New Orleans Music in Exile

When: 5/9/08
Where: Bryant Lake Bowl Cabaret Theater
What: Jazz88 Reel Jazz Film Series

The second installment in Kevin Barnes's jazz film series is a kick in the head and a reminder that New Orleans is our national shame.

Documentary filmmaker Robert Mugge begins with aerial scenes of Katrina's destruction, then brings us back down to earth and into some of the devastated buildings including Eddie Bo's coffee house and Irma Thomas's club.



Interviews with Dr. John, Cyril Neville, the Iguanas, ReBirth Brass Band, Cowboy Mouth, Jon Cleary, Stephen Assaf, Mark Samuels (owner of Basin Street Records) and others reveal how the hurricane has affected the New Orleans music community. Some artists evacuated to Austin, Houston, Memphis, and Lafayette and remain there (in Texas, there's now a band called the Texiles). Others are trying to stay in NOLA. Some lost everything they had. Without exception, it's no longer an adventure, only an ordeal.

I've been curious about Basin Street because I have seen and heard several of the label's artists: Los Hombres Calientes, Irvin Mayfield, Henry Butler, Dr. Michael White, Kermit Ruffins. According to Newark's public jazz radio station WBGO (coincidentally another Jazz 88), "Before Katrina, the company had offices on upper Canal Sreet and a small full-time staff. There was the synergy of all nine artists living in one legendary city, creating and selling local music with national promotion. After Katrina, only the website was standing..... Both the offices on upper Canal Street and Mark [Samuels'] home in Lakeview were destroyed."

Samuels relocated for a while to Texas but has returned to NOLA, where he lives in the second story of his home and runs the company out of the gutted ground floor. He writes a blog that's mostly about his artists with occasional flashes of fury at the ongoing situation in his hometown.

The evening at BLB was supposed to begin with a performance by the North High Jazz Ensemble, a student group that rarely gets the chance to play out. But someone decided that students can't perform at the Bryant Lake Bowl because alcohol is served, so North High faculty members Tom Cross (keyboards), Ed Gitner (trumpet), and Jesse Buckner (drums) graciously stepped up to provide the live music opener.



New Orleans Music in Exile is available for rental. Not sure if you'll find it at Blockbuster but it's on Netflix. Also on Amazon if you want to own it. Watch the opening on the Web site; see a clip of the Iguanas here:



Up next in the film series: Imagine the Sound, a film by Ron Mann (made when he was 22) that profiles four musicians vital to the evolution of free jazz: Cecil Taylor, Archie Shepp, Bill Dixon, and Paul Bley. Thursday, June 12, Bryant Lake Bowl, doors open at 6, live music at 6:30, film at 7, ten bucks. To reserve tickets, send Kevin an email: KevinB@Jazz88fm.com.

'Tis Autumn: The Search for Jackie Paris

When: 4/10/08
Where: Bryant Lake Bowl
What: Jazz88 Reel Jazz Film Series

A solid start to Kevin Barnes's new jazz film series. As promised, the evening begins with live music by the Preston Haining Quartet, all of whom are still in high school.



The weather is nasty, Lake Street is torn up, and parking is a challenge but people still show, the quartet plays well, Barnes introduces the film, and we enjoy beer, burritos, and Pad Thai while learning about the life and music of Jackie Paris.



My MinnPost preview was going to include a link to the trailer but server problems intervened. Watch it here and see the film if it ever comes your way.

The Jazz88 Reel Jazz Film Series

Kevin Barnes is starting a jazz film series to benefit KBEM, the Twin Cities' jazz and education radio station, and I previewed it for MinnPost. When I asked Barnes what inspired him to start the series, he said:

We helped sponsor the Minneapolis/St. Paul International Film festival and brought in a Miles Davis documentary maybe six years ago.... I thought it would be nice if we could find the right setting and the opportunity to do something with both independent jazz documentary pieces and independent films created with jazz as an important part of the musical landscape.... A key part of this launch was Ed Jones's show "Reel Jazz" on Monday nights, which looks at both jazz and film.

I had never heard Jackie Paris before now, and I certainly didn't know he was the first singer to record Monk's "'Round Midnight." You can hear sound clips on the film's Web site or download songs from iTunes. His most famous recording: "Skylark."