Celebrating a New Orleans Musical Hero

From 10 p.m. to midnight on January 12 — the night before New Orleans music legend Danny Barker's birthday — David Kunian will host a five-part special on WWOZ called the Danny Barker Radio Series on the Kitchen Sink show.   

On Barker's actual birthday, January 13, Snug Harbor will host Gregg Stafford & the Jazz Hounds as the group performs a tribute to the man and his music at 8 and 10 p.m.  

Then, on January 16 from 3-5 p.m., a concert honoring Danny Barker's 101st birthday will be presented by the French Market in the Market Café (1000 Decatur Street at St. Phillip). The band will feature Sharon Martin, George French, Gerald French, Mike Lemler, Tom Fischer, and Carl LeBlanc. 

About Danny Barker

Danny Barker (1909-1994) was a profoundly influential New Orleans musician, bandleader, educator, and storyteller. As a guitarist, he played and recorded with greats including Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday and Charlie Parker from the 1930s to the '60s.

In the '70s and '80s, his Fairview Baptist Church Marching Band (later to evolve into the Dirty Dozen Brass Band) helped launch the careers of players like Wynton Marsalis and Nicholas Payton and led to a revival of the New Orleans brass band tradition.