Posted in: announcement and thoughts
A highly flavorful half hour of very direct discussion with the writers of a certain kind of real down here in New Orleans. Alex Mcmurray was involved and the whole discussion was conducted at his address.
What is touched upon? What is examined? What was quietly passed over?
Find out here on the interviews page-
Who are they? Wikipedia has this to say...
But who needs that resource when you have this one!
Fresh off a refreshing hiatus, with new works, some newer faces and a lot of old friends. There will be a catwalk!
The full complement will be there:
Jimbo Walsh- conductor
Janna Saslaw- flute/piccolo
Chris Kohl- clarinets
Steve Bertram-Bassoon
Martin Krusche- soprano sax
Aurora Nealand- Alto sax
Rex Gregory- tenor/ bass clarinet
Joe Cabral- tenor sax
Dan Oestreicher- bari sax
John Culbreth-trumpet
Scott Frock- trumpet
Jeff Albert- Trombone
Devon Taylor- Tuba
Nobu Ozaki-bass
Helen Gillet-cello
Carl LeBlanc-guitar
Jonathan Freilich- guitar
Doug Garrison-drums
I'll let you in on a secret. The Naked Orchestra shows are also a party with some of the most interesting and colorful folks in town. Come over and get down while comparing the key system on bassoons and bass clarinets; the body differences between a cello and a bass, all while pretending to eye the object of your desires so you aren't caught staring hungrily at such things. You wouldn't want to appear over eager.
This is a success story already. We all learned how you say Black in Basque.
Over the summer I produced an album for the legendarysinger and activist, Fermin Muguruza. It's out and available on Itunes. It's a collection of his classics done with a gaggle of New Orleans great musicians, playing at their finest.
On itunes here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/nola-irun-meets-new-orleans/id1059688754
Arrangements by yours truly and I think it is the first New Orleans/ Basque connection (with maybe Zatarain's being the exception.)
Check out the video to get a feel for the killer energy of the project:
NOLA? (NOLA: New Orleans-Luisiana hiriburuaren laburbildura. Euskaraz eta galderazko ikurrarekin: nola?) IRUN MEETS NEW ORLEANS 10 urte Katrina eta gero, FERMIN MUGURUZA joan da NEW ORLEANSera eta bertako musikariekin bere ibilbideko 10 kantu grabatzen ditu eta dokumental bat zuzentzen du ere, non egitasmoaren protagonistek hurbiltzen gaituzten beraien errealitatera, hondamendia kontatzeko, nola komunitateak berreraiki egin zuen hiria, egun dituzten erronka berriak, eta musikaren ezinbesteko paperaz aritzeko, nortasun ikurra bezala, baita bizitza eta heriotza ospatzeko ere.
Stay tuned for the documentary made concurrently with the project.
The klezmer All Stars Duo (Glenn Hartman, Jonathan Freilich) made it to Austria, Spain, and back. A second European trip completed! Shows were-
in Austria:
Klezmore festival, Vienna
Amberner-
The Amberner
In Catalunya:
Barcelona
San Feliu de Guixols
Girona
Celra
Girona
The album is still available!
Special thanks to our friends out there who made it possible or helped along the way:
Thomas Shudek- King of Malwonia
Albert Mestres- sharp swift booking attacks in Spain
Fermin Muguruza- online support. Black is Beltza!
A couple of months went by very fast in preparation for the Fermin Muguruza recording in New Orleans which I was asked to produce. Fermin is a great and fascinating Basque singer, documentarian, writer with about a 30 year story in music under his belt. I think we may have gotten to the first New Orleans/Basque recording ever. And what an interesting development that is!
In passing we learned a lot about Basque things. Including Zatarain's...
It's worth clicking on the link above and finding out more about Fermin. His work has a lot of social import and he put together a fascinating album here, with a great lineup of heavy musicians from all across the New Orleans music world. Look for that in December.
At any rate, all of this producing and arranging slowed down things like posting more interviews and even posting concert schedules on the website. back to that, and with more Naked Orchestra things to come and the Joyce Opera ( "what's that? never heard of it. are we starting rumors?")
Why tell you late? Because it is a nice scene for playing really acoustic music that I didn't know about. You might find out about one of them here...
Anyway, the Tom Paines made their first appearance in years, and I enjoyed it. The shrimp etoufee also rocked.
That record is still available by the way. get it on Alex Mcmurray's website...
And while you are here, have a sample...
And this is... now-NOW- TODAY!!!
What is SONO? If you are interested in music you need to know.
After a great weekend of playing interesting music at an interesting musical time of year, it is time for me to announce the most important musical event of the week for you to support...
The Naked Orchestra and some others including Brian Coogan(Pretty Lights) and Zoe Boekbinder will be at 3405 Royal St for the Naked in Wonderland event. Glenn Hartman of The New Orleans Klezmer All-Stars will do a solo Accordion Set from atop the trees.
The Orchestra will play at 7:30 but there is much fine entertainment and crawfish with the price of admission before that. Click that SONO link above for more information and ticketing.
The best bartenders in NOLA will be serving.
We all demand your fun and free, embodied, spirits in attendance.
Jimbo Walsh- conductor
Old winds
Janna Saslaw-flute, piccolo
Chris Kohl
Steve Bertram-bassoon
Saxes
Martin Krusche-(magnetic ear)
Ray Moore
Rex Gregory
Skerik
Joe Cabral
Dan Oestreicher
Brad Walker
Brass
Jeff Albert-trombone
Steve Bernstein-trumpet
Devon Taylor-tuba
Strings
Jonathan Freilich-guitar/bandleader
Carl Leblanc-guitar
Robin Sherman-bass
Drums
Dave Capello
Doug Garrison
Naked Orchestra Mark 1- 1996
Jeff Douville marching with Egg Yolk Jubilee
In this segment, Geoff goes on to discuss his involvements with film, more on Danny Barker, New Orleans Rhythm and Blues performer/ audience relationships in music and a handful of other interesting subjects.
Take a listen- get involved in some more sides of the New Orleans music world of today and the past!
The Interview can be found on the interviews page, here...
Dave Capello, Helen Gillet, my Chip Wilson seven string at open ears
I'll be playing with the Dave Capello Trio this Tuesday the 14th of October at 10pm upstairs at The Blue Nile at 532 Frenchmen St. New Orleans. COME OUT AND CHECK IT OUT!
Dave Capello is one of the most unusual drummers in town. There is a reason; a background of very interesting radical theater and music situations in New York and Kansas City before his move to New Orleans 20 years ago. I interviewed Dave a few years ago. Surprising stuff. If you are interested in music ideas and where they come from and whether your ears are as open as you hoped you can check out the interview here...
Jeff Albert's Open Ears series has really become an event, over the years, for those still driven by music and sound. The fact that it goes on amidst the grotesque and never ending cheapening of Frenchmen St. makes it even more of a diamond in the rough.
This show will feature songs from the bassist, Cecile and Dave is trying to get me to do the same. She has a wild and varied background on the Chicago music scene including long stints with Fred Anderson and Famodou Don Moye (Legends everybody- google it- get involved in what goes in your ears! Ditch the complacent attitude!)) She sings really nice.
Oh yes- improvisation will occur for those of you enraptured by this central of all music language developments. There will be also elements of some other lines in music thinking.
Sitting in airport to Hamburg for a two week stint in Germany with the klezmer all-stars duo. That is Glenn Hartman and I- accordion and guitar.
Still frozen in my mind was the wondrous musical night at Chickie Wah Wah on Saturday night with the James Singleton Quartet. (Johnny Vidacovich-dr; Rex Gregory-sax, b.cl, sax; James Singleton- bass; Jonathan Freilich-gtr). I had the feeling it went better than the previous Chickie Wa Wa show, which is really something because of how interesting that show was.
Also memorable were a couple of hits with the Washboard Chaz blues trio. I got to revisit on the outside, a lot of the music that drives me on the inside. And it was fun too- if not very physical- "I've got blisters on me fingers"
Before all that, in the daytime, i got to play a Tom Paines set up at the old Ironworks. Mcmurray in good form after just having his first kid show up in the world. Congratulations to him!
The whole trip to New Orleans was such a pleasure. Getting to visit and play with the musicians I know. Cavort around town with all my old friends. Back soon, of course- it's jazzfest. the Klezmer All- Stars are on at the top of the first weekend. See you there.
After a very long pause I am posting the conclusion to the interview segment of my conversation with Trumpeter/ Bandleader/ Educator, Brice Miller from the Summer of 2013.
Brice is finishing up a degree, dissertation is complete- so partially I'd like to use this as a congratulatory gesture for his landmark accomplishment.
(In fact, I also just completed a degree myself so I can get back to these interviews.)
There are two other, highly recommendable, earlier segments to this interview, of course.
In Part 3 of this interview Brice touches on the following...
Brass bands in other parts of the United States; the "mythical" Congo Square; the role of formal musical education in the development early jazz artists- Buddy Bolden; brass bands around the world; jazz funerals, 2nd lines, benevolent societies and their roles in solidifying the place of people of color in the city- the taking of it; why brass bands in New Orleans have outlived the traditions in other cities; political needs for brass bands; more on cultural mentorship, cultural capital, social capital; the relation of brass band music to other musics in the city; Wynton and Branford Marsalis, Nicholas Payton- their start associated with the brass band tradition; being able to speak collectively; Trombone Shorty; the difficulties of talking to music press and their false ideas of what audiences will find interesting; the maligning or ignoring of intellectual sides to musicians in the press; coming out of depression after Katrina; the way that Brice's identity was used and became a caricature after the storm; going to the University of Alabama; telling the story of real New Orleans music, and the 200 year history of brass bands, honestly; the indignity of the reduction of all narratives of people of color to slavery; the influence of personal understanding of history on personal identity development; final comments- retelling your own stories.
Believe it or not, there is a whole other more conversational and, perhaps more evocative section to this that I will post soon.
Here is an interesting website.
There is a new society being birthed. Concerned with a number of things I would think, but right now the site has a good deal of focus on the plague of folks that would distract you from anything of actual importance in New Orleans, by endlessly attempting to suggest that sound ordinances are somehow a mark of great civilization- more than the culture of music!?!?!
What can be said...Katrina courted throngs of people that have no idea and have fallen prey to some rich maniacs and carpetbaggers who are attempting to gain vast long term control over the profit systems in New Orleans. But, it's surely the old Louisiana political story: a new pipeline to fly high volumes of cash into a few local old pockets under the guise of renewal and a few beads for the new masses caught in the excitement.
Anyway, this mysterious
sheds more light than this brief rant-ette.
For instance, the Society says this...
"Yossarian is entry level anarchism.
We like anarchism if it is funny. When it is a challenge, like Emma Goldman, not so much. So let’s try to start with some funny.
Yossarian’s philosophy is a first step. What happens when the Governing Caste slips its anchor? Yossarian pokes it in the eye."
...Can't be bad...who, after all, didn't get the tragic truths of 'Catch-22'. If Heller could only see this world!
Yes, it's true...a new site for your enjoyment but the same content is available. Leave comments if there are things that would improve the site. I will have the itunes feed straightened out soon.
I thought it would be nice to kick off with this fascinating interview with King James. Check it out...
A slightly different format audio recording has just gone up on the music interviews page. It's a four way conversation and I've left it full length for this site.
WWOZ radio DJ, Michael Dominici had the idea to take some of what has been happening in these interviews and take it onto WWOZ during his radio show. There were time constraints that didn't allow us, with our summer schedules, to do this live so we pre-recorded it on May 28th, 2011. Mark Bingham allowed us to do the interview at Piety St. Studios so we sat down for about an hour and discussed a few things pertaining to recording, time perception, thinking of music for now, anachronistic music, and observations on a few other musicians around the scene including Quintron, Ratty