It still somehow seems new to be enjoying Louis Armstrong Park again in Treme, given the famed green space off N.Rampart St. was re-opened for the first time since Hurricane Katrina not even two years ago, in November of 2011. And of course New Orleanians took straight to organizing regular live music inside Satchmo’s namesake without haste. People United for Armstrong Park, one of the local non-profit groups that helped to petition for the re-opening of the park launched its seasonal free concert series there the following spring. “Jazz in the Park” was born on a Thursday evening in in April of 2012 and soon began another staple after-work tradition. The series revs up again tonight with the Stooges Brass Band and Mia Borders, and a full slate of artists plays through the fall.

Now preparing their fourth season (Jazz in the Park happens each spring and fall), the folks at PUfAP released the line-up for the fall 2013 edition of Jazz in the Park. Once again, the roster is glistening with classic New Orleans talent; from favorite brass bands to jazz all-stars and our supreme funksters to rising R&B crooners.

SEPTEMBER 5

Tonight’s headliners, the Stooges Brass Band have been all over in recent months; their June tour found them on a memorable tour in Tajikistan.  In Qumsangir, they played for a group of almost 300 schoolchildren at the local community center.  In a village near Panjakent, what was planned as a small event for students turned into a 90 minute concert. Then they moved on to Dushanbe with a boisterous concert for 400 at the VEFA Concert Hall.  Ambassador Elliott, representatives from international organizations, Tajik colleagues and friends were all second-lining by the concert’s end. Later in June they hit New York City for the Blue Note Jazz Festival, and moved on up to the Tremblant International Blues Festival in Quebec, Canada. But September 5 they are back home in Armstrong Park to kick-off the first concert in Jazz in the Park’s Fall 2013 season.

Opening the stage Thursday, the soulful and spiky songwriter Mia Borders is on a roll with her recent album Quarter Life Crisis, produced by the busy Anders Osborne. Once a more acoustic artist, Borders gets tougher on the new album, addressing a romantic breakup and the strength she’s found. “The breakup was two years ago, and I just started writing about it without realizing what I was doing. Then I’d look back and say, ‘Wow, so that’s what it was about’,” she confessed in an OffBeat feature this past spring. She’s always charismatic onstage, and does one of the best covers of Bill Withers’ “Use Me” you’ll ever hear.

Hard to believe this weekly mini-fest of New Orleans’ best is still free, but it is. No worries figuring out dinner on Thursdays either, as Jazz in the Park promises to return in September with a thoroughfare of local eats and plenty of NOLA Brew and Old New Orleans Rum to wash it down. The park is dog and lawnchair friendly, plus there’s even a bicycle valet to securely park your two-wheeler on a fine fall eve. Heck, stay long enough and you might catch the weekly second line parade right out of the park and over to the Candlelight Lounge for the official unofficial afterparty on occasion.

Jazz in the Park’s fall 2013 season begins Thursday, September 5 and runs weekly through Halloween night (Thursday, October 31). Food and art vendors open at 12 Noon with live music from 4 p.m. until 8 p.m. As always, it is free and open to the public. See full fall line-up below.

FALL 2013 LINE-UP:

September 5:  Stooges Brass Band plus Mia Borders
September 12:  Davell Crawford plus Stephanie Jordan
September 19:  Corey Henry and the Treme Funktet plus the Treme Brass Band
September 26:  Shamarr Allen and the Underdawgs plus Erica Falls
October 3:  The Soul Rebels plus the Soul Project
October 10:  Cyril Neville and Swamp Funk plus Gaynielle Neville and her Sweet Stuff
October 17:  Jon Cleary plus Wes Raymond and the Soul Factory
October 24:  The Brass-A-Holics plus Dumpstaphunk
October 31:  The Rebirth Brass Band plus very special guest TBA