What a great day to be at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. For a Friday, it was jam-packed. At the City Park Parking Lot, where a shuttle will take you to and from the Fairgrounds and let you out inside of the gates, I was told they parked over 700 cars. They said it felt like a Saturday it was so busy. Weather-wise, some clouds rolled in and brought a breeze early but before you knew it the sun was beating down and those snowballs from Cee Cee’s stand by the Gentilly Stage were hitting the spot perfectly. Most people were in shorts and sandals and hats and nothing got in their way of chowing down on hot spicy Cajun food or dancing over at the Congo Stage, where the sun is at it’s fiercest. And the music, well, it was a hell of a good time no matter what genre of music you listen to.
Two things really stood out on Day 2 of Weekend 2: drummers were on point and hopping onstage to join another artist was happening from the get-go. Of course, that is one thing Jazz Fest is famous for. Artists will play their own set and no sooner have they hit their final note, they are hoofing it to another stage to sit in with somebody else. Anders Osborne joined the North Mississippi Allstars; Big Sam Williams was playing horns behind Leo Nocentelli, who played at the original Jazz Fest in 1970; Mickey Rafael, longtime harmonica player in Willie Nelson’s band, joined Chris Stapleton; and Ivan Neville was on keys with Ani DiFranco, to name just a few. Even Nocentelli’s young granddaughter came out to sing with him.
In regards to the drummers, Kamasi Washington had two backing him during his jazz-jamming set on the Gentilly Stage; and Johnny Radelat, drummer for Gary Clark Jr, was storm kicking his way through one of the coolest sets of the day, and guitarist Luther Dickinson switched places with his drummer brother Cody during NMA’s performance. In fact, the North Mississippi Allstars nabbed the Glide Killer Set Of The Day. It was humming from note one, with Carl Dufrene on bass. Glide’s Artist Of The Day, which is picked beforehand, Honey Island Swamp Band, gave NMA a run for their money so if you caught both sets it was nothing but win-win.
With Jazz Fest always celebrating the sounds of other countries, the Cultural Exchange Pavilion has become a fascinating place to stop into. But you can also catch some of those artists on main stages as well. For example, 3L lfede of Benin brought African chants and rhythms to the Gentilly Stage early. And the local Mardi Gras Indians were on the Jazz & Heritage Stage.
Although there were lots of t-shirts emblazoned with country’s current hottest singer who was headlining the main Acura stage, it was Gary Clark Jr across the grounds, also headlining, who turned his blues into a cool soul-flavored, mouth-watering gem of a performance. He has been leaning more and more towards this musical area, even opening with his hugely popular blues rocker, “Bright Lights Big City,” as a slow-cooking heartbeat of soul.
Saturday will be a wet day so wear boots and bring a poncho so you don’t have to miss such performers as Glide’s Artist Of The Day Judith Owen, Pitbull, Diana Ross, Galactic, Jerry Douglas with the Earls Of Leicester, Shirley Caesar, Marcia Ball, Robert Randolph, Big Freedia, Amanda Shaw and Aaron Neville.
Live photographs by Leslie Michele Derrough
