Friday, April 27, 2007 By Tom Piazza[/align] [/align] [/align] It seems almost normal to say it: Jazzfest is here again. It feels like a natural part of spring, along with azaleas blossoming and snowball stands opening. And yet, in the fall of 2005, how remote the prospect seemed, the idea that we would be getting ready for Jazzfest No. 2, post-K, and that it would feel natural. Despite everything, apparently, New Orleans refuses to die. Some armies raise a flag to show they haven't been defeated; New Orleans plays music. Music suffuses everything in our city; it lets us know that we are here, that the spirit is alive, and that we are not broken. A few months back, New York Times television writer Neil Genzlinger reviewed the PBS "American Experience" segment on New Orleans. His short review seethed with irritation over New Orleans' supposed claims to specialness. "The incessant suggestion that New Orleans is somehow pre-eminent grows annoying," he wrote. "A cultural melting pot? A place that produced some notable writers and musicians? Join the club." With no disrespect intended to our great sister cities, we are the club they would like to join. Find me another city with its own section in the racks at any compact disc store. Jazz was born here -- everybody knows that -- but so was funk, and rhythm and blues, and a good case could be made for its being the birthplace of rock 'n' roll as well. There's a New Orleans way of playing piano, a New Orleans way of playing drums (which nobody outside the city ever seems to get exactly right), of playing trumpet, of playing together in a jazz band, and a funk band. "Some notable musicians." Well, I guess. Louis Armstrong, Jelly Roll Morton, Bunk Johnson, Fats Domino, Professor Longhair, James Booker, Dr. John, Irma Thomas, Wynton Marsalis, Mahalia Jackson, Pete Fountain, Louis Prima, Terence Blanchard, the Neville Brothers, Allen Toussaint, Rebirth, the Soul Rebels. That list won't run out anytime soon. As distinctive and original as each is, each can be identified immediately as a New Orleans player or band. No other American city has produced, and continues to produce, as many style-forming musicians as New Orleans. Part of the reason must be that music in New Orleans embodies an attitude toward life -- and toward death, as anyone can attest who has seen second-liners dancing in the teeth of mortality at a funeral. New Orleans music states not just the fact that the musician, the listener, the dancer, and the culture that encircles them are still here, but that they are still here with wit, with energy, and with defiant grace. Last year on the first post-Katrina Mardi Gras, the riders of Zulu had to disembark from their floats near the Superdome, where so many of them had been stuck in the worst misery only six months before. Many of them had traveled long miles to make it back for that parade, from Houston, Atlanta, Dallas, and points even farther away. They continued the parade on foot, dancing through Treme, and it was clear to anyone watching that if the members of Zulu could make it back from hell dancing, then the rest of New Orleans had a chance to do the same. New Orleanians know that the second-liners are not fooling around. The brass bands aren't fooling either, and the Indians aren't fooling, and neither are the Black Men of Labor, or the Krewe of St. Anne, or the Lady Buck Jumpers. Despite FEMA, insurance companies, the Road Home, the Army Corps of Engineers, George Dubya, Clueless Ray and all the rest, there is something in New Orleans that will not have its spirit broken. And the beating heart of that spirit is our music. I'm not sure what Neil Genzlinger does for fun; I'd hate even to speculate. It does look as if he watches a lot of television. That's OK. But while he is planted in front of the tube, those of us who live here, and those of us from around the world who get the message and do whatever it takes to get here, will be walking in the s

 

damn son right on!!

 

yea, i read that article in todays newspaper lying around at work and really liked it, that reviewer from new york post is an ignorant jackass.

anyway,my mom was had a blastat jazzfest all day, she's never missed a year since it started,and is about as sunburned as you can get. but hes right, one thing you noticed after katrina, for almost a month, the music juststopped in the city. anyone who's ever been here knows that music is a huge part of our culture and heritage.the heart ofnew orleanshas a jazz beat, and then thatheart beat stopped. everything seemed a little gloomier, the murder rate seemed a little higher, the rebuilding got a little harder. i cant put into words what kind of depressing place this was at that time. the first time i heard a brass band, i was with a group of people, cleaning up a street, and it hit me hard. id never believe that something like that could be so important.

but basically, i loved this article. jazz fest is so relaxed and natural this year compared to 2006,where it almost felt forced. we've had oursoul back for a little while now, and even though we're far from finished here, for the first while since august 2005, i feel like i'm in the big easy again.

 

keep it up man im fealin for ya!

 

Awesome, Hassell. I have a yearning in my guts to go to Jazzfest before I die. One of my favorite blues players is Tab Benoit, don't know if you have heard from him, but he is outfrom Louisiana...sings about etouffee and crawfish pie. Anyway, music is New Orleans and New Orleans is music...glad to hear the soul is coming back.

 

Yup, absolutely i have; he performed today. I cant make it to any of jazz fest this year because of work and all, but mymom's there. I havent been in a couple years, but its a great representation of our culture and heritage.

speaking of etouffee... my mom's coming drop off the crawfishetouffee and softshell crawfish poboys she bought me...

 

If you're talking about the culture, you cannot skip the importance of food! Could there have been a better combination of cultures to come up with such recipes? Some of the best stuff in the country, as far as I'm concerned. Unfortunately, the closest I have been to enjoying the culturewas a festival in California (gay). Lots of great Cajun music though, had me some 'gator, and sucked up a bunch of mudbugs.

 

lol, you're right man. im kind of spoiled in that ive only had the displeasure of eating "bad food" on a trip to pennsylvania (bland bland bland) our food is the ****, simple as that