Jazz Fest returns! And what it means to New Orleanians
25th April 2022 · 0 Comments
By Geraldine Wyckoff
Contributing Writer
New Orleanians tried their best not to, as the Ray Charles hit goes, “drown in my own tears,” when the news that the 2020 edition of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival had been canceled due to the pandemic. Some super fans sporting their traditional brightly colored shirts and hats even headed out to the Fair Grounds to sit in front of the locked gate on the day the Fest would have started.
Community radio station, WWOZ 90.7 FM, came up with the brilliant idea of “Festing in Place,” programming that featured live, often historic, performances from previous Jazz Fests. There were even “cubes,” listings that indicated dates and times of shows that mimicked those distributed by the festival’s producers for the real thing. Little did we know that the 2021 fest would fall to the same fate as the year prior.
Two years without Jazz Fest makes this year’s event all the more poignant for fans, musicians and all of those involved in creating the magic that is the Jazz & Heritage Festival. With a deep sigh of relief, New Orleans welcomes both the business and joy it brings to the city.
We asked several Jazz Fest veteran performers and food booth proprietors about the emotional and financial impact of returning to the Fair Grounds. Perhaps Miss Linda Green, aptly known as “the Ya Ka Mein Lady,” expressed her feelings most dramatically, saying: “When I walk on those grounds, I’m going to take both of my arms and stretch them out and just turn my body all around, all around just thanking!”
Deacon John – Sunday, May 1, 2022, Blues Tent, 5:50 p.m.
I am one of the few people who’ve played every Jazz Fest since they started it in Congo Square – every one,” exclaimed Deacon John, and added, with a laugh, that he also performed at festival producer Quint Davis’ prom.
“It’s a lot of work for me because over the years I’ve kept changing and the festival audiences changed with me. All those generations of festival fans, they’re still following me around. I’m just amazed that the festival fans still love me. They don’t know what I’m going to do this year. ‘What’s he gonna wear?’”
He continued to say, “I just miss the festival – running around eating all that food and taking all those pictures and meeting all these people from the past, the present and the future. It’s good to be back.”
When it’s time to eat, Deacon John heads to Li’l Dizzy’s booth in the Heritage Square area, near the Gospel Tent (see below) and claims one his favorites is the Galley Seafood Restaurant’s crab salad and soft shell crab. “Oh my god!,” he exclaims at the memory of those tasty delights. “I like to support the small businesses.”
Music-wise, Deacon holds an affinity for zydeco.
“Zydeco is my roots,” he said. “My people come from out there, New Roads (Louisiana), where all that stuff started. My grandfather, John Boudreaux, he was from New Roads, he played the banjo. Zydeco, that’s in my blood. I’m a Boudreaux. John Boudreaux (the renowned R&B drummer), he’s my cousin. Terrance Simien (zydeco accordionist, singer and bandleader) and I bonded together. And, of course, I love the blues people. We got Buddy Guy (Sunday, May 8 at 5:45 p.m. in the Blues Tent) and Bobby Rush.”
“Every time I do the Jazz Fest I try to outdo myself,” said Deacon John, who will be fronting a 17-piece band and will, of course, sing his emotionally drenched rendition of his signature song, reggae legend Jimmy Cliff’s masterpiece, “Many Rivers to Cross.”
In celebration of Jazz Fest and the legendary Deacon John Moore, public television station, WYES TV – channel 12 locally – will broadcast producer Cyril Vetter’s “Deacon John’s Jump Blues,” a live 2002 performance at the Orpheum Theater. It will air on Saturday, April 30, at 8 p.m. and also on May 2 at 9 p.m. The documentary on the making of the live concert, “Goin’ Back to New Orleans,” will air on Saturday, May 7 at 7 p.m.
Miss Linda Green the “Ya Ka Mein Lady” – Heritage Square, Booth 22
“The return of Jazz Fest is very exciting because we haven’t been doing anything in two years and that’s all I do is festivals,” said Miss Linda Green. “I’m blessed to be doing it. I’m totally, totally excited just to see everybody. Every year the same people come. I have people from all over the world who contact me letting me know that they’ll be there this year. Well I say, ‘Okay, I’m looking forward, come and eat the pork chops, macaroni, hucklebucks {frozen dessert}, yak ka mein, bread pudding.’ They love all of that.”
Many people got to know Miss Linda, as she is affectionately called, from when she sold her now famous ya ka mein from a truck at the Sunday afternoon social aid and pleasure club parades and as a member of the Lady Rollers Social & Pleasure Club. Nationally she gained the spotlight as the winner of the 2012 edition of the prestigious Food Network television cooking contest, “Chopped.”
“People were sending people to me,” she recalls. “It was all about the yak a mein – they wanted to know about New Orleans best kept secret.”
Miss Linda first appeared at Jazz Fest doing a cooking demonstration. “My line was longer than some of the vendors. Soon she got a booth near the Jazz & Heritage Stage.
“They put me there because I connected with second lines and (Mardi Gras) Indians. That was the perfect setup.”
“Jazz Fest is what many of us depend on,” Miss Linda said in a more serious tone. “I do a little catering but I love doing festivals. Financially and mentally the absence of the festival has and continues to have an impact on this hard working woman. “Yes, it’s still mentally on me right now,” she reveals. “It was hard sitting on the side of the bed and not doing anything. It’s my livelihood.”
Irma Thomas – Saturday, April 30, Gospel Tent, 3:50 p.m, Tribute to Dr. John, Sunday, May 8, Festival Stage, 12:30 p.m., Sunday, May 8, Festival Stage, 2 p.m.
I’ll be back doing what I enjoy doing and see a lot of people I haven’t seen for a long time,” said Irma Thomas, the Soul Queen of New Orleans. It’s kinda like a family reunion. We lost so many of them (fellow musicians) during the pandemic so it’s kind of hard to picture who will be there. And hopefully we’ll get a chance to see each other and give our hugs because that’s what we do in this city, we hug.”
Thomas will perform three distinctly different shows this year. First up is her always anticipated set in the Gospel Tent, where her repertoire will be filled solely with gospel numbers and hymns, some of which she sings in her church every Sunday. “I refuse to do a blues show in a church (or church setting),” she says adamantly. She’ll do her big hits when she headlines at the Festival Stage on the event’s second Sunday. “I’m not going to mix the two,” Thomas again states. Her own set immediately follows a Tribute to Dr. John where she will share the stage with such greats as Cyril and Ivan Neville, Davell Crawford and more.
“I’m sure the musicians that haven’t been working for a few years are looking forward to making a bill or two,” she continues, mentioning how much the exposure at the festival did for her career. “A lot of people didn’t know I was still working. It brought me a new audience. It was a big, big boost to my career. Until performing at Jazz Fest, I hadn’t been to Europe since the 1960s.
Thomas warns people that they’re going to gain a few pounds while in New Orleans both at the Fest and restaurants. “This is definitely a place where they’re going to get gumbo food and I don’t mean the soup,” she offers, explaining that the many ethnic cultures here tend to mingle the flavors rather than strictly staying within their culinary traditions.
“I’ll not be overwhelmed but I’ll probably shed a tear of joy,” says Thomas of returning to the festival after two years. “But I won’t know until I get there.”
Arkesha Baquet – Li’l Dizzy’s Cafe, Heritage Square, Booth 52
“Having our booth is very big because the Baquet’s have had a booth at Jazz Fest for 20-plus years,” says Arkesha Baquet, co-owner with her husband, Wayne Baquet Jr. of Li’l Dizzy’s Cafe on Esplanade Avenue in the Treme. “So it is something that we look forward to and it is a part of our family legacy. So we’re excited about coming back after not being able to be there for two years.
Several original employees who are family members who have worked with Arkesha’s father-in-law, Wayne Sr., at Jazz Fest over the years will be out at the Fair Grounds again plus they’ll be bringing in a few new people to help out. Meanwhile she’ll hold down activities at the cafe that due to the pandemic was closed for a year from March 2020 to February 15, 2021. On reopening, with both indoor and outdoor dining available, out of necessity the buffet was eliminated and the cafe was open for lunch only. Its hours remain 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Monday through Saturday.
“We’ve had several people who have emailed and stated that they were coming back to Jazz Fest,” says Baquet saying that the inquiries were mainly pertaining to such things as hours of operation and changes. “I had a guy who emailed me yesterday named Robert to let me know that he was going to be in town because he comes every year for Jazz Fest.”
“I am a big Jazz Fest fan – my husband and I always go – so it’s a good thing for me that the restaurant closes at 3 pm and Jazz Fest lasts until 7 p.m. so you’re given the opportunity to get out to the festival. When the restaurant closes I’ll definitely make my way out there.”
They’ll certainly be at the festival on Friday, April 29 when trumpeter Zachery Baquet, Wayne Jr.’s oldest son, performs with the High Steppers Brass Band. The group will play two sets – first on the Jazz & Heritage Stage at 12:20 p.m. and later, at 3:35 p.m. in the Cultural Exchange Pavilion.
It might be news to many that the restaurant is actually named after Zachery who attended St. Augustine High School and performed with the noted marching band. “When he blew his trumpet his cheeks inflated so his band teacher gave him the nickname Li’l Dizzy for (legendary trumpeter) Dizzy Gillespie,” Arkesha Baquet explains.
Naturally, while they’re at the Fair Grounds, they’ll enjoy some of the culinary offerings. “My husband is really the food person – he will try almost anything,” says Arkesha adding he likes the alligator sausage poboy, Miss Linda’s food and sausages from Vaucresson’s.
“It’s been a void,” says Baquet of the two years without Jazz Fest. “It wasn’t only an emotional void for my father-in-law as this is what he’d been doing for over 20 years but also financially. There was a need for it (the festival) to push you through summer months and hold you over. It was a big deal for me and my husband for the legacy to continue.”
This article originally published in the April 25, 2022 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
