The Jazz Fest is coming! The Jazz Fest is coming!

If one lives anywhere near the Big Easy at the end of April or beginning of May, chances are he or she will end up at the Jazz Fest. The fact is that the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, better known colloquially as the Jazz Fest, is one huge event. Culturally, it is one of the best things that goes on in New Orleans, but make no mistake about it: it costs plenty to attend. It has come a long way in 40 years from its small gathering of mostly traditional musicians gathered downtown near the old Congo Square to the five days stretched out over two weekends drawing as many as 90,000 fans a day. At $50 per person for admittance and food averaging at about $5 per item and beers selling for $3 each, it doesn't take long to rack up a lot of damage in a short period. And, of course, that's only part of the story. Hotel rooms are packed to capacity at their highest rates before the summertime and restaurants have most of their tables filled over the course of the run of the festival. But it's not the arts, crafts or culture that most endears the Jazz Fest to attendees. In a word it's the music. There is literally something from everyone at the Jazz Fest from punk rock to hard rock to contemporary jazz to beebop to gospel to klezmer to Cajun to zydeco to folk to bluegrass to rhythm and blues to funk. There probably has been no one who wasn't at least pleased with some aspect of the music played at the various stages located at the historic Fair Grounds every year for the past nearly four decades (the first few years the venue was held away from the present location). So, here's to Jazz Fest: 40 years and still going strong!

French Quarter Fest

The French Quarter Fest is in full swing with an estimated 450,000 guests streaming into the Vieux Carre to experience live music, to witness lots of crazy partying and to sample many delicious offerings throughout the three-day event. The smells of the French Quarter are not what one usually writes about. However, the air of sweet success permeates the area this weekend with well over $140 million in sales generated and approximately 10 percent of that going into city coiffers. It seems ironic that the Jazz and Heritage Festival celebrating its 40th anniversary this year gets all of the press, because the French Quarter Festival with its paltry three days outpolls the Jazz Fest by nearly one-third. By contrast, Jazz Fest occupies a week of performances at the New Orleans Fairgrounds. French Quarter Fest is free to the public, while Jazz Fest tickets are usually about $40 with parking, food, drinks, and souvenirs all extra. A typical couple will spend a minimum of $100 at the Jazz Fest, but more realistically will spend closer to $140. That's a lot of money compared to the free French Quarter Festival. Frankly, there's a lot to be said about enjoying and exploring the oldest section of the city. The only thing that could be a damper on the festivities is the likelihood of rain. Oh, well, the French Quarter Festival has it over the Jazz Fest here too. If it rains, one just has to pop inside a shop or bar. If it rains at the Jazz Fest, prepare for mud and a new purchase of shoes.

Sisters and Brothers

Yesterday might have been the most perfect day for Jazz Fest that I've experienced since my halcyon days as a footloose and fancy-free bachelor. True, there was quite a bit of residual mud left over from several days of downpours and sloshing by festival goers, but the music and spirit of revelry carried the day. Despite cloudless skies, the sun was moderate and, with a generous application of sunscreen quite manageable. Copious amounts of water enabled me to keep hydrated throughout the day and I found the humidity levels much more tolerable due to the cold front that moved through on Saturday. The day began for me at Economy Hall, where I had a third row seat for the Pfister Sisters. The Pfister Sisters have been together since the 1980s as a tribute vocal group to the Boswell Sisters, the original jazz vocal group of three real New Orleanian siblings who took the nation by storm in the Roaring Twenties. The Pfister Sisters, Holly Bentsen, Yvette Voelker, and Debbie Davis, have recaptured the intricate jazz harmonies of the Boswells (Martha, Vet and Connee) to perfection, lovingly mixing them with their own original compositions like "Laissez Faire" and "Down at the Jazz Fest." If any group could ever represent the sweetness and slightly naughty nature of New Orleans's fairer sex, it would, no doubt, be the Pfister Sisters. Debbie Davis, who took over the important midrange vocals from her early predecessor Suzy Malone, added ukulele to the program and asked her husband, sousaphonist Matt Perrine, to accompany the group on stage. Oddly, two other musicians with the same first names, guitarist Matt Johnson and violinist Matt Rhody, were also heard and seen onstage to enhance the heavenly vocals of the Pfister Sisters. Amasa Miller, a gifted pianist, who is also known as Charmaine Neville’s musical director, led the entire musical ensemble. Following the show I made sure to get to the front of the line to have them sign their new CD, "Puttin' It On," titled after an original Boswell Sisters classic. When in town for the French Quarter Festival a few weeks back, well-known cabaret singer and songwriter Amanda McBroom noted at her last show at Le Chat Noir that she was incredibly impressed with the Pfister Sisters. That was a great tribute from a great source and I so informed the Pfister Sisters, who were cooling down from a hot performance. Following a bit of Festival food, I headed over the to the Professor Longhair Acura Stage, where I encamped for the remainder of the day. Up first was Carlos Santana, who brought back many of his classic early hits like "Jingo," "Black Magic Woman," "Oye, Como Va," and "Soul Sacrifice" along with new hits like "Maria, Maria" and "Smooth." The very sultry and sexy guitar stylings of Santana were a perfect intro to the deans of New Orleans music, the Neville Brothers, who appeared for the first time at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival since Hurricane Katrina. The set was mostly old time favorites like "Yellow Moon," "Brother John/Iko Iko," "Meet de Boys on the Battlefront," and "Fire on the Bayou." By far and away the most anticipated part of the Nevilles act was the angelic voice of Aaron Neville, who dedicated several of his selections like "Tell It Like It Is" and closer "Amazing Grace" to his late wife Joel. Aaron has recently relocated back to New Orleans, after living in Tennessee for most of the last three years. Towards the end of their set, the Nevilles invited Carlos Santana to sit in with them for a song to the delight of the audience who could see the stage directly or those watching on two huge video screens on either side of the stage. Sometime as the sun set on the massive crowd assembled in the infield of the historic Fair Grounds, I knew I had finally arrived back in the city of my birth. The Nevilles were on the Jazz Fest stage closing things out. The crowd was swaying back and forth to the music. Everyone was happy and God was in his place in the universe.

Wet Jazz Fest

Yesterday's opening of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival was a splendid day for sun and fun, but today's performances were dampened by the heavy rains that poured throughout the latter portion of the day. With the ground already soaked and mud in abundance on the infield, tomorrow's expected heavy rains suggest, perhaps, alternative plans should be made. For the diehard Jazz Fest enthusiasts, no amount of drizzle, downpour, inundation, thunderstorm, squall, or cyclonic disturbance will prevent them from attending. And the same could be said for the performers. One of the highest paid professionals was Billy Joel, whose rain-soaked and thunderstorm-filled set was cut short by a half hour due to the floodgates that had opened up in the skies. Joel was quoted as having shouted out at the sky "Is that the best you got? C'mon, bring it on!" While this is all in keeping with the spirit of the Jazz Fest that emphasizes fun, great music, delicious food, creative crafts and pride in the local culture, to experience the festival in the rain takes a lot of stamina and mind over matter. As Satchel Paige once said, "If you don't mind, it don't matter." I recall going to one of the early Jazz Festivals with none other than Leigh Harris, known to her fans as L'il Queenie. The downpour was so bad and the mud was so thick that the half boots I wore were caked with mud through and through. After the Fest was over, I remember walking over to a nearby home and using their water hose to hose off most of the mud. The shoes had been worn only a few times before and had been soft and pliant. After the festival, they changed colors and were stiff as a board. No amount of saddle soap or store bought treatment could save them from the garbage heap. In the end the performances and the time were reckoned easily worth the price of one pair of shoes. However, with today's walk-up $50 price tag to see the Jazz Fest and the cost of good shoes up at least 200% from what they were 29 years ago, one may question if it's all worth the trip. My favorite way to see the festival is to ride a bicycle into the front gate. You dispense with the cost of parking and the time involved in finding a safe spot and pretty much can leave whenever you want, squirting through tight spaces and blasting past the worst of the traffic. However, there is nothing more dangerous than riding a bicycle on the rain slick streets of this city when Jazz Fest, Mardi Gras or some other celebration is ongoing. It is an accident waiting to happen and I loathe pedaling in the rain. Of course sitting and sloshing through the mud is not all that enticing either. Frankly, I will miss not seeing my hero Elvis Costello as he sings with our great performer Allen Toussaint, but the opportunity to stay warm, dry and mud free is too enticing for me to pass up. Lastly, I console myself with the knowledge that there still is another weekend of Jazz Fest upcoming. As Billy Joel sang yesterday, that's why I'll be "Keeping the Faith."