The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival kicked off yesterday with headlining sets from hometown heroes like Harry Connick Jr., Aaron Neville, Astral Project and The Soul Rebels (who backed rap icon Nas), as well as jam-laden closer from Trey Anastasio Band at the Gentilly Stage. Those who made it out for the first day were treated to mercifully overcast skies and surprisingly manageable crowds, which made for easy access to great viewing spots and short lines at the food vendors.
Connick, unsurprisingly, held down the day’s biggest set, drawing thousands to the Acura Stage for his first Jazz Fest appearance in a decade. The 49-year-old piano virtuoso and daytime TV star, who first performed at Jazz Fest 40 years ago, delivered a career-spanning array of originals that was complemented by tributes to recently departed music luminaries like Prince (“Kiss”), George Michael (“Faith”) and New Orleans’ own Allen Toussaint (“Yes We Can”). The performer extraordinaire even invited his father, former Orleans Parish DA Harry Connick Sr., to join him on stage for a duet in the middle of his set. Connick may have been the most famous local to grace the Acura Stage on Friday, but he wasn’t the only one. Jazz Fest’s biggest podium also played host to Kermit Ruffins, Meschiya Lake and the New Orleans Suspects.
Trey Anastasio. Photo by Kim Welsh.
Over at the Gentilly Stage, Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio was busy leading his eponymous band in an entertaining display of genre-bending rock that couldn’t help but exude positivity. Flanked by bassist Tony Markellis, keyboardist Ray Paczkowski, drummer Russ Lawton, percussionist Cyro Baptista, saxophonist James Casey, trumpeter/vocalist Jennifer Hartswick and trombonist/vocalist Natalie Cressman, Anastasio was all smiles throughout the duration of the 90-minute performance. While only two songs from the Phish rotation—”Sand” and “First Tube”—-made it into the setlist, many of the TAB originals featured the lengthy improvisational segments and inspired guitar climaxes that draw so many people to many people to Phish. On top of that, TAB offered an interpretation of the Gorillaz classic “Clint Eastwood” that seemed particularly appropriate considering that the Damon Albarn-led project released its first album in seven years yesterday.
Anastasio may have closed out the Gentilly Stage, but Leon Bridges brought a larger audience with his mid-afternoon performance. Bridges’ modern take on the soul, gospel and R&B approach of the early ‘60s sounds terrific on his debut record Coming Home but fell a little flat in an outdoor concert setting in front of thousands of people. The singer’s tender music and low-key (though effortlessly cool) style seemed like they would have been better suited for an intimate indoor setting, and his band just didn’t have the next-level chops necessary to impress a crowd that’s used to seeing the very best rhythm and horn sections New Orleans has to offer. It wasn’t a lackluster performance per se, but it’s unlikely to be one of the best R&B showings at Jazz Fest this year, and that’s a bummer for a guy who gets regular comparisons to Sam Cooke.
Bridges wasn’t the only top-billed act to give an underwhelming performance on the first day of Jazz Fest 2017. Hip-hop legend Nas’ highly-anticipated set with The Soul Rebel was also a bit disappointing, if only because the beloved New Orleans brass band wasn’t incorporated as much as they could have been. The show would have been perfectly fine had it been billed as a standard Nas set, but the addition of the Soul Rebels suggested a more brass-laden sound than what was actually delivered. Rather than laying down the bulk of the music, the Soul Rebels mostly stayed in the background adding a fairly innocuous horn layer that accentuated the DJ without ever taking center stage. In short, Nas with The Soul Rebels could have used a lot more Soul Rebels.
Elsewhere on the Fair Grounds, Aaron Neville wrapped things up at the Blues Tent with his second New Orleans performance in a little over two weeks. The same could be said for Astral Project, who played the final set at the Jazz Tent just 12 days after their appearance at French Quarter Fest.
Jazz Fest will continue today with performances by Maroon 5, Alabama Shakes, Usher & The Roots, Jon Batiste & Stay Human, Rebirth Brass Band, Delfeayo Marsalis, Jonny Lang, Jon Cleary, Cyril Neville & SwampFunk, Nigel Hall Band, Stanton Moore, Amos Lee, Honey Island Swamp Band and many more.
Nas with The Soul Rebels. Photo by Kim Welsh.
All photos by Willow Haley and Kim Welsh.
