4 posts tagged “jazzfest”

Sunday was a great day for old friends and staying in one place. Luckily, the Accura stage has a no-chairs policy in the front, but Ben Cattle of Pop-A-Lock in New Orleans set up a tarp and some chairs in the center near the sound booth for us to enjoy the day there. Wanda Rouzan and a taste of New Orleans and Frankie Ford kicked off the day with great sets. Allen Toussaint raised the bar a notch with a stellar hour of his piano mastery backed  by a fantastic large band. Finally, one of my all time favorite bands, Steely Dan played hits older than about half the crowd, who still knew all the words by heart to songs like Kid Charlemagne, Josie, Peg, Hey Nineteen and more. Finished the day with the Radiators at the Gentilly Stage in fine form, and limped back to Acme Oyster bar to close out a beautiful 96 hours of fun. Can't wait to go back.  

Happy Birthday Jason Weinstock of Superfly Productions! Today started with Govt Majik playing hard funky jazz at full blast at 11am with a lemonade and a slow stroll into the gospel tent to see the Melody Clouds praise the Lord. Michael Skinkus played a beautiful West African Drum set at the Heritage stage. Today's escape was from the blistering heat instead of the monsoon rains, but the result was again sweet traditional jazz with Nicholas Payton's quintet followed by Roy Hargrove's big band. 2 hours of stellar music. New Orleans own Iguanas closed out my day at the Fais Do Do stage with a cumbo blend of rock, cajun, squeezebox, funk, soul and ripping saxophone showdowns.

The jazz tent moved, next to the blues tent, and that's where the day started with Brian Seeger and the Gentilly Groovemasters, great six piece energized set to fuel the early smiles of the second weekend kickoff. Noon gospel tent righteousness. Escape out of the biblical rain for a 3 band run at the economy hall tent. Palm court jazz band, Mark Broad, then the Last Straws were a fantastic combination of old dixieland banjo strumming, clarinet solos and more to ride out the storm. Dirty Dozen Brass band at Congo, then final show strategic attacks on ZZ Top, Counting Crows and George Benson, all in fine form.