{"id":6511,"date":"2017-05-12T16:50:01","date_gmt":"2017-05-12T16:50:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.artinfo.com\/blunotes\/?p=6511"},"modified":"2017-05-12T16:50:01","modified_gmt":"2017-05-12T16:50:01","slug":"in-around-the-2017-new-orleans-jazz-heritage-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/larryblumenfeld.com\/index.php\/2017\/05\/12\/in-around-the-2017-new-orleans-jazz-heritage-festival\/","title":{"rendered":"In & Around The 2017 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"IMG_2555<\/a>
photo by Larry Blumenfeld<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\nI\u2019m still unpacking\u2014clothes, notes, photos, ideas\u2014after nearly two weeks in New Orleans. Not sure what I\u2019ll end up writing, or where.
\nFor now, some things that happened in and around the annual Jazz & Heritage Festival (incomplete, and in no particular order):
\n\u2022 On the eve of his 82nd<\/sup> birthday, tenor saxophonist Edward \u201cKidd\u201d Jordan played a benefit concert for the Louis \u201cSatchmo\u201d Armstrong Summer Jazz Camp, of which he is artistic director. Three members of his quartet\u2014he, bassist Reggie Workman and drummer Andrew Cyrille\u2014had a cumulative age of 237. Supported by their vast shared experience they leaned forward into a blissfully improvised present.
\n\u2022 As the Fair Grounds (the horse track that becomes a multi-stage venue for jazzfest) buzzed in celebration of jazz\u2019s freedom and heritage, encampments of men and women formed around the city\u2019s Confederate monuments that were scheduled for removal, either celebrating or protesting different yet related aspects of freedom and heritage. The site of the Jefferson Davis monument (which has just been removed) was a popular spot. On a Monday, those protesting the threatened removal of the monument were met by an \u201cantifascist karaoke and barbecue.\u201d The following Thursday evening, the Brothers of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity held a \u201cSocial Action Prayer Vigil.\u201d By Sunday morning, protestors were back out, wearing military garb and waving Confederate flags. One of them put down his flag long enough to tell me: \u201cThe South got it right in 1861, and I\u2019m here to protect all of that.\u201d
\n\u2022 Displaying the refined focus and rhythmic verve of the group\u2019s new CD, \u201cSo It Is,\u201d which was inspired by a trip to Cuba, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band assembled each night at its namesake venue for midnight shows with special guests: It swung hard and precise on opening night with pianist Jon Batiste, and lent sweet and savvy backing to singer Irma Thomas midweek. The high point was ten-minute descarga anchored by Cuban pianist Chucho Vald\u00e9s and his band, and featuring the Preservation band\u2019s horns; the moment added a new layer of resonance to the story of this celebrated spot. (The following evening, Chucho and company closed jazzfest\u2019s jazz tent in mesmerizing fashion.)
\n\u2022 A 150-strong Cuban delegation energized jazzfest in profound and varied ways. Los Van Van rocked the Congo Square stage, as did Adonis y Osain Del Monte. But mostly, The Cuban Cultural Exchange Pavilion was the magnet for anyone with ears, hips and a heart. (The ropa vieja in back wasn\u2019t bad, either.) Standout shows here (and on other stages) came from rapper Telmary y Habana Sana and singer Daym\u00e9 Arocena.
\n\u2022 Though roughly a dozen performances at jazzfest (and a few outside the Fair Grounds) percussionist and singer Pedrito Martinez was an unstoppable engine of power and ingenuity, leading his own quartet and co-leading a Rumba Project with percussionist Rom\u00e1n D\u00edaz. Their Rumba Project\u2014different in each of its several iterations\u2014was simply the place to be within jazzfest\u2019s swarm of must-see shows.
\n\u2022 Pianist Henry Butler, who has been battling cancer, looked and sounded radiant and peformed at breakneck pace: conjuring raucous beauty with his Jambalaya Band at jazzfest\u2019s blues tent; messing masterfully with Scott Joplin\u2019s \u201cThe Entertainer\u201d while playing solo piano at the George and Joyce Wein Jazz & Heritage Center; investing new meaning and devilish harmony into even the oft-heard \u201cDo You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans\u201d at the Snug Harbor club; and paying tribute to one of his piano heroes, James Booker, on the upright at the Bywater Bakery, while surounded by dear friends, the day after jazzfest closed.
\n\u2022 Stevie Wonder, who battled sound system issues throughout his Acura Stage set, is still Stevie Wonder.
\n\u2022 Trumpeter Terence Blanchard sat in for a tune with Pedrito\u2019s quartet at the jazz tent, then stood in for trumpeter Hugh Masekela (a late cancellation due to health) with pianist the Jazz Epistles featuring Abdullah Ibrahim and Ekaya. A week later, he was back with his own fiery E-Collective band, which sounds like it\u2019s on a mission beyond simply music and ended with a song dedicated to social workers.
\n\u2022 Trumpeter Nicholas Payton stood in for Masekela during a tribute to Louis Armstrong with clarinetist Michael White, honoring that tradition with erudition and without clich\u00e9. Payton led his own defiant yet accessible \u201cAfro-Caribbean Mixtape\u201d band a week later; at the set\u2019s end, he led a jazztent audience in a chant, drawn from a sampled snippet of a Max Roach interview: \u201cJazz is a four-letter word.\u201d
\n 
\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m still unpacking\u2014clothes, notes, photos, ideas\u2014after nearly two weeks in New Orleans. Not sure what I\u2019ll end up writing, or where. For now, some things that happened in and around the annual Jazz & Heritage Festival (incomplete, and in no particular order):<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6516,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[25,11,12,14,61,141],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/larryblumenfeld.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6511"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/larryblumenfeld.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/larryblumenfeld.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/larryblumenfeld.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/larryblumenfeld.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6511"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/larryblumenfeld.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6511\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/larryblumenfeld.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/larryblumenfeld.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/larryblumenfeld.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/larryblumenfeld.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}