[Dixielandjazz] RE; The F2F at French Quarter Festival

[Brian Towers]

DJML FTF?   Sorry it did not happen and sorry to miss the listmates, I was
very busy both plyaing and listening and the time just flew by.   With some
400,000 people milling around I guess it is not easy to arrange a FTF!    I
enjoyed meeting Tom Wiggins after my Bourbon Street set and I support what
he says about the FQ FEST event - everything one could wish for - every type
of jazz and near-jazz and non-jazz one could wish for, though one needs to
use up some shoe leather to catch everything and careful pacing is needed.
I heard a string quartet playing classical at Le Petit Theatre, also a
harpist, also little Amanda Shaw, aged 13, playing hot fiddle in a
Cajan/rock band.   An amazing troupe of acrobats from Trinidad (via New
York) and the usual numerous street performers, who are sometimes better
than the guys on stage!

I am back home now after two days and my toe blisters are healing nicely!

Toronto paraded its Magnolia Brass Band for the very first time in the
Friday morning parade and this was a big thrill for us all - we had some
international help, to make up the required 11 pieces but everyone knew
their correct role and it was a success.

Lots of highlights - Banu Gibson's band swinging like the clappers with a
strong thirties feel;
Many good bands on the Bourbon and Royal street stages - noticed several
muso's appearing in two or more bands.
Andrew Hall's Society Brass Band in concert at the brass band stage gave me
the most pleasure.  A wonderful line-up and playing tunes like "Garland of
Flowers"  from the old Eureka Brass Band repertoire.  When they played the
hymn "Abide with Me" I was looking for my life-belt!   All reading from the
dots but truly a lovely sound.

Many, many visiting bands playing in Fritzel's bar on Bourbon Street,
including two French, Three Swedish, two Canadian, Denmark, Australia etc.
Quite a party!

Cheers,
Brian Towers
(Back in Toronto to unwind!)


----- Original Message ----- 
From: <TCASHWIGG at aol.com>
To: <Dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Wednesday, April 21, 2004 3:03 PM
Subject: [Dixielandjazz] RE; The F2F at French Quarter Festival


>
> DJML F2F?
>
> Guess it never happened, I even stopped by Don Gumpert's hotel and left a
> message for him a couple of times, which I do not know if he ever got it.
>
> I did meet Karl Wetlaufer, at the Satchmo Stage on Sunday Morning, and we
had
> a nice chat, caught up with Brian Towers and his wife on Bourbon Street
for
> a chat in between his autograph session with adoring  International fans ,
and
> Tom Saunders and his Jazz Vipers were a delight. Clive Wilson, Al Rapone &
> Zydeco Express, Jimmy Thibodeaux, Bucktown Allstars, Lynn Drury, Eric
Lindell,
> Samirah Evans, Joe Krown, Olympia Brass Band, Lenny McDaniel.  And a few
> others in passing
>
> I spent most of my time when not walking back and forth ha ha! at the
> Satchmo Stage and the Cajun Zydeco stage, must be at least a mile apart at
opposite
> ends of the festival, during the festival hours, then crawled the pubs in
the
> Quarter till 2:00 a.m or so everynight.
>
> I caught, Kermit Ruffins, Irvin Mayfield, Bill Summers, Bonerama, Walter
> Wolfman Washington, Washboard Chaz, Theresa Anderson,  The Nightcrawlers,
Lil
> RascalsBrass Band, Forgotten Souls Brass Band, Treme Brass Band, Andrew
Hall
> Society Brass Band, Excelsior Brass Band, Majestic Brass Band, Miss Belles
Brass
> Band, Young Reliance Brass Band, Mitchel Cormier, did Fretzels, and
> Preservation Hall one night,
>
> Just not enough time in the day to catch em all, but we tried,and had a
> marvelous time, but the feets are failin me now, Ha Ha.:)
>
> Estimates that the attendance was 400,000 or more people, Sorry folks but
> that's a lot bigger than Jazz Jubilee in Sacramento.   A wonderful and
ecclectic
> array of Good entertianment, and certainly the best that New Orelans has
to
> offer.   There were many other acts that I have seen before that I did not
go to
> see this trip, because I wanted to see new things and experience all the
> varieties of OKOM.
>
> Regrets:
>
> I did not catch up to a Tim Laughlin show, or Evan Christopher, or Jack
> Maheu, just kept missing the time slots due to walking back and forth to
the other
> stages, or conflicting showtimes with what I had to see for business
> committments.  Missing out on meeting Charlie Suhor, Don & Sandy Gumpert,
Rebecca & Jim
> Thompson, and Sue Lorchen and Pat Cooke,  Sorry folks I tried.
>
> Biggest regret, Having to Leave New Orleans again and all that great music
> and food, and especially before the next festival kicking off this week,
with
> even more great acts.
>
>
> A special Highlight:  Meeting Mat Perrine:   An exceptional Tuba player
and
> musician/arranger and songwriter, his momma told me he was "all that good"
and
> she was not just being a show biz mom either, he is indeed  all that and a
lot
> more, and we will be working together on some projects soon.
>
> I took four young ladies from Taiwan, Korea, and Japan with me to
introduce
> them to JAZZ  ages 23 -30, guess what folks,  they all bought twenty or
more
> CDs each and loved almost everything they saw and heard of OKOM, and
thought
> they had died and gone to Jazz heaven when they sat in Funky old
Preservation
> Hall for a show.   Buy stock in Kodak folks, they made hundreds of
pictures to
> take home to cherish for a lifetime.  Join me in welcoming four new Jazz &
OKOM
> converts.   Before this they had no idea what Jazz was.  Amazing.
>
> There is no doubt folks that New Orelans is OKOM Heaven, I could live and
die
> like that, now if we could just move it all to Sunny California where it
is
> raining today, :))
>
> Tom ("Gumbo'ed and crawfished out") Wiggins      for a day or too only
> however.
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