Thoughts, observations, and opinions from the Fairgrounds about Jazz Fest 2015 from Web Editor Stephen Maloney.
Photo by Stephen Maloney
My favorite “only in New Orleans” moment from the first weekend of Jazz Fest 2015 had to be when Big Chief Monk Boudreaux took the stage on the afternoon of Sunday, April 26.
After an uncharacteristically late start for Jazz Fest (five minutes!), the backing band ripped through a steady cover of the James Booker classic “Classified.”
As the band leaned into “They Don’t Know,” a procession of Mardi Gras Indians started across the length of the stage.
It was as if a curtain of multi-colored feathers, smiling faces, rattling tambourines, and chanting mouths had been drawn across the stage.
Suddenly, right on cue, Boudreaux popped through the wall of Indians and started singing.
The mud splattered crowd in front of the Jazz and Heritage stage, which had ballooned from a dozen to several hundred as the Indians marched out, came to life.
If Boudreaux isn’t the last of the best, I don’t know who is.
Elsewhere on the festival grounds, a subdued Luke Winslow-King played a stripped back trio version of songs from his latest album.
Photo by Stephen Maloney
Even with the noticeable absence of Esther King, Luke was more than up to the task of getting the Lagniappe stage crowd clapping and singing along from their shady perches.
Fred LeBlanc broke three drumsticks during the first song of Cowboy Mouth’s set on the Acura stage.
Even if LeBlanc is now operating at an intensity level of, say, seven or eight on his personal scale, that’s still an 11 for any other band.
Photo by Stephen Maloney
The always amazing Allen Toussaint put on a hell of a show to a crowd thick with Little Monsters waiting for Lady Gaga on the Gentilly stage.
The excitement in the crowd built and built as the sun burned off some of the slop covering much of the field in front of the Gentilly Stage, but that only seemed to increase the humidity in the air, which was already thick with the aroma of horses.
As soon as Tony Bennett’s tuxedo clad big band members, many of whom appeared to be qualified for AARP membership, ambled across the stage, it was clear that this was not going to be a standard Jazz Fest set.
Every time Gaga joined Bennett on stage, the crowd responded with cheers, adulation, and excitement.
Every time she retreated to stage left for another costume change, and there were many, the excitement died down dramatically.
As Frank Sinatra said, Tony Bennett is one of the greatest singers ever.
Photo by Stephen Maloney
His act just isn’t made for a hot, sweaty, and muddy Jazz Fest crowd.
It certainly didn’t help that Bennett was difficult to hear, especially as Rebirth kicked into high gear over on the Congo Square Stage.
Gaga was up for a little customization as she expertly crooned standard after standard, working “my feet are so muddy and I can’t find my phone” into “Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered.”
“We go together like jazz and pop!” she declared to cheers as she danced with the still nimble Bennett during “Cheek to Cheek.”
It was a great revue, and if it had been at the Saenger Theater, it would have been an epic show, but at Jazz Fest, the dynamic duo fell a little flat.
