With Jazz Fest postponed until October, for the second year in a row WWOZ will broadcast classic recordings from sets that captivated crowds from decades past at the Fair Grounds on the traditional dates for the Fest on the last weekend of April and the first weekend of May. The community radio station released “the cubes”—a colloquial term for the boxy grid on the printed schedule—on April 8 and added additional acts to the lineup on April 12.
Festing in Place will air on WWOZ 90.7 from Thursday, April to Sunday and resume on Thursday April to Sunday, May 2. In addition to previously announced recordings dating back to the first Jazz Fest in 1970, the updated list includes:
- The new addition of Louis Cottrell from 1970.
- Charles Mingus 1977, Miles Davis in 1986, and James Taylor in 2009.
- Ella Fitzgerald and Steve Wonder’s surprise 1977 collaboration—back by popular demand.
- Richie Havens in 1991, an incredible set on the Gentilly Stage that was one of Richie’s own favorites of his entire career. Richie’s estate has worked with the Archive of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation to get a perfect version of the audio. Richie Havens fans, you’re in for a treat.
- Dave Bartholomew Band with Fats Domino 1999—this band reunited many great players from throughout Dave’s career.
- Juanita Brooks was a great New Orleans jazz, theater, and gospel singer who performed in One Mo Time for years. She toured the world and played Jazz Fest many times but was rarely recorded. The Archive of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation found and digitized a recording from 2000.
- Second Thursday is often a day featuring jam bands at Jazz Fest and WWOZ is giving a nod to that with Widespread Panic with the Dirty Dozen Brass Band as guests, The Radiators, and Bonerama, among others.
- Eubie Blake in 1977, aboard the riverboat President. Eubie was 90 years old at the time of this recording—he was born in 1887!
- Allen Toussaint in his final Jazz Fest performance in 2015.
See the updated cubes below(click to enlarge):
