Nickel-A-Dance, a concert series now in its 25th year and sponsored by the New Orleans Jazz Centennial, will return for five Sunday afternoon concerts at The Maison on Frenchmen Street. The entire family-friendly series is open to all ages and free of charge every Sunday in the month of October.
Sunday, October 2, at 4 and 5:45 p.m. | Don Vappie & The Creole Jazz Serenaders
Don Vappie is descended from a long line of New Orleans musicians that extends back to the 19th century. Once a featured performer in the Preservation Hall Band, Vappie now leads and tours with The Creole Jazz Serenaders. After Hurricane Katrina, he and his wife cofounded Bring it on Home, an organized effort to help displaced New Orleans musicians find work and return to their homes. His family’s musical heritage was explored in the early 2000s in the PBS documentary American Creole: New Orleans Reunion. Vappie, known for his original banjo style, also plays mandolin, guitar, string bass and is a vocalist as well. Over the past decade, he has appeared as a regular guest with Wynton Marsalis and Jazz At Lincoln Center.
Sunday, October 9, at 4 and 5:45 p.m. | Duke Heitger’s Crescent City Joymakers
Duke Heitger, one of the best traditional jazz trumpet players in the world, is known for his warm sound, virtuosity, and unwavering musicality. While renowned on the international scene, performing and recording around the world, he reigns as one of the longest tenured bandleaders in New Orleans appearing regularly on the Steamboat Natchez with the Crescent City Joymakers. Since arriving in New Orleans in 1991, Heitger has received international exposure leading to work with notable musicians such as Dick Hyman, Scott Hamilton, Bucky Pizzarelli, Dan Barrett, Engelbert Wrobel, and Topsy Chapman, just to name a few. He has made numerous guest appearances on syndicated radio programs including Garrison Keillor’s A Prairie Home Companion with Butch Thompson, Judy Carmichael’s Jazz Inspired, and Live from the Riverwalk with Jim Cullum’s Jazz Band.
Sunday, October 16, at 4 and 5:45 p.m. | Ronnell Johnson’s New Orleans Jazz Band
Ronell Johnson, a trombone/tuba player and vocalist with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, has been performing in New Orleans since the age of six. A graduate of the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, Johnson is a veteran of local outfits including Lars Edegran’s Palm Court Jazz Band, the Olympia Brass Band, Tom Sancton, Shannon Powell, Orange Kellin, Michael White and many others.
Sunday, October 23, at 4 and 5:45 p.m. | Will Smith & The New Orleans Jass Cats
Will Smith grew up in Preservation Hall, where his sister Dodie Smith-Simmons worked and his brother-in-law trumpeter John “Kid” Simmons sometimes performed with the band. After following around his brother-in-law, Smith could not wait to get an instrument of his own. His parents eventually bought him a trumpet, and he has been playing New Orleans jazz ever since. Hall legends Percy Humphrey, Ernie Cagnolatti, Kid Thomas, and DeDe Pierce remain a part of Smith’s musical fiber and have greatly influenced his sound. In 1975, Smith joined the Fairview Baptist Church Band, led by legendary jazzman Danny Barker, and he has played and toured with numerous traditional brass bands, including the Storyville Stompers and Harold Dejan’s Olympia Brass Band, as well as the Doc Paulin, Chosen Few, Treme, Tornado, Lil’ Rascals, and Pinstripe brass bands.
Sunday, October 30, at 4 and 5:45 p.m. | Herlin Riley & Traditional Majesty
Since coming of age in the nurturing environment of a very musical family and a distinguished bloodline of drummers, New Orleans native Herlin Riley emerged in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, to enliven the ensembles of such influential and demanding improvisers as pianist Ahmad Jamal and trumpeter Wynton Marsalis through his commanding yet elegant rhythmic presence. His authoritative style of melodic percussion is deeply imbued in the fertile creative soil of the Crescent City, encompassing as it does the entire length and breadth of America’s ongoing musical journey.
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