Ellis Marsalis takin’ it easier and New Orleans women who are picture-perfect

13th January 2020   ·   0 Comments

By Geraldine Wyckoff
Contributing Writer

Since the late 1980s, renowned pianist and educator Ellis Marsalis has held down a regular gig at Snug Harbor and, in the last 20 years, his Friday night shows have drawn sold-out crowds. At age 85, Marsalis, the patriarch of the musical Marsalis family – saxophonist Branford, trumpeter Wynton, trombonist Delfeayo and drummer/vibist Jason Marsalis – decided to slow down and step back from leading his band at the Frenchmen Street club.

“I was beginning to have physical problems with 90 minute sets,” says Marsalis who for two such sets each night entranced audiences with his extensive jazz knowledge and the beauty of his playing.

That Marsalis finds such long sets difficult is totally understandable as many out-of-town artists, especially those from New York who are generally used to hour or 45 minute shows, are often surprised when they believe their set is over and they still have a long way to go. “I’ll come back as a guest with Jason’s band,” the devoted Marsalis promises. “Retirement is a relative kind of thing,” says Marsalis, who will act as a consultant organizing a 15-piece big band at the Ellis Marsalis Center for Music that will be led by saxophonist Derrick Douget. “I retired from UNO in 2001,” he says with a laugh. “I never look at a place like Snug Harbor as a place that one retires (from). For the most part, I’ll be in and out.”

“He played here so consistently some people thought he was one of the owners of the club,” says Jason Patterson who books talent for Snug Harbor. “He is one of our family of musicians.”

The Center’s orchestra, which is being funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, will be holding its first paid rehearsal on Monday and will work from the late great Harold Battiste’s compositions from his “Silver Book.”

Marsalis sees himself as performing more often at the Center, which was named in his honor by his son Branford and pianist Harry Connick Jr., “especially for the kids.”

“I feel okay,” says Marsalis regarding his health. “I don’t have an illness. My biggest problem is I really need to do more exercise. I have a stationary bike in the back room but I don’t get on it as often as I should.”

Most importantly, he concludes: “I’m still able to play.”

New Orleans women, for all to see

Yes, it’s wonderful to initially flip through the 200 stunning, colorful photographs in Cheryl Gerber’s new book, “Cher-chez la Femme – New Orleans Women,” and linger on some images of personal interest. Yet going back to read Gerber’s “Photogra-pher’s Notes” offers insights into her purpose and passions in assembling these works. Gerber, a New Orleans native who has been a professional photographer for over 30 years, found her inspiration for this impressively important and timely book through the 2017 Women’s March in Washington, D.C. It became her motivation.

While on assignment and in the streets, Gerber captured the images of a cross-section of Crescent City women in both formal portraits and spontaneous moments. Each chapter focuses in on certain specialties such as the culinary arts, musicians, philanthropists and socialites, spiritualists, activists, Mardi Gras Indian Queens, Mardi Gras krewes, baby dolls, social aid and pleasure clubs and even burlesque.

Some of the most prominent entries, like the late, beloved Leah Chase are accompanied by biographical essays written by some of this city’s finest female writers who bring even further life and understanding to the thoughtfully captured photos. Helen Freund concluded her piece on Chase by quoting the ever straight-up chief saying, “As I grew into it, I looked around at the women in business, and let me tell you these women can cook. They don’t buckle.”

Many of the subjects, like vocalists Irma Thomas and Charmaine Neville, are familiar to most New Orleanians. Others are to be reminded of such as Sister Helen Prejean, the author of “Dead Men Walking,” who fought hard against the death penalty. Yet there are those, particularly in the chapters about social aid and pleasure clubs and Mardi Gras Indian Queens who, outside of their communities, generally remain nameless though relatable as their exuberance bursts with the energy of the city.

Caught “in action,” these women stand tall next to their “sisters” of prominence like Sybil Morial, the wife of New Orleans’ first Black mayor Ernest “Dutch” Morial and mother to their son, one time mayor Marc Morial. Our first Black woman mayor, LaToya Cantrell is, of course, among the portraits right in there with chef Ms. Linda Green the “Ya-Ka-Mein Lady” and Carol Bebelle, the recently retired co-founder of the hugely important Ashé Cultural Arts Center. The always perceptive Katy Reckdal interviews Bebelle and others about women’s political and social activism in New Orleans.

“Cherchez la Femme – New Orleans Women” comes at a time when there is a greater awareness of the contributions of females in all aspects of life by men and women alike. James Brown got it right when he sang that the world “wouldn’t be nothing, nothing without a woman or a girl.”

Cheryl Gerber will celebrate the launch of “Cherchez la Femme” at the New Orleans Jazz Museum at the Old U.S. Mint from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Thursday, January 16, 2020. (Full disclosure: I contributed an article to this book.)

This article originally published in the January 13, 2019 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.