Jon Batiste – Sweeney's Gumbo YaYa

Checking out the First Week Lineup of the 2022 New Orleans JazzFest

Here’s hoping that the third time really is the charm. After two years of planning great line-ups only to be COVID cancelled, Jazzfest has once again tantalized our live music taste buds with the promise of a New Orleans Spring we haven’t seen since 2019.

This week’s show indulges in that hope by working through some of the local New Orleans acts that will be performing at the Fair Grounds Race Course in the last weekend of April restarting a tradition that ran unbroken from 1970 until two years ago.

To say that this year’s festival is a big (add expletive) deal is an understatement.

This week’s show starts with Don Vappie, a world class banjo player who sings in French and English and helps sustain the Creole sound with his Creole Jazz Serenaders. Every song afterwards is by a musician scheduled to take the stage on that first weekend, including Jon Cleary, Shake ‘Em Up Jazz Band, Alexey Marti, Aurora Nealand, Walter “Wolfman” Washington, the Original Pin Stripe Brass Band and Delfeayo Marsalis.

JazzFest is a chance for musicians and music lovers alike to remember and honor those that have died. In the first weekend, special events are scheduled to mark the passing of Ellis Marsalis, Jr. , Dr. John, Spencer Bohren, and George Wein. Also, the Hot 8 Brass Band will perform — a band that has lost too many of its band members, including its bandleader and founder Bennie Pete last summer. You’ll hear Spencer and Bennie in this week’s show.

As usual, the lineup includes non-New Orleans acts such as Lionel Ritchie, the Avett Brothers, Foo Fighters and The Who. But you won’t hear them on my New Orleans music show. Not that I do a particularly good job of covering the over 100 New Orleans area acts that will be performing. I only had time for 26 songs in this two-hour show.

However, you will hear a classic recording by Clarence “Frogman” Henry who will be part of a “New Orleans Classic Recording Revue” with the Dixie Cups and Al “Carnival Time” Johnson. And despite the name, its not all jazz so this show’s mix includes the New Orleans Spiritualettes, Cha Wa , Jamie Lynn Vessels and Lakou Mizik which is a Haitian band that has recorded in New Orleans.

Image from the 2022 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival by Terrance Osborne.

Another musician you won’t hear at JazzFest but will certainly see is Jon Batiste. He’s featured in the official festival poster created by Terrance Osborne whose work can be easily seen and purchased at his studio on Magazine Street. Batiste will not be able to make the festival but his spirit will preside. The Osborne image conjures up Batiste’s grammy-nominated song “Freedom” and its accompanying video of dancing in the streets.

Next week I’ll feature music by acts scheduled for the second week including Bon Bon Vivant which is touring the Northwest right now and will be performing in Tacoma on February 2, 2022. Yes, 2/02/2022. And then the next morning, they’ll be in the KAOS studio with me. Subscribe so you don’t miss it!

Gumbo YaYa 2021 Mixtape of New Music

Tuba Skinny with Maria Muldaur kicks off this year’s mixtape with Lil Armstrong’s “Let’s Get Happy Together.” So let’s listen and get happy together. You won’t even have to wear your mask if you’re using the player below.

So this week’s show is a Top 20 version of my earlier broadcast and post from this month summarizing new releases from New Orleans. I play my favorite songs from that collection. So you’ll hear Lynn Drury singing “Back on My Feet,” from her Dancin’ in the Kitchen release and Chris Acker’s “The Pig War Reenactment” from his Odd, Ordinary & Otherwise. Ted Hefko’s “Big Thing” from Down Below finishes the first set.

In case you don’t want to use the player above, I created a Spotify playlist from this show (look for Sweeney’s Gumbo YaYa 2021 Mixtape). You’ll find information about these artists and their recordings in my earlier post. By the way, the show you hear from this website is the version that goes to Pacific Network. It’s slightly different from the versions heard in Olympia and Bellingham.

Jon Batiste has eight Grammy nominations resulting from his latest album which features Hot 8 Brass Band, Trombone Shorty, and St. Augustine Marching 100.

One-half of The Meters are featured next with “Give Me Back My Loving,” by Leo Nocentelli and “Crying For Home” by George Porter, Jr. Dwayne Dopsie’s “Set Me Free, “Tiffany Pollack’s “Mountain” and Kid Eggplant’s “Communista” fill out the rest of the set.

You’ll get another helping of Drury’s record (“St. Tammany”) before hearing Loose Cattle’s “Get Downtown” and Cha Wa’s “Uptown.” But you will also hear a track from my favorite album of the year –Jon Batiste’s We Are. In fact, you will eventually hear three tracks from him (the limit allowed by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act that governs radio airplay).

You’ll hear show greetings and show IDs from Pollack, Drury, Kid Eggplant, and Craig Klein who also shares the scene created when he and trumpeter Kevin Louis performed and sang “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” in honor of their friend, the late Lucien Barbarin.

Also included in this mixtape are Dumpstaphunk, Jason Ricci and Joe Krown, Jonathan Bauer, Jamie Lynn Vessels, Craig Klein and Monk Boudreaux.

Thanks for listening and have a great and safe New Year.

I’m Back Live, and Alive, in the KAOS Studio

Fourteen months after the KAOS studio closed to volunteers and most staff, I’m back at the control board slinging New Orleans music, honoring the life of Lloyd Price, exploring the new Jon Batiste record and digging deeper into the 2009 Midnite Disturbers’ performance at JazzFest. The recording of the show is available right now by clicking the arrow below. (But note that this is the version I edited for Bellingham so I say “KMRE” instead of “KAOS” on station IDs.)

For 60 weeks, I’ve prepared and recorded a Gumbo YaYa show in my upstairs spare bedroom — the one where my youngest son grew up in and which still has cats peering at me from the wallpaper. It’s a little creepy but so is going into a studio inside a building on a college campus that is almost like a ghost town. The first show was a little rough but I got it done and the music is good.

Lloyd Price died last week at the age of 88. While he was long past his big hits (“Lawdy Miss Clawdy,” “Personality,” “Stagger Lee,” “I’m Gonna Get Married”), the Rock n Roll Hall of Famer was an entrepreneur involved in music, publication, construction and food processing. He also was a writer with an autobiography and a collection of essays “Sumdumhonky” which I’m reading now.

Lloyd Price was drafted and sent to Korea just as his singing career was taking off.

Price zoomed onto the music scene with “Lawdy Miss Clawdy” recorded in 1952 with Fats Domino banging out the song’s distinctive song opening triplets. The song became one of the biggest selling R&B records of 1952, crossing over to white audiences. He was drafted in 1954 and served in Korea so was taken out of commission at a time when Little Richard came screaming into the scene.

Upon his return to the music scene, he recorded a folk song Stagger Lee that went to the top of both the R&B and Pop charts. He followed that up with two other hits “Personality” and “I’m Gonna Get Married.”

Other highlights of the show include tracks from new records by Monk Boudreaux, Jon Batiste, and Secret Six Jazz Band. I also feature another track from the 2009 JazzFest performance by the Midnite Disturbers featuring some awesome trumpet work by Shamarr Allen and Trombone Shorty. Bumps Blackwell does a decent job of staging his new song (at the time) in a demo for Specialty Records. When Little Richard showed up to Cosimo Matassa’s studio he cut another hit with “Good Golly Miss Golly.” You’ll hear back to back tracks by Guitar Shorty and Guitar Slim – both songs recorded in New Orleans.

I throw in some Hot 8 Brass Band, Cowboy Mouth, Charlie Halloran and the Tropicales, Big Sam’s Funky Nation and much more. But the true joy of the show, at least for me, was to be able to do the backsell of the songs right after they were played for everyone. Check it out!

Gumbo YaYa 2018 – Top 10 CDs of the Year

My list of top ten releases from New Orleans is based on my experience as the host of Sweeney’s Gumbo YaYa, a Northwest community radio show that features New Orleans and other Louisiana music. To see a larger list of releases, check out my 2018 summary. This show features two tracks from each of the top 10 releases.

Bon Bon Vivant: Live At The New Orleans Jazz Museum – This original group features sweet sister harmonies, a genre-bending style and a clear affection for New Orleans history performed before the perfect live audience. This is a group to watch and you can, very easily because they perform live in New Orleans regularly.

Riverside Jazz Collective: Stomp Off, Let’s Go – Recorded at the Ellis Marsalis Center for Music by New Orleans pros who can be heard regularly around town, particularly at The Bombay Club. This album features gently time-worn “songs that are melodically and emotionally durable.”

Ivan Neville and Cris Jacobs: Neville Jacobs – A magic combination formed from a post-Jazz Fest card game where New Orleans funk and soul meets Baltimore rock and blues. The chemistry is so solid, I listen to this CD with the hope that there will be a second one.

Cha Wa: Spyboy – Waiting for the next generation to pick up the mantle for The Wild Magnolias (except with a strong brass sound ) Look no further then this second release of this millennial group that has the fire! Grammy nominated too. “Get On Out Of the Way”

Michot’s Melody Makers: Blood Moon – Lost Bayou Ramblers’ co-founder Louis Michot stretches the boundaries of Cajun music to his heart and my ears content with this project. I get calls from listeners wanting to know more when I play from this CD — and for good reason.

Helen Gillet: Helkiase– On the surface, Gillet and her music may seem far afield of what you might expect out of New Orleans. But this French and English singing cellist has been embedded in the city for most of her professional life. Her latest project can be edgy, melodic, soothing and tense. Check out her KAOS studio performance and interview from this summer. “

Jon Batiste: Hollywood Africans – He may be world famous as the late night show bandleader but Batiste is more importantly a world-class musician with some powerful music to share, In this very personal release, he offers up originals with a fresh look at a couple standards. His reverent timing invites the listener to slow down and listen “with all you got, . . .don’t stop.”

Gal Holiday: Lost & Found – After 14 years in the vanguard of the New Orleans country music scene, Gal Holiday — aka Vanessa Neuman — and her Honky-Tonk Revue know how to deliver authentic old-time Patsy Cline style country. And while her band is solid, Vanessa’s voice is the star of the show.

Jonathon Long: Jonathon Long – His third release is the charm. He dropped the “Boogie” from his name and added a lot of himself in his singing and songwriting. This self-titled album produced by Samantha Fish and featuring muscular guitar work and soulful, personal lyrics represents a new addition to Southern Rock.

Jon Cleary: Dyna-Mite – If you’ve been waiting for Cleary’s full band follow up to his 2016 Grammy win, wait no more! With two more songs and a wider range (including a reggae-inflected song), Dyna-Mite blows away his Grammy-worthy earlier release.

I also play a track from Ever More Nest — Kelcy Mae’s latest project which was a close contender for being part of the top 10 list.