Saturday night, the trad jazz band will be celebrating their latest recording at the House of Blues.
I have been arguing for years that the neo-trad jazz scene in New Orleans, which began with Kermit Ruffins going solo umpteen years ago, has nowhere to go but up. However, with the number of bands playing on Frenchmen Street cresting and reaching saturation point, one band will have to rise above the fray.
Based on this booking at the local chapter of the national chain of clubs, that band is Meschiya Lake and the Little Big Horns.
While Lake has been getting the lion’s share of attention because she has multiple projects going on at the same time, the band deserves much of the credit. I recently saw them perform at the Satchmo SummerFest, and was really impressed. I have been checking them out since they were mostly performing on the streets, and can say with confidence that this band is on fire.
With trumpeter Ben Polcer playing a lot of piano (they had a grand on stage awaiting Allen Toussaint’s set), the band was swinging like nobody’s business.
Lake commands the stage, but she doesn’t really lead the band. That responsibility goes to sousaphonist Jason Jurzak, and he leads by example with percolating riffs that put him right up there with the best players on his instrument in town.
This will be an amazing evening because this is a band that is going somewhere. Time to get a real website gang!
