Loosely using The Replacements' "Boink!!" as a template---6 album
tracks, a b-side and an unreleased track---here are my choices to rep the New Orleans Jazz Fest.
Actually, if I had a month with a thousand hours of music, I couldn't possibly represent the New Orleans Jazz Fest on these pages. But that doesn't mean I can't try.
Here are some favorites, sequenced with the best of my ability. A few were recorded at the Festival itself. One is from a WWOZ broadcast. And we have a live performance from one of the night time shows, this one from Tipitina's in 2019.
This mix is pretty much the vibe of the whole event, day and night.
I hope you enjoy the music.
TRACKLIST Josephine- David Torkanowsky, George Porter Jr. & Herman Ernst Para Donde Vas- The Iguanas Sugar Coated Love- Barbara Lynn & Lil' Buck Sinegal The Ironic Twist- Stanton Moore & Skerik It's A New Orleans Thing- Allen Toussaint How Excellent- River Of Life Choir Louisiana 1927- John Boutte Voodoo Bop- Astral Project
Though I am not there, the Fest feeling is still in the air.
As always, WWOZ will be broadcasting live from the Fairgrounds, and whether you are a Fest regular or have never been at all, the sounds, the vibe and the music are always wonderfully captured by WWOZ, give or take the occasional technical difficulties.
Today's broadcast lineup:
11:15am-12:10pm Tin Men from Blues Tent
12:30-1:25pm Brother Tyrone and the Mindbenders from Blues Tent
Leyla McCalla was the cellist in the Carolina Chocolate Drops and in
2010, she moved to New Orleans to hone her craft on the streets of the
French Quarter. Her 2016 solo debut was terrific, and she really hit
the mark on "The Capitalist Blues," one of my very favorites of 2019. I saw her perform at the 2022 New Orleans Jazz Fest where she played most of her then new release "Break The Thermometer." I thought the record was a bit of a disappointment after "The Capitalist Blues," and still her live set was one of the hottest of the fest.
Now we have McCalla's new one, "Sun Without The Heat" released last week, which after three plays is feeling like her best work yet. She can go from traditional to avant-garde with the flick of a switch, and she manages to pull it all off convincingly. The coda on "Tree" even dabbles in King Crimson waters.
Check out these three tracks and maybe you'll fall like I did.
I think "Manifesto" is the secret weapon of the Roxy Music catalogue. It's an album I find far more interesting than “Avalon.”
Many years
ago, just as compact disc players were hitting the market, there would
be demonstrations of the machine right before the Concerts At Pier 84 in NYC began. A young guy would come out and start chatting up the crowd about audio quality and stereo equipment and then he'd A/B a song to show the difference between a cassette and a CD. The title
track of Roxy Music's “Manifesto,” with that incredible Alan Spenner bass line and drummer Paul
Thompson’s heavy foot and thunderclap snare, would be the song he’d always play. Even from the very back of the pier, the sound was extraordinary. I remember thinking that song never sounded
better. And so, I bought a no frills Yamaha
CD player for $600 in 1984. It had four buttons: play, stop, last and next. That was it. There was no remote. Just a box and a tray and mind blowing sound. Of course, “Manifesto” was not commercially available on
CD yet. Very little was. So I had to settle for an Alien Sex Fiend CD and
Steve Winwood’s “Arc Of A Diver" as my first two CD purchases.
First Comment: Avalon is a snoozefest.
My Reply: "Ava-YAWN."I once said it was a really good Bryan Ferry solo record but a mediocre Roxy record and of course, that annoyed a bunch of people.
Second Comment From A Different Person:It
annoys me. Manifesto is certainly more interesting, but Avalon is like
long, slow brilliant sex. Debating which is better is like arguing over
Abbey Road and The White Album or Let it Bleed and Sticky Fingers.
My Reply To Second Comment:Well,
my post wasn't about debating the two Roxy records. I only mentioned
"Avalon" because people love that record, while showing complete disregard for "Manifesto."
My post was about my memory. But I don't agree with you regarding the
two Beatles or Stones records.
"Avalon" arguably became a hit with
people who just came on board thanks to MTV; like those who think DSOM
is the first Pink Floyd record. I like "Avalon." But I can't call it a
Roxy album anymore than I can call "Ringo" a Beatles album just because
all four Fabs are on it and wrote songs for it. "Ringo" is a great Ringo
album, but would be probably be considered a shitty Beatles album. No one ever considered that
concept with those two Stones or Beatles records you mentioned. Those
four records all happened within four years, while both bands were
active. Roxy's "Siren" came out in 1975. There was a four year hiatus. "Manifesto" came out in 1979 with additional personnel. After another three year hiatus and
more personnel changes, including the loss of original drummer Thompson, "Avalon" gets released in 1982. I think you absolutely can debate "Manifesto"
and "Avalon," though I swear, that was not my intention.
Second Commenter's Reply To Me:I get why
you say its a Ferry solo- no Paul Thompson clobbering the drums and no
weird sounds- but Andy Mackay and Phil Manzanera were there - and not
in a Ringo way - so thats pretty Roxy to me. Its always been my
favorite Roxy, just ahead of Manifesto - tho in my old age Manifesto is
moving ahead. BTW that Ringo album is pretty brilliant.
END OF INSTGRAM POST
After sleeping on it, I think my friend Geoff, the second commenter, made a decent point regarding the difference between the Fabs involvement on the "Ringo" album in 1973 versus the band's involvement on Roxy's "Avalon" in 1982, though it doesn't change my feelings on the latter. "Weird sounds" and Paul Thompson's "clobbering drums" were just as essential to the classic Roxy sound as Beatles' harmonies were to their sound, or Charlie's drumming was to the Stones sound. This is why I think "Avalon" sounds nothing at all like what came before, but just happens to sound like every Bryan Ferry solo record since.
A different thread, not mine, from a few days earlier was about concerts, and if seeing The Sex Pistols on the reunion tour with Glen Matlock counts. One person insisted that it did not, because without Sid Vicious, it isn't the Sex Pistols. At that point, everyone let loose.
"Is it The Who without Keith Moon?" "Is it The Who without Keith Moon and John Entwistle?" "Is it Metallica without Cliff Burton?" "Is it Foreigner without ANYONE?"
I certainly think if you've got the original singer and the guy who wrote all the songs in the band, you're on your way. The fact that Zak Starkey was taught how to play by Keith Moon and does a fine job of recreating those Moonerisms live certainly helps. Though I know bass players who think Pino Palladino is a terrible replacement for The Ox. I get that because, as a drummer, Steve Gorman, at times, felt like the secret weapon of The Black Crowes live.
When Steve Conte first announced that he was working with Andy Partridge, XTC fans across the world said, "Huh? Really? Why?" Conte, an excellent guitar player and occasional New York Doll, has done some excellent work. He's a solid player, and has co-written with Hanoi Rocks legend Michael Monroe on some of Monroe's best solo records. But the Partridge/Conte pairing seemed odd. Still, many were excited to hear anything new from Andy.
Then the first single arrived, "Fourth Of July," and it was only okay, sounding more like Conte's brand of glammy rock and roll than Partridge's brand of smart, whimsical pop. Then came single #2, "Shoot Out The Stars" and single #3, "We Like It," and I lost interest completely. I wasn't hearing what I wanted to hear, which was a new XTC record featuring songs co-written with Steve Conte. Instead, I was hearing a New York Dolls side project that Andy Partridge somehow took part in, which in and of itself, would have been fine. But Conte was so damn happy to be working with one of his heroes, he mentioned it five times a day, seven days a week, for the six months prior to its release, I couldn't get Partridge off my mind, which explains my initial disappointment.
"The Concrete Jangle" has finally been released and I went in with a new head and new ears and I am thrilled to say, those first three songs are inexplicably the three weakest tracks on the album. Andy Partridge has apparently five co-writes on the album, and I understood that the first three releases were his. But it is the other seven that shine, and at least five of those seven sound like what I'd been hoping for all along.
I'd like to blame Steve Conte for the pre-release hype, but I can't. I'd have been just as excited to work with a musical god from one of my all time favorite bands. But not many would have gone back in and given "The Concrete Jangle" a new pass after the unimpressive pre-release singles, and then those people would be missing out.
"The Concrete Jangle" is a great rock and roll record, with some fantastic melodies and enough hooks to snag a flounder, that will indeed remind you of XTC. Conte's guitar playing is a thrill throughout, and he is certainly channeling his hero on the last track, "I Dream Her."
