstrong’s first Hot 5 recording session. Celebrating the special occasion, clarinetist Dr. Michael White led Jazz Fest’s centennial tribute to those immensely influential recordings by the most famous and beloved jazz musician of the 20th century.

White augmented performances of Hot 5 and Hot 7 classics with some music history. Each selection received a brief introduction explaining its significance. The landmark Armstrong recordings the tribute band performed, all from the 1920s, included “Cornet Chop Suey,” “Heebie Jeebies” (featuring trombonist Freddie Lonzo’s scat singing Armstrong’s vocals), “Wild Man Blues” and “Basin Street Blues.”

Guest Nicholas Payton, one of New Orleans’ premiere trumpeters, joined the band for several selections. His elegant horn playing proved a highlight of the set, especially during a performance by the well-matched Payton and pianist David Boeddinghaus of one of Armstrong’s evolutionary recordings with pianist “Earl Fatha” Hines, “Weather Bird.”

Historical importance aside, Armstrong Hot 5 and 7 tribute was most of all high-stepping fun.—John Wirt

BMike
At last year’s Jazz Fest, acclaimed artist BMike pointed out the low annual pay of New Orleans musicians. This year and ongoing, his focus is “New Orleans: Where Flowers Grow.” He said, “We recognize that Jazz Fest is a moment where people are celebrating the flowers of New Orleans from the chefs to the musicians to the artists. Every weekend we’ll be unveiling two paintings that will be turned into posters available for purchase as a fundraiser for Eternal Seeds.”

The subjects of those paintings are people being recognized as eternal flowers. Weekend one, P.J. Morton and Cleo Wade were chosen. The second week, Polo Silk and Vera Williams will be honored. “Flowers blossom due to the intervention of others,” he stressed.

People Museum
My Sunday mostly consisted of alternating between the Congo Square Stage and the Shell Gentilly Stage. The former kicked off with Cain Cobain, clearly a promising young singer, especially on the triumphant “Point of View.”

People Museum are masters of the mid-tempo vibe. Vocals with a choral aura, horns born of dreamy majesty, and a drumbeat anchoring it all. No one sounds like People Museum, the band knows their sound, and their fans were all at Shell Gentilly Stage.

RAM, Steve Riley, Cyril Neville, River Eckert
RAM of Port-au-Prince, Haiti has been of New Orleans the past three years, and there’s nothing in town remotely like this “vodou rock” band. The vocals of Lunise Morse over driving percussion, coiling guitar, and occasional kone (long one-note Haitian horns) made for an incredible experience on the Congo Square Stage in keeping with New Orleans’ roots.

Veterans New Orleans Nightcrawlers and Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys both showed themselves as on fire as ever and delivering a show as well as anyone out there on the Shell Gentilly and Fais Do-Do Stages respectively.

Cyril Neville is an ageless musical sage with limitless energy. As the clouds and breeze rolled in, he seemed the conjurer of the weather. The highlights included a Big Chief Bo Dollis Jr. feature, notable trumpet player Shamarr Allen in Neville’s band itself, and 15-year-old pianist wonder River Eckert joining Neville on “Tipitina.”

Burna Boy
Internationally beloved Burna Boy has never played New Orleans before, which was long overdue. He brought his dynamic 23-piece band/dancers from Lagos, Nigeria to close out the Congo Square Stage. The highly engaged crowd came ready to dance, sing along, and vibe out to Burna’s unique version of Afrobeats. Were the hits like “Ye” “On The Low,” and “City Boys” played? Check. Did he perform his recent single “Update,” which samples Soul II Soul, from his upcoming 8th studio album? Check. Did he eat boiled crawfish while in town? Big check, and with that, Jazz Fest Week 1, 2025 is complete.—Michael Allen Zell