Big shows at the big clubs in the Big Easy

20th October 2014   ·   0 Comments

By Geraldine Wyckoff
Contributing Writer

Ziggy Marley arrives at the House of Blues on Tuesday, October 21 and the following night, Wednesday, October 22, Macy Gray lights up Tipitina’s. Those are some big shows by touring artists to hit New Orleans mid-week. Both reggae star, vocalist and guitarist Marley and rhythm and blues and soul singer Gray are riding high having released new albums this year. Marley dropped his latest, Fly Rasta in April and Gray released The Way just last month.

Ziggy Marley is, of course, the oldest son of reggae master Bob Marley and took a Grammy in 2014 — one of many he’s acquired — in the Best Reggae Album category for his 2013 release Ziggy Marley In Concert. On the new album, he has the rhythmic backing of Jamaican greats drummer Sly Dunbar and bassist Robbie Shakespeare to move that reggae groove. He’s also backed vocally by the original Melody Makers, his sisters Cedella and Sharon Marley plus longtime member Erica Newell.

Ziggy, who is noted for working for children’s causes through several organizations, is full of positive vibrations on Fly Rasta as heard on such tunes as “Sunshine,” the title of which obviously reflects his state of mind. He’s joined by sister Cedella for a duet on “Give It Up” that stylistically looks back to the old school reggae.

The fall seems to be reggae season in New Orleans with a string of reggae artists coming to the House of Blues. The legendary Jimmy Cliff, who jumped on the stage immediately without his (solid) band offering any kind of warm-up, began his set acoustically singing “Bongo Man” with just percussive instruments. Wow. Cliff musically went through his entire career and the history of Jamaican music — ska, rock steady, reggae, dancehall — with amazing joy and energy. So the word is, “lively up yourself” with some reggae while you can.

Rhythm and blues and soul singer Macy Gray has chalked up five Grammy nominations and won the award in 2001 as Best Female Pop Vocalist for her tune, “I Try” from her multi-platinum album On How Life Feels.

Gray, who is also a noted composer and actress, definitely has an unusual, yet very compelling voice. If perfection is your game, Gray ain’t your gal. If you have a penchant for a bit more grit, a lot of honesty and vocals that are somewhat askew and loaded with attitude, Gray’s got it. As heard on cuts like the funky “Bang Bang,” and “Hands,” Gray remarkably brings it on old school yet keeps it as fresh as can be.

Having the opportunity to hear her at an intimate spot like Tip’s, which like Gray is pretty old school and funky too, should assure a great show.

Doors open at 7:30 p.m. with the group The Honorable South hitting at 8:30 p.m.

Ultimate New Orleans Brass Second Line Funk!
Various Artists
(Mardi Gras Records)

There’s a show on the Turner Classic Movies television channel (TCM) that’s called “The Essentials.” Host Robert Osborne chats with his guest, actress Drew Barrymore, who chooses movies she, and usually he, consider must-sees. The selected films are deemed of such quality and importance that they are worth revisiting and, for that matter, revisiting many times. Think of great movies like “To Kill a Mockingbird” and “In the Heat of the Night.”

Similarly, the music on the compilation album Ultimate New Orleans Brass Second Line Funk! could be considered “the essentials” of brass band music. Yes, we’ve heard tunes like the Rebirth Brass Band’s “Do Whatcha Wanna” many, many times, but it still feels so good. That song was released on Mardi Gras Records almost 25 years ago, when trumpeter/vocalist Kermit Ruffins was still in the band, yet it retains its funky, raw kick. (An aside: The tune’s opening riff, is that used at the beginning of John Boutte’s “Tremé Song.”)

This album, which has been released both on CD and vinyl, reflects how the music rolled when the Rebirth, Soul Rebels, Lil Rascals, Tremé and Olympia brass bands were on the streets at the New Orleans so­cial aid and plea­sure clubs’ Sunday afternoon second line parades. Only on rare occasions do these bands still play second lines so, for those who were there, the disc acts as a step back to remember the uproarious reaction of the crowd when trombonist and vocalist Glen David Andrews would kick in with “Knock with Me, Rock With Me,” triumphantly captured on the album by the Lil Rascals. The New Birth’s “Who Dat Call the Police?” was significant back in the day when police harassment of the lines — sirens blowing, police on horseback trying to nudge the parades along — were commonplace. (It’s gotten better since then.) In the mid-1990s, the Soul Rebels brought their socially conscious message to the streets with its stirring “Let You Mind Be Free,” that remains an anthem today.

Ultimate New Orleans Brass Second Line Funk! works in so many ways. For those dedicated to vinyl, this release offers an opportunity to hear these tunes in that, what they consider superior, format. For those hip to all this great music, it compiles the material with a certain historical and stylistic sense. And for folks still investigating brass band music, this compilation can act as an a introduction to the essentials. Roll with it…

This article originally published in the October 20, 2014 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.