2010 Jazz Fest Day 2

Well day 2 did not start off very promising.

We awoke to downright alarming weather forecasts, including torrential rains, quarter sized hail, and a 20% chance of F3-5 grade tornadoes. It really looked as though the entire day was in danger of being cancelled----something that's only happened once in the last 20 years we've been coming.
My plan was to simply wait until early afternoon and see what transpired, but as the morning wore on, despite a couple of brief but heavy showers, the skies around metro New Orleans actually seemed to brighten a bit. Great news for us, but not so good for the unfortunate folks across the border in Southern Mississippi who bore the brunt of those same storms.

So off we went for what turned out to be a rain-free festival day!

After morning gumbo and a nice crawfish po boy, Kim and I made the move to the Blues tent to see local street musician Grandpa Elliott's Jazz Fest debut. For those of you who haven't seen it, go to You Tube and check out the Playing For Change "Stand By Me" video to be introduced to Grandpa Elliott. This video, of street performers across the world performing this song, went viral and led to a CD and overdue noteriety for some of these musicians, including Grandpa Elliott. His sincerity is only matched by his sweet voice. You won't regret a few minutes watching him perform. And if you missed him at the Fest, check out the corner of Royal and Toulouse where he can still be regularly found playing for spare change.

Grandpa Elliott's Jazz Fest debut

Playing For Change

After Grandpa, we moved closer to the stage and settled in for a Jazz Fest tribute to the the late Marva Wright, the Blues Queen of New Orleans! Marva passed in March of 2010 after suffering a series of strokes. Marva and her crack band, The BMW's, were a jazz fest staple, which is where I was first introduced to her big, beautiful voice. Today, The BMW's were on hand with other local musicians such as Papa Grows Funk and Davell Crawford. Marva's sax player tore the roof off the place with a stunning instrumental version of a love song Marva had written for her husband. The show culminated with BMW's background singer Tara Peterson doing a couple of Gospel numbers in Marva's honor, followed by a city council proclamation declaring it Marva Wright Day in New Orleans. Gonna miss seeing this wonderful lady here, but I hope Miss Peterson takes the BMW's forward, cause she and they can really cook!!

Davell Crawford sings in tribute to Marva Wright backed by the BMW horns and members of Papa Grows Funk

At this point, I was so taken with Mr. Crawford's performance at the Marva tribute that I decided to keep my good seat here in the Blues tent and stay for his set, which was billed as Davell Crawford with special guests Dr. John and Jon Cleary. But first I got treated to a sweet set of pure blues by the Lil' Buck Sinegal Blues Band. Sinegal is a jazz fest staple and has played in some of the great Cajun Zydeco bands, including a 14 year stent with zydeco legend Clifton Chenier and time with Buckwheat Zydeco.
Towards the end of Lil' Buck's set Kim noticed a commotion at the rear of the stage area, near where we were sitting. When I got up to investigate, it turned out to be the arrival of the one and only Mac Rebbenack, better known as the legendary Dr. John!!! Fortunately, I had my camera with me and managed to get a couple of nice shots of the good doctor, who gave me yet another jazz fest thrill when he walked over and gave me a quick hand slap and finger point!!
Dr. John arrives at Jazz Fest

Next up was the aforementioned Davell Crawford, dubbed the Prince Of New Orleans by former mayor Marc Morial. His set included blues, gospel and everything in between. Probably the highlight for me (before he brought out his guests) was a gorgeous, soulful gospel-inflected take on Randy Newman's "Louisiana 1927".
Davell sings the Blues

But the real fun started after he brought out Jon Cleary, another New Orleans (via his homeland of England) piano great who, besides his own career makes a steady living playing in Bonnie Raitt's band. This was followed shortly thereafter by the appearance of Dr. John who kicked it off with his version of Iko Iko. During the Drs. numbers Mr Cleary picked up the guitar, something I'd never seen him do. The whole thing came to a head with Craford, Cleary, and Dr John all playing the last bars of Professor Longhairs "Tipitina" on a single piano!!!

3 Men and a Piano!
Dr John, Davell Crawford, and Jon Cleary.

At this point it was time to take a break and do some strolling around the Fairgrounds to do a little shopping and stretch the legs. As we strolled we did manage to catch a little bluegrass from Sam Bush at the Fais Do-Do stage. Our intention was to approach the big stage from the back to see the day's big headliner Simon and Garfunkel, but by the time we tried to get there, it was a virtual sea of people and we chose to simply call it a day and head for the buses! This did give us the chance to hear a couple of songs by up and comers, My Morning Jacket as we exited on to Gentilly.

The night time brought another terrific meal at the recently reopened Mike's On The Avenue. This was the site of one of our best meals about 10 years ago and then Mike relocated to San Francisco and later Hawaii before returning to New Orleans earlier this year. While the service was a bit sketchy, the food did not disappoint. I started off with the Crawfish Spring Rolls with Chili-Lime sauce and then had the Crispy Duck for dinner. Dessert was the Creme Brulee, which while not as wondrous as I remembered it from before, was just fine for that night!!

All in all not a bad day at all, and amazingly, we didn't get wet one time!!