[Dixielandjazz] New Orleans Jazz & Heritage - The Hype Continues

[Steve barbone]

This article was picked up by "All About Jazz", but originates with the San
Bernardino (CA) Sun. Certainly the producer of N.O. J&H, George Wein, knows
how to get solid press coverage.

Sadly though, most coverage does not mention Pete Fountain, Tim Laughlin,
Preservation Hall JB and all the other OKOM performers who were there.

This article makes it sound like a great party. Sue, what say you?

Cheers,
Steve Barbone


Spirit of New Orleans alive and thriving at jazz festival
By David Kronke, Staff Writer - San Bernardino Sun

NEW ORLEANS ‹ Less than two blocks from the Gentilly Boulevard entrance to
the 37th annual New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival at the city's Fair
Grounds ‹ and the first since Hurricane Katrina ‹ there are the merest of
hints of the devastation wrought last August. The side of a nearby home
remains blown away; all that remains of a bathroom is a toilet exposed to
the elements.

Inside New Orleans' Fair Grounds over the past weekend, however, the
spiritual rebuilding was proceeding at a pace far faster than FEMA has been
repairing the miles upon heartbreaking miles of ruined homes and
infrastructure. Perhaps unique among American cities, the people of New
Orleans truly believe, per both a local radio station and a French Quarter
nightclub's slogans, can be rebuilt "one song/note at a time."

It's hard to imagine such a raucous party amid such sorrowful circumstances,
but that's exactly what transpired. It was quintessential New Orleans, home
of Dixieland funeral parades, a few of which curled through the jammed Jazz
Fest pathways over the weekend. Sundry stages and performance tents were
routinely packed as more than 150,000 attended the first three days of the
Festival. In fact, though only somewhere between a third and a half of the
city's population has returned to the Big Easy ‹ now better described as the
Big Difficult ‹ one festival-goer swore that the crowds this year surpassed
those of 2005.

A-list performers lined up to support the effort, and undoubtedly the first
weekend's highlight was Bruce Springsteen and the Seeger Sessions Band's
first live show, hot on the heels of the release of Springsteen's latest CD
of Pete Seeger covers, "We Shall Overcome."

Springsteen's two-hour set offered an uncanny blend of sage empathy for
residents' suffering and infectious exuberance ‹ once he turned from the
crowd to fix yet another pop-world wardrobe malfunction ("It's not just a
new band," he explained, "but a new belt").

His large backing ensemble ‹ horns, pedal steel, fiddles, banjo, stand-up
bass and acoustic guitars ‹ offered nonpareil American roots rock. In
addition to songs from the new recording, Springsteen offered up a
Depression-era tune with lyrics he specifically updated for post-Katrina New
Orleans, which he pointedly dedicated to "President Bystander."

He also performed "My City of Ruins," which he had also performed at the
Sept. 11 "Tribute to Heroes" concert, to an overpoweringly emotional effect.
He concluded with one of the city's signature songs, "When the Saints Go
Marching In," which he admitted that 100 local bands could cover better than
he. But none would've uncovered verses that seemed so perfectly appropriate
("I'm waiting for that moment when the new world is revealed"), and few
would have transformed it into a prayerful dirge that could have wrung tears
from fans a football field away from the stage.

And Springsteen was only one of the brightest highlights of the festival's
first weekend. Bob Dylan, in a costume that can only be described as a
cowboy track suit, served up one of his trademark playful, willfully
contrarian sets where he challenges fans to figure out what song he's doing.
Playing organ all night ‹ he didn't touch a guitar ‹ he retooled a number of
songs, including "Highway 61," to sound like the main themes from action
flicks; he concluded "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right" as if it were a
Vegas burlesque; and he sang "Watching the River Flow" to the tune of
"Leopard-Skin Pillbox Hat." Curious, sure, but vintage Bob.

As far as eccentricities go, Dylan had nothing on a sizable number of
festival attendees, who flew all manner of colorful banners over their
makeshift seats. Such flags not only demarcate individuality but also help
point out where one's seats are amid the sea of humanity should a member of
the party venture out for beer or one of the festival's delicious and
shockingly reasonably priced delicacies (mouth-watering soft-shell crab
po'-boys go for a mere $8, and a bowl of some of the best gumbo you're
likely to enjoy is only $5).

Alas, the event was also an opportunity for politicizing:

Though trumpeter Terence Blanchard during his performance championed Mitch
Landrieu, the opponent in the upcoming city election, current mayor Ray
Nagin was glad-handing everyone he could get within reach of (including,
yes, me, whom he greeted with a hearty, "How ya doin', guy?").

Back to the music: Local guitar hero Anders Osborne and Lafayette soul
pianist Dave Egan kicked off the festival Friday morning with tight,
scorching sets; Keb' Mo' uncorked one of those laid-back acoustic blues
performances that he invariably makes look deceptively effortless. You
couldn't get within 20 yards of the Jazz Tent ‹ never mind get inside it ‹
when Herbie Hancock played on Saturday, but what you could hear was plenty
exhilarating. On Sunday, local legend Allen Toussaint teamed with Elvis
Costello for a beautiful set of Toussaint compositions that was probably a
bit too nuanced for the gigantic audience before them but left no doubt that
their forthcoming collaboration, "The River in Reverse," will be worth
picking up.

As always, a Jazz Fest verity is: When in doubt, head for the Gospel Tent.
The acts (such as Betty Winn and One A-Chord, the Franklin Avenue Baptist
Church Choir, Higher Dimensions of Praise and the Lighthouse Gospel Singers)
are impossibly, infectiously high-energy, the voices soar, and your spirit
swells. This year, the trial-and-tribulation-followed-by-redemption songs
were clearly intended as Katrina metaphors. Still, the Gospel Tent is
guaranteed better than church, and not just because you can drink a beer
while you listen.