Welcome to March! Spring popped up briefly last week, but we are expecting a cool weekend. Of course, the music won’t be cold, it’s gonna be hot, hot, hot! Here’s what I am looking forward to this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
Friday and Saturday nights, trumpeter and composer Hannibal Lokumbe will be appearing at the Contemporary Arts Center. Back when I first started writing for the Louisiana Weekly in 1993, I saw a performance by Lokumbe at the Saenger Theater. It was powerful stuff.
His guitar player, I think it was Carl LeBlanc, evoked the creaking timbers of a slave ship during one of the musical passages of the piece. Many years later, Lokumbe is still creating intense, genre-crossing music that will leave you thinking.
Saturday night, the Dave Jordan Band opens for the New Orleans Suspects at Tipitina’s. Dave and his gigantic musical circle of friends are still reeling from the untimely (that’s putting it mildly) death of his friend and band mate in Juice, Jamie Galloway last Friday. It’s a fact of life among artists that tragedy stokes the creative fire. I expect a killer set from the guys.
Speaking of Galloway, Sunday afternoon at 3 PM, the Maple Leaf Bar will host a celebration of his life. Many of his musical friends will begin performing at 7 PM and the jam will continue well into the night. The cover charge will be going to his family, and anyone paying the cover early will be entitled to stay for the regular Sunday night performance of Walter “Wolfman” Washington, Joe Krown, and Russell Batiste.
Also Sunday, the Nickel-A-Dance series returns to the Maison on Frenchmen Street from 4-7 PM. This showcase of trad jazz (the kind you’re expected to dance to) is celebrating nineteen years of bringing it to ya.
This week, Shannon Powell’s Traditional Jazz Allstars will get you moving. His band features Leon Brown on trumpet, Corey Henry on trombone, Christian Winther on saxophone, Seva Vinet on banjo/guitar, Mari Watanabe on piano, Peter Harris on string bass, and of course, Shannon Powell on drums and vocals. Now that’s a lineup!
See you there!
