Alex McMurray was born in New Jersey and made his way to New Orleans in the 1980s as a student at Tulane University. Instead of following an academic path, McMurray started to learn about New Orleans through its street culture, and playing and writing music. McMurray has de... Read more

John “Papa” Gros (pronounced Grow) is a pianist, organist, vocalist, and composer who combines the best of New Orleans’ piano professor traditions with contemporary funk, rock, and blues to create his own distinctive and dynamic sound. He is an established solo artist and i... Read more

The Dirty Dozen Brass Band launched in 1977, at a time when New Orleans brass bands were dwindling and the traditions of street parading were dying out. The Dozen revolutionized – and revitalized - the traditional brass band genre by injecting funk and modern jazz styles an... Read more

Keiko Komaki trained as a classical pianist as a child in Japan, but moved to New Orleans to follow her passion for funk and jazz. She cut her chops under the tutelage of blues maven Big Marva Wright and band leader Benny Turner, and has since played with a Who’s Who of New... Read more

Joe Krown is a New Orleans piano and B-3 master, known for his prowess in the funk, blues, boogie-woogie and jazz arenas, and for his work with The Joe Krown Organ Combo, for his legacy with Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown and, presently, as a member of the hard-touring Kenny Wa... Read more

Bruce “Sunpie” Barnes is truly a Renaissance man. Known primarily for his work as a musician, Barnes is also a former National Park Service ranger (retiring after 30 years), ethnographic photographer, actor, author, former high school biology teacher, former pro football pl... Read more