By Jerry Shriver, USA TODAY
NEW ORLEANS � ? The city's 41st Jazz & Heritage Festival opened its second weekend ? a four-day run beginning Thursday ? the same way it closed out last week's three-day opening salvo: with perfect weather, an amazingly diverse bounty of Cajun, Creole, Southern and ethnic foods, and a jam-packed slate of roots, rock, jazz and country acts celebrating America's popular music heritage.
AP
Jeff Tweedy of Wilco performs on Thursday at Jazz Fest.
AP
Jeff Tweedy of Wilco performs on Thursday at Jazz Fest.
Looming over the final three days are national acts such as Arcade Fire, Willie Nelson and Gregg Allman (Friday); Jimmy Buffett, The Strokes and Lauryn Hill (Saturday); and Kid Rock, Sonny Rollins and Maze featuring Frankie Beverly (Sunday).
Adding regional flavor to the dozen stages and tents this weekend are hometown heroes The Neville Brothers, a farewell show from The Radiators, Rockin' Dopsie, Rebirth Brass Band, Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue, Buckwheat Zydeco and Kermit Ruffins.
Among the highlights from Thursday:
He'll sleep next week:�Saxophonist Brice Winston is typical of the many musicians who do double- and triple-duty while they're in the city. Last week, he played in Terence Blanchard's quintet at Jazz Fest and at a pair of shows at a local jazz club. Thursday, he led his own quartet (comprised of three other members of Blanchard's band) through a dynamic set in the Jazz Tent that showcased his angular attacks and edgy riffs in original compositions. Blanchard made a guest appearance to the delight of the crowd. All of this from a man whose main job is running the Tucson Jazz Institute, which teaches the music to middle- and high-school students.
Darkness and light:Lake Charles, La., native Lucinda Williams brought her full package of tragic, depressing and bitter hard truths to the sun-drenched Acura main stage, and the incongruity didn't matter one whit to the sizable crowd. Older works such as Drunken Angel, Pineola and Crescent City (about her youthful years spent in New Orleans) gave way to dynamic readings of songs from her new Blessed album, including the title track and Born to Be Loved. A highlight was the devastating, aching melody of I Am Waiting and her crack backing trio's workouts on Real Live Bleeding Fingers and Broken Guitar Strings and Changed the Locks. Williams didn't interact much with the crowd, but let her wounded and raspy, Southern-inflected voice drive home her messages.
A click away:�WWOZ, a locally beloved public-supported radio station that was featured in HBO's Treme series and whose roots programming is legendary, is broadcasting live from the festival and streaming over the Internet (wwoz.org). Sets from regional artists are interspersed with artists' interviews.
Keyboard kings:�New Orleans has a long and distinguished tradition of producing jazz, blues and R&B piano players, beginning with the house players at Storyville bordellos and extending through Tuts Washington, Professor Longhair, Fats Domino, Dr. John, Smiley Lewis, Ellis Marsalis and Harry Connick Jr. Wildest and most eccentric of them all was James Booker (1939-1983), subject of a loving, raucous tribute in the blues tent, performed by five contemporary keyboard whizzes: Tom McDermott (featured in Treme), David Reis, Joe Krown, Josh Paxton and Tom Worrell. Booker could play anything from Rachmaninoff to dirty blues to jazz standards ? and often intermingled styles in the same song while playing in New Orleans bars. Thursday's tribute included snatches of classical figures, plus The Beatles' Ticket to Ride, gospel nugget Just a Closer Walk With Thee, traditional jazz song St. James Infirmary and Booker's own Classified.
Literary fest:�As Tina Routio, 24, dispensed ice cream sandwiches outside the gospel tent, a copy of William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury lay open on the cart. "I'm just reading it for my own pleasure," she said. "I started it at home and am about through with it. I love it!" Her chocolate-coated vanilla ice cream concoction was equally profound.
From the mouth of babes:�Cajun fiddler Amanda Shaw from Covington, La., literally has grown up on area stages. She began playing local venues at 8 and released her first album at 11. Now 20, she's making a successful transition to adulthood, adopting a frenetic, feisty style that mixes mild sexiness ? long red-brown hair, oversized shades, rows of bracelets on both wrists ? and a message of empowerment. Backed by her trio The Cute Guys, Shaw spun out high-energy pop, country and Cajun tunes led by her joyous, fiery fiddle and propelled by her still-girlish voice. On Pretty Runs Out she admonished: "I bet your Botoxed beauty fades because pretty runs out."
Visceral blues:�Ageless (well, 67) Mississippi-born blues harmonica player Charlie Musselwhite was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame and released the critically acclaimed album The Well last year, but he stuck to older material during his powerhouse set in the Blues Tent. "I have been playing the new stuff a lot and the older songs were getting stale, so I brought them out here," he said after wowing the crowd with You Know It Ain't Right and River-Hip Mama.
Many styles to cross:�Ruthie Foster's expansive, passionate voice sounded like it was nurtured in the Gospel Tent next door, but it commanded the stage in the Blues Tent as the Austin-based guitarist/singer tore through a dynamic set of R&B, country-tinged blues, folk and gospel songs. She forms the core of a band comprised of three dreadlocked, African-American women from Texas, and that appealing visual lineup sang highly charged covers of songs by Lucinda Williams (Fruits of My Labor), Sister Rosetta Tharpe (Up Above My Head) and Patty Griffith (It Don't Come Easy).
Wilco (The Reprise):�The Chicago-based alt-rockers were a highlight of the 2009 Jazz Fest and proved to be just as strong this time around now that songs from their latest Wilco (The Album) are road-tested. Leader Jeff Tweedy must have been roasting in his black sports jacket, but he and his mates wove cool, shimmering and thunderous sounds that washed over the crowd. Sometimes the songs seemed as if they would explode and fly apart, but the three-guitar lineup managed to bring them to sweet safety. At one point, Tweedy said, "We're going to play some jazz for you," then launched into Handshake Drugs, which began as a gentle acoustic tune and quickly became an electrified, jangly singalong. One Wing, a highlight from (The Album), was a shattering mid-set highlight.
Everyone had fun:Cyndi Lauper may have seemed to be an oddball choice for the Jazz Fest lineup, but she has reinvented herself as a blueswoman on 2010's Memphis Blues, and most of the songs from that work were well-received by the female-dominant audience. Most had come to hear her early hits, however, and Lauper didn't disappoint, turning Time After Time into a dramatic ballad, adding a bluesy intro to Girls Just Want to Have Funand bringing out Musselwhite for a delicate encore of True Colors.
Mandy Moore Natassia Malthe Jennifer Gimenez Minki van der Westhuizen Lake Bell
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