Charles Brown “I Stepped in Quicksand”
With a device mastered by precious few, blues great Charles Brown often sang smoothly about...Charles Brown.... Read More
Preservation Hall Jazz Band “Georgia On My Mind”
Even without Jazzfest, again, there's still the unmistakable New Orleans vibe. Sit back and drink it in.... Read More
Kamasi Washington “Change of the Guard”
Only a truly epic show could've rescued what had turned into a disastrous last day at Jazzfest. Kamasi Washington delivered just that, with a prodigious performance of his momentous work, The Epic.... Read More
Louis Cole “F It Up” (2018)
Giving literal meaning to the term "home studio," Louis Cole's unusual full band was as funky as he was foul-mouthed.... Read More
New Orleans Playlist
Today is Fat Tuesday, Mardi Gras Day, 2020. A day of parades, of history, of culture, of camaraderie, and, well yeah, of some of the most outright debauchery known to mankind (but in a good way)..... Read More
Oscar Peterson “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” (1995)
For as long as I can remember, I’ve been acquiring a Christmas album each year. The last decade or so, though, my go-to choice has been Oscar Peterson, and his genre-perfecting, “An Oscar Peterson Christmas.” Without question, it’s the best sitting-around-the-fire Christmas album I know.... Read More
Gatemouth Brown “Born In Louisiana” (1989)
Sunday, May 5th at 7:00PM CST another New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival came to an end at the Fair Grounds racetrack. Over 8 days and across 2 weekends, for attendees numbering around 475,000, a lineup of 688 acts performed – and notwithstanding the presence of some of the biggest names in music, roughly 600 of...... Read More
Trombone Shorty “Here Come The Girls” (2017)
He’s James Brown with a horn. Really, with two horns – because despite his name, Trombone Shorty is equally adept at blowing both the trombone and the trumpet, and ever since the first time I saw him perform live I was completely blown away. In a city where... Read More
The Hawketts “Mardi Gras Mambo” (1954)
If I had to pick just one song heard throughout the city of New Orleans in the days and weeks leading up to Mardi Gras, that was both the most ubiquitous and the most universally adored, I think it would have to be ‘Mardi Gras Mambo’ by The Hawketts. Everybody... Read More
Louis Armstrong “Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans”
Satchmo posed the enduring question: Do you know what it means to miss New Orleans? Can you conjure the sound of the Streetcar clickety-clacking it’s way up St. Charles Avenue? Could you spend hours listening to a brass band play both in a crowded club on Frenchmen Street or sitting alone in Jackson Square? Do you... Read More