Final day of Jazzfest and more

We had a couple of days off going to Jazzfest on Friday and Saturday as the weather was none too good, especially on Saturday. but there was still plenty of music to enjoy.

On Friday we went to the NOLA Brewing Co for a free show featuring Johnny Sansone, Papa Mali, Big Chief Monk Boudreaux and drummer Terrance Higgins. They are a sort of swamp pop blues super group and were excellent and hypnotic on a string of numbers including 'Walk On Gilded Splinters'. Next day after an excellent lunch at Sammy's we went to a place called Madame Vic's for another good night of blues by Guitar Slim Jr, who was joined for part of the time by Troy Turner, the former 'Teenage Blues In Baton Rouge singer/guitarist who I haven't seen in about 30 years. He's been living in Canada he said but has lost none of his guitar prowess. Slim's varied set ranged from soul to blues plus NO R and B and was very enjoyable.

The final day of Jazzfest began with some lively funky soul from New Soul Inc followed by some soul and blues from Martha Redbone who is part Choctaw, European and African American. From there we took refuge from the heat in the grand stand for an interview session with the Flatlanders (Joe Ely, Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Butch Hancock) conducted by Ben Sandmel. The three of them have been playing together for over 50 years as well as having solo careers and this was fascinating stuff. They spoke about meeting up in Lubbock, early problems with getting their material released, a chance meeting with Townes Van Zandt and the origin of some of their songs.

After a quick look at a band called The Deslondes I went to the Blues Tent for a bit of New Orleans music by trumpeter James Andrews and The Crescent City All Stars. He is the grandson of Jessie Hill and an admirer of Louis Armstrong. His set was raucous and colourful with NO 'Baby dolls' dancing on stage and very popular with the big crowd.

From there I went to see Lena Prima, Louis' daughter, who sang some of her dad's songs including 'Pennies From Heaven' and 'Sing Sing Sing'. Then it was off for some excellent zydeco from Nathan and the Zydeco Cha Chas.

There were a host of big names finishing off the festival on various stages and it was impossible to see them all. But I did my best. I waited for quite a while for Maze featuring Frankie Beverley along with a big crowd which was 99 per cent African American but was a bit disappointed when they did come on. Frankie's vocals were muffled and he barely acknowledged the audience facing the band instead. But the crowd seemed happy enough and were singing along.

I slipped off to watch Tom Jones for a bit. He looked good at 83 and was in fine voice for largely Americana type songs. Finishing off the festival it was more excellent Americana from the Flatlanders with numbers including 'Tonight I'm Going To Go Down Town', 'Lawdy Miss Clawdy', 'Dallas', 'Sitting on Top of the World' and 'If You Were A Bluebird'. An excellent way to end the festival.

We rented a car for the last few days and had a drive out to Bay St Louis and Gulfport on the Mississippi gulf Coast, picking up a few more records at an antiques mall on the way. In the evening we headed out to BJs, a cosy bar in the 9th Ward, for Smokehouse Brown who proved to be a very good blues singer with a gruff voice who was excellent on '19 Years Old', 'I've Got My Eyes On You' and 'I Gotta Try You Baby'. A good night if a rather boozy one. Next day, our final full one, we checked out a mural of Dr John (pictured top) and took another look at Fats Domino's house (now in a renamed Fats Domino Avenue) before the heavens opened and drove us back to base.