The Maple Leaf Bar will be hopping beginning tonight and continuing for the next two Wednesdays. The drummer is bringing Nigel Hall on keys and vocals, Cassandra Faulconer on bass, Khris Royal on sax, and Andrew Block on guitar to ignite the stage.
Bolivar is best known in New Orleans for his work with Anders Osborne and Bonerama. But the San Francisco native has a broad and vast resume. New Orleans music fans also may recognize him from time behind the drums with Papa Mali as well as Eric Lindell.
In the jam band world, he has worked with Karl Denson and Widespread Panic. As a jazzman, he has drummed behind players such as Slide Hampton and Bobby Hutcherson. He has even dipped his sticks in the waters of country music. This is one well-rounded musician.
His musical friends for tonight’s gig are the cream of the crop of what’s happening in New Orleans today. All five players are on the cutting edge of genre-mergification (to coin a new concept). They are comfortable playing any style of music and I expect the unexpected for this gig and the ones that follow.
TOP PHOTO: RUSS HELGREN
