Etienne Charles, pictured here at the 2019 Jazz Aspen June Experience, will return to the JAS Cafe this summer.
It’s been a long time coming. Live music is returning this summer as the post-vaccine season of cultural rebirth in Aspen is starting to take shape.
The three premiere live music venues and festival producers – Belly Up Aspen, the Aspen Music Festival and School and Jazz Aspen Snowmass – are all returning.
Belly Up has been shuttered since March 2020 when the novel coronavirus shut down the live music and touring industries. Jazz Aspen last summer canceled its June Experience and Labor Day Experience and hosted an outdoor truncated version of its JAS Café series. The Aspen Music Festival, for the first time in its 70-plus years, canceled the 2020 summer season and scuttled plans for a winter series.
Brad Walker and Extended announce the release of their debut concert film, recorded at Esplanade Studios in January 2021. The film is the culmination of an ongoing collaboration between two of the most compelling forces on the New Orleans creative music scene: Walker, with a decade of award-nominated and nationally reviewed records, and Extended, which features three of the leading lights of the jazz scene in New Orleans: Oscar Rossignoli (piano), Matt Booth (bass), and Brad Webb (drums). This project is the result of their extensive work together during the Covid-19 shutdown, the culmination of which is this brand-new set of unique, compelling original music, developed in isolation during some of the darkest months of the pandemic.
My New Orleans
04/28/2021
METAIRIE, La (press release) – After a successful first weekend for Farmstand Live – a series of cultural experiences featuring live music, culinary delights and farm fresh produce served up in a drive-in setting – the event will continue this weekend with a lineup of talented musicians and restaurants in an effort to jumpstart New Orleans’ cultural economy.
Guests can enjoy live performances by Jon Cleary and the Absolute Monster Gentlemen; George Porter Jr. and the Runnin’ Pardners; and Honey Island Swamp Band. Each ticket purchased in advance will also include a choice of prepared boxed dinner from La Petite Grocery; NOLA Charcuterie; Luncheon NOLA; or Cochon Butcher, as well as a farm fresh produce boxes from Crescent City Farmer’s Market. Cocktails, beer and wine will be available for purchase.
Bass legend George Porter Jr. is known among younger generations as a prolific performing artist. Though his recorded output has been sporadic over the years, the loss of live gigs during this pandemic provided an unprecedented opportunity in his long career.
Along with his longtime Runnin’ Pardners band, drummer Terrence Houston, keyboardist Michael Lemmler and guitarist Chris Adkins, Porter recently released a tour-de-force album,
Crying For Hope, which simultaneously reaches back into funk history while establishing a new standard for modern-day recording techniques.
Each individual instrument on each tune, all of which are credited to the band, was recorded in isolation at each musician’s home studio. Though many albums feature parts recorded separately in isolation booths to insure an excellent mix, I’m not sure I have ever heard of a release by a major artist recorded in this fashion. To the great credit of Porter and crew, the album soars.