Well, another Jazz Fest has come and gone, and we're a little sun-struck, a little over-fed, a little tired from a lot of walking -- but we are well-satisfied in every way.
We made the sensible but still difficult decision to give up on the traditional biggest-attendance day, the second Saturday, both to avoid the crush and to give our niece from Pennsylvania a one-day tour of the city, which we had never done before. (Poor thing! On all her previous visits, she barely got to see anything other than what you can see on the route from our house to the Fest!) So that means our highlights of this final weekend will not include any of the acts on Saturday, May 5 -- and believe me, one of the hardest things in the world for me was to make the choice NOT to see Allen Toussaint!
Here's a recap of our Fest days:
Thursday, May 3 -- J. Monque'D (nostaligic hot New Orleans R&B), The Mighty Supremes Gospel Quintet, the incredible Native American musician Bill Miller (kickin' the tradition to the 21st century!), George Porter and his Runnin' Pardners (like everyone else, we believe in George), the sweet'n'naughty Rosie Ledet & her Zydeco Playboys (what a set!!), the Roots of Music Parade (love-love-love those kids!), the Black Seminoles Mardi Gras Indians (I can almost never pass up Indians), Ivan Neville's Dumpsta Funk, the wonderful Joint's Jumpin' (really hot set! love the horns!), the Raymond Myles Tribute at the Gospel Tent (very faithful to his arrangements, you could almost picture him being there), and wanted to end with the super-wonderful Esperanza Spaulding and her Radio Music Society, but she had for some reason requested the Congo Square Stage over the more natural Jazz Tent, where she appeared before, but the sound techs at Congo completely screwed up on sound, resulting in a late show of *over an hour* (unconscionable!!) and then when she went on, poor darlin, they *still* couldn't mike her standing bass. She was a trouper, and tried to carry on, but an enormous amount of energy was lost, not to mention time, and there were tunes she had to recast for her strap-on bass, and the whole thing was SUCH a tremendous disappointment. I couldn't believe that Congo Square messed her up like that, and if I had had Quint Davis's email or phone number, he would've heard from me! In disappointment, we walked away and caught the end of Jimmy Buffet's acoustic set, which wasn't what I had planned for but was, as you'd expect, very enjoyable and personal and aimed at a local crowd. Couldn't let one thing ruin the whole day.
Friday, May 4 (Big Man's birthday) -- Theresa Anderson and her new big band while lying on a blanket and the sun behind many clouds -- absolute perfection!, John Lawrence & the Ven Pa'Ca Flamenco troupe with their incredibly supple and sexy dancer as we enjoyed dozens of raw oysters, Marcia Ball on Acura ("Louisiana 1927" used to make me tear up before the katrina, and now it just wipes me out), Wanda Rouzan's hot and fun set in the Blues Tent, the fabulous street performer Doreen and her trad band (with her lil daughter Dorian on drums occasionally!) knocked the crowd out in the Economy Hall Tent, folks just yellin' out, "We love you, Dorren!" and she coming back with, "And I love y'all too." That woman plays clarinet like nobody's business!, Bonerama at Gentilly, caught a little of Mavis Staples in the Gospel Tent, though you couldn't have gotten in there the crowd was so giant, and ending with Little Anthony & the Imperials with their pipes intact & the songs everyone loves in the Blues Tent (what great seats we had!).
Sunday, May 6 -- Big Man was scheduled to play at 1:30 pm on the Congo Square Stage and he was anxious enough about being on time that we were early. Setting ourselves up in the performers' trailer, we happened to see 2 sax players we know, also backstage, and we waved and called out to them. They were like, "OMG so relieved to see you!" at Big Man and bore him away to their trailer. Turns out they wanted and needed a good trumpet player and didn't have one. Big Man was drafted to go on with them at 12:30 pm with Mem Shannon and the Membership (apparently it's a *loose* membership), so we were in the backstage stands for that set and Big Man's real gig with ELS right after. We enjoyed it all, and so did the crowd. After that, we dumped the horn case at the car (LOVE that musician parking!!), and headed for the Funky Meters at Gentilly. (Part of me, tho', was sorry to miss the Sissy Bounce Shakedown at Congo Square -- it got great reivews.) Then Los Hombres Calientes at Jazz & Heritage (seemed a strange choice of venue for the great Irvin Mayfiend, but whatever) and caught their homage to the orisha Ogun as well as a couple of other tunes. Ed Volker, late of the Radiators, at Lagniappe, gave us another excuse to do raw oysters and continue to make friends with the staff from Smitty's Seafood in Kenner (hey, didja know they do 50 cent oysters on Mondays and Wednesdays??), then the Boutté Family in the Gospel Tent (terrific!), Rebirth at Congo Square, and the totally great Bonnie Raitt at Gentilly (her intimate rendition of "I Can't Make You Love Me" was heart-breaking and personal, like she was in your living room). And then we were off to be Neville-ized for the last Jazz Fest with all the Neville Brothers. Ivan was there! Jason was there! Ian was there! But Aaron's voice was sadly compromised and we all pretended not to notice how it was a full register lower; he kept to occasional back-up singing for the most part, only giving us his personal version of "Amazing Grace" as the very very end. They did not announce this as their last Fest, but some of us knew it through the grapevine, but even not knowing, folks had to realize there was something seriously wrong with Aaron. It was wonderful, really it was, but it was so so sad, I just cradled my head in my hands and began to sob and Big Man held me tight. I can't remember how we used to end Jazz Fest before it became the Nevilles' spot, and I don't know how I will feel about some other group or person doing it next year and all the next years to come. I just know this hurt like hell.
And then Quint Davis came back out and pronounced us all Nevilles, and thanked us for a great Fest, and bud us come back next year, which of course we will, and we walked away full of emotion and Jazz Fest was over for 2012.
No comments:
Post a Comment