Dance Party – Sweeney's Gumbo YaYa

Gumbo YaYa March Dance Party Dives into Funk, Swing and Blues

Mardi Gras is over but the dancing can continue with the help of over two dozen New Orleans acts ready to kick off March in style. Start the show to hear Jason Ricci and Joe Krown offer up some “Real Good Funk.”

Big Sam’s Funky Nation rocks the opening of the first full set with “Feet on the Floor” followed by Marcia Ball’s “Right Back In It” and a retro disco-like cover of “Fly Me to the Moon” by Dr. Brice Miller’s alter ego Ecirb Muller’s Twisted Dixie.

It’s not all funk cause the second full set is loaded with hot jazz by Meschiya Lake, Jacques Gauthe, Shotgun Jazz Band, Treme Brass Band, and Smoking Time Jazz Club.

This week’s show features “Dame Tu Reloj.”

The show switches gears but still stays danceable with The Iguanas and Panorama Jazz Band, Big Chief Monk Boudreaux and The Neville Brothers.

Where’s the R&B? Next set features Irma Thomas and Ernie K-Doe (Patron Saint of this Blog). Later Lloyd Price demonstrates why he is an underappreciated progenitor of ‘rock n’ roll.”

And so the show rolls and rocks and boogies with additional help from Johnny Sketch & the Dirty Notes, John Lisi & Delta Funk, Theryl “Houseman” DeClouet, The Meters, Professor Longhair, Dana Abbott and Professor Longhair.

Enjoy the show and stay tuned for next week’s farewell show. Last Gumbo YaYa!

December Dance Party with Only One Reindeer

I keep the first of the month dance party tradition rolling into the holiday season with the help of New Orleans and Lafayette musicians, digging a bit deeper to get your hips to swing and your tired dogs high steppin’. First up is Linnzi Zaorski with the “Rhythm in Me.”

In the first full set you’ll get to boogie to a bit of Zydeco, an R&B version of “Lil Liza Jane,” a brass band groove and a blues song. The next set swings from funk to R&B before running into a jazzy swamp number by Bluesiana.

And so it goes through the show bouncing between genres and rhythm speeds but always with a focus to keep you moving.

Kermit Ruffins will explain how to do the “Fat Tuesday.” Johnny Adams will have you “Chasing Rainbows.” And Arsene Delay will let you catch your breath with a “Slow Drag.”

Flow Tribe will go “Back ‘n’ Forth” while Shotgun Jazz Band will be “Steppin’ on the Gas.” Creole String Beans will get you “Barefootin'” while Marcia Ball makes sure “The Party’s Still Going On.” And as the show wears on, Smoking Time Jazz Club will make sure there’s “Friction.” Erica Falls simply sings “Dance.”

And Debbie Davis and family will “Run Run Rudolph.” Remember to stretch before and after.

November Dance Party starts funky but ends up in Panama

Welcome to this month’s Dance Party edition of Sweeney’s Gumbo YaYa. Ivan Neville’s collaborative project with Cris Jacobs titled Neville Jacobs kicks off the show with a very appropriate number called “Dance for Me Mama.”

The Meters, which includes Ivan’s uncle Art, starts off the first full set with “No More Okey Doke” — a silly title with a danceable groove. And speaking of danceable grooves, I would never have thought I could boogie to “If I Were a Carpenter” but somehow Eldridge Holmes’ cover pulls it off. Chuck Carbo, Corey Henry, Danny White, Big Sam and Sierra Green keep the beat flowing. This week’s show features extra long sets and less talking cause you really can’t dance when I’m blathering on.

Papa Grows Funk and Cha Wa takes into the second half hour which finishes strong with Rebirth’s “Hot Butt Naked Sex,” Paula and the Pontiacs “Rough n’ Tumble Man,” Allen Toussaint’s “Shoorah, Shoorah” (from a 1976 vinyl record) and Kid Eggplant’s touching love song “Vasectomy.”

We get a little reggae beat going with the second half of the show where Lil’ Rascals Brass Band does “Rasta Second Line” and Alex McMurray’s Rock Steady project, 007, performs “Alidina.”

Later you’ll hear songs by Meschiya Lake, Charlie Wooten and Arsene Delay, King James & the Special Men, George Porter Jr., Billy Iuso, Earl King and Lynn Drury.

The pace changes but doesn’t really slow down with Meschiya Lake’s “Anytime is Saturday Night,” Smoky Greenwell’s “Back to the Boogie,” and Dr. Michael White doing “Panama.” Thanks for tuning in and dancin’ to the beat.

Stomp Your Way Through October’s Dance Party

This month’s Gumbo YaYa Dance Party takes a 10-song dive into stomps. Within the first half hour, you will stomp through Mobile (Shotgun Jazz Band), Fort Worth (Aurora Nealand), Mahogany Hall (Louis Armstrong),Shreveport (Smoking Time Jazz Club), Louisiana (Clifton Chenier), a Roadhouse (Matt Perrine) and a Big Pasture (Hackberry Ramblers).

But perhaps the most significant “Stomp” I share is by the piano player who helped fuel the craze. You’ll hear “Black Bottom Stomp” by Jelly Roll Morton’s Red Hot Peppers — a band assembled by the maestro in Chicago from New Orleans musicians fleeing north during the Great Migration in the 1920’s, including Kid Ory on trombone and Johnny St. Cyr on banjo.

But its a dance party, so I move on to “boogies” such as Benny Turner’s “Mojo Boogie,” C.J. Chenier’s “Zydeco Boogie,” James Andrews “Banana Boogie” and Ghalia & Mama’s Boys’ “Hiccup Boogie.”

Shamarr Allen ramps it up further with his kick-ass version of Taylor Swift’s “Shaking It Off” and Corey Henry maintains the sweaty momentum with “Tell Ya Mama Nem.” You’ll also hear Earl King, the Explosions, Benny Spellman, the Dirty Dozen Brass Band and three live danceable performances by Flow Tribe, Midnite Disturbers and Johnny Sketch and the Dirty Notes.

Thanks for tuning in, limbering up and shaking your money maker. My best to you and I’ll check in with you next week.