2014 New Orleans Jazz Fest lineup released: Springsteen, Clapton, Phish, Aguilera to headline

NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune
By Keith Spera, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune
on January 14, 2014






Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band, Eric Clapton, Phish, John Fogerty, Lyle Lovett, Christina Aguilera, Santana, the Avett Brothers, Arcade Fire, Vampire Weekend and Charlie Wilson are bound for the 2014 New Orleans Jazz Fest. The roster also includes Robert Plant, Robin Thicke, Trey Songz, the Alabama Shakes, the String Cheese Incident, Public Enemy and Maze featuring Frankie Beverly. The 45th edition of what is officially the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival presented by Shell is April 25-27 and May 1-4 at the Fair Grounds.

"This is the hardest festival for me to answer the question, 'Who are looking forward to seeing most?'" said Quint Davis, the festival's longtime producer/director. "You can't answer that question in the singular. This year, talent-wise, is something we've been growing toward.

"One reason is the type of festival that we've created, this broad, cultural, community-based palette that is designed to have these different kinds of music. From our end, it's varied and deep.

"But from the other side, it means that these artists in these varied areas want to play the festival. It's meaningful to them to be here."

The vast majority of the hundreds of acts on the schedule are native to, or based in, south Louisiana. But it is the "visiting" acts, the marquee names that inevitably headline the festival's main Acura, Congo Square and Gentilly stages that generate the most discussion.

In keeping with the blueprint of recent Jazz Fests, the 2014 headliners are a mix of contemporary and veteran rock, pop and R&B stars.

Springsteen has presided over two of the most memorable Jazz Fest shows in recent years. His 2006 performance with the Seeger Sessions Band at the first Jazz Fest after Hurricane Katrina was widely regarded as a watershed event. He returned with the E Street Band in 2012 for another epic set. He released a new album, "High Hopes," on Tuesday, Jan. 14, the same day as the Jazz Fest roster rollout.

Clapton has long topped many Jazz Fest fans' wish list. He has visited the festival as a guest. In 1992, photographer Michael Smith captured the moment when Dr. John's snake dancer wrapped an albino snake around Clapton's neck as he watched from the side of the stage. Clapton, who performed at the New Orleans Arena in2013, will make his Jazz Fest performance debut this year.

Christina Aguilera, the diva and judge on NBC talent show "The Voice," is another Jazz Fest first timer.

Jam band Phish has not performed at Jazz Fest since 1996.

Arcade Fire will spent much of 2014 on the road promoting the current "Reflektor" album. The band made its Jazz Fest debut on the Acura Stage in 2011.

The buoyant world-beat pop of Vampire Weekend's 2010 album "Contra" was clearly influenced by "Graceland"-era Paul Simon. The band's third studio album, "Modern Vampires of the City," was named the best album of 2013 by Rolling Stone magazine.

Creedence Clearwater Revival mastermind John Fogerty toured in 2013 in support of his well-received "Wrote a Song for Everyone" CD. He falls squarely in Jazz Fest's wheelhouse. His fondness for the music and iconography of south Louisiana is well-documented. Allen Toussaint, the Rebirth Brass Band, Rockin' Dopsie and other locals helped out on his remake of "Proud Mary" for "Wrote a Song for Everyone." It's not difficult to imagine a slew of special guests joining him at the Fair Grounds

Santana is no stranger to the Fair Grounds. He's made a half-dozen stops at Jazz Fest, most recently in 2008.


Charlie Wilson, seen here during the 2012 Essence Music Festival, is booked for the 2014 New Orleans Jazz Fest.
Matthew Hinton / The Times-Picayune

"Uncle" Charlie Wilson scored a string of hits with the Gap Band before launching a solo career as an especially soul contemporary R&B singer. He has presided over crisp, energetic sets on the main stage of the Essence Music Festival in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome for the past several summers, and returns to Essence this July. But he'll be at the Fair Grounds first.

The New Orleans Jazz Fest is owned by the non-profit New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation. It is produced by Quint Davis and his Festival Productions Inc.-New Orleans, in conjunction with AEG Live.

Louisiana artists on the roster include Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue, Irma Thomas, Allen Toussaint, Aaron Neville, the Radiators, Rebirth Brass Band, Ivan Neville's Dumpstaphunk w/ special guest Art Neville, Better Than Ezra, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Galactic, Big Freedia, Chocolate Milk, Irvin Mayfield & the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra, Anders Osborne, The Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Tab Benoit, Kermit Ruffins & the Barbecue Swingers, Jon Batiste and Stay Human, the Terence Blanchard Group, Cowboy Mouth, Sonny Landreth, Buckwheat Zydeco, Nicholas Payton XXX, Butler, Bernstein & The Hot 9, Ellis Marsalis, Jeremy Davenport, Walter "Wolfman" Washington & the Roadmasters, Imagination Movers, Wayne Toups & ZyDeCajun, Marc Broussard, Voice of the Wetlands Allstars, PJ Morton, Davell Crawford, BeauSoleil avec Michael Doucet, Jon Cleary, John Boutte, Terrance Simien & the Zydeco Experience, Lost Bayou Ramblers, The Revivalists, Hurray for the Riff Raff, Alexis & the Samurai, Chubby Carrier & the Bayou Swamp Band, Lillian Boutte & New Orleans Gumbozaire, Dr. Michael White & the Original Liberty Jazz Band, Treme Brass Band and Los Hombres Calientes.

Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews & Orleans Avenue took over the final Sunday closing slot on the Acura Stage last year. They'll be back to close Acura in 2014, preceded by Arcade Fire. The Radiators, the longtime final Sunday closer on the Gentilly Stage, will stage one of their periodic reunions at the festival that day. They'll likely precede John Fogerty at Gentilly.

The Neville Brothers splintered into two camps last year. Aaron fronted a solo quintet that included his brother Charles on saxophone. Charles also performed with Art and Cyril as the Nevilles.

This year, Aaron will once again be with Charles and the quintet. Art will sit in with DumpstaPhunk, the next-generation Neville band that includes his son Ian on guitar and nephew Ivan on keyboards. Cyril, meanwhile, will perform with the Royal Southern Brotherhood.

"They've gone their ways, and they are their ways," Davis said. "We had to make sure we had something meaningful for each one of them."

On Monday night, after finalizing the roster that would be unveiled the next morning, Quint Davis went to hear trombonist and singer Glen David Andrews and his band at their weekly gig at d.b.a. on Frenchmen Street. He was once again reminded that the New Orleans artists that make up the bulk of the Jazz Fest roster can stack up against the lineup of any festival in the world.

"I don't know all the bands at these other rock festivals," Davis said. "I haven't heard them play and sing. But I'd like to know if they're all as good as that band I heard last night."

Advanced single-day tickets for the 2014 Jazz fest are $50 through January 31, when the price increases to $55. The gate price ticket will be $70. Tickets for children ages 2 to 10 are $5 and are available at the gate only.


Single-day tickets to Jazz Fest are on sale by specific weekend, with each ticket valid for a single day's attendance. Tickets are available at www.nojazzfest.com and www.ticketmaster.com, at all Ticketmaster outlets or by calling 800.745.3000. Tickets can be purchased in-person at the New Orleans Arena Box Office. All general admission Jazz Fest tickets are subject to additional service fees and handling charges.

The complete, announced roster includes:


FRIDAY, APRIL 25

Santana, The Avett Brothers, Public Enemy, Jason Isbell, Rubén Blades & Roberto Delgado Orchestra, Laura Mvula, Irvin Mayfield & the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra, Gregory Porter, The Infamous Stringdusters, Eric Lindell & the Sunliners feat. Anson Funderburgh, Joe Louis Walker, Wayne Toups & ZyDeCajun, Afoxé Omô Nilê Ogunjá of Pernambuco-Brazil, Steve Riley & the Mamou Playboys, Dee-1, Nathan & the Zydeco Cha Chas, Shamarr Allen & the Underdawgs, Honey Island Swamp Band, Little Freddie King Blues Band, Brass-A-Holics, Leah Chase, Geno Delafose & French Rockin' Boogie, Sasha Masakowski, Lisa Knowles & the Brown Singers, BaianaSystem of Bahia-Brazil, Chris Thomas King, Tim Laughlin, Tricia Boutté & International Friends, Gal Holiday and the Honky Tonk Revue, Lil' Buck Sinegal Blues Band, Shades of Praise, Curtis Pierre & Escola de Samba Casa Samba, Ginga Mundo Capoeira of Bahia-Brazil with special guests, Connie and Dwight Fitch with St. Raymond & St. Leo the Great Gospel Choir, Rotary Downs, Javier Gutierrez & Vivaz!, Bamboula 2000, J. Monque'D Blues Band, Alexey Marti & Urban Minds, Jimmy Breaux & Friends, Aurora Nealand & The Royal Roses, Brice Miller & Mahogany Brass Band, Vox and the Hound, Jaryd Lane & The Parish, Julio y Cesar Band, Jamil Sharif, Betty Winn & One A-Chord, Stoney Creek Drum and Dance, Semolian Warriors and Comanche Hunters Mardi Gras Indians, Kirk Joseph's Backyard Groove, Baritone Bliss, Maryland Jazz Band of Cologne-Germany, Chris Clifton & His All-Stars, Sweet Olive String Band, The Real Untouchable Brass Band, Zulu and Big Nine Social Aid & Pleasure Clubs, David & Roselyn, The Showers, Tommy Singleton, Young Audiences Brass Band Throwdown, Black Mohawk and Black Foot Hunters Mardi Gras Indians, The RAMS, The Sensational Chosen Voices, Xavier University Jazz Ensemble, Keep N It Real and We Are One Social Aid & Pleasure Clubs, City of Love Music & Worship Arts Choir, Wild Apaches and Geronimo Hunters Mardi Gras Indians, Lake Forest Charter Jazz Band, GrayHawk presents Native Lore and Tales, Miss Claudia's Terrific Traveling Troubadours, KCCA Drama Troupe...

SATURDAY, APRIL 26

Phish, Robin Thicke, Robert Plant and the Sensational Space Shifters, Boz Scaggs, Keb' Mo', Anders Osborne, The Mavericks, Kermit Ruffins & the Barbecue Swingers, Branford Marsalis Quartet, Jon Cleary, Davell Crawford, Big Freedia, Sonny Landreth, John Mooney & Bluesiana, Zachary Richard, Afoxé Omô Nilê Ogunjá of Pernambuco-Brazil, Jeremy Davenport, Royal Southern Brotherhood, Terrance Simien & the Zydeco Experience, Bob Wilber and The Crescent City Cats, Treme Brass Band, Bobby Jones & Nashville Super Choir, Creole String Beans, Raw Oyster Cult, Ironing Board Sam, Los Hombres Calientes, The Boutté Family Gospel, James Rivers Movement, René Marie - With Love to Eartha Kitt, Kristin Diable & The City, Forroteria, Kim Carson, Jeffery Broussard and the Creole Cowboys, BaianaSystem of Bahia-Brazil, Tin Men, New Orleans Klezmer Allstars, New Wave Brass Band, Fi Yi Yi & the Mandingo Warriors, Don Vappie & the Creole Jazz Serenaders, Guitar Slim, Jr., DUKES of Dixieland, Ginga Mundo Capoeira of Bahia-Brazil with special guests, Dumaine Gang, Divine Ladies, and Family Ties Social Aid & Pleasure Clubs, Riccardo Crespo y Sol Brasil, Negras Quilombolas, Smitty Dee's Brass Band, 101 Runners, Walter Cook & Creole Wild West Mardi Gras Indians, Tommy Sancton's New Orleans Legacy Band, The Electrifying Crown Seekers, Sarah Jayde & the Sharecroppers, Shotgun Jazz Band, Geoff Clapp Quintet, M. Roger Holland II, Nine Times, Single Men, and Single Ladies Social Aid & Pleasure Clubs, Sean Johnson & The Wild Lotus Band, Stoney Creek Drum and Dance, Washitaw Nation and Wild Mohicans Mardi Gras Indians, NOCCA Jazz Ensemble, Watson Memorial Teaching Ministries Choir, Uptown Music Theater, Archdiocese of New Orleans Gospel Choir, Secondline Jammers and Men Buckjumpers Social Aid & Pleasure Clubs, Golden Comanche and Seminoles Mardi Gras Indians, Pastor Jai Reed, Rose Anne St. Romain, The RRAAMS, The Wimberly Family Gospel Singers, Puppet Arts Theatre, NORDC Crescent City Lights Youth Theater...

SUNDAY, APRIL 27

Eric Clapton, Vampire Weekend, Charlie Wilson, Irma Thomas, North Mississippi Allstars, John Hiatt, Tab Benoit, Rebirth Brass Band, Sixto Rodriguez, Rachelle Ferrell, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Galactic, John Boutté, Bombino, The Rance Allen Group, Bonerama, Rockin' Dopsie, Jr. & the Zydeco Twisters, Chocolate Milk, Ms. Ruby Wilson's Tribute to Bessie Smith, Meschiya Lake & the Little Big Horns, Royal Teeth, C.J. Chenier & the Red Hot Louisiana Band, Dr. Michael White & the Original Liberty Jazz Band with Thais Clark, Astral Project, Hot 8 Brass Band, Big Chief Monk Boudreaux & the Golden Eagles, Delfeayo Marsalis & the Uptown Jazz Orchestra, The Jones Sisters, John Michael Rouchell, Afoxé Omô Nilê Ogunjá of Pernambuco-Brazil, Burnell Taylor, Jambalaya Cajun Band with special guest D.L. Menard, Gerald French & the Original Tuxedo Jazz Band, Lois Dejean "Queen of New Orleans Gospel", Jo "Cool" Davis feat. Lady BJ and Barbara Shorts, Val & Love Alive Mass Choir, Keith Frank & the Soileau Zydeco Band, Jim McCormick with Beatinpath, Rising Dragon Lion Dance Team, Leo Jackson & the Melody Clouds, Reggie Hall & the Twilighters feat. Lady Bee, Chris Smither, Henry Gray, Khari Allen Lee & the New Creative Collection, Ninth Ward Hunters and Ninth Ward Navajo Mardi Gras Indians, Young Pinstripe Brass Band, Forroteria, Untouchables, Furious Five, and Big Steppers Social Aid & Pleasure Clubs, New Orleans Swamp Donkeys Traditional Jass Band, Lars Edegran & the New Orleans Ragtime Orchestra, New Orleans Spiritualettes, Dirty Bourbon River Show, Ginga Mundo Capoeira of Bahia-Brazil with special guests, Stoney Creek Drum and Dance, Golden Star Hunters Mardi Gras Indians, Cedric Watson & Bijou Creole, The New Orleans Guitar Quartet feat. Jimmy Robinson, John Rankin, Cranston Clements, and Phil deGruy, LosOtros, Ron Hotstream & the F-Holes, Paulin Brothers Brass Band, UNO Jazz Allstars, Young Guardians of the Flame, DJ Captain Charles, E'Dana & Divinely Destin, Young Men Olympia Aid, New Look, First Division, and Uptown Swingers Social Aid & Pleasure Clubs, Tornado Brass Band, Monogram Hunters, Black Eagles, and Shawee Mardi Gras Indians, Limitless, Craig Adams & Higher Dimensions of Praise, Grey Seal Puppets, Kai Knight's Silhouette Dance Ensemble...

THURSDAY, MAY 1

The String Cheese Incident, Lyle Lovett, Solange, Marcia Ball, Bernard Allison Group, Buckwheat Zydeco, Dr. Lonnie Smith Trio, Sleepy Man Banjo Boys, Donald Harrison, The Soul Rebels, Greensky Bluegrass, Spencer Taylor & the Highway QC's, New Orleans Suspects, A Tribe Called Red, Luther Kent & Trickbag, Roots of Music Marching Crusaders, Tizumba & Tambor Mineiro of Minas Gerais-Brazil, Nigel Hall Jonathon Boogie Long, New Orleans Bingo! Show, BeauSoleil avec Michael Doucet, Rosie Ledet & the Zydeco Playboys, Stanton Moore Trio, Marlon Jordan, Yvette Landry Band, Max Baca & Los TexManiacs, Banu Gibson with special guests The Pfister Sisters, The Ronnie Kole Septet, Philip Manuel swings the Beatles, Johnny Sansone, Lil' Nathan & the Zydeco Big Timers, Original Dixieland Jazz Band, Anaïs St. John, New Orleans Nightcrawlers, Truth Universal + DJ E.F. Cuttin', Kenny Bill Stinson & the Ark-LA-Mystics, Erica Falls with Larry Sieberth, Louisiana Repertory Jazz Ensemble, Bill Summers & Jazalsa, Josh Kagler and HPC, Mariachi Jalisco, Forgotten Souls Brass Band, Curtis Pierre & Escola de Samba Casa Samba, Kumbuka African Drum & Dance Collective, Colin Lake, Ginga Mundo Capoeira of Bahia-Brazil with special guests, Chegadão, Flow Tribe, La Tran-K Band, Connie Jones & the Crescent City Jazz Band, Smithfield Fair, Scotty Hill's French Market Jazz Band, Young Seminole Hunters Mardi Gras Indians, VIP Ladies and Men of Class Social Aid & Pleasure Clubs, Baby Boyz Brass Band, Native Nations Intertribal, McDonogh 35 High School Gospel Choir, Lil Bird Lady & Young Genius, Delgado Community College Jazz Band, Lyle Henderson & Emmanu-EL, Cheyenne and 7th Ward Creole Hunters Mardi Gras Indians, Donnie Bolden, Jr. & Spirit of Elijah, Sons of Jazz Brass Band, Revolution and Ladies of Unity Social Aid & Pleasure Clubs, Loyola University Jazz Band, KID smART Student Showcase, Kalpana the Storyteller, The ISL Circus Arts Kids, Landry Walker Charter High School Gospel Choir, Eleanor McMain Singing Mustangs, Dwione Thomas & the Helen Cox High School Choir, RSD Talented in Theater, St. Michael Special School Bell & Vocal Choir...

FRIDAY, MAY 2

Christina Aguilera, Chaka Khan, Alabama Shakes, Pharoah Sanders, Walter "Wolfman" Washington & the Roadmasters, Charles Bradley & his Extraordinaires, Amanda Shaw & the Cute Guys, Alejandro Escovedo & The Sensitive Boys, Johnnyswim, The Gospel Soul of Irma Thomas, New Orleans Classic R&B Divas feat. The Dixie Cups, Wanda Rouzan, and Jean Knight, Cowboy Mouth, Os Negões of Bahia-Brazil, Theresa Andersson, Hurray for the Riff Raff, Nicholas Payton XXX, Lost Bayou Ramblers, Mia Borders, DJ Soul Sister, The Iguanas, New Birth Brass Band, Charmaine Neville Band, Stephanie Jordan Big Band, Eden Brent Band, Andrew Duhon, Sunpie & the Louisiana Sunspots, Woodshed: Vibes feat. Jason Marsalis and Chase Jordan, Warren Storm - Willie Tee & Cypress Band with special guest T.K. Hulin, The Honorable South, The Wãve, Govenor Reiss, Brother Tyrone & the Mindbenders, John Mahoney Big Band, Cardinal Sons, Pinstripe Brass Band, White Cloud Hunters Mardi Gras Indians, Tom McDermott & Friends, Collage 3, The Blues Masters feat. "Big Al" Carson, Buddy Bolden Revisited, George French & the New Orleans Storyville Jazz Band, Patrice Fisher & Arpa with guests from Guatemala, Tizumba & Tambor Mineiro of Minas Gerais-Brazil, The Heavenly Melodies Gospel Singers of New Orleans, Jermaine Hawkins & The Harvey Spirituals, Highsteppers Brass Band, Clive Wilson's New Orleans Serenaders with guest Butch Thompson, "Kid" Simmons' Local International Allstars, Topsy Chapman & Solid Harmony, Ginga Mundo Capoeira of Bahia-Brazil with special guests, Redhawk Hunters Mardi Gras Indians, Micaela y Fiesta Flamenca, Panorama Jazz Band, Native Nations Intertribal, NOLA Mix Youth DJs, 21st Century Brass Band, Scene Boosters and Lady & Men Rollers Social Aid & Pleasure Clubs, Ivoire Spectacle feat. Seguenon Kone, The Northwestern University Jazz Ensemble, Milton Vanicor, Mark Braud's New Orleans Jazz Giants, New Orleans Indian Rhythm Section and Young Magnolias Mardi Gras Indians, The Gloryoskis!, Bishop Sean T. Elder & the Mount Hermon Baptist Church Mass Choir, Harriet Tubman Charter School Choir, Israel Martin & G.U.P., Gospel Inspirations of Boutte, Adella Adella the Storyteller, Golden Sioux and Young Cherokee Mardi Gras Indians, Pastor Terry Gullage & the Greater Mt. Calvary Voices of Redemption, Original Four and Original Big Seven Social Aid & Pleasure Clubs, Young Audiences Performing Arts Showcase...

SATURDAY, MAY 3

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, Trey Songz, Foster the People, Al Jarreau, Allen Toussaint, Mary Mary, Johnny Winter, The Head and the Heart, Better Than Ezra, The Revivalists, Imagination Movers, Roy Rogers & the Delta Rhythm Kings, Ellis Marsalis, Jon Batiste and Stay Human, Dwayne Dopsie & the Zydeco Hellraisers, Marc Broussard, Voice of the Wetlands Allstars, PJ Morton, Butler, Bernstein & The Hot 9, Lillian Boutté & New Orleans Gumbozaire, Savoy Family Cajun Band, Pine Leaf Boys: Louisiana Music, Lionel Ferbos & the Palm Court Jazz Band, Os Negões of Bahia-Brazil, Alexis & the Samurai, Tommy Malone, Germaine Bazzle, Midnite Disturbers, Joe Krown Trio feat. Walter "Wolfman" Washington and Russell Batiste, Jr., TBC Brass Band, Fredy Omar con su Banda, Spencer Bohren & the Whippersnappers, Corey Ledet & his Zydeco Band, Andre Thierry & Zydeco Magic, Young Tuxedo Brass Band, Orange Kellin's New Orleans Deluxe Orchestra, Ed Volker's Trio Mollusc, Paul Sanchez, Micah McKee & Little Maker, The New Orleans Hip Hop Experience feat. Partners-N-Crime, 3D Natee, Keedy Black, DJ Mike Swift, T - Ray the Violinist, and Dobama, Doreen's Jazz New Orleans, Voices of Peter Claver, Original Pinettes Brass Band, Bari Koral Family Rock Band, Rumba Buena, Wendell Brunious, First Emanuel Baptist Church Mass Choir, Curtis Pierre & Samba Kids, Nick Sanders Trio, Helen Gillet, Cha Wa, Ginga Mundo Capoeira of Bahia-Brazil with special guests, Kinfolk Brass Band, Undefeated Divas and Gents, Original Pigeon Town Steppers, and New Generation Social Aid & Pleasure Clubs, Tonia Scott & the Anointed Voices, Young Hunters Mardi Gras Indians, SUBR Jazzy Jags, Tyronne Foster & the Arc Singers, Stephen Foster's Foster Family Program, Jonté Landrum Thomas, Big Chief Thunder & the Cherokee Hunters and Wild Red Flames Mardi Gras Indians, Free Agents Brass Band, Westbank Steppers, Nine Times Ladies, and The Valley of Silent Men Social Aid & Pleasure Clubs, Native Nations Intertribal, Audrey Ferguson and The Voices of Distinction, Mohawk Hunters and Big Chief Trouble & Trouble Nation Mardi Gras Indians, Sundays in Congo Square, Lady Jetsetters Social Aid & Pleasure Club, Dynamic Smooth Gospel Singers of Slidell, The Bester Singers, Ashé Cultural Arts Center Kuumba Institute, Hobgoblin Hill Puppets...

SUNDAY, MAY 4

Arcade Fire, Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue, John Fogerty, Bobby Womack, Delbert McClinton, Chick Corea & the Vigil, Aaron Neville, the Radiators, Ivan Neville's Dumpstaphunk with special guest Art Neville, Maze feat. Frankie Beverly, The Dirty Dozen Brass Band, The Terence Blanchard Group, Robert Earl Keen, Pres Hall Brass, Big Sam's Funky Nation, George Porter, Jr. & the Runnin' Pardners, Tucka, Glen David Andrews, Chubby Carrier & the Bayou Swamp Band, Deacon John, James Andrews & the Crescent City Allstars, Luke Winslow-King, Storyville Stompers Brass Band, Zion Harmonizers, Bobby Lounge feat. Athena, Blodie's Jazz Jam, Johnny Sketch and the Dirty Notes, Bobby Cure & the Summertime Blues with special guests Robert Parker, Al "Carnival Time" Johnson, and Jo "Cool" Davis, Los Po-Boy-Citos, Ginga Mundo Capoeira of Bahia-Brazil with special guests, Ernie Vincent & the Top Notes, Bruce Daigrepont Cajun Band, Feufollet, New Orleans Cottonmouth Kings, Greg Stafford's Jazz Hounds, Stooges Brass Band, Big Chief Bo Dollis & the Wild Magnolias, The Deslondes, Roddie Romero & the Hub City All Stars, Jesse McBride presents the Next Generation, The Mulligan Brothers, Joe Hall & the Cane Cutters, Big Chief Juan Pardo & Jockimo's Groove, Os Negões of Bahia-Brazil, Leroy Jones & New Orleans' Finest, Morning Star Missionary Baptist Church Mass Choir, New Leviathan Oriental Fox-Trot Orchestra, Calvin Johnson, Johnette Downing and Scott Billington, Wild Tchoupitoulas, Black Feathers, and Carrollton Hunters Mardi Gras Indians, Franklin Avenue Music Ministry, The Rocks of Harmony, Harmonouche, Pocket Aces Brass Band, Heritage School of Music Band, The Sammy Rimington International Band, Native Nations Intertribal, Huval-Fuselier Cajun Band, Ninevah Baptist Church Mass Choir, OperaCréole, Young Fellaz Brass Band, Original Lady Buckjumpers and Prince of Wales Social Aid & Pleasure Clubs, Cynthia Girtley "New Orleans Gospel Diva", The Blues Project, Culu Children's Traditional African Dance Company with Stilt Walkers, Kim Che're, Buffalo Hunters and Apache Hunters Mardi Gras Indians, Magical Moonshine Theatre, Ole & Nu Style Fellas and Original C.T.C. Steppers Social Aid & Pleasure Clubs, Versailles Lion Dance Team...


http://www.nola.com/jazzfest/index.ssf/2014/01/2014_new_orleans_jazz_fest_to.htm...

Sonny Landreth - Saturday, April 26

New Orleans Suspects - Thursday, May 1

Johnny Winter - Saturday, May 3

Great stuff. Great city.

Shattered Stone wrote on Feb 9^th, 2014 at 4:46pm:



http://www.nojazzfest.com/info/history/

Shattered Stone wrote on Feb 10^th, 2014 at 12:06am:



Well you never hear anybody saying "You going to the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival?" because that's just too much for us lazy Southerners to say all at one time. 

If you ever decide to attend again, I'd suggest you make your way over to the Jazz Tent.
You can spend all day, every day under that one tent and listen to Jazz to your heart's content.

Since you already know the history of Jazz Fest, I don't have to tell you that the Fest has always been a showcase for Louisiana music, not just Jazz.
Like most other Jazz festivals however, the New Orleans Fest has included more mainstream artists, including big names, presumably to increase attendance.

After my experience trying to catch a glimpse of Springsteen a couple of years ago, I don't recommend anyone going to see a "big name" unless you're willing to camp out in front of the stage and miss the rest of the festival.
There's just too much else to do and see other than staking your place for a headliner. 

Wayne Toups & ZydeCajun - Friday, April 25

John Hiatt - Sunday, April 27

New Orleans Jazz Festival continues to kick Austin City Limits Festival up and down the street...

What a great lineup on several different days...

Sonny Landreth and John Hiatt...separately? Hopefully they'll pair up for a little Memphis In The Meantime...

The Mavericks is an INCREDIBLE show...love to see that in NO as its so good in Texas...

Incredilbe Line up
Will The Louisiana Fireball Be there!

Holy shit! The line-up for this show is insane.
Don Was is musical director. Anyone have odds on whether Mick or Keith make an appearance?

One-Night-Only, Exclusive Concert Event Taping

Dr. John’s Legendary Musical Influence To Be Honored At One-Night-Only Concert Event On May 3 At The Saenger Theatre In New Orleans
“The Musical Mojo of Dr. John: A Celebration of Mac & His Music” Will Feature Performances by Widespread Panic, Gregg Allman, Mavis Staples, Allen Toussaint, Ryan Bingham, Lucinda Williams, George Porter Jr., Cyril Neville, Zigaboo Modeliste, Jimmie Vaughan, Tab Benoit, The Blind Boys of Alabama, Chief Monk Boudreaux, The Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Bill Kreutzmann, Chuck Leavell, Shannon McNally, Sarah Morrow, Anders Osborne and Irma Thomas
Dr. John Set to Take the Stage for Special Performances Throughout the Evening
On Saturday, May 3, 2014, esteemed musicians and friends will join together for “The Musical Mojo of Dr. John: A Celebration of Mac & His Music,” a special concert event taping honoring this musical icon in his hometown of New Orleans. Taking place at the historic Saenger Theatre in the French Quarter, the concert will pay homage to Dr. John’s illustrious songbook and feature once-in-a-lifetime collaborations from a lineup of prestigious and award-winning artists including Gregg Allman, Tab Benoit, Ryan Bingham, The Blind Boys of Alabama, Chief Monk Boudreaux, The Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Bill Kreutzmann, Chuck Leavell, Shannon McNally, Zigaboo Modeliste, Sarah Morrow, Cyril Neville, Anders Osborne, George Porter Jr., Mavis Staples, Allen Toussaint, Lucinda Williams, Irma Thomas, Jimmie Vaughan and Widespread Panic. Surprise special guests, along with additional performers, will be announced in the weeks ahead. This will be Dr. John’s only New Orleans performance during Jazz Fest, with the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer taking the stage to perform with a number of special guests throughout the night. Tickets for the 9 PM show will go on sale to the general public at 10 AM CT on Monday, March 10.
GRAMMY Award-winner Don Was will lead an all-star band and serve as the musical director. Keith Wortman created the concert event and will be the executive producer. The live concert event, “The Musical Mojo of Dr. John: A Celebration of Mac & His Music” will be filmed and recorded for multi-platform distribution.
“Dr. John transcends genres with a truly distinctive sound that embodies the rich musical heritage of New Orleans and has tremendously influenced the course of music history,” commented Don Was. “It’s an honor to be producing this extraordinary concert event honoring the legendary Dr. John. It is even more special to be doing it with this lineup of artists in the city that has been such an integral part of his life and music,” continued Keith Wortman.
Tickets go on sale to the general public starting 10 AM CT on Monday, March 10. Tickets are available at Ticketmaster.com and the Saenger Theatre box office (www.saengernola.com). The Saenger Theatre box office is open Monday-Friday 10 AM – 5PM and Saturdays by event. Tickets can also be charged by phone at 800-745-3000. A percentage of proceeds will benefit the New Orleans Musicians Clinic.

munichhilton wrote on Mar 12^th, 2014 at 9:10am:



I'm only a fireball after indulging in some of this: http://www.nojazzfest.com/food/

Lost Bayou Ramblers - Friday, May 2

Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue - Sunday, May 4

Royal Southern Brotherhood - Saturday, April 26

Edith Grove wrote on Mar 12^th, 2014 at 11:11am:



can you send this po yankee a care package?

Oyster Rockefeller Bisque,
Cajun Chicken & Tasso w/ Creole Rice


Fried Soft-Shell Crab Po-Boy,
Fried Catfish Filet Po-Boy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpDKp2DUJCs

Walter "Wolfman" Washington & the Roadmasters - Friday, May 2

Ellis Marsalis - Saturday, May 3

This will be quite an extravaganza!

Bonerama - Sunday, April 27

Pete Fountain has retired from performing, will miss the 2014 New Orleans Jazz Fest



Pete Fountain, who said on Thursday, April 17, 2014, that he is retiring from live performing, made his last appearance at the New Orleans Jazz Fest in 2013. He performed, along with his granddaughter, before a packed house in the in the People Health Economy Hall on Sunday, May 5, 2013. (Photo by David Grunfeld, Nola.com | The Times-Picayune)


By Keith Spera, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune
April 17, 2014


The Pete Fountain fans who filled the Economy Hall Tent at the 2013 New Orleans Jazz Fest unknowingly bore witness to bittersweet history: The farewell performance by one of the greats of New Orleans music in general, and traditional jazz clarinet specifically.

"Last year was his last public performance," Benny Harrell, Fountain's son-in-law and longtime manager, said Thursday (April 17). "He's fully retired now."

In interviews over the years, Fountain maintained that he would keep "tootin'" as long as he and his audience were satisfied with the sound that resulted. His clarinet tone, simultaneously sweet and swinging, illuminated such signature songs as "Just a Closer Walk With Thee" and "Basin Street Blues."

But after last year's Jazz Fest, he concluded that the time had come to hang up his horn. His playing was no longer "to the level of his expectations," Harrell said. "It was the right time" to retire.

Still, declining an invitation to the upcoming, 2014 Jazz Fest was emotional, Harrell said, for many reasons.

Fountain appeared at the 1969 event that was a precursor to the first, official New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival in 1970. At that first Jazz Fest, he was featured for a nighttime concert aboard a riverboat.

He's been a staple of most of the 44 Jazz Fests that followed, and hasn't missed one in more than two decades. For fans of traditional New Orleans and Dixieland jazz, checking in with Fountain at the People's Health Economy Hall Tent was akin to a pilgrimage.

The festival "has been a big enjoyment for him," Harrell said. "He loved the crowds. They really expressed their feelings for him.

"And it's not only his fans, but the people that work at the festival. The warmth that they showed him every year... they treated him like family."

He'll be missed at Jazz Fest this year. But at 83, Fountain has more than earned his retirement.

He turned pro at 15, working multiple nights on Bourbon Street. He became one of the most famous jazz musicians in the country during a two-year stint in the late 1950s on "The Lawrence Welk Show." Three gold-selling albums followed. He returned to New Orleans in 1959; a year later, he opened the first of two nightclubs that would bear his name on Bourbon Street. In 1977, he moved his club to the Hilton Riverside.

Along the way he squeezed in 59 appearances on "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson." He entertained four presidents and one pope, hung with everyone from Louis Armstrong to Dolly Parton. In general, he lived life large as Mr. New Orleans, the most prominent ambassador of good-time New Orleans jazz.

After closing his Hilton club in 2003, he still performed regularly at a casino near his waterfront estate in Bay St. Louis, Miss.

Various medical issues have slowed him down in recent years, especially after Hurricane Katrina destroyed his Bay St. Louis, Miss., house and heavily damaged his home near the New Orleans lakefront. Emergency bypass surgery in 2006 caused him to miss his Half-Fast Walking Club's annual Mardi Gras morning ramble for the first time in 45 years, much to his dismay. He rallied to perform at the 2006 Jazz Fest, the first one after Katrina, with his cardiologist in attendance -- just in case.

Months later, two strokes, one minor, one more serious, made speaking difficult for him. But he could still make his clarinet sing: He was the featured attraction at the 2008 French Quarter Festival.

He was hospitalized with pneumonia in early 2013. He did not feel well enough to sit in with cornetist Connie Jones at that spring's French Quarter Festival.

His health of late has been good, Harrell said. "He's doing well. He hasn't had any (health) issues lately."




Mardi Gras is still a happy place to be for Jazz musician, Pete Fountain.
Clarinet player and jazz musician Pete Fountain, 83, is a popular guy among parade goers on Mardi Gras morning. This year, marked the 64th year that Fountain and his band joined the Half-Fast Walking Club to Fat Tuesday festivities in New Orleans.
Fountain often goes out for breakfast, and attends meetings of the Half-Fast Walking Club. He rode aboard the Half-Fast Club's traveling bandstand on Mardi Gras this year, but did not play with the band.
VIDEO: http://video-embed.nola.com/services/player/bcpid1949030309001?bctid=32919107080...


In September 2013, he was the honored guest at a fundraising concert at his alma mater, Warren Easton High School. He, his wife, Beverly, and other family members watched fellow Easton alums Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews and Nicholas Payton perform.

Fountain didn't join the youngsters onstage that night at Warren Easton. He'd already delivered his swan song four months earlier, on May 5, 2013 at the Fair Grounds.

'The love that the crowd showed him was awesome.' -- Benny Harrell, Fountain's son-in-law.


Seated on a red walker at Jazz Fest's People's Health Economy Hall Tent, he fronted a band that featured fellow clarinetist and lifelong Fountain disciple Tim Laughlin. With trombonist Mark Mullins, cornetist Connie Jones, trumpeter Jimmy Weber, saxophonist Otis Bazoon, pianist David Boeddinghaus and drummer Bryan Barberot, they ran through songs that are, to Fountain's fans, more like old friends: "Just a Closer Walk With Thee." "Struttin' With Some Barbecue." "Basin Street Blues." "Tin Roof Blues."

As in previous years, members of Fountain's family joined him onstage. His adult granddaughter Danielle Scheib worked a washboard on several songs. A 7-year-old great-granddaughter, Isabella "Izzy" Harrell, sang "You Are My Sunshine." Afterward, a photographer caught Fountain wiping a tear from his eye.

Throughout the show, the overflow crowd broke out in spontaneous second-lines and showered him with adoration. Each time he raised the clarinet to his mouth, scores of cellphones snapped photographs.

"The love that the crowd showed him was awesome," Harrell said. "From when they announced his name to the standing ovation, it was amazing.

"It was a great show to end up on."

Music writer Keith Spera can be reached at [email protected] or 504.826.3470. Follow him on Twitter @KeithSpera.


http://www.nola.com/jazzfest/index.ssf/2014/04/pete_fountain_has_retired_from.ht...

A TRIBUTE TO BUDDY BOLDEN AT JAZZ FEST 2014
01 May 2014 — by David Kunian







Charles “Buddy” Bolden. For those in the know, the cornetist’s name conjures up an entire world of turn-of-the-19th century New Orleans and the jazz music of which he was probably the first major innovator. And with that come the myth and the mystery of his life, music and demise, which has influenced everyone up to the coming Tribute to Buddy Bolden at the Economy Hall stage.Buddy Bolden, photo, OffBeat Magazine, May 2014

According to Donald Marquis’ canonical study In Search of Buddy Bolden: First Man of Jazz, Bolden grew up in the musically rich neighborhood of Central City. As an adult, he lived at 2309 First St., and formed his first bands in 1895. He played dances, some parades, and gigs that focused both in the Black Storyville neighborhood centered around South Rampart and Perdido streets and at Lincoln and Johnson Park. By 1900, Bolden had acquired a reputation as a loud player whose ways of combining and embellishing the rags, blues, waltzes, and mazurkas that made up the repertoire in that time was unparalleled. He also was known to keep the company of many women and he was never far from a drink.

People called him “King” Bolden. However, by 1906, his life started to unravel. His behavior became erratic and his playing worsened. Over the last century, there has been much thought as to the causes of this and whether it was due to alcoholism, insanity, inability to reconcile the different roles of his life—or, as writer and musician Ned Sublette recently speculated, acute cocaine psychosis. By 1907, he was committed to the State Mental Hospital in Jackson, Louisiana. He stayed there until his death in 1931 and was buried in the Holt Cemetery. Although there were no recordings of him (some of his fellow musicians state that he and the band did a wax cylinder recording, but none have been found), his music and life was a great influence on everyone who came after including Louis Armstrong, Jelly Roll Morton (who wrote the song, “I Thought I Heard Buddy Bolden Say.”), Sidney Bechet, Kid Ory, and many more.

Bolden’s influence continues to touch people to this day. Dr. Michael White is one. White, one of the great clarinetists and composers of the traditional New Orleans music that Bolden started, is a man who thinks about Bolden a lot. He is the perfect person to organize the Tribute set for Bolden at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival this year. As White says, “I’ve done a lot of specialized concerts for Jazz Fest before. There’s never been a Buddy Bolden tribute. It might be a good thing, because he’s one of the first jazz musicians. Of course, there are no recordings of him but we know enough of his songs or songs that were played in that era.”

On a personal level, White feels a great connection to Bolden. “When I started playing in brass bands in social club and church parades, I played a lot in that neighborhood,” he says, “and we used to pass his home on First and South Liberty streets. The barbershop on the corner where he used hang out was owned by my relatives. He played some of the same functions in the neighborhood that I did—some of the same songs, probably.

I think that Buddy Bolden was one of the most important figures in American music and culture because he was among the first to really kind of figure out and put into action jazz and all its cultural and social and musical implications. That’s one of the reasons to do the tribute. In many ways, he remains a mythical figure. It’s kind of rare in this country and New Orleans that he is really given any serious consideration beyond the couple of lines here and there. His music is very important and, personally, I feel a personal, musical, and spiritual connection—not only did my relatives interact with him but I went to elementary school in that neighborhood. I still drive around the neighborhood and sit outside the house and think about him.”

In some ways, the myth of Bolden makes him the archetypal jazz musician. According to the myth, he was a black, innovative musician who played loud, womanized, drank too much, and then went crazy and died broke and alone. That archetype, either in part or in full, can be applied to countless musicians who came after him, from Freddie Keppard to Bix Beiderbecke to Charlie Parker and Bud Powell to Lester Young to Woody Shaw and, as White points out, several musicians who currently live in New Orleans today. But there is much, much more to him.

As a musician, White points out, “In Bolden’s time, one of the concepts was to incorporate the music of different genres. Of course, they used rags and marches and blues and popular songs and quadrilles and mazurkas and others, and they converted it and turned it into a language that became traditional New Orleans jazz. He started a revolution. And the thing was, the beauty of it was in order to play that style, you didn’t have to copy Bolden as such, but you had to find your own creative sound and improvisation in the style to sound like that style.

And I think that most of the musicians in that era had to do that because it became so popular in the community at dances and functions. They had to learn how to improvise and one of Bolden’s great developments was learning to improvise off of popular tunes, learning to develop it and to personalize the sound that included many of the characteristics of the black blues and church singing. He used vibrato and vocal expression on the instrument that people hadn’t heard before. I think everybody started to use those expressions that Bolden popularized. Everybody was influenced by that, all the young trumpeters and it got passed into King Oliver and Louis Armstrong and quite a few others.”

Even though there are no recordings of Bolden, White has done research into what Bolden played. And he has assembled a top-notch band including Greg Stafford and Leon Brown on horn, Lucien Barbarin on trombone, Tyler Thompson on bass, Herman LeBeaux on drums, Anthony Brown on banjo, and David Boddinghaus on piano. White explains: “Even though they are mostly instrumental, we’re going to do some vocals, too. And I’m going to try to do as much as possible to use the musical concepts and try to keep it as I would imagine as Bolden-esque as possible. I think that Buddy Bolden’s music swung in a certain way. It was dance music, and one of the things about the Economy Hall tent that I look forward to is seeing people dance. The beauty of the music was that it encouraged people to be more creative and free, and that’s what we are looking for.”

Beyond Bolden’s music, White sees a much deeper significance to Buddy Bolden, what he did, and when he did it. “I think that Bolden means more to New Orleans and music than most people realize,” he explains. “He helped to make NOLA special. The most famous thing to come out of New Orleans was jazz. And if you really think about it in the big sense, that’s what put New Orleans on the map. It’s immeasurable in terms of the city’s reputation and the tourism industry. It’s ironic that Buddy Bolden never appeared in the newspapers for music—not once. He appeared for being arrested for hitting his mother-in-law in the head with a water pitcher. Ironically, he’s subsequently responsible for untold billions of dollars in the tourist industry. He’s why people come here. He started the whole thing. The importance of that is immeasurable.”

Most probably, Bolden never thought about such a legacy when he was onstage at the Funky Butt Hall or Lincoln Park playing and being heard all over the city. The legend is that he could play at Carrollton and Claiborne and be heard in the French Quarter. People scoff at that, but given the lack of industrialization and noise in the first decade of the 20th century, and the fact that due to the topography and humidity and other reasons, sound carries in unconventional ways in New Orleans. In some ways, that sound and the implications of it touched many people then and carries on to this day. White is passionate in connecting Bolden to his time and ours.

He states: “The social meaning of the music is a lot more, in a lot of ways, more significant. In any sense of the word, he launched this idea of greater freedom and individuality in American society. The music is about putting democratic ideals in action. And it was extremely important in the African-American community. It gave a voice and visibility to a people who were essentially declared invisible. It came along at a time when all of the things that people were fighting for in American society, this is the perfect model. It shows how you can maintain rules and order but you can ultimately incorporate individuality and individual ideas and concept and ethnic diversity. We’re talking about the same time as Plessy versus Ferguson—well that was a little earlier, but the reaction of that was there, and the results of that were going forth. And you had the Robert Charles riot in 1900. That whole incident happened within walking distance of Buddy Bolden. That had a big impact on musicians in a lot of ways. That was such an important thing.”

White continues: “I just like to think about and imagine what it must have been like the very first time he started playing what was the earliest jazz. I wonder what it was like for the musicians and the community. I mean, did he take a theme like ‘Careless Love’ and he started improvising the theme, and the dancers started hearing something that was the song and wasn’t the song and was very different from what they were used to hearing from the Robicheaux band [one of the Bolden Band’s contemporaries and rivals]. What was the first reaction to that? Were they aware? Did they stop in amazement? Did people even know? Did they accept it? Did they all of a sudden realize that it was a moment of musical and social liberation? I think that was the magic moment that changed the world. I think about that quite a lot. And I wonder if he knew and how much and if he felt a burden or responsibility? Did he want to develop it more? Did he realize what the hell he was doing in a sense—not musically—and I wonder if he knew what he was on the verge of. I think of what I call that magic moment with Bolden and it’s such an exciting thing. It’s like an explosion that didn’t explode.”

White’s voice quickens as he follows this train of thought like Bolden might have added ornaments to finish out a melody. “Did he consciously do it or did it just happen?” he asks. “Did he work on those ideas or did he talk about it? Or was he reacting to what was going on around him and in society? He found a way to show democracy. Did he know that at the time? He actually showed the rules that incorporate freedom of expression and diversity of ideas. It’s also a philosophy of life and existence and how you could incorporate the idea of endless possibility. That’s a lot of heavy stuff.”

White finishes with a laugh: “All that in one man’s music and innovation.”


http://www.offbeat.com/2014/05/01/a-tribute-buddy-bolden-jazz-fest-2014/