Lars Edegran and the New Orleans Ragtime Orchestra
Lars Edegran is a Swedish-born pianist who moved to New Orleans in 1966. He has led the New Orleans Ragtime Orchestra since 1967. This group performs rags, waltzes, marches and popular songs. The photo at the front of the stage is of John Robichaux, the orchestra's original drummer who died in his New Orleans home as a result of the Katrina flooding. The group's set included Creole Belle, Elite Syncopations, Black and White Rag, The Purple Rose of Cairo, That Eccentric Rag, Put on Your Old Grey Bonnet and The Sheik of Araby.
Treme Brass Band
This band put on a terrific set - one of the best of the whole festival. Treme is a neighborhood in New Orleans just across Rampart Street from the French Quarter. I believe most of the musicians in this band come from that neighborhood. For this set they had a pianist (David Torkanowsky), which is unusual for a brass band - they have to be able to march in parades and funerals. Among the numbers they played were Just a Little While to Stay Here, Milneberg Joys, Tin Roof Blues, Whoopin' Blues, You Are My Sunshine (one of the official state songs of Louisiana and the campaign song of former governor Jimmie Davis, who co-wrote the song), Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans and Joe Avery's Second Line. During Do You Know What It Means they asked the audience to stand and give the peace sign (familiar to anyone who was around during the sixties and early seventies). I looked around the audience while this was going on - there were some people who didn't participate and who looked uncomfortable. I did stand and held up two fingers - something I wouldn't normally do, although I am opposed to the Iraq war. Generally, I find such displays to be sort of facile, but in this case I went along with the crowd.
Danza Featuring Evan Christopher and Tom McDermott
This is one of my favorite groups. Every so often a couple of musicians get together who understand each other and complement each other beautifully. This is the case with clarinetist Evan Christopher and pianist Tom McDermott. They perform a combination of jazz, ragtime, Cuban music and Brazilian choro, with other genres thrown in for fun. Some of the pieces they played included My Gal Sal, Mamanita, The Broken Windmill, Creole Eyes, Grandpa's Spells, Stars and Stripes Forever, When My Dreamboat Comes Home and Do What You Want. They also played Blueberry Hill as a tribute to Fats Domino, who had been scheduled to play at Jazzfest that day but had to cancel due to illness. During Stars and Stripes Forever, Tom Saunders played the piccolo part on the tuba!By the way, in the first two pictures Evan Christopher is seated on a stool. He is not jumping up and down on one leg.
Pete Fountain
It's amazing that Pete Fountain performed at Jazzfest this year, since he had coronary bypass surgery only about four weeks earlier. My doctor friend Bart Nassberg told me they are now able to do some bypass surgeries laparoscopically, so they don't have to split the sternum. This greatly reduces recovery time, but it still surprises me that Pete Fountain was able to come back so quickly. He took it a little easy during the set - he had Tim Laughlin on stage as a second clarinetist (when Fountain made the introductions he called Laughlin "the best clarinetist in the country" - high praise, especially considering the source). Laughlin took about half of the solos. The pieces they played included Clarinet Marmalade, Basin Street Blues, Shine, St. Louis Blues, Just a Closer Walk with Thee, Muskrat Ramble, It Had to Be You, Up a Lazy River and When the Saints Go Marching In.
George French and the Storyville Jazz Band
This was the final act in Economy Hall at this year's Jazzfest. George French is the brother of Bob French, the drummer whose band played on May 5. I hadn't seen George French perform at Jazzfest for several years. I get the feeling that he and his brother had some sort of falling out years ago (during Bob French's set he said something about his brother "betraying" him). Anyway, George plays electric bass and sings. His band members were Leroy Jones on trumpet, Fred Lonzo on trombone, Tom Fisher on clarinet and tenor sax, Arnett Hayes on piano and his son Gerald French on drums. They performed Whoopin' Blues, That's a Plenty, Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans?, Oh! Didn't He Ramble, How Come You Do Me Like You Do Do Do?, Last Night on the Back Porch, Five Foot Two - Eyes of Blue, Over in the Glory Land and Goodnight Sweetheart.
Fred Lonzo was the "vocalist" on Last Night on the Back Porch and Five Foot Two - Eyes of Blue. I put "vocalist" in quotes because he can barely sing a note. Either that, or he puts on a good show of not being able to sing. His voice cracks and his intonation is constantly off. He also changes the lyrics - he "sings" about loving her on the fax machine, for example. It's a novelty act, and a pretty good one. Here he "sings" about the how the "big old moon was shining bright."
