With Jazz Fest releasing the eagerly awaited cubes on Tuesday and French Quarter Festival kicking off next Thursday, festival season is in full swing with lots of free offerings all around town this weekend.
Start off with Jazz in the Park tonight (3/30), the wonderfully intimate festival in Armstrong Park in the heart of Tremé. Spodie and the Big Shots will open for the Soul Rebels. Spodie is the one and only Derek Shezbie (pictured at top), the longtime trumpeter for the Rebirth Brass Band.
Though he has been gigging a lot around town with his new outfit, this will be the highest profile gig thus far of his solo career. There is a ticketed event as part of Jazz in the Park’s Tremé Crab Fest on Friday night with Stephanie Jordan, Roy Ayers, and Michael Franks. But the free music continues on Saturday and Sunday.
On Saturday expect to see Bag of Donuts, Corey Henry and the Tremé Funktet, Johnny Sketch and the Dirty Notes, the Caesar Brothers’ Funkbox featuring Big Chief Juan Pardo and the N’awlins Johnnys. The free music continues in Armstrong Park on Sunday with the Rebirth Brass Band, the Lost Bayou Ramblers, Little Freddie King, Kid Merv and All that Jazz and the Tremé Brass Band.
Don’t despair if you can’t afford the ticket for Friday’s show, because the inaugural Delgado Music Festival is going on free all day Friday and Saturday on Delgado’s City Park campus. Anders Osborne and Stanton Moore close out on Friday. The full schedule is here.
Last but not least, the Freret Street Festival takes over Freret Street uptown on Saturday. This great festival features three stages and a wide range of musicians. One of my favorite new bands, ROAR!, with the irrepressible Carly Meyers, closes out one of the stages. The full schedule is here.
