Whenever I tell folks I like New Orleans brass bands, I gotta convince them that the groups are funky like old-school DC go-go combos, not sedate like old-fashioned Dixieland troupes.  That is the case with Mama Digdown’s Brass Band, who are appearing at the Surf Club Thursday night (conflict of interest note—I told them about area clubs when they were booking the tour).  Except Digdown is from Wisconsin not the 9th Ward.

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Duke Ellington Jazz Festival (DEJF) Executive producer Charlie Fishman and managing director Sunny Sumter have announced the 2009 lineup for the DEJF.

As previously announced, the theme for this year is “The Musical Heritage of New Orleans,” and the headliner as such is trumpeter Terence Blanchard — who will be performing his 2007 piece A Tale of God’s Will: Requiem for Katrina in its entirety on June 12, in a free concert at the National Mall.

Another highlight is a closing concert tribute to New Orleans pianist Ellis Marsalis, which will feature his sons Branford, Jason, and Delfeayo, along with Harry Connick Jr., a 15-piece big band, and some surprises.

The list of featured artists after the jump.
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“When I die, gimme six crap-shootin’ pall-bearers / Chorus girls, sing me a song / Put a red-hot jazz band at the top of my head / Hallelujah as we roll along.”

The question of how to dispose of my mortal remains has weighed on me of late. Raised Baptist and Episcopalian by turns—with a meager annuity of Judaism courtesy of certain paternal relatives—I’ve since strayed from the path of righteousness into the turpid thickets of cohabitation and Crescent City blues. Which means, of course, that for this agno-mystic, ruminations on divine judgment and soul-transposition present thickets of their own—as does the cadaverous question that opens this paragraph.
Read More “The St. James Infirmary Blues; or, Notes Towards a Definition of Voodoo” »