With a partially reunited Guns N Roses headlining Coachella in California and Gregg Allman and Widespread Panic bringing their usual jamband charm to the Wanee Music Festival in Florida, you might believe the 2016 music festival season won’t get better than these two this past weekend. But no festival holds a candle to the mystique, the vibe and the diversified roster of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. It holds such a spell over musicians that playing the festival at least once in their lifespan is a goal many will beg for and then display prominently near the top of their career accomplishments.
With Weekend One about to kick into gear this Friday, April 22, the roster is filled to the brim with artists as eclectic as Pearl Jam, Stevie Wonder, Nick Jonas and Big Freedia; Elvis Costello, Buddy Guy, Steely Dan and Van Morrison; Snoop Dogg, Steely Dan, Beck and Neil Young; Arlo Guthrie, Feufollet, the Suffers and Paul Simon. It’s a cube planner’s nightmare but a festival goer’s dream.
The first Jazz Fest was held in April of 1970. Mahalia Jackson, the Meters and Duke Ellington were there, as were Fats Domino, Pete Fountain and the Preservation Hall Band. By 1980, the festival had expanded to two weekends with Jazz and blues still the dominant music being featured: BB King, Muddy Waters, Jerry Lee Lewis, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Etta James, Don Cherry and Allen Toussaint, among many others. Marcia Ball, Frogman Henry, Luther Kent and Irma Thomas were on stages that year and have remained yearly staples, playing at this year’s event as well. [Check the website for set times & other important information – http://www.nojazzfest.com/]
Bob Dylan first played the Jazz Fest in 1993; Bruce Springsteen in 2006; Bonnie Raitt in 1977; and Stevie Ray Vaughan in 1986. Big names that kept being invited back because the crowds loved them. Following the devastating destruction of Hurricane Katrina in August of 2005, the 2006 Jazz Fest contained an air of musical spiritual revivalization brought about by the likes of Springsteen, Costello, Dylan, Simon, Jimmy Buffett, Dr John, Keith Urban and Dave Matthews. The world may be going to hell but inside the gates of Jazz Fest, everyone comes together as one.
Why? Why does Jazz Fest mean so much to so many people? We asked several musicians for their most treasured memories:
Grace Potter: We were walking back from playing our set at Jazz Fest in 2012 and a very old black woman with a headdress on stopped me and said “Hey…was that you just now singing up there?” I said yes and she just shook her head and her almost completely toothless smile got really wide and she plunked her big old bag on the ground and started fishing through it. She had all kinds of voodoo shit in there. I figured she was gonna maybe try to sell me something and I was in a rush to get to the dressing room cause I was all sweaty, but something told me to hang tight and hear this woman out. She pulled out 2 small stones. One was black and one was white. She said “You see these stones?” I nodded. “Well…one of them is black and one of them is white…kinda like you and me. Ain’t nothin too special about either one of em, right? But you see, it don’t matter what color the stone is once it’s in your pocket. So here;” she handed me the black stone, “I’ma keep this white one and you keep the black one and always remember…girl, you in the pocket.” Then she gave me a dismissive nod and just sort of wandered away. I still carry that stone around with me everywhere I go.
Big Sam Williams: Man, Jazz Fest is one of my favorite festivals in the world. My first year there performing with my group Big Sam’s Funky Nation was in 2002. The NOCCA Jazz Ensemble, New Orleans Heritage School of Music, UNO Big Band, Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Soul Rebels, The Stooges, Allen Toussaint, Elvis Costello and Widespread Panic were on the bill as well. To finally have my own set and do my own show was so exciting! I was so nervous, but in a good way. I was nervous and hyper at the same damn time! The weather was HOT! Of course … About 90 degrees that day. It was packed out at the Fairgrounds and I could smell all the different foods out there – meat pies, crawfish bread, crawfish Monica, soft shell alligator Poboys and beaucoup more… It was awesome!
Anyway, it was time to hit the stage and I asked the crowd if they were ready and they screamed so loud that all my nervousness went away instantly… I was ready to funk’em up! Man, that was a great show! We didn’t miss a beat! Neither did the sign language interpreters. It was cool watching them from the stage signing “Make It Funky” and “Shake It Don’t Break It”. It was so hot out there that the sun was beaming straight through my shoes. It felt like my feet were on fire! Needless to say, I look forward to Jazz Fest every year. If you’ve never been, then you’re definitely missing out and need to get down here ASAP! I can go on and on about the bands I’ve performed with at Jazz Fest or all the delicious food that I’ve eaten there over the years, but that would be like writing a book. LOL. Just know that right here in Nola is where u wanna be! Especially during Jazz Fest!
Mark Mullins [Bonerama]: As an audience member I’d have to say seeing Randy Newman in the late 1990’s with my buddy John Gros at Gentilly Stage. In the middle of the set as the sky opened up on all of us, he launched into “Louisiana 1927” (”They’re trying to wash us away…”) It was pretty magical and about seven years before Katrina. On the stage so many great moments: early days for me with George Porter Jr. and Snooks were so special, and the first Bonerama Jazz Fest appearance around 2000 was unforgettable, seeing people rush to the stage from all corners upon the first few measures of blasting out what I think was the Meter’s “Funky Miracle.” But my all-time favorite moment had to be when my oldest son Michael joined us (Bonerama) on stage for the first time ever in front of thousands of people at Gentilly Stage in 2014. He was only thirteen and I gotta say he really nailed it. Hard to express how cool that was as a father, yet as I was still in the character I play of co-leading a band at that moment, it was almost surreal to watch and experience. He was so comfortable it was like auto pilot!
Tom Drummond [Better Than Ezra]: One year, we played before Arcade Fire on the Acura Stage. Believe it or not my then five-year-old daughter’s favorite band happened to be Arcade Fire. After our set, I took my daughter out front to watch their set and put her on my shoulders. She was in awe that a woman named Regina was not only in the band but that she also played percussion. Throughout the set my daughter was intensely focused and the most quiet I have ever seen her in her life. The experience was absolutely mind blowing and a beautiful moment to share with my daughter. That same year, Willa jumped into an on-camera interview with Kevin and I as if she were a part of the band. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree!
Chad Penot [Flow Tribe]: This is Chad Penot, the bassist for Flow Tribe. Jazz Fest holds a special place in my heart. Most of us grew up attending the festival as kids just starting to wander away from our parents to explore all that the grounds has to offer. Becoming a performing artist at this festival is a huge honor that we all are humbled by. My most memorable Jazz Fest was 2012. I woke up early overwhelmed by the excitement of it finally being the day of my first Jazz Fest performance. I had my suit for the performance laid out as if it were my first day of school. It was a beautiful spring morning with the sun shining and a perfect 75 degrees outside. I live just a couple blocks from the Fest and could hear the production crews checking microphones and drums from my porch as I went out for coffee. As if the looming performance wasn’t enough to keep my mind and heart racing, I would be attending the Fest with a diamond ring in my back pocket and a loose plan to ask my girlfriend Bailey to marry me that day. Flow Tribe opened up the festival that year. We were the first performance on the first Friday on the Gentilly Stage. As the gates opened, so did our set. The fairgrounds seemed to fill with Fest goers as fast as our first song came and went. After a couple songs, we had found our groove and could finally relax and enjoy this moment for how special it was. Our performance ended and we all celebrated as any young band would – rushing out to see our family and friends to hear their version of what they had just experienced.
Reality set in and now it was time for the next milestone. That year Terrance Osborne was the artist of the poster. It was a Treme setting with Trombone Shorty playing his horn on a front porch. I purchased the poster and hunted down Terrance Osborne, not to autograph the poster, but to write “Will you marry me?” When I finally had enough courage to show her our new “signed” poster, a small rain cloud had made it’s way above our head. I’m trying to unroll the poster to share my excitement of our newest Fest poster and she’s trying to stop me to protect it from the looming rain. By this point all our family and friends know my plan and are laughing watching this tug of war. I finally give up and drop to a knee while pulling the ring out of my pocket. She instantly cries, completely shocked and surprised, to say yes and hugs me. Then we laugh together as I unroll the poster. It now hangs in our living room and the few water spots on it from rain drops makes me smile every time I look at it.
Mario Palmisano [Flow Tribe]: For me, there is no pinning down one favorite memory for Jazz Fest. It’s an incredible time for any music lover. This is the grand celebration of a city that’s been the musical capital of the world for the past 100 years. Of course there’s food and smells and sounds of all types like most festivals, but what truly makes “da Fest” so special is the people. For a New Orleans boy, walking into the Fairgrounds is like walking into your own surprise birthday party: Everyone is there! Friends I haven’t seen in years, friends I see every day, friends going all the way back to pre-school and friends I have yet to make. After a while I don’t even care about the food or the music or the sun laboriously beating down on my shoulders. I’m with my friends and family creating memories in an environment that is truly one of a kind. Every year is my favorite memory.
Fred LeBlanc [Cowboy Mouth]: So, a story about our most memorable Jazz Fest … When has there been a Jazz Fest that WASN’T memorable? I know it’s against the rules, but I’m going to have to point out three stories. Please remember, I am whittling these down from over 25 years of playing Jazz Fest with Cowboy Mouth – and it is still as big of a rush now as it was the very first time. Anyway …
1. I can’t remember the year (they all kind of blend together in one glorious musical miasma), but I remember the feeling of sheer exhilaration and terror all at the same time when I climbed up to the top of the stage rafters one year during our set during a of moment of euphoria/insanity. As I was doing my thing screaming about the joy of being alive thru the power of kick ass Nola rock n roll while riling up the over 50,000 people in front of us, I realized that the only thing keeping me from careening down to almost certain death was the tarp that was laid over the framework of the stage roof. In those moments of envelope-pushing that I’m sometimes prone to I’m not the most rational person I know, nor is there much forethought given to what I do. Turning sheer fear into pure adrenaline, I let myself be swallowed up in the moment while doing my best to exhilarate both the band and the audience, simply to get them all to where I already was in my mind. It worked, I survived, and people still ask me about it to this day. Yes, it was awesome. Yes, I was terrified. And yes, I loved every single second of it.
2. The year before Katrina, I was asked to do an acoustic show for the Jazz Fest archive series. Obviously, nobody knew what was about to befall the greatest city in the world as well as the rest of the Gulf Coast so we were all blissfully ignorant of how things were about to change drastically for all of us. The show went very well, with radio host Grant Morris acting both as MC and interviewer in between songs. He and I go way back as he was actually at the very first Cowboy Mouth show back in November 1990 at Tipitina’s. Anyway, during my performance I noticed out in the audience a very dapperly dressed gentleman who looked a lot like Allen Toussaint. Knowing that no way in hell could it ever be him, I didn’t really think about it. It wasn’t until after the show where I went up to greet a line full of people who wanted to shake hands and say hello that I realized it actually WAS Mr. Allen Toussaint himself! He could not have been more complementary to both my band and my songs and we spoke about his work as well as the recent passing of Mr. Lee Dorsey, whom he wrote songs for and produced, and whom I was a huge fan of as well. Needless to say, I was on a high for the rest of the week. With his recent passing, I can safely say that New Orleans has lost one of the true creative spirits that made this place the musical paradise it is.
3. This is my personal favorite story, for obvious reasons. Last year I was able to bring my (at the time) three-year-old son Bash onstage to play drums with us during our signature song, “Jenny Says.” Naturally, it was not something I had planned and I wasn’t even sure that he would be up for it. But the moment seemed right and when I called him up he came walking gingerly across the stage wearing his little blue protective headphones and performed like a champ. The audience was generously calling out his name going, “Bash! Bash! Bash!” His picture was splashed all across the JumboTron screens and he was quite the hit that day. When people asked me if I thought he was going to be a rock star when he grew up, I answered that he did throw a temper tantrum backstage (being three years old and eating jelly donuts does not make one very calm) and he did leave with a brunette after the show (my ex-wife). But the best part of the story is that now his favorite game to play at home is “Jazz Fest.” He and I will each grab a pair of my drumsticks beating them on the carpeted floor, after which he will say, “Good job, Daddy! Here’s your trophy.” Then he will hand me an imaginary trophy. It doesn’t get any better than that. Obviously, there are many, many more stories. But space limits. However, feel free to come up and ask me about them sometime. And have a great Jazz Fest! I know I will.
So with your schedule printed out – cubes as they are called – it’s time to start circling bands and here are a few of our favorites for each day sans the main headliners on the Acura and Gentilly stages (as there is so much more music to see while you wait for those artists to hit the stage).
Friday, April 22: Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings, Grace Potter, Walter Trout, Cowboy Mouth, Flow Tribe and Mason Ruffner.
Saturday, April 23: Big Sam’s Funky Nation, Anders Osborne, Galactic, Tribute to Jelly Roll Morton, Willie Sugarcaps and Johnny Sansone.
Sunday, April 24: Jonny Lang, the Taj Mahal Trio, NOCCA Jazz Ensemble, Little Freddie King Blues Band, Better Than Ezra and Rhiannon Giddens.
Thursday, April 28: Gary Clark Jr, Mia Borders, the Suffers, Buffy Sainte-Marie, the Breton Sound, the North Penn High School Navy Jazz Band and the Lost Bayou Ramblers with Rickie Lee Jones.
Friday, April 29: the Revivalists, Bonerama, Honey Island Swamp Band, Feufollet, John Mooney & Bluesiana and Sean Bruce.
Saturday, April 30: Buddy Guy, Kristin Diable, Kermit Ruffins’ Tribute to Louis Armstrong, Big Freedia, the Lone Bellow, Royal Southern Brotherhood and Hurray For The Riff Raff.
Sunday, May 1: Neil Young & the Promise Of The Real, Tributes to both Allen Toussaint and BB King, Mavis Staples, Arlo Guthrie, Walter Wolfman Washington & the Roadmasters, Kumbuka African Dance & Drum Collective, Johnette Downing & Scott Billington (for the kids) and Dumpstaphunk.
Remember that the Mardi Gras Indians will be performing and parading both weekends, as will be the Native American Indians. Both are fascinating to watch. There will be plenty of New Orleans style food, crafts, dancing and all-around enjoyment throughout all seven days. So buy a ticket, buy a poster and an official Jazz Fest shirt, bring your sunscreen, umbrella, empty stomach and party shoes. This is about to get good.
Follow Glide on all our social media for photo galleries, reports and tweets from the grounds all throughout Jazz Fest.
Live photographs by Leslie Michele Derrough
