Right from the pages of unedited running commentary of Friday, May 1, 2020.
FRIDAY MAY 1
12:30 PM Catch last part Michael White 2011 performance
All day long, WWOZ delivers vignettes and back stories, wonderful windows spilling sunlight into corners of Jazz Fest we’ve never known about. These need to be archived, will do my best to find them or ask WWOZ to add them to the website.
Jazz Fesstoid: Louis Armstrong 2001 was his 100th birthday celebration. Louis never played at Jazz and Heritage Fest, he had been invited in 1971 but was recovering from a heart attack at home in NYC and died months later.
Samantha Fish vocals then Roy Hargrove 2007
Jazz Fesstoid: Jazz fest poster history, first was b/w poster given out free and posted around the city.
now silk screen posters and collectibles prices up to thousands of dollars as revenue to support Jazz Fest, see then at www.art4now.com says Lena Prima of WWOZ
https://art4now.com/collections/jazz-fest-posters/products/jf-13
Big Frieda’s gospel roots at 1 PM rock n gospel, hip hop meets revival meeting.
1:25 PM Aaron Neville, Charles Neville in Blues Tent 2014.
Aaron sings Summertime, a classic, how such a burly man can croon with such high frequency is a stunning contradiction,1966 song that made the Longshoreman into a household name, “Tell It Like It Is,” delivered with heartfelt pain, his bluesy falsetto floating over the tent, Neville sing talking a roman candle of scales up and down the all time doo woppy shimmering rendition and as if this isn’t enough poured into your emotional pool then the same stunning emotive octane on turbocharge cover of “Amazing Grace”.That tent is floating and has taken every damn person inside it half way to heaven.
Neville’s voice up and down the scales has traveled with more range than a camel through the Sahara, a thing of inestimable beauty, “Let’s Get Together” closes it out. During three songs with absolutely no warning, I weep. Joy? Deeply buried emotions of past? Dreams of my future? I don’t know. And I don’t care right now. I’m sitting at my desk, listening to music that creeps up on me with the power of a religious experience. Blues, gospel? A fine line Neville through which Neville’s voice flows as if it is a permeable membrane.
Lord have mercy.
Little Freddie King in the Blues Tent 2018 seems like just yesterday as I sit in isolation.
2:15 PM New Orleans trademark rambunctious “Get Together” second line by TCB Brass Band. If that don’t get people steppin’ up, kerchiefs, parasols, arms waving like sheaves of wheat, i don’t know what all will.
Gambling addiction PSA by WWOZ
2018 Paul Sanchez Rolling Road Show on Gentilly Stage
tribute to Alan Toussaint, “Louisiana” , ok everybody knows this gentleman legend, can sing the refrains from “Mother In Law” easy as the national anthem (to some may be more relevant) and another song in memory of Arthur Robinson, “My Name is Mr. Okra” , in honor of this particular street vendor and street vendors of fresh fruit and vegetables who used to walk neighborhood streets. People would come out their doors when they heard the vendor’s singsong voice proclaiming what was in his cart that day. Get a side order of Mr. Okra, value you could not afford but got gratis with your bag of fresh produce.
https://www.nola.com/entertainment_life/eat-drink/article_1a603a92-20fd-5b59-9bdd-07b7f41c5026.html
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/ezq8a4/meet-the-last-singing-vegetable-vendor-of-new-orleans
https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2018/02/17/586575973/goodbye-mr-okra-new-orleans-remembers-its-singing-vegetable-vendor
Chris Joseph record producer Lafayette LA up next
From time to time the upbeat voice of WWOZ general manager Beth Arroyo Utterback, best i can remember “ Glad you’re tuned in and enjoying Jazz Festing in Place. WWOZ is a community and public radio station. We rely on listener support from generous people just like you. We’ve been broadcasting Jazz Fest for nearly 40 years. Join us and become a member.”
Next, Ruthie Foster, Blues Tent 2018 reliable as always. “Back to the Blues” to prove it. Then a
Mississippi John Hurt cover, “Richland Woman Blues,” complete with banjo strumming, can’t make out the title but no trouble grooving in my chair with a terrific little percussion brushes riff, this song rocks, quite an upbeat addition to the tent.
https://www.austinchronicle.com/music/2017-03-31/ruthie-foster-joy-comes-back/
John Mooney 1998 House of Blues Stage, My Creole Belle, uptempo om pa pa do pah slide guitar rollin drum kit ratatat bass thrummin rollercoaster.
“Walkin On Sacred Ground” upbeat gotta get up and dance number propulsive drum pounds the beat guitar slide sirens underpin with slinky sinewy slide riffs not gonna sit down any time soon, whoa baby!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7Y05TR30wk
I bow in gratitude for whoever it is who picked out all these songs/performances from almost 40 years and thousands of performances then arranged them in a satisfying order to entertain us for in same hours Jazz Fest take place every year.
What the heck follows Mooney?
Then a recipe from an African American kitchen from a WWOZ presenter/chef!
This whole shebang’s mega sponsor is Shell followed by big time local companies and individuals.
Congo Square Stage 2002 Wynton Marsalis starts w Pedro’s Getaway, a very modern jazz arrangement, another facet of New Orleans quilt of music heritage, way different from anything that’s been played for the past five hours. Not danceable groove, has a groove and of course Wynton’s trumpet takes the lead followed by piano, saxophone solos in quick succession and Wynton making sounds on trumpet you’ve never heard from a brass instrument before but since this is New Orleans, should not surprise you in the least. This sounds right out of a Blue Note stage in NYC.
Jazz Fesstoid: paraphrased bc i can’t write fast enough. Spring of 1970 George Wein has idea to showcase New Orleans music and heritage. First one was held on steamboat President on Mississippi River, with Pete Fountain as honorary captain. Wein needed help so asked young Alison Minor and Quint Davis, who were knowledgeable and had reverence for the music and culture, to help him promote the fair. He knew that New Orleans future depended on the unique talents of its musicians. They lined up 100 musicians that many had never heard of and set up stages on what was then Beauregard Square now Congo Square. Every day Big Chief Bo Dollis led Mardi Gras Indians through the square in big second line parade.There was a gospel tent with musicians no one had heard of. One day Mahalia Jackson who was performing at the Municipal Auditorium, heard the second line parade and came out, ended up singing A Closer Walk With Thee. What would you give to have witnessed that! The first fair made no money. Wein planned a second one even though its success was an unknown quantity. Over time it grew, moved to The Fairgrounds Race Track 140 acres. Wein, Davis, and Minor’s vision to show the unique musical heritage of New Orleans now almost 40 years for all to see in the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival.
Papa Grows Funk: as advertised.
Jazz Fesstoid: Cajun singer Louis Michot of The Lost Bayou Ramblers talks about the introduction of Louisiana rural music from Cajun and Creole performers generally unknown to city dwellers in the 1970s. No way can i write fast enough. This needs to be archived too. By the 1980s the best cajun and creole musicians began to play at Jazz Fest.
https://kreolmagazine.com/music-entertainment/musicians/louis-michot-a-true-creole-musician/#.Xqzb6i_Mxgc
5:15 pm Blind Boys of Alabama Blues Tent 2018 How these guys in their various incarnations can be so damn good is quite a miracle in one way but the fact is that the kind of music they sing whether a cappella or with a churchy organ and percussion is uplifting, spiritual and that, my friends, is never out of date.
They get into a souped up gospel song and you can feel that tent rock, hell i feel it a couple thousand miles away. A version of Stand By Me gets them off the ground then they slow the train down with a rhythm n bluesy song that shows me the well beaten path between music of the black church and rhythm n blues I used to hear on juke boxes back in the 1960s and still knocking me out in 2020.
The final notes of this song are delivered by what i imagine is a host of gray haired angels stationed at the Pearly Gates. You say ‘Amen’ and you get admitted. Could not pick up the title but the feel of it will be seared in my memory for a long long time.
Next “I Saw The Light” The first three songs were a dazzling combination of gospel that shifted into rhythm n blues styling that showed the straight line from white washed clapboard churches to popular music.
5:34 GREAT story about Professor Longhair, WWOZ needs to put these little stories on their web site. Think i missed the beginning.
5:40 pm story
Jazz Festoid: in 1971 George Wein wanted to go to a practice of Mardi Gras Indians along with Alison Minor and Quint Davis. Sitting somewhere to wait, Wein hears a song on radio, says who is that? Professor Longhair , the two young guides say.
Find him, Wein says. Longhair had performed from 1940s to 1960s but his star had faded.
They found him in plain sight working as a janitor at a record store. The second year 1971 Jazz Fest outdoors April 21, 1971, Longhair agree to play. No one knew who the heck Prof Longhair was. In Congo Square he’s set to play. Well that stage was a small platform set up a a foot or so from the ground. Jazz Fest was still more of an idea about to be born than a rolling well oiled production. First day Fess shows up wearing a blue short sleeve shirt. Probably surprised by the enthusiasm, he shows up the next day wearing a suit. Lord knows where he got it.
Long story short, the crowd loved him. Look up his songs. “Tipitina” for example. Fess was the festival’s closing act from 1971 till 1979. All in the way of embracing your heritage says WWOZ Kyle Roussel (not at all sure of that). 1918-1980 https://www.discogs.com/artist/18394-Professor-Longhair
in April 1974 Professor Longhair’s story burned down, everything he owned except the clothes on his back gone. New Orleans takes care of its own. A benefit for the man was held in a warehouse to raise money for new home rebuild.The tapes of that show have never been heard. Tonight is the night they see daylight.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-lsiDJWMsQ
Great raw performance with remarks about Professor and musicians having fun. I think it was Earl King who introduces the man who wrote Mother in Law, The Fortune Teller, Sittin’ in Ya Ya, no other than Alan Toussaint (1938-2015)
36 year old Toussaint sings “Why Cant You Come Home” a little off key, maybe more practiced as a composer not performer. The with the host doing great job of pushing the band, firing up the audience, to give Toussaint a little love. Next song Earl King sings Toussaint’s “Fortune Teller.”
You can feel the make it up as you go along vibe of the night. People probably straggling in little by little, no one knows yet how it’s gonna work out, King is making a super effort to charge up the audience who by now have woke up and are screaming for more. This tape is totally unedited. All of it. Pauses and all . A masterpiece of history The Wild Magnolias are next.
Next The Wild Magnoiia’s. New Orleans audiences have always known that they’re part of the show, that it’s their job to send energy back to the stage and the more they send the more they get back from the performers.
The Meters Hey Pokey Way! Wow. This song might be in the curriculum of the public schools in New Orleans. The choruses come back and forth like the waves in a swimming pool after a good time Charlie plunged in with a cannonball.
Next Earl King so I have no idea who the MC is.
with Dr John and Earl King
THEN PROFESSOR LONGHAIR HIMSELF in a mighty upbeat original of his, “Big Chief,” his trademark whistle solo and all. How the heck does he whistle like that and rock that piano. The house band, probably the best musicians in town.
Thank you, Thank you, Fess modestly says.
Then with that voice that no one can imitate, that can bump up and down an octave when you’re not expecting it, sort of like a New Orleans yodel. A rocking swing tempo “Since My Baby” ??
Those long fingers pound out another solo sliding up and down the keyboard like a seal surfs a roller. With guitar hitting as many notes as Fess can play. His modest thank you again non plussed that the audience is in full voiced adulation, cheers, screams, lustily.
Now what? Whoa! Fess comes up with a Longhaired version of something that ends up as Stagger Lee!
Lost connection for a minute. Miss the last minutes! Geez!!
about 7 PM end of today’s Jazz Festing in Person.
credits.
Personal opinion: the man made up his own lyrics or what can be called lyrics which were actually riffing with sounds he heard in his brain and channeled into his mouth. You’ve heard of the harmonica being called a mouth organ? Well The Professor’s mouth was his primary organ that he channeled through his fingers to make sounds emerging from a pre-conscious brain in spontaneous warblings with an infectious Afro-Caribbean beat. With a distinct element of joy, the kind of joy that may only be attained after suffering of equal magnitude. Many of us can relate to that with some degree of personal experience but I think it informs black music in a way that beyond the racial experience of a white middle class guy like me.
Fess is an unrefined version of Fats Waller, with the bedrock vein of joy marbled through everything he invents. Listen to it when you need a lift without the benefit of drugs or alcohol.
You don’t buy it? Listen to this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-lsiDJWMsQ
then go back to Fess.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkGjDbKauVo
and the best story about Professor Longhair, Roeland Henry Byrd that I"ve ever read. https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/the-still-burning-piano-genius-of-professor-longhair
Midnight Ramble Series - May 21, 2020
May 21, 2020
2:00 AM
These midnight rambles have evolved from a substitute for exercise at my health club into a walking form of contemplation, meditation, and sheer wonder at the contrasts all around me, light and shadow, emptiness and density, deep silence spliced with the rustling of the wind through tree branches overhead.
I can feel it. Every night, like coming upon an old friend, it wraps around me in the first moments I pull the front door closed and walk into the zen like territory of sound/no sound.
The smell of budding trees, lilacs and primrose, the earth coming to life in the spring unmitigated by pollution of any sort, awaits me. I have been sucked into this eddy of silence and fragrance, addicted to and embraced by the sum of all of it.
In the nine weeks since I began rambling in the middle of March, the earthly shutdown has acted like a massive physic for the cosmos. Reminded me of a science experiment my sixth grade teacher demonstrated. She poured dirt into a large beaker of water and stirred it up. You know what happened in the next hour.
The canopy overhead looks like a blue/purple blanket onto which a mighty force has arranged the cosmos. Like me, it takes a ramble every night. Each of us has our own neighborhood. Mine varies according to my whim. The constellations plot their well worn paths every night.
"Look for Venus tonight!" a friend texted me. What I saw blew me away.
I downloaded a couple of apps. Rambling at about 2 AM last night (this morning) I see a brilliant star, high overhead. Open the "Sky Guide app", point my iPhone overhead. JUPITER! I first spotted the planet low in the southern sky around midnight two weeks ago, outwattaging every other body around it. Tonight two hours later, it looks like a beacon in a sea of lesser stars and planets.
https://history.nasa.gov/SP-349/ch1.htm
Ursa Major and Ursa Minor are a celestial halo, giggling and pointing fingers at grain-of-sand-me staring at them through my phone as I slow march past Victory Field along the yellow traffic lane in the middle of Orchard Street.
Below...Jupiter rising in the southwestern sky
The smaller 'star' to the left of Jupiter...SATURN! It turns out that May is the best month to get this view of the duo.
The smaller 'star' to the left of Jupiter...Saturn!
Photos by Paul A. Tamburello, Jr.... 2 AM...rambling
May 23, 2020 in Commentaries | Permalink | Comments (8)