With everything going on it had been a while since I visited my dependable fallback the Gospel Tent. I was greeted by the Voices of Distinction, an all-female quartet studded in sparkly green dresses. Their foot-stomping soul was an absolute blast, and it felt good to know tha...
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Esperanza Spalding has been exploding lately, and with good reason. Her enthusiastic and earthy character is matched by an articulate and proficient style of breezy jazz. The WWOZ Jazz Tent was certainly hypnotized, and I think more than a few crushes were formed.
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The Congo Square Stage was just as overflowing as its Festival schedule square for the Dirty Dozen Brass Band and the Glass House Reunion with the Rebirth Brass Band. Later on, John Boutté put on a refreshing set at the 'OZ Jazz Tent.
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I'll admit I decided to go see Freddie Ford mostly out of curiosity, but apparently he anticipated this. Twenty-seven Jazz Festivals, and way more since his R&B smash "Sea Cruise", the "New Orleans Dynamo" gladly beat us to every joke about his age that we could have imagined,...
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The Meter Men described themselves as senior citizen funk, but by looking and listening to them it was hard to agree. George, Leo and Zig were tight and together, playing the low-down grooves they were known for in their Meters days but with plenty of vicious shredding from Le...
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I'm starting to think there's a competition among Blues Tent performers to outdress each other. I'm having a hard time choosing a winner so far, but Lil' Ed (pictured at right) is certainly in the running. Showy regalia aside, I'm a big fan of his recent Alligator Records rele...
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Little Freddie King was already a big glowing square on my Jazz Fest schedule, but his single-song appearance at the Ponderosa Stomp last night really whetted my appetite. You see, despite his modest moniker and innocent smile on the cover of his MadeWright Records release, Me...
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Each day in between Jazz Fest, the Louisiana Music Factory in the French Quarter has live performances all day long. Guests include legends like Henry Gray, Leo Nocentelli, and Kermit Ruffins. I happened to squeeze in onTuesday just in time to catch one of the best regular liv...
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It's hard to tell who was more excited: the adoring Gospel Tent audience or Mavis Staples. But don't let that wide grin fool you — when she does a low-down number, shestill growls like a tiger. And as she demonstrated and told the audience, "I can still shake, baby!"
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There's been no shortage of Mardi Gras Indian performances, and judging by crowd appreciation, that's a welcome situation. Big Chief Monk Boudreaux and The Golden Eagles were squeezing out some obscenely funky tunes and, let me tell you, I had a field day snapping photos of th...
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