The number of stages more than doubles from Thursday as the 2015 fest heats up before the official weekend. The footprint expands to Spanish Plaza for the new Outlets at Riverwalk stage, into the French Market, and around the Old U.S. Mint. Here are our picks. The full schedule is here.
Kick off your day with Marc Stone on the Riverfront Pavilion at 11 AM. Stone is an eclectic guitarist, bandleader, and hardcore musicologist (as well as WWOZ programmer) who mines a variety of styles falling under the catch-all genre, the blues. He always brings the best musicians to the stage casting a spell over audiences.
The New Orleans Klezmer Allstars are musicians from a variety of genres and musical influences coming together to play eastern European folk music with a very jazzy touch. They are veteran players that don’t play together often enough anymore.
Speaking of eastern European folk music, Debauche takes it to another level by playing music with roots in the gulags of Communist era Russia. Though the songs are about criminals, prostitutes, and other miscreants, you won’t know unless you speak Russian. What you will feel is the exuberance of their highly danceable performance.
Since traditional jazz is such an important part of the French Quarter Fest, I would be remiss if I failed to suggest one of our true stalwarts—Leroy Jones will be leading his Original Hurricane Brass Band at 2:15 PM on the Brass Band Jam stage. Jones is more often seen fronting a quartet with his mellifluous trumpet work. He goes back to his pre-teen roots with this ensemble.
Options late in the afternoon tend to be determined by whim, motivation to move across the vast footprint of the fest, or happenstance. Some suggestions include Tank and the Bangas for new New Orleans sounds, Johnny Sketch and the Dirty Notes for virtuoso rock ‘n’ funk, and Ernie Vincent for old school R&B. The only female brass band in town, the Original Pinettes, will also be throwing down.
At the end of the day, you can’t go wrong with Monk Boudreaux and the Golden Eagles. Big Chief Monk (pictured at top) plays with a variety of different ensembles including his old runnin’ partner Bo Dollis’ Wild Magnolias (now led by the sorely missed chief’s son). But here he appears with his own tribe.
Tomorrow—our weekend picks.
