As America’s most historic and important music city, New Orleans instantly conjures a lot of musical identifiers: the birthplace of jazz, brass band culture, originators of funk and R&B, boogie-woogie pianists, zydeco stompers, Indian tribe chanters, and second line parades. What it does not … More Supagroup “What’s Your Problem” (2003)
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 … More Gatemouth Brown “Born In Louisiana” (1989)
Their recording output was exactly one record. Not one album, mind you, but one song – a 45 single. And yet, last week Leigh Harris, aka Little Queenie, was inducted into the … More Li’l Queenie & The Percolators “My Darlin’ New Orleans” (1981)
It’s Fat Tuesday, Mardi Gras day.
So accordingly, here’s my favorite Mardi Gras day song, … More The Wild Magnolias “All On A Mardi Gras Day” (1999)
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 … More Trombone Shorty “Here Come The Girls” (2017)
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 … More The Hawketts “Mardi Gras Mambo” (1954)
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 … More Louis Armstrong “Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans” (1947)
As part of their 2018 series marking the tricentennial of the city of New Orleans and highlighting “300 people who have made New Orleans New Orleans”, The Times-Picayune, the city’s local newspaper, ran a feature on beloved local trumpeter … More Kermit Ruffins “Drop Me Off In New Orleans” (2001) [performed 2012]
If you like New Orleans music, you surely owe something to The Meters. If you enjoy funk music, you undoubtedly owe a lot to The Meters. And if you revel in New Orleans funk music, well, you pretty much owe it all to The Meters. This is the … More The Meters “Cissy Strut” (1969)
This site is called So Much Great Music because that’s really how I feel; there’s just too much great stuff out there, both past and present, to be pigeon-holed into only one or two music genres, or to just a few artists within a given genre. Now, I’m not saying I like everything: regular readers … More Buckwheat Zydeco “Zydeco Boogaloo” (1984)
