Jazz Fest: The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival

[Richard Dale]

I'm a big fan of New Orleans and Louisiana music and I've been to the New Orleans Jazz Fest four times. I would say that the first time I went in 1980 has to have been best holiday I've ever had. When I read there was going to be a five CD boxed set back in March, I was really looking forward to getting a copy. Today I just got round to looking up the boxed set on Amazon to see how much it was and I found it going for 93 UK pounds:

 

https://www.qobuz.com/es-es/album/jazz-fest-the-new-orleans-jazz-heritage-festival-various-artists/o68sm2osph36b

 

Then I looked for it as a download on Qobuz and found a download from there was going for 10 euros - wow! I'm sure the book that comes with the boxed set it great, but I'm not sure it is worth about 90 euros extra.

 

Anyhow I'm really looking forward to listening to the set - it's got loads of my favourites, like Professor Longhair, Kermit Ruffins, Allen Tousaint, Earl King etc etc.

[ronfint]

I love JazzFest, too. I lived in New Orleans for a bit over 10 years (1975 - 1987, more or less), and I've been to a lot of JazzFests. I still travel there for JazzFest almost every year — I was there for the first weekend this year. (Highlights for me were the Marsalis family reunion and the James Carter Organ Trio.)

 

As a jazz fan, I think there are better music festivals, but the food is absolutely the best and so is the atmosphere. Anyone who likes jazz, blues, rock, folk, etc. ought to try to go.

 

You probably know this, but I'll mention it for those who might not: A lot of the sets are recorded, and you can buy the recordings from Munck Music:

https://www.munck-music.com/collections/new-orleans-jazz-heritage-festival

[Richard Dale]

18 minutes ago, ronfint said:

I love JazzFest, too. I lived in New Orleans for a bit over 10 years (1975 - 1987, more or less), and I've been to a lot of JazzFests. I still travel there for JazzFest almost every year — I was there for the first weekend this year. (Highlights for me were the Marsalis family reunion and the James Carter Organ Trio.)

 

As a jazz fan, I think there are better music festivals, but the food is absolutely the best and so is the atmosphere. Anyone who likes jazz, blues, rock, folk, etc. ought to try to go.

 

You probably know this, but I'll mention it for those who might not: A lot of the sets are recorded, and you can buy the recordings from Munck Music:

https://www.munck-music.com/collections/new-orleans-jazz-heritage-festival

Thanks for the Munck link - I hadn't heard about those recordings. It looks like there is some interesting stuff, and on FLAC although I couldn't find what the resolution is - I assume it is CD quality.

[ronfint]

Munck usually gives cd quality as one of the choices. It costs a bit more than lower res. Be careful when buying or you may accidentally purchase low res.

[Ralf11]

@Richard Dale, a thread on New Orleans music would be a great idea - tho quite large & varied...

 

maybe it could link to artists (Fess, Dr. John, Nevilles, Galactic, Wynton/Branford/Ellis/Charmaine - but some of those would require Jazz vs. Classical forks) or genres (NoLa style Funk, Brass bands, etc.)

[Richard Dale]

15 minutes ago, Ralf11 said:

@Richard Dale, a thread on New Orleans music would be a great idea - tho quite large & varied...

 

maybe it could link to artists (Fess, Dr. John, Nevilles, Galactic, Wynton/Branford/Ellis/Charmaine - but some of those would require Jazz vs. Classical forks) or genres (NoLa style Funk, Brass bands, etc.)

When I think of the Jazz Fest I also think of the music of Louisiana in general, which is an even bigger topic. We can certainly chat on this thread about Jazz Fest related music and experiences at least.

 

Before my first trip to New Orleans in 1980 we had a get together in Wimbledon and a guy called John Broven gave a talk about his visit to the Jazz Fest a year before. One of the highlights was seeing Professor Longhair and I was really looking forward to seeing him, but sadly he passed away in early 1980, and I never saw him live. I did get to see other great New Orleans keyboard  players - such as Tuts Washington, Jame Booker, Fats Domino, Huey Smith, Allen Toussaint, Dr John, Champion Jack Dupree. 

 

The same John Broven wrote two of my favourite books about New Orleans and Louisiana music - Walking to New Orleans about R&B and South to Louisiana about what Broven termed 'Swamp Pop' such as Cookie and the Cupcakes, Rod Bernard . After my trip in 1980, I've never got Mathilda out of my head.

 

Then there is Cajun and Zydeco. I was lucky enough to see two of  the greats at the Jazz Fest - Clifton Chenier and Nathan Abshire. Clifton Chenier was just awsome in 1980, but by 1981 his health was failing and he couldn't play the accordian any more only a mouth harp. An Nathan Abshire doing Pine Grove Blues was similarly awsome.

 

Those are some random thoughts of mine anyway, it's difficult to stop...

 

[Ralf11]

I've been listening to this recently - prompted by some info about it in a book on Funk.  I only have 2 versions in my collection, but there are a number of covers on YouTube...

[ronfint]

My favorite JazzFest memory was seeing Eubie Blake. I wish I could remember what year that was. I think it was around 1980, but I'm unsure. He was very fragile, well into his 90's. The moderately sized audience was extremely quiet, both in respect to his age and also in awe of the music he was making. It was an experience I'll always remember.

[ronfint]

Not JazzFest, but it sure is New Orleans in a nutshell:

 

[Ralf11]

good album

[bluesman]

We love N’awlins!!!  Here are some of our NOLA favorites- I suspect few of you know the music of Jon Cleary or Walter Wolfman Washington. Try this taste of gumbo greatness.........

 

 

 

[Ralf11]

you can visit the Laundromat while you're there