FoodMusicJustice.com

New Orleans may have more smoking good dancers per capita than any other place in America.

They sure have great bands to dance to. This is the Treme Brass Band at Ray’s Boom Boom Room on Frenchman.

Caught Evan Christopher at Snug Harbor. The word is “sublime.”
His albums:

* Django à la Creole - NEW
* Delta Bound
* Road to Romance
* Hottest clarinet/This side of Evan

Ben Schenck (leader and clarinet), Aurora Nealand (alto saxophone) and the Panorama Jazz Band riff on a Hugh Masekela tune at French Quarter Fest 2008.

The band also plays traditional, old time New Orleans jazz; klezmer; balkan; Mexican; Caribbean and who knows what else.

I love this band. They’ll be at Jazz Fest (good!)

They’ve got two albums:

* Another Hot Night In February (2003)
* Panoramaland (2005)

There’s a reason New Orleans has been a continuous source of music and musicians for the rest of the world for well over 100 years.

Here are some clips of children being invited to perform with professionals at the French Quarter Fest.

Larry Blumenfeld did the interview. David Aman shot and edited. FoodMusicJustice.com produced it.

This was one of the videos Larry showed at the International Jazz Educators Conference in Toronto last summer.

Meanwhile, I shot a ton of nice stuff at the French Quarter Fest which I’ll be posting in the coming days.

We all know about Stephan Grappelli and Django Rheinhardt who fronted one of the best jazz groups of all time “The Hot Club of France.”

Most are also aware of the important role France played in providing a supportive environment to jazz musicians from Sidney Bechet to Ornette Coleman.

Less well known is the French contribution to the American song book.

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One of the rare and beautiful things about New Orleans his how integrated live music is with daily life.

This used to be the norm. Now New Orleans seems to be the last place in North America where this is true.

And more than that, New Orleans has a music community that consciously develops its young; maintains its traditions (including a vast repertoire of New Orleans-based songs); and honors its elders for their open-handed generosity of spirit to the new generation.

It’s a very beautiful, very human system.

In this less-than-perfect video (the light was bad and I was cut off before things really got rolling) one of the most beloved figures in the New Orleans music community “Uncle” Lionel Batiste shares a moment at the Palm Court.

Last summer, we put our friends Larry Blumenfeld and David Aman together.

Larry writes about New Orleans music scene for the New York Times and the Village Voice. David is a local videographer (and chef!)

David created some videos for Larry to show at the International Conference of Jazz Educators in Toronto. Here’s some of their work.

Caught this band - Da Truth Brass Band - playing on the corner on Frenchman street.

When I remember to, I carry a $95 video camera, the size of a pack of cigarettes, with me and shoot interesting things I see Lumiere-style (one shot, no edit) If I find that I have anything good, I load it up to YouTube.

Everyone who lives and visits New Orleans could be doing this.

In the process, bit by bit, we could put the magic of New Orleans out there for people who’ve never been here and maybe change people’s perceptions about the city and why it is so worth helping in its time of need.

Stop waiting for grants and the time to be right. Just do it.

I should know better than going anywhere without my PureDigital video camera (about the size of a pack of cigarettes.)But I do have a rudimentary video camera on my cell phone that records up to 15 seconds.

Here’s the end of a drum solo by a young kid playing with the Treme Brass Band at Ray’s Boom Boom Room on Frenchman Street.

Here’s some clips from the 2007 Big Nine Social and Pleasure Club Second Line, my favorite parade of the year and maybe my favorite event in New Orleans period. (more…)