Joyful Journey to Jazzfest
My wife and I always wanted to go to the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, but the planets never aligned until this year, when we made a pact with our friends Len and Ann to go together. We got reservations for the second weekend of Jazzfest at a funky inn in the French Quarter (former slave quarters, supposedly once home to Marie Laveau), very loosely run by an erstwhile hippie and Parrothead named Bill.
It was good location, accessible to Jackson Square (and the legendary Café du Monde beignets) and a multitude of great restaurants. The rooms were a bit rundown, but there was a shaded courtyard, where the guests gathered in the morning for coffee or the early evening for wine (and some pleasant guitar-mandolin jamming). We had come from all over (New York, Chicago, Austin, Seattle, Berkeley) for Jazzfest, so we were all making the same pilgrimage to musical Mecca.
We were not to be disappointed. Regulars said it was the best weather ever for Jazzfest, with nothing but sunshine for both weekends (beginners’ luck for us, I guess, like our first visit to Falcon Ridge, before we learned to expect at least one torrential downpour.) It did get pretty hot by Sunday, but that was mitigated by some merciful cloud cover and a blessed breeze.
We were not to be disappointed. Regulars said it was the best weather ever for Jazzfest, with nothing but sunshine for both weekends (beginners’ luck for us, I guess, like our first visit to Falcon Ridge, before we learned to expect at least one torrential downpour.) It did get pretty hot by Sunday, but that was mitigated by some merciful cloud cover and a blessed breeze.
The music is a mix of big name headliners and local talent. Some of the national names we caught included Wilco (in fine form), Edie Brickell (nice and relaxed), Michelle Shocked (soulful and sassy), Jesse Winchester (like an old friend), Ruthie Foster (with her irresistible mix of rock, blues, soul, and gospel) and Michael Franti (who brought the sound of sunshine right into the audience and some of the audience right onto the stage on Sunday afternoon). Sometimes the choices are excruciating. Faced with a choice between Arcade Fire, Willie Nelson, and Gregg Allman on Friday, we opted for the Mahalia Jackson tribute with John Boutte and Irma Thomas, and didn’ t regret it a bit.
Some of the local heroes included trumpeter Kermit Ruffins (a star, thanks to “Treme,” who knows how to please a crowd with his soul/jazz gumbo), Amanda Shaw (auburn-haired fiddle playing singer), piano bluesman Henry Butler (who burned through the Professor Longhair classic, “Go to the Mardi Gras”), a slew of Marsalises (brothers Delfayo and Jason and papa Ellis), and great traditional jazz from Dr. Michael White & the Original Liberty Jazz Band (featuring one hot blooded mama, Thais Clark, on vocals) and, of course, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band (who featured a pair of fabulous dancers and also inspired the best second line of dancers from the audience, following the band right out of the tent).
Allen Toussaint holds a special place in the hearts of New Orleanians, and his set on the big Acura Stage was masterful, including everything from a rap interlude to a cameo appearance by Jimmy Buffett (the big headliner that day) on a tune he called ”Hanging with Jimmy Buffett.” It’s always a treat when surprise guests sit in. Roadhouse piano fave Marcia Ball brought Irma Thomas onstage for a duet on “Sing It” (and, boy, did they!), and NOLA favorite sons The Radiators (in what was billed as their “farewell”), invited Michael Doucet and Warren Haynes to jam with them, as they closed out the big Gentilly Stage on Sunday.
My friend Len remarked that The Radiators were graybeards, which was true of a lot of the audience, too. It was like a convention of geezers in Hawaiian shirts (including yours truly), but once the music got into your system, you just danced from one spot to another, like you were in one of the Indian parades making their way across the grounds. “Don’t let your fire go out,” The Radiators sang. Words to live by – in New Orleans or anywhere.
