Music in and around the neighborhood…

17th October 2016   ·   0 Comments

By Geraldine Wyckoff
Contributing Writer

One of the strengths of the New Orleans music scene is the variety of styles offered be it at one venue, in one neighborhood, on a weekend or weekday. Historically, Tipitina’s has led the way in bringing in old school rhythm and blues, today’s funk masters, blues, reggae, zydeco, Cajun music and more. Years ago, the renowned trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, who is responsible for the establishment of New York’s centerpiece Jazz at Lincoln Center, even played at Tip’s. Interestingly, the uptown club’s booking agent at the time, Sonny Schneidau, worried that because Marsalis was a jazz musician he wouldn’t draw a crowd. Of course, he did.

This week, the famous nightspot on the corner of Napoleon Avenue and Tchoupitoulas Street really struts its stuff in demonstrating its eye toward diversity and booking class acts.

We’ll go through the week chronologically beginning with the Wednesday, October 19, show of the incredible Robert Randolph & the Family Band. The leader, Robert Randolph, is renowned for his mastery on pedal steel guitar. His journey began in the House of God Church, one of many places of worship in the African-American religious community, particularly in the Pentecostal faith, where the pedal steel replaces the organ in instrumentation. Often referred to as “sacred steel,” gatherings of like-minded players would often come together at conventions. That’s where Randolph was discovered and thus emerged into the secular world ultimately in a very big way. A young man, Randolph, who was at first insulated by his upbringing, burst eagerly onto the national scene, releasing his first album, Live at the Wetlands, in 2002. Some sports fans might remember that both the National Basketball Association and its women’s division used his tune, “We Got Hoops,” as a theme song.

Randolph’s soulful, funkified Family Band continues to include his brother Marcus on drums and sister Lenesha on vocals as well as longtime member Brett Haas on guitar in a group that often includes fiddle and organ.

The star of the show remains Randolph arguably one of the best pedal steel players on the planet. He’s a dancing man who often jumps out from behind his instrument to make some moves and engage the audience. His church roots are evident in the passion he brings to every performance. He’s also collaborated with some of the best in the business including guitarist Eric Clapton, blues legend guitarist/vocalist Buddy Guy and our own Dirty Dozen.

Next up on this week’s exciting line-up at Tipitina’s is the whimsically named the Talking Dreads, which plays on Thursday, October 20. The band’s style and focus is exactly as its moniker implies. Think of the new wave group, the Talking Heads that was prominent in the 1980s, and the eclectic leader David Byrne’s “Burning Down the House,” done with a reggae groove. Byrne’s, drummer Chris Franz’s and his wife, bassist Tina Weymouth’s powerful “Psycho Killer” and all the material is given similar treatment. That in itself is a kick and really a natural marriage.

In 1981, Franz and his wife Weymouth, created an offshoot of the Talking Heads called the Tom Tom Club. Jamaican vocalist Mystic Bowie, the leader of the Talking Dreads, joined the band and performed with the Tom Tom Club for some 20 years. Bowie’s presence definitely gives the band authenticity on the reggae side of its identity as well as its musical relationship to Talking Heads.

Two local notes: New Orleans native and resident Renard Boissiere plays guitar with the Talking Dreads. The opening band, the Jamaican Me Breakfast Club, that offers 1980’s “pop and new wave in a reggae stye” includes the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation’s Scott Aiges. Doors open at 8 p.m.

To wrap up the week with a bang is the great blues guitarist/vocalist and Louisiana native Buddy Guy who takes Tip’s stage on Sunday, October 23. Louisiana has produced a wealth of bluesmen perhaps none more notoriously than multiple Grammy-winner and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Guy. Born in the small town of Lettsworth located near the Atchafalaya River, Guy moved to Chicago when he was 21 and built his reputation as an electrified Chicago blues guitarist who influenced a next generation of fretmen. To this day, Guy’s Louisiana heritage can be realized in his style and particularly in his crowd-pleasing showmanship. Making a rare New Orleans appearance at the 2013 Crescent City Blues & Barbeque Festival, Guy seemed to enjoy himself as much as the audience in his bringing a lot of downhome flavor to his repertoire and style.

Buddy Guy may have left his home state of Louisiana for Chicago long ago, but his musical roots remain evident even as they became electrified. At 80, he’s still going strong and won an Grammy for his 2015 album, Born to Play Guitar. He’ll be backed by longtime keyboardist Marty Sammon and his band that will open the show. Don’t miss the legends.

The Passing of the Dixie Cups Founder
Joan Marie Johnson Faust

It was fortuitous that music promoter Joe Jones was in the audience the day that Joan Marie Johnson and what was to evolve into the world renowned Dixie Cups competed in a high school talent show. That led to Jones taking them – Johnson, Barbara Ann Hawkins and her sister Rosa Lee Hawkins – to New York and put them in front of noted song writing team Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoller. The “girl group” was signed to Red Bird Records and recorded its 1964 chart-topping hit, “Chapel of Love.”

Joan Marie, who died on Sunday, October 2, at the age of 72, was the instigator in bringing the vocal trio together. She first recruited Barbara Ann as, it has been told, she heard that she could sing. Barbara Ann suggested to include her sister, Rosa Lee, and history was made. Interestingly, all three young women lived in the Calliope Projects and it turns out that Johnson was a cousin to the Hawkins sisters.

Due to health issues and the inability to tour, Joan Marie had to drop out of the Dixie Cups, but not before recording two fine follow-ups to their signature “Chapel of Love.” They included 1964’s “People Say” and 1965’s “ Iko Iko,” a take off of James “Sugar Boy” Crawford’s “Jock-A-Mo.”

A young Joan Marie Johnson, known as a smiling person, started something that lives on in musical history and the hearts of many today.

This article originally published in the October 17, 2016 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.