Joe Gelini is New Orleans drummer and songsmith perhaps best known for his work with the Grammy-nominated Mardi Gras Indian funk band Cha Wa. The Berklee-trained drummer honed his chops with New Orleans legends ranging from Big Chief Monk Boudreaux and Cyril Neville to Ande... Read more

Joe Ashlar is a versatile jazz organist and pianist who can be found performing around the world and in New Orleans with The Joe Ashlar Organ Trio, Good Enough for Good Times, YYRP, and a host of other groups. Ashlar incorporates New Orleans funk, the spirituality of Dr. Lo... Read more

Jesse McBride is an exciting and adventurous pianist and bandleader; the Tulane professor brings the legacies of jazz fathers Ellis Marsalis and Harold Battiste to his own thoughtful and forward-moving piano style and is committed to developing the next generation of jazz m... Read more

Jamil Sharif is a native New Orleans trumpeter and vocalist who has performed around the world and recorded with a wide range of musical luminaries ranging from Wynton Marsalis to Dr. John to Marcia Ball. His flexibility extends to his repertoire, which ranges from traditio... Read more

James Martin cut his tenor sax chops with Trombone Shorty’s Orleans Avenue band, and has progressed with a fine career as sought-after sideman, songwriter, vocalist, and leader of his own band. He’s toured the world with stops at all the major festivals, and collaborated wi... Read more

Grammy-winning singer Irma Thomas had her first hit in 1959, and over the course of a six-decade career has earned the title, “Soul Queen of New Orleans.” Born in 1941 in Ponchatoula, Louisiana, Thomas was raised in New Orleans, singing in school and in church choirs, wher... Read more

Ingrid Lucia honed her jazz vocal chops in New York with her band, the Flying Neutrinos, and with top talent like Tony Bennett, and today she remains a force in her home town New Orleans with her confident, silky voice, glamorous outlook, and blend of jazz standards and ori... Read more

Helen Gillet is a master of improvisation, using an acoustic cello, voice, and looping techniques to explore the boundaries of synthesized sounds and textures. Her music, rich in depth and color, expresses her experiences as a world citizen, yet is steeped in the humid rhyt... Read more

Gerald French carries the mantle of jazz on his giant shoulders as the leader of the Original Tuxedo Jazz Band, arguably the oldest jazz band in the world. The Original Tuxedo Jazz Band, was founded in 1910 by cornetist Oscar “Papa” Celestin, and run for many years by Geral... Read more