[Dixielandjazz] The Community of New Orleans Musicians -

[Steve Barbone]

The current crop of New Orleans musicians exhibits a resilience and communal
spirit that is simply superb. NOJ & H Festival this year is testament to
their determination to keep New Orleans Music alive and vital. Lots of great
performers there this year.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone 



By Edna Gundersen, USA TODAY

A year ago, a combination of can-do voodoo and the Category High-Five spirit
of the community helped usher in the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival
(April 27-29 and May 4-6). The feast of funky sounds and a joyous throng of
250,000 fans converged on the newly sod Fair Grounds barely eight months
after Katrina drowned the city and sent many musicians fleeing.

Producer Quint Davis is heralding a second miracle as Jazz Fest's opening
weekend launches today with a bill that boasts Van Morrison, Norah Jones,
Jerry Lee Lewis, Brad Paisley, Ludacris and a host of hometown heroes, from
Dr. John to Rockin' Dopsie Jr. to Terence Blanchard. For its May 4-6 closer,
headliners include John Mayer, Steely Dan, ZZ Top, John Legend, Joss Stone,
New Edition and George Benson.

"We took a big leap into the unknown last year," Davis says. "Once we got
going, we said, 'We're not just going to get back to where it was, we're
going to take it further.' This is the most talent we've ever had, the
deepest in all categories. We're hitting all cylinders."

That the 37-year-old institution is able to stage its richest smorgasbord a
mere 20 months after a cataclysmic hurricane is testament to New Orleans'
cultural vitality, Davis says.

"You can destroy our city, and that unique culture feeds us all the more,"
he says. "That's why Jazz Fest plays such a role in energizing people. It's
a catalyst for rejuvenation. People feel a hunger to connect with these
great performers."

>From rock band Cowboy Mouth to the ReBirth Brass Band, regional regulars
dominate, though this year Davis fattened the roster of A-list outsiders to
compensate for the city's ongoing shortage of tour stopovers since flooding
shut down three large theaters.

The city isn't short on live music. Though shuttered hotels and fewer
conventions have hurt musicians, particularly jazz players, the club scene
has bounced back full force, with more live venues per capita than any U.S.
city.

"That's because music is not an accoutrement here," Davis says. "People are
bonded to it. They live on it. It's food."

The 2006 fest crowd was 70% regional. Outsiders hesitated, Davis suspects,
because they were uncertain clubs and restaurants were functioning and
because media images of Katrina horrors scarred memories.

"They thought it was a tsunami, then Hiroshima," he says. "There are parts
of New Orleans that are not OK. But the tourism infrastructure is fine.
That's still a hard message to get across."

Last year's Jazz Fest drove that message home, says Sandy Shilstone,
president of the New Orleans Tourism Marketing Corporation.

"It was incredibly poignant, and the music was phenomenal," she says. "There
is a true love for the authenticity of this city. Even people here who were
blasé before are excited about Jazz Fest. We're all born-again New
Orleanians."

Jazz Fest's spotlight shines not only on the city's musical history but also
on a hotbed of modern and traditional talent, she says.

"We want people to come back to hear the sweet jazz of our modern-day
legends," Shilstone says. "Everyone knows about Louis Armstrong, but it's
also home to Irma Thomas, Irvin Mayfield and Kermit Ruffins. Music bubbles
up from the streets here in every district. The clubs are vibrant, and New
Orleans is open for business."

Katrina couldn't silence ReBirth Brass Band, the globe-trotting ensemble
formed in 1983 by tuba player Philip Frazier and his brother, bass drummer
Keith. The group initially dispersed, eventually landing in Houston.

Philip's Gentilly house suffered roof damage, and he returned four months
after the storm. Most of the others lost their homes, including snare
drummer Derrick Tabb, who rescued neighbors while weathering Katrina.

"They lost everything," says Frazier, 41. "But our will is strong. We had to
come back to New Orleans to make sure this music doesn't die. Music was our
healing process."

ReBirth enjoyed a bounty of post-Katrina invitations to perform around the
world. When the group resumed its standing Tuesday night slot at the Maple
Leaf club, Frazier detected a shift in the local vibe.

"People are more appreciative now," he says. "It's not just another musician
you see every day. Nobody's taking us for granted."

With most clubs operating and much of the Crescent City talent pool still
commuting from distant locales, jobs are plentiful.

But because the Ninth Ward and other neighborhoods remain ghost towns,
"there are no more barbecues to play or backdoor gigs in the housing
projects," he says. "I miss that. The Ninth Ward looks like a war zone, but
those people are trying hard to come back to homes they owned all their
life. And you need those neighborhoods. That's where the music grows."

Musicians won't let the city's rich traditions fade "as long as we can keep
youth involved and as long as more schools open," says Frazier, who started
playing in fourth grade. "That's the future. People somewhere else can try
to forget us, but we ain't going to let that happen."

Musicians helping musicians has been crucial to the cultural rebound, says
music writer Ben Sandmel, longtime drummer and manager of the defunct
Hackberry Ramblers.

"It's been a grass-roots effort," he says. "What impresses me is the
tenacity and dedication of the musicians here, who are rebuilding their
lives and their community on their own initiative."

Some rebuilt with aid from such area non-profits as Tipitina's Foundation,
Sweet Home New Orleans and the New Orleans Musicians Hurricane Relief Fund.
Others commute from Baton Rouge or greater distances. Several stayed away.
The Neville Brothers gave up a lifelong N'awlins address. Aaron Neville
settled in Nashville; brother Cyril still plays in New Orleans but lives in
Austin.

"Many musicians are re-established, others are still reeling," Sandmel says.
"The recovery is uneven, and a lot depends on whether people get an
insurance settlement. In spite of how bad things are, there's an indomitable
spirit.

"I read a couple of articles about the death of New Orleans culture, and
that what's left is Disneyland. Those statements are baffling. You can't say
the music community's roots have been cut off. There's too much energy, and
it's completely genuine and not contrived for tourists. These traditions are
as essential as breathing."

Housing has been a daunting impediment to music's resurgence. Katrina
destroyed or damaged about 200,000 homes. The population, at about half its
pre-Katrina level of 485,000, is expected to reach about 272,000 in
mid-2008, according to the Rand Corp.

A recent Mount Auburn Associates study commissioned by Louisiana Lt. Gov.
Mitch Landrieu estimates that close to two-thirds of the city's musicians
have returned. They face higher rents and mortgages and insurance rates that
have climbed 500%. The WallStreet Journal reports that the cost to build a
new two-bedroom apartment is $150,000, up 30% since Katrina, yet the median
income is $37,000, 21% below the national average.

"Affordable housing is hard to come by," says Jan Ramsey, publisher and
editor of the Louisiana music magazine OffBeat. "It was always relatively
inexpensive to live in New Orleans, which is why it drew so many artists,
writers and musicians. Musicians are drifting back anyway, because they're
so connected to the city."

OffBeat has tracked the diaspora, celebrating homecomings: Marva Wright back
from Maryland, Davell Crawford from Atlanta, the Iguanas from Austin. Jazz
trumpeter Ruffins returned from Houston and wed publicly at the recent
French Quarter Festival. R&B queen Thomas lost her Lion's Den club, but is
repairing her home.

"It's a big, incestuous family," Ramsey says of the music scene. "Everyone
knows what everyone's doing, and people take care of each other. You don't
find that in a lot of cities. It's heartwarming, and it got people back on
their feet, because they quickly learned they couldn't depend on their
government. Organizations kicked in to find gigs, pay for gigs, get
instruments, finance CDs, a lot of good stuff."

Clarence "Frogman" Henry, playing Jazz Fest on Sunday, reaped the benefits
of his lifelong membership in the New Orleans music club when colleagues and
local charities rushed in to help him rebuild.

"The music community is strong because entertainers have stuck together,"
says Henry, 70. "The house is back real nice, not quite what it was, but I
recovered pretty good. And I've been working more, even though I'm supposed
to be retired."

Best known for his 1956 hit Ain't Got No Home, Henry is dismayed by
escalating housing prices and the slow progress toward salvaging the Ninth
Ward and other demolished neighborhoods. Yet he's optimistic about the
city's cultural vitality.

"We are bouncing back," he says. "Musicians scattered, and some say they
don't want to come back. But they will. I traveled all over and fell in love
with Sweden and New Zealand, but there's only one New Orleans. You find
disasters everywhere: floods, tornadoes ‹ heck, people get stuck in snow.
You can't run from Mother Nature.

"But Mother Nature isn't as strong as the music of New Orleans."