Satchmo Fest Day 1

Wow, it's been a long day.  But a fun day. 

 

Today I went to the French Quarter for the annual Satchmo Fest, a music fest devoted to the memory of Louis Armstrong.  It's mainly a jazz thing and I'm actually not that familar with jazz, but my friend Larry is and goes every year, so this year I decided to go along.  Also in the middle of the day Shannon McNalley was doing a free concert at the Louisiana Music Factory.

 

The first act was Sharon Martin and First Take.  She was a very good and powerful singer.  She did some takes on more pop tunes, including a good but different version of Gloria Gaynor's I Will Survive.

 

The next act up was Philip Manuel.  While he may be jazz he tended to drift into R & B as well as some pop.  He did an amazing version of Carol King's You've Got A Friend.  He had two female back up singers (sorry I don't remember their names) and they did such a great job of this song.  They broke this song down and built it back up, they made it their own.  Every now and than you hear a song live that just is so amazing, so wonderful that you'll never forget it, that was this song.

 

After Philip Manuel we had to get to the Louisiana Music Factory to see Shannon McNally.  Shannon is a fairly new singer, her second cd, Gernomio just came out.  She is from New York but makes New Orleans her home now.  Her music is, well she had something to say about that today, she calls her music "North American Ghost Music."  She says evertime she reads a review of her work they classify her as roots, blues, americana, country rock....on and on until there is no classification.  To me it all goes back to the problem of having to pigeonhold everything.  Every singer or band has to fit into a certain niche, why can't they just be singers and enjoy their music?

 

There couldn't have been more than a hundred people there.  Larry and I were front and center.  Shannon is amazing.  Her new cd is fast becoming one of my favorite cds.  She is fast becoming one of my favorite singers. 

 

After Shannon's show we went back to the Old Mint, where the Fest was.   We got back just after the start of Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews and Orleans Ave.  They mixed everything up in their act.  Trombone Shorty just came off touring with Lenny Kravtiz.  They really worked up the auidence.

 

The final act was Donald Harrison Jr.  Another good show.

 

You know, you gotta love this city.  There's so much music going on around here.  Two full days of free music, what a weekend!

Sorry no pictures, I forgot my camera, but Larry did bring his, so hopefully I'll have some pictures to post soon.