We’ll close out the week with a final look back at the late night festivities spurred on by the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. On Sunday, Hyena Records hosted a party with an epic five-act line-up
at the Blue Nile to close out JazzFest. The night started with Mike
Dillon’s Go-Go Jungle, which had just come off of a lengthy set at Les
Bon Temps the night before where they played until 7:30 in the
morning. Skerik’s Maelstrom Trio (with Brian Coogan and Simon Lott)
followed, but they didn’t actually play a full song until fifteen
minutes into the set. Instead, Skerik created a series of otherworldly
muted tones and percussive sounds with the fingering levers on his
sax. Next on the bill was the Marco Benevento Trio (with Reed Mathis
and Matt Chamberlain) which opened with a cover of My Morning Jacket’s
‘Golden.’ Later in the set, ‘The Real Morning Party’ found Benevento
playing keyboards from on top of a grand piano and then on his back
striking Chamberlain’s cymbals with his feet/ Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey
spiced up their set with Reed Mathis on pedal steel and the addition
of Peter Tomshany on guitar as they improvised with tight arrangements
and a psychedelic prog-rock sound. JFJO performed their entire new
album Little Tae Rides Again. The final act, John Ellis &
Double-Wide (John Ellis on tenor sax, Matt Perrine on tuba, Brian
Coogan on B-3, and Jason Marsalis on drums), rounded out the evening
with some traditional New Orleans funk that had the whole club out on
the dance floor. The entire night was laden with improvisations and
fresh sonic experiments that left the audience anticipating next
year’s festival in the Big Easy. Report by Amy Jacques