Every year at Jazz Fest, there are moments that surprise you, that stick in your memory, things you'll remember forever for whatever reason. This year was no exception. Here's a few of Big Man's and my favorite Jazz Fest moments:
•Tom Jones singing "Hey Pocky Way" as one of his encores. (See last post.)
•Dr. John calling the 91-year-old Dave Bartholomew onstage, and Dave being brought out in a wheelchair, waving his trumpet to the crowd. We were prepared to cheer him for everything he's done in the past, but the guy proceeded to blow and blow, making the horn talk and squeal and wail. On "The Monkey Speaks His Mind" (one of my favorites), Dave went crazy on the trumpet, wah-wahing behind Mack Rebennack's vocals. It was unbelievable! We screamed our heads off.
•Hearing an unmistakable Louisiana piano sound coming from Fais Do Do as we were walking the track, and feeling drawn to it like a magnet. Thus we got to hear the wonderful Roddie Romero and his fabulous pianist Eddie Adcock play swamp pop-Cajun-Zydeco to an appreciative crowd. Never heard of these guys, but they were terrific. At Jazz Fest, you have to let your ears do the picking sometimes, and just go where you're drawn.
•Kid Rock singing a song on the Acura Stage about growing older, with a lyric referencing a prostate exam -- almost certainly the very first time that's ever been done in a rock song. We were both pleasantly surprised by Kid Rock's set -- he's very talented, playing guitar, piano, and drums during his set, and he was self-deprecating and witty in his song lyrics and in his remarks. If he hadn't been the set right before the Neville Brothers, we might never have seen him, but we really enjoyed him. (He also called Trombone Shorty onstage to play -- we think Shorty might win the prize as the musician with the highest number of guest appearances at the Fest this year.)
•Speaking of Shorty, who can forget the Midnite Disturbers, what another new fan called "the most expensive brass band in history"? And how the Jazz Fest crowds were completely turned form the traffic flow hearing that jazzy, funky, brassy sound from the Jazz & Heritage Stage? OMG. What a memory!
•Yvette Voelker celebrating her birthday near the end of the Pfister Sisters' great set at the Economy Hall Tent, with fans bringing up old-fashioned bundles of a dozen red roses wrapped in cello, so many that she couldn't hold them all, her neck stained bright red with her furious blushes.
•Allen Toussaint's too-short set at Acura, zipping through just a few of his many, many hits, backed up by Rénard Poché on guitar, Big Sam on trombone, and Grace Darling on sax and background vocals, and Elaine from ELS in a fabulous white Voodoo queen outfit also on background vocals. He brought out Trombone Shorty (see above) and Irvin Mayfield, and then, crazily, announced a song called "Hanging With Jimmy Buffet" -- and he brought Buffet out (whose set was to follow) to sing background on it! It was funny and sweet and amazing. (I wanna know. When did Allen write that tune??)
•Meeting a guy at a food tent who said he worked at Ralph's at The Park, who was swearing by the Crawfish Strudel, which somehow Big Man and I had never ever tasted. So I held our seats and Big Man went back for a serving, while our new friend from Ralph's waited to see our reaction. Wow! Heavenly! I will certainly try to reproduce that at home.
•The final-final set of Jazz Fest with the Neville Brothers bringing up nearly every one of the nephews and grandsons as guests, with the ubiquitous Troy Andrews and Irvin Mayfield as well. We hate to think about it, but some day in the future (the FAR future, we hope), it'll be The Neville Family and not the Brothers. They ran through all the favorites, showed us some new stuff the younger generation is working on, and at the end, after we hollered ourselves hoarse, came back out for the traditional encore of Aaron singing "Amazing Grace" a capella. A group of young people behind us began harmonizing sweetly with Aaron as Big Man and I held each other, trying not to cry. And then Cyril "Nevillized" us all and it was time to go home and Jazz Fest was over for another year.
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