Much More Than Jazz
By Casey Moore

Each year around the end of January, the beginning of February, I get the same call from the same fraternity brother, “So, the JazzFest schedule is out; which weekend are we going?” It is a rite of the New Year for us.

This year, the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival takes place on the weekends of Friday, April 22 – Sunday, April 24 and Thursday, April, 29 – Sunday, May 1. For those staying the whole time, there will be plenty of concerts and shows at local clubs to keep you entertained.

 

Music at JazzFest

As usual, the JazzFest lineup is one of the most eclectic lineups for a music festival anywhere. Don’t let the name fool you; JazzFest is so much more than just jazz.

When I asked one friend, Bubba Mahne, for help on things to tell peoples about JazzFest, this is what he said, “I go for the music. I like the ability to walk from place to place and hear Gospel, then Jazz, then Rock, then Zydeco, then Hip Hop.”

Another friend, Regina Smith, who has been going since she was a baby, said, “Why go to JazzFest? Good food, good fun, good sun, so many amazing talents under one roof, and all of those artists just get on stage with each other for no good reason except they just want to play together.”

And that is what JazzFest is like. Whatever your musical taste is, you will find it at JazzFest.

Besides the big names playing the festival this year, there are some great smaller acts you should check out. On Saturday April 23^rd, the Meters are having a reunion and are one of the headline acts for the day.  The Meters are one of the best and most legendary New Orleans funk and rhythm and blues bands. To see them all onstage together again is a rare occurrence.

The Thursday of JazzFest has become one of the best days to attend the festival. It is actually a day where a lot of locals go.  The crowds are usually not as big since most of those coming from out of town won’t be in until Friday. B.B. King is playing Thursday, April 28^th and I can’t recommend the show more.  I’ve seen King play JazzFest before, and it is one of those performances that just stick with you the rest of your life.

If jazz is your thing, I highly recommend checking out the Doc Cheatham Memorial Band featuring Nicholas Payton on Friday, April 29^th. Payton and Doc Cheatham recorded an album shortly before Cheatham’s death. Payton is one of the best trumpet players out there and is a New Orleans native. Payton is also playing a solo show at JazzFest on Saturday, April 30^th.

The final day of JazzFest is always highlighted by the festival’s final performance played by the Neville Brothers. Also playing Sunday, May 1^st are The Radiators, a New Orleans band whose followers were called Fishheads long before Phish ever came around. Trey Anastasio is playing the same day as well, showing that someone at JazzFest programming has a sense of humor.

More than seeing either the headliners of JazzFest or some of the smaller shows are the surprises. One of the best surprises for me in the last few years of JazzFest was going to see a performance of Peter and the Wolf in the Children’s Tent. This version of Peter and The Wolf was put together by a bunch of guys from local rock and funk bands. There was something wonderful about watching a bunch of twenty and thirty-year-old hipsters playing around with a bunch of little kids.

Another great surprise was getting to see Wynton Marsalis play with the students from the New Orleans Public Schools jazz program. The kids were amazing players. But, Marsalis would step up, give them a knowing look and smile, and then show them how it was really done.

JazzFest is also one of those places where you will see some great surprise guests play. I took my wife to see Willie Nelson one year, and Nelson’s harmonica player for the show was John Goodman. He also sang a duet of “All the Girls I’ve Loved” with Jefferson Parish sheriff Harry Lee, easily one of the oddest pairings I have ever seen. Lee has been sheriff of Jefferson Parish as long as I can remember.

“My favorite JazzFest memory is the year I went and saw Ray Charles, Fats Domino, and Dr. John all play on the same day. I got to see Ray Charles sing ‘Georgia’ and that was the last time I saw him live,” said my friend Regina Smith when I asked her what her favorite memory was. “My second best memory was getting to see Paul Simon and Dave Matthews play ‘Me and Julio, Down by the School Yard,’ followed by Lenny Kravitz and Dave playing ‘All Along the Watchtower.’”

“My best musical memory of JazzFest is seeing Paul Simon and Aaron Neville sing ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’ together,” said my friend Bubba Mahne.

 

Food at JazzFest

But all that music is just a small part of JazzFest.

One of the biggest and most important parts of JazzFest for my friends and I is the food. Some of my recommendations are the crawfish beignets. Think of hush puppies only softer and stuffed with crawfish and covered in a sauce my wife and I have been trying to figure out for years.

Crawfish Bread is a staple of JazzFest and one of those foods newcomers must try. It is a well known favorite of Counting Crows’ lead singer Adam Duritz. Crawfish bread is filled with cheese and crawfish and is the perfect snack food while at JazzFest.

You can find pretty much any type of southern, Cajun, and New Orleans cuisine you like, from fried chicken to fried alligator to just plain boiled crawfish. In case you are wondering, alligator tastes very good and is the only meat I have ever eaten that actually tasted like chicken.

For drinks, you have teas, water and of course beer. But please don’t drink too much. Of everyone I talked to who have been going to JazzFest for years, all of them said their worse memory of JazzFest is being next to someone who drank too much and puked on them or near them.

 

Some preparation for JazzFest

First, let’s start with the weather. New Orleans at the end of April and the beginning of May is hot. I am talking temperatures in the 90’s and humidity in the same area. So, you need to dress for the occasion: shorts and a t-shirt. I can’t tell you how many people can not figure this out. One year I saw a girl all dressed up in nice pants and shirt and high heels. After about an hour of sitting next to us, she left sans the high heels. When she came back she had cut her nice pants and transformed them into shorts and had bought a t-shirt to wear.

So dress for warm weather.

Second, wear some comfortable shoes which don’t mind getting dirty. JazzFest is not the time to break in a new pair of shoes. You are going to be doing a lot of walking from one stage to the next and from one food vendor to the next. You need to have shoes which are not going to cause blisters and that you won’t mind having on your feet all day. And you need shoes which can get dirty since you will be sitting on the grass or in the dirt or quite possibly in the mud.

Now for what to bring, you are of course limited as at every music festival. But, I would recommend at least one person in your party bringing a backpack with you. This allows you to carry any souvenirs and to carry the two following items. First, bring sunblock and lots of it. Notice I said sunblock, not sun tan lotion. One year, my wife and I got such bad sunburns that we both sick. There is shade at JazzFest (more on that below), but you will be out in the sun for a good portion of the day.

Second, bring a poncho. Here is where the boy scout kicks in. The poncho is good for two things. First, it makes a nice ground cloth for you and friends to sit on while watching various acts. It can act as a base of operations if you set it up at one stage or another. The poncho will also come in handy when it rains, which in New Orleans can happen at any time. Yes, I have said it will be sunny and hot. But, very likely at some point during the day there will be rain. And there have been years when it rained all day at JazzFest.

Now to avoid the rain and to escape the heat there are a couple of tricks. First off, please drink plenty of fluids and not just beer. Go get some bottled water or some rose mint tea sweetened with honey, a favorite of both my wife and I. Next, head to the Gospel Tent or the Grandstand and sit in the shade. In the Gospel Tent, not only will you get shade and some great music, but you also get the fun of watching one of the most diverse crowds at JazzFest as gospel fans, hippies and everyone else dances and sings along to the music. At the Grandstand, one of the favorite things for my friends and I is to go sit in on the Louisiana Kitchen presentations. Usually there is someone cooking something really good and they tend to give free samples at the end of the demonstration. So, you get shade, air conditioning, you are right by the nice bathrooms, plus you learn how to make New Orleans style dishes, and you get free food. What more can you ask for at a rest spot?

 “My advice for JazzFest: hydrate beforehand; get twice as much cash as you think you’ll need; wear sunscreen; bring a very tall flag of some sort if you’re planning on meeting up with people there,” says Mahne.

You will see plenty of examples of the flags Mahne is talking about at JazzFest. Some are home made and very original. Some will simply be the LSU flag flying with a smaller mini flag underneath indicating what sorority or fraternity is standing at that spot. The flags are a great way to tell your friends where the party is, especially if you come with a big contingent.

 

Resources for JazzFest

The times of performances have not been announced yet. To get more information keep an eye on the official website of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival at http://www.nojazzfest.com/. Advance JazzFest tickets are $25 per day and can be purchased through the official website. Ticket prices at the gate are $35 per day. Also, keep watching the official website for additions and changes to the lineup.

For more information, I also recommend http://www.nola.com, which has a JazzFest page and news from the New Orleans Time-Picayune. If you are looking for some good inside information as well as wanting to get your ears warmed up for JazzFest, check out the website of WWOZ, http://www.wwoz.org/. WWOZ is the official radio station of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival and will be broadcasting from JazzFest the entire time of the festival.

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