French Quarter Fest

The day is over and I can honestly say it was a very good day. The weather started out looking overcast and chilly. The clouds stayed overhead for most of the morning, but by noon the sun was inching its way from behind them. As the day progressed it got warmer also. The first half of the day was pretty chilly for a day in April, by the end it was more in line for this time of the year.

Before we headed over to watch the live acts we ventured to the Louisiana Music Factory, one of the best local music stores around. While there I purcahsed a copy of "The Cosimo Matassi Story." Cosimo was a record producer from the early fifties and sixties in New Orleans, who produced such giants as Fats Domino, Little Richard, Smiley Lewis, Bobby Charles and many more. This four cd-set deserves its own post later, so I won't talk anymore about it.

The first act we saw was the Theolnius Monk Insitute of Jazz Ensemble. I'm not a big jazz fan, mainly because I really don't know much about Jazz. From what I heard of this group they were good, even if they didn't really move me.

After that we decided to head over to the US Mint and pick up our Brass Passes for Jazz Fest. Oh, I forgot, the we is me and my friend Larry. Our tastes in music are very similar and for the past few years we have went to Jazz Fest together and hit some of the other fests like the French Quarter.

On the way towards the Mint we were literally stopped in our tracks by a voice. It was coming from a 13 year old girl. My first impressions were of hearing a young LeAnn Rhimes. Her name is Kayla Woodson and we were both very impressed by this young lady. I can see very big things for her in the future. We stayed and listened to her set and even ended up buying her cd.

The Brass Passes for Jazz Fest are tickets that the local radio station WWOZ sells. The money goes to help a great radio station and it gives you a few extra perks for Jazz Fest. A win/win situation all around.

Going back to the Abita Stage we listened to a little of Gail Holiday, another talented singer. At the Abita Stage we heard Bob French and the original Tuxedo Jazz Band. Contrary to their name they played blues and pop material and were also good. Bob French has been around forever.

Next up was Little Freddie King, a blues singer. Freddie is from the Ninth Ward in New Orleans and has been singing the blues for decades. Before Little Freddie went on Offbeat Magazine and Gibson Guitar gave a guitar to Rockin' Charles, another New Orleans' native talent. Charles waited to the side of the stage for Freddie to take a break and than he came on stage to play his new guitar for the first time. The first song on his new guitar was Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode."

After this Theresa Anderson came on. I've talked about how much I like Theresa before and she did nothing to change my opinion of her. Her show was an excellent concert, even though they had some trouble at the beginning getting set up on time. She showcased mostly new tunes for her upcoming album. She had an ep of new songs on sale at the show, with each album art completely original and hand made by Theresa.

After Theresa we caught the end of Freddy Omar, a Latin band. Even though I couldn't understand a word he was singing, the music was infectous and moved.

And that was the end of the first day.