Another fest on the burner: Fried Chicken Festival, hot licks and hot wings

19th September 2016   ·   0 Comments

By Geraldine Wyckoff
Contributing Writer

“I’m gonna wing it!” declares a laughing John Boutte about the material he’ll be performing on Sunday, September 25 at the Fried Chicken Festival at Lafayette Square. The much-loved vocalist’s show stands as a rare appearance in the city outside of his weekly, Saturday evening gigs at d.b.a.

For some reason, the mention of chickens often brings out a peculiar sense of hilarity in many folks. That’s apparently why, when Boutte got the call asking him to perform at the Fried Chicken Festival, he thought it was a friend joking around. Realizing it was on the level, he agreed to play primarily because it was an inaugural event and he wanted to help out. Boutte opens the fest, taking the stage at 11:30 a.m. with a new configuration of his band playing for the first time. Guitarist Matt Johnson, will replace his longtime and also much-loved fretman Todd Duke in the group that includes trumpeter Wendell Brunious, trombonist Marc McGrain, bassist Nobu Ozaki, saxophonist Loren Pickford and drummer Herman Lebeaux.

At first, Boutte said he humorously considered doing a whole set of chicken-related songs though he thought better of it. He could have chosen from quite a long list as chickens, for whatever reason, are a theme of a lot of tunes. “Yeah, there’s Louis Jordan’s ‘Ain’t Nobody Here But Us Chickens,’” Boutte offers. Other possibilities could have included the Meters’ “Chicken Strut,” Rufus Thomas’ “Do the Funky Chicken” and Joe Tex’s “Chicken Crazy.” Maybe Huey “Piano” Smith’s hit, “Little Chickie Wah Wah,” could have qualified too. Boutte points out that even he put chickens in the lyrics of “Two Bands Rolling.” “It goes, ‘Pigeons eating chicken on Jackson Square…’”

Boutte’s two sets that finish up at 1:30 p.m., will be followed by Sweet Crude, Tank & the Bangas, the Brass-A-Holics with DJ Mannie Fresh closing out the free event that ends at 8 p.m.

The list of participating restaurants at the festival is as impressive as the musical line-up. Those who will be dishing out the hot, crunchy delicacies include restaurants from across the city that are renowned for their fried chicken. A few such spots include the now-famous Willie Mae’s Scotch House, Lil Dizzy’s Cafe, Cafe Reconcile and many more.

Particularly in New Orleans where folks love to talk about food almost as much as they like to eat it, mentioning fried chicken immediately brings to mind recollections of the best batch one ever consumed. “My dad did a garlic fried chicken that was off the hook,” Boutte quickly pipes in. “The refrigerator would be full of chicken marinating. My step-grandmother, Carol, made the best I ever had,” he adds, saying that even his mother admitted it was better than hers.

“Black folk love fried chicken,” Boutte continues. He then turns serious when offering a reminder of how things really were during the decades of slavery. “I tell people that initially we cooked it but we didn’t get to eat it.”

For more information go to www.friedchickenfestival.com.

Uptown and Downtown – Jazz Concerts Celebrate Coltrane and Cuban Music

The Jazz Underground series at Loyola University’s acoustically superior Nunemaker Hall kicks off its season at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, September 22, with a concert entitled “Celebrating Coltrane.” It takes place just one day before the birthday of legendary saxophonist John Coltrane, September 23, 1926. In New Orleans and around the world, people have continued to honor Trane as one of the most influential and stunning artists to ever have played jazz music. John Coltrane died on July 17, 1967, at the young age of 40.

Saxophonist Tony Dagradi, a professor of jazz studies at Loyola who organizes the Underground program, will blow in tribute to Coltrane as well as fellow sax men Derek Douget and Khari Lee Allen. Each musician will also select a tune of their choice composed or made famous by Coltrane and will be backed by pianist Michael Pellera, bassist Chris Severin and drummer Geoff Clapp.

The free concerts continue with its October 27 show featuring an “out of the norm” piano duo with Ellis Marsalis and David Torkanowsky. November 17 the Underground focuses on pianist/band-leader/composer Duke Ellington. The final event on February 9, 2017, presents the increasingly popular New Orleans All Star Jam.

In a week that puts jazz in the spotlight, the brilliant, multi-dimensional Cuban pianist, Roberto Fonseca arrives on Saturday, September 24, at North Rampart Street’s George and Joyce Wein’s Jazz & Heritage Center for a solo concert. Cuba and New Orleans share many cultural similarities with one being the propensity of musical families. Fonseca’s father, Roberto Sr., was a drummer and his mother. Mercedes Cortes Alfro, a singer who appears on her son’s 2007 CD Zamazu. Fonseca toured extensively throughout the world with the immensely popular Buena Vista Social Club and also has familial ties to and is a protege of pianist Chucho Valdes, one of the island nation’s most important and highly regarded musicians.

Fonseca, 41,who earned his Masters degree at Havana’s noted Instituto Superior de Arte, brings elements of his mastery of jazz, Afro-Cuban, traditional Cuban and classical music to the keyboards. On a YouTube video, he’s heard with his band giving his music an even more modern edge by employing a vocoder for his vocalizations. Word is he’ll have a baby grand piano and electric keys at his solo performance.

There is a no reservation policy for this show, which is from 8 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. It is advised, however, to get to the Center early to secure a seat.

This article originally published in the September 19, 2016 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.