This year, the festival added another day and even though it’s not as packed with bands as Saturday and Sunday, there are still a few things that I am excited about. There are two big reunions today.
The first is the great ‘90s band, Iris May Tango. They were part of the seminal scene on Frenchmen Street before the Fauborg Marigny was taken over by neo-trad jazz bands. Here’s an exerpt about the band from my soon-to-be-published book, Up Front and Center- New Orleans Music at the End of the Twentieth Century.
“In December of 1995, another new band that garnered great attention for their blend of hip-hop, rock and avant-garde jazz made their debut. Iris May Tango was named after a newspaper headline referencing the possible convergence of two tropical storms in the Atlantic. The metaphor perfectly suited the band’s conflagration of styles.
Two singer/rappers with hard to decipher nicknames, Yours Truly Chaddy-1-P.U.S. and Keng, fronted the band. Keng had a crazy three-foot hairdo and Chaddy had a muscular, imposing physique the belied his gentle singing style. They had a decidedly hip hop stage presence as they sang and rapped quirky songs including one called “Hairdo” that became a cult hit around town.
The band represented the cream of the crop of the next generation of downtown hipsters playing music without regard to any expectations. Kevin O’Day and Andy Wolf were the rhythm section. Robert Wagner played keyboards and saxophones, sometimes at the same time. An edgy guitarist named Rene Duffourc rounded out the group.
Shows by Iris May Tango were free for alls. When they played at the Dragon’s Den, Wolf, showing a different side of his musical personality as an electric bassist, sometimes climbed the railing that surrounded the smallish band space and played atop a two-by-four. The rappers pushed the crowds confrontationally, a different approach from the usual laid back style of rapport in New Orleans, and the audiences loved it.”
The second reunion is an appearance by Los Hombres Calientes. This Latin-jazz group, which is led by the percussionist Bill Summers and the trumpeter Irvin Mayfield (pictured), exploded onto the scene in the late 1990s, but has only play a few times since the flood after Katrina.
Iris May Tango plays at 3 PM and Los Hombres Calientes is at 4:15 PM. The full schedule is here.
