{"id":5540,"date":"2015-12-24T15:42:32","date_gmt":"2015-12-24T15:42:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.artinfo.com\/blunotes\/?p=5540"},"modified":"2015-12-24T15:42:32","modified_gmt":"2015-12-24T15:42:32","slug":"celebrating-danny-barkers-essential-legacy-in-new-orleans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/larryblumenfeld.com\/index.php\/2015\/12\/24\/celebrating-danny-barkers-essential-legacy-in-new-orleans\/","title":{"rendered":"Celebrating Danny Barker's Essential Legacy in New Orleans"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Photo<\/a>
Photo copyright Eric Waters<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\nOutside New Orleans, the name\u00a0Danny Barker<\/strong><\/a> isn\u2019t all that well known.
\nYet talk to a New Orleans musician of any age, who plays in nearly any style, and Mr. Barker\u2014as these players call him\u2014inevitably comes up, in reverent and warm tones, much the way modern-jazz musicians talk about drummer Art Blakey.
\nBarker\u2019s Fairview Baptist Church Marching Band<\/a>, which he founded in 1970, late in life, helped launch many careers. No Barker, no Dirty Dozen Brass Band, no Rebirth Brass Band. No Barker, and it\u2019s hard to know what trumpeters including Wynton Marsalis, Nicholas Payton, Leroy Jones and Kermit Ruffins would sound like, just how drummers like Herlin Riley and Shannon Powell might\u00a0swing.
\nYet Barker\u2019s legacy is bigger than that, and just as much about the names we don\u2019t know. His Fairview Baptist band was a training ground for young musicians. For anyone even remotely connected to the city\u2019s indigenous culture, Barker\u2014who played banjo and guitar, sang and wrote songs, and led bands\u2014is the key figure of a brass-band revival at a moment when many felt that tradition\u00a0slipping away.
\nBack in August, away from the high-profile “Kartrina”\u00a0hoopla, I moderated a panel discussion in New Orleans\u2014”Ten Years After: The State of New Orleans Culture.” There, Barker\u2019s name was invoked again and again, as a man who saved not just a style of music but a constellation of community values connected to an indigenous culture.
\nA few years ago, filmmaker Darren Hoffman made a wonderful documentary about Barker\u2019s legacy, \u201cTradition is a Temple<\/a>.\u201d
\nYet the best tribute to Barker\u2019s living legacy is The<\/strong> Danny Barker Banjo and Guitar Festival<\/strong><\/a>.<\/em>\u00a0It begins January 14\u00a0(a day past what would have been Barker\u2019s 107th<\/sup> birthday) and runs through January 17 in New Orleans, with an additional concert on January 21 by singer\u00a0Maria Muldaur, who once scored a hit with Barker\u2019s \u201cDon\u2019t You Feel My Leg.\u201d
\nI\u2019ll be there, in the midst of my stint as writer-in-residence with The New Quorum<\/a>.
\nThe Danny Barker Banjo and Guitar Festival, now in its second year, is a labor of love for Detroit Brooks, who I\u2019ve grown to know through his distinguished work as guitarist with alto saxophonist Donald Harrison and as banjoist with Michael White\u2019s Original Liberty Jazz Band.
\nThe festival gathers banjoists (among them, Brooks, Don Vappie and Carl LeBlanc) and a wealth of the city\u2019s finest musicians, as well as others who can frame Barker\u2019s life and work, such as writer Kalamu ya Salaam, and community activists\u00a0Fred Johnson\u00a0and\u00a0Jerome Smith. The festival’s span of styles and venues attest to the breadth and depth of Barker\u2019s reach. A list of events is below, or look here<\/a>:
\nThe\u00a0Danny Barker Banjo and Guitar Festival 2016<\/em>\u00a0gets underway on Thursday, January 14 with an All-Star musical tribute to Danny Barker at Snug Harbor jazz club<\/strong>\u2013 featuring\u00a0Shannon Powell,\u00a0Kerry Lewis,\u00a0Don Vappie,\u00a0Lucien Barbarin,\u00a0Roderick Paulin\u00a0and\u00a0Gregg Stafford\u00a0in celebration of the 107th\u00a0anniversary of Danny Barker\u2019s birth on January 13, 1909. There will shows at 8pm and 10pm.\u00a0\u00a0Other events on the 2016 festival schedule include:
\nFriday afternoon, January 15 \u00a0\u2013\u00a0Clinics\u00a0at:\u00a0\u00a0the\u00a0University of New Orleans<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 hosted by\u00a0Steve Masakowski, featuring\u00a0Carl LeBlanc\u00a0and\u00a0Seva Venet\u00a0\u2013 12:30 pm \u2013 1:45 pm \u2013 and at\u00a0NOCCA\u00a0\u2013 hosted by Michael Pellera, featuring\u00a0Don Vappie\u00a0and\u00a0David Bandrowski\u00a0\u2013 2:30 pm \u2013 3:45 pm.
\nFriday night, January 15 \u00a0\u2013\u00a0Danny Barker: Musician, Mentor, Community Leader<\/em>\u00a0\u2013 Panel discussion at the French Quarter’s Palm Court Jazz Caf\u00e9<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 1204 Decatur Street \u2013 8pm \u2013 10pm\u00a0\u00a0\u2013 with musicians and community leaders who were directly and profoundly influenced by Danny Barker \u2013 including trumpeters Leroy Jones\u00a0and\u00a0Gregg Stafford, trombonist\u00a0Lucien Barbarin, writer\u00a0Kalamu ya Salaam, and community activists\u00a0Fred Johnson\u00a0and\u00a0Jerome Smith.\u00a0\u00a0WWNO\u2019s\u00a0Fred Kasten\u00a0moderates.
\nFriday night, January 15 \u2013 Late-Night Guitar Jam\u00a0\u2013 Blue Nile \u2013\u00a012 midnight \u2013 2am \u2013 Mega guitar jam featuring\u00a0Vasti Jackson,\u00a0Bill Solley,\u00a0Steve Masakowski,\u00a0Mem Shannon\u00a0and\u00a0Chris Thomas King.<\/strong>
\nSaturday afternoon, January 16 \u2014 Parade of Young People<\/strong> featuring the Danny Barker Resurgent Band 1pm-3pm (check here<\/a> for route).
\nSaturday evening, January 16 \u2013<\/strong>\u00a0Let\u2019s Talk About\u00a0Danny and Blu Lu (Memories & Stories)\u00a0<\/strong>\u2013 Old U.S. Mint \u2013\u00a05pm \u2013 7pm \u2013 A mix of stories about Danny Barker\u2019s influence on them from a half dozen folks who are not fulltime professional musicians \u2013 including OffBeat publisher\u00a0Jan Ramsey,\u00a0sculptor\u00a0Clifton Webb,\u00a0dancer\u00a0Greer Mendy\u00a0and record producer\u00a0Scott Billington\u00a0\u2013 with music inspired by Danny Barker played by an all-star band of his direct musical heirs. WWNO\u2019s\u00a0Fred Kasten\u00a0hosts.
\nSaturday night, January 16 \u2013 8pm \u2013 midnight\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Celebrating Danny Barker at the Carver<\/strong> \u2013Treme\u2019s historic and beautifully restored Carver Theater is the site for a cavalcade of great New Orleans artists in tribute to Danny Barker \u2013 performers to include\u00a0George French,\u00a0Topsy Chapman and Solid Harmony,\u00a0Charmaine Neville,\u00a0John Boutte\u00a0and\u00a0Todd Duke,\u00a0Steve Masakowski,\u00a0Kenny Neal,\u00a0John Rankin\u2019s\u00a0guitar trio\u00a0Guitarmony\u00a0\u2013 and a banjo quintet featuring\u00a0David Bandrowski,\u00a0Detroit Brooks,\u00a0Carl LeBlanc,\u00a0Don Vappie\u00a0and\u00a0Seva Venet.
\nSunday afternoon, January 17 \u2013 2pm \u2013 7pm\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Festival Finale \u2013 Bullet\u2019s Sports Bar<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 2441 A. P. Tureaud Ave.\u00a0\u00a0\u2013\u00a0\u00a0The 2016 festival wraps up with a jam-packed Sunday afternoon and evening of music from bands led by top New Orleans artists, including\u00a0Gregg Stafford,\u00a0Lucien Barbarin,\u00a0Steve Pistorious,\u00a0Leroy Jones\u00a0and\u00a0Kermit Ruffins.
\nThursday night, January 21, 2016\u00a0\u2013 8pm \u2013 The Palm Court Jazz Caf\u00e9 \u2013 1204 Decatur Street \u2013\u00a0Maria Muldaur\u00a0\u00a0In Concert<\/strong> \u2013\u00a0Internationally acclaimed singer and recording artist\u00a0Maria Muldaur, who scored a hit with Danny Barker\u2019s \u201cDon\u2019t You Feel My Leg\u201d \u2013 performs for the benefit of the\u00a0Danny Barker Banjo and Guitar Festival.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Outside New Orleans, the name\u00a0Danny Barker isn\u2019t all that well known. Yet talk to a New Orleans musician of any age, who plays in nearly any style, and Mr. Barker\u2014as these players call him\u2014inevitably comes up, in reverent and warm tones, much the way modern-jazz musicians talk about drummer Art Blakey. Barker\u2019s Fairview Baptist Church … <\/p>\n

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