Fest Season: Next up, Creole Tomatoes

3rd June 2019   ·   0 Comments

By Geraldine Wyckoff
Contributing Writer

“You say tomato and I say tomahto,” sings Louis Armstrong in his charming duet with Ella Fitzgerald on the popular song, “Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off.” However one might pronounce the name of the succulent fruit – yes, fruit not vegetable – it is being celebrated this weekend, Saturday June 8 and Sunday, June 9 in the French Market. This time of year in New Orleans, we just say it’s Creole season with visions of them being paired with a Vidalia (onions), sprinkled lightly with salt as an essential on a BLT or sauteed with garlic, olive oil and basil for a fresh tomato (or tomahto) sauce to top some al dente pasta. Oh yeah, in the Sicilian-influenced Crescent City that’s often simply called red sauce.

In this city, where there’s food, there’s music, the 33rd Annual Creole Tomato Festival kicks off on Saturday with a second line traversing the event’s locale. Two stages, one in the Dutch Alley performance tent (by the levee at St. Philip St.) and the other down river by the Old U.S. Mint, present music starting at 11 a.m. and continuing until 5:45 p.m. The short stroll between the music venues provides plenty of opportunity to partake in the many, delicious tomato-related offerings at the booths along the way. Cleverly, a Bloody Mary bar, was introduced a few years ago and has become a huge festival favorite.

The Young Pin Stripe Brass Band, which as its name implies, stands as the next-generation of the Original Pin Stripe Brass Band that first hit the streets in 1977, heats things up at 11:45 a.m. on Saturday. Led by tuba player Herbert McCarver IV, the son of the Original’s founder, this group remembers the past by playing the Pin Stripe’s signature tune, “I Ate Up the Apple Tree,” while also moving the music forward.

At the end of the day, over by the Mint, trombonist Delfeayo Marsalis’ Uptown Jazz Orchestra puts a brand new, true New Orleans twist on the big band sound. Sure, it swings though because so many of the musicians in the ensemble have or still do play in brass bands, it takes that brassy route in its dynamics and repertoire. Too much fun.

Variety marks Sunday’s music line-up that moves from New Orleans rhythm and blues to Fela Kuti-inspired rhythms and tones of the Kumasi Afrobeat Orchestra. Continuing the circular journey of the African diaspora on display at the Mint Stage, one lands back in Louisiana with the zydeco of accordionist and vocalist Bruce “Sunpie” Barnes & the Sunspots.

The free festival also includes cooking demonstrations and, of course, plenty of Creoles for sale in the Farmer’s Market.

Herlin Riley
Perpetual Optimism
(Mack Avenue)

Master drummer Herlin Riley, who is most often heard in his hometown of New Orleans performing with this city’s abundance of modern jazz musicians, gathers together some of his east coast “family” and those associated with Wynton Marsalis’ Jazz at Lincoln Center for his latest release, Perpetual Optimism. With Riley’s always assertive yet intuitively melodic drums driving the obviously compatible ensemble of artists, freedom and creativity reign on material primarily from the leader’s pen. Actually, Riley’s talents as a composer shine on this album perhaps more than ever before.

The disc, which is so suitably titled for a man and musician who brings such joy and life to his instrument, begins with his “Rush Hour,” a time of day usually associated with stress. Yet Riley makes the ride pleasantly light-hearted particularly with the humanistic quality of clapping hands. These are the kinds of companions one would want in a car pool driving home from the office.

Fine horn arrangements and swapped solos between trumpeter Bruce Harris and alto saxophonist Godwin Louis highlight the song with the rhythm section suggesting multiple textural tempos. Riley’s “Be There When I Get There” at first melodically suggests a casual attitude with its memorable repeated lines. That’s until Louis takes off followed triumphantly by Harris and then pianist Emmet Cohen’s nibble, flying fingers. Bassist Russell Hall dramatically offers the final note.

They’re at it again on the quick-paced “Borders Without Lines,” by reedman Victor Goines, Riley’s fellow New Orleanian and longtime bandmate in the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. As always, Riley uses every part of his drum kit to add and alter tonal textures. He and Cohen host a rhythm party that uses repetition to increase dramatic tension.

The title cut, “Perpetual Optimism,” sounds like its name, as it sways with a Latin tinge. Riley gets his licks in here on a solo that embraces the drummer’s New Orleans rhythmic heritage and its African roots. The album has its quieter moments as well including the lovely “Touched.” Riley displays his ability to be intricately involved in a ballad while maintaining its gentleness. He uses that thoughtfully soft touch again as he picks up his brushes on one of the album’s jazz classics, “Stella by Starlight.”

The album closes with New Orleans’ pianist, composer and educator Ellis Marsalis’ swinging “Twelve’s It.” Riley raps his praises about Marsalis: “A great musician who taught a whole lot of fellas. He wrote this tune, his name is Ellis Marsalis.”

Perpetual Optimism zips along, changing character, outlook, tempos and varying participation and combinations on each selection. That plus outstanding musicianship makes for lots of good listening.

This article originally published in the June 3, 2019 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.