New Orleans’ Maple Leaf Bar will host a late night tribute to jazz guitar maverick Grant Green at midnight on Saturday, October 1 (technically Sunday, October 2).
Billed as Green Is Beautiful, the show will bring New Mastersounds guitarist Eddie Roberts, Soulive drummer Alan Evans, and Greyboy Allstars bassist Chris Stillwell and keyboardist Robert Walter together for a night of Green’s music. It will also mark their second such performance of the day, as the band is scheduled to debut their Green tribute at the inaugural Bear Creek Bayou Music Festival just a few hours prior.
Despite flying relatively under the radar in his day, Green was a prolific guitarist who put out 29 records on the famed Blue Note label in the 1960s and early 1970s, and contributed to countless others as a sideman during the same period. His simple yet distinctive style, which drew on a number of disparate influences, has since earned him a reputation as one of the greatest jazz guitarists of all time.
Green is Beautiful is the latest post-Bear Creek show to be announced in the run up to the festival. As previously reported, the Republic will host a “Funk Court” late night on Friday, September 30, while the Howlin’ Wolf will host a tribute to Bernie Worrell the following night.
Bear Creek Bayou Music Festival will take over Mardi Gras World on Friday, September 1 and Saturday, October 1. The new gathering–an offshoot of Florida’s now-defunct Bear Creek Music Festival–will include sets from the Flaming Lips, George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic, Lettuce, Soulive, Lotus, Dumpstaphunk, Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe and many more.