Saturday morning marks the debut of the new air-conditioned stage at the Satchmo SummerFest. It’s sponsored by Fleurty Girl and is known at the Back o’ Town stage. You can find it inside the historical Arsenal building on St. Peter Street just off Jackson Square. Also, the Satchmo Symposium lecture series continues inside Le Petite Theatre also located on the edge of Jackson Square. Here’s a look at what’s happening at the fest on Saturday and Sunday.
Things kick off Saturday at noon with the Ella and Louis Tribute Band. I have seen this act before and it’s wonderful. Leon “Kid Chocolate” Brown channels Louis Armstrong on trumpet and vocals and Eileina Dennis, an extraordinary singer, expertly handles Ella Fitzgerald’s vocals. Bassist Mitchell Player, a veteran of the New Orleans jazz scene, leads the band which plays many of the classic songs the two icons performed together.
Immediately after that act, the Lawrence Cotton Experience kicks off on the smaller Cornet Chop Suey stage. Cotton is a 90-year-old piano player who still has chops (get it?) in abundance. His band also features the vivacious singer Jane Harvey Brown.
Two great brass bands are also on the bill Saturday. The Original Pinettes are the only all-female brass band in the city. But that’s just a gimmick at this point. These ladies bring it, having won a recent brass band competition over all their peers.
The inimitable bass drummer Benny Jones leads the Tremé Brass Band. He’s this month’s OffBeat magazine cover musician and inside is a fascinating profile by Geraldine Wyckoff.
Sunday I am most excited for the Satchmo SummerFest debut of reedman Victor Goines (pictured at top). This veteran of Wynton Marsalis’ bands is a professor at Northwestern University and he is bringing a band of Midwestern musicians featuring pianist Jo Ann Daugherty, an acclaimed Chicago-based player and professor with two albums to her credit.
Also, on Sunday, don’t forget the second line parade that follows the 10 AM jazz mass at St. Augustine’s Church in the Tremé neighborhood. This is a rare chance to put on your dancing shoes and hit the streets since second line season doesn’t start up for another few weeks.
