The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival’s annual rollout of its schedule is one of the mostly eagerly awaited moments on the city’s festival season calendar. Though it will be a little over two months before the “cubes” are released allowing people to figure out their daily plans, today’s announcement gives music lovers plenty to salivate over. The festival is scheduled for April 27–May 6, 2018.
Most people look at the top of the page for the headliners and that’s a good place to start with Aerosmith, perhaps the hardest rocking of the baby boomer bands to ever play the fest, getting lead billing. They share the top line with proof that Jazz Fest has something for everyone—Aretha Franklin, Sting, Jimmy Buffett, Jack White, Beck, and Lionel Richie.
Though it will take more time to ferret out all the hidden gems on the schedule, a quick perusal suggests the festival is reaching out to a Latin American demographic with the inclusion of the Columbian superstar Juanes. He is a rocker who has played the festival before.
I am also excited about two other performers from the Caribbean that are also on the bill. Telmary, the Cuban rapper/singer/bandleader who blew most minds last year, returns and Lakou Mizik, a band from Haiti that was rained out last year, get another shot at showing music lovers that Haiti is far from a shithole despite 400 years of tribulation.
African music also gets its usual amount of love from the festival’s booking agents. Expect to see bands from the Congo, Mali, and Gambia.
Jazz lovers can look forward to two legends—Ron Carter and Archie Shepp. While string music aficionados can hear a modern take on old-time country and bluegrass from the Old Crow Medicine Show and Don Vappie, a New Orleans banjo man, will pay tribute to King Oliver, one of the earliest traditional jazz stars.
The city and the world lost one of the true greats this past year with the passing of Fats Domino. Expect to hear lots of Fats, not just as the soundtrack to the announcement video above, but all over the Fairgrounds including a special tribute featuring the one and only Jerry Lee Lewis.
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