The week between the two jazz fest weekends is my favorite time in New Orleans. Great music in all the clubs and the in-store showcases at Louisiana Music Factory, across from the House of Blues on Decatur.
This is an old-school, music-lovers shop that carries new and vintage New Orleans music and books. All the best CDs are available at listening stations, so you can listen before you buy. And they bring in the local bands for in-store shows – they even have an upright piano on site – which warms my heart. The shows range from obscure young bands to stars like Trombone Shorty and the Dirty Dozen Brass Band. The cast of the HBO show Treme are due Wednesday morning.
Here’s a sampling of some of my favorites from Monday’s in-store shows:
MESCHIYA LAKE: Got in by noon because I’d heard the buzz on this young singer named. She’s a picture – vivid tattoos on her arms and calves, a 20s hairdo and school-girl cotton dress and a great smile. Her voice starts at the crossroads of Billie Holiday and Patsy Cline – and that’s a pretty great place to be. She does some standards, some ’20s blues, then moves easily into Hank Williams – emphasizing that she’s doing Hank One, not Hank Jr. Her pianist is Tom McDermott, one of the big names in New Orleans piano these days. They just released a live album together. She’d be a perfect act in our Side Door.
JON CLEARY: The hardest working pianist in New Orleans this week. He’s everywhere, both playing solo and with his band, the Absolute Monster Gentlemen. His singing is first-rate too. At Jazz Fest he’s usually on one of the main stages, so it’s a treat to hear him in this tiny record store – crammed in with a few hundred other music fanatics.
CHRIS THOMAS KING: I recognize this blues guitarist from is starring role in “Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?” and from the “Down From The Mountain” CD and concerts. He’s appearing solo in today in support of a new CD of southern tunes called Antebellum Post Cards.
I’ll be adding more notes from Tuesday and Wednesday’s in-store shows.
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