PHOTOS: EDDY GUTIERREZ | The weather gods can be fickle when it comes to the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival presented by Shell. Last weekend’s three perfect days gave way to sporadic showers on Thursday, a mud fest on Friday, gale strength winds and rain coupled with intense flooding on Saturday, and a full day of light rain on Sunday. The festival was shut down early for the second year in a row on Saturday causing the cancellation of five of the biggest names on the bill spanning every genre. TVD was out there every day. Here are some of the highlights.
If Prince’s death set a tone for the first weekend, it was last fall’s sudden departure of New Orleans legend Allen Toussaint influencing the proceedings during the second weekend. Elvis Costello (pictured at top and below) played some choice cuts from his early career before focusing the second half of his set on the work he did with Toussaint in the years after Hurricane Katrina. He brought out the horn players from the duo’s tours and played songs off The River in Reverse, the album they made together when the floodwaters had barely receded.
Costello still seemed emotionally invested in their relationship, telling stories about their time together that had the audience laughing. His crack band was equally as committed, revisiting the songs with intensity and focus.
On Sunday afternoon, Toussaint’s band performed with numerous special guests. Bonnie Raitt sang “What Is Success?” Aaron Neville roused the soaked crowd with “Hercules” and Jon Batiste, younger by decades than most of the musicians on stage, brought smiles to wet faces with a romping version of “Working in a Coal Mine.”
A day earlier on Saturday, Batiste (pictured above and below) had his own turn leading his band, Stay Human. I have seen the young musician, now the bandleader on Late Night with Stephen Colbert, every time he has played at the festival as a leader. While previous performances were somewhat disjointed, he was on his game. Playing every night on television has honed his band into a formidable unit. I had to chuckle when he opened the set with the theme song of the talk show.
The set began to hit a groove when the band played, “It’s Alright (Why You Gotta),” a song from their 2013 release. Social Music. Stay Human’s amazing saxophonist Grace Kelly took a blistering baritone solo and Batiste led the huge crowd in a call and response chant. He jumped on the drum riser and beat out a rhythm on his drummer’s tom-tom during the trumpet solo.
All the action didn’t take place on the big stages. On Friday, Los Lobos performed traditional Mexican music acoustically on the Fais Do Do stage. The band is composed of virtuoso multi-instrumentalists. Only left-handed guitarist Cesar Rosas (pictured below) stuck to one instrument. David Hidalgo played fiddle, guitar, the four-stringed cuatro, and accordion. During one song, he switched from guitar to accordion mid-vocal.
The crowd was hushed at times, but there was also a considerable amount of chatter in the audience. This seemed to be a feature at this year’s Jazz Fest. I overheard more full conversations about topics unrelated to the music being played or the Jazz Fest itself than I can remember. The disrespect towards the artists and others in the audience extended to every stage and tent at the Fairgrounds. Even the normally hyper attentive crowds in the Jazz Tent were not exempt.
Perhaps this is a byproduct of the “selfie society?” Since everyone on social media shares everything with everybody there may be no disincentive to talk quietly while the music is playing. But I digress.
Sweet Crude is one of my favorite young bands on the scene today. They play with joyous, exuberant energy that is positively infectious. Led by singer/percussionist Alexis Marceaux (pictured above) and multi-instrumentalist Sam Craft (pictured below), the band played old favorites and new tunes to a young, dancing crowd on Saturday.
Last year, Tony Hall’s Soul Stars Tribute to James Brown took place in the middle of a monsoon. This year, they reprised the set to a very engaged audience on Friday. Hall (pictured below) played some guitar, but he mostly channelled his inner Godfather of Soul.
The horn section of Brad Walker and Jeff Watkins on saxophones, Tracy Griffin on trumpet, and occasionally Renard Poche on trombone was positively killing it. A highlight was when Hall introduced 13-year-old Brandon Niederauer who totally ripped a single guitar solo during “Sex Machine.”
Intergenerational musical acts are one of the hallmarks of New Orleans and Louisiana culture. This feature was on display during the set by Spencer Bohren and the Whippersnappers on Thursday. The globe-trotting folk and blues troubadour (pictured below) was backed by a band featuring his son, Andre on drums, Casey McAlister on piano and guitar, Dave Pomerleau on upright bass, Alex McMurray on guitar, and Aurora Nealand on sax and accordion.
The younger musicians, McMurray is a decade or so older than the others, enlivened the set with ace musicianship. At one point, Andre switched to piano, Nealand was on drums as Spencer sang a song written around the time his son was born some 35 years ago.
Jazz Fest celebrated 47 years of existence this year. I suspect Bohren has played all of them. But it has not remained static. New bands graced many of the stages this year. Old favorites have moved on to another plane. The layout is constantly being tweaked to adjust to the changes. Here’s to the all the hard work going on behind the scenes. For us, the fest is over. For the staff, the cleanup and tear down is underway. Planning for next year is right around the bend.
The 48th annual event is scheduled for April 28–May 7, 2017
