{ MORE }]]> Papa Grows Funk will perform with The Original Meters (Art Neville, Leo Nocentelli, George Porter Jr., & Zigaboo Modeliste) and the ReBirth Brass Band Saturday, May 5th at the Howlin’ Wolf during JazzFest. This will be the Meters first club show in New Orleans in 30 years. Tickets go on sale at 10am this Friday, February 3rd at theHowlinWolf.com

This will be the second event pairing Papa Grows Funk with the Original Meters, as PGF hosted THE after-party jam at the Mercury Lounge following the Meters Reunion November 11th, 2000 in San Francisco, CA. That historic night launched Papa Grows Funk on the jam scene with legendary jams featuring guests Art Neville, Ivan Neville and Russell Batiste Jr.

{ MORE }]]> It’s always interesting to hear what artists have to say when recalling past concert experiences and in particular, which ones stick out in their mind as “memorable”. After an evening up on-stage, musicians take home an entirelydifferent recollection of their live music experience from the faces in the crowd.By virtue of busy touring schedules (for an example, look up the tour dates for any of the hard-working artists featured below), some shows can just be forgettable and difficult to recall in retrospect. For whatever reason, in music, as is the case in just about any other line of work, some days don’t glue themselves to the long term memory bank like the others. However, on any given night, certain indescribable circumstances can converge, lightning-and-a-bottle can be captured, magic can happen, and an unforgettable live music experience is forged deep into the hippocampus for both the fans and artists themselves. These are the concerts, life events, and peak professional moments we hoped to capture in this feature by asking a few standard questions about the year in music to some of our favorite artists. Continue on below for reflections on their year with John “Papa” Gros (Papa Grows Funk),Brad Houser (Dead Kenny G’s), Neal Evans (Soulive), Jeff Harshbarger(Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey), Mike Dillon (Garage A Trois, Dead Kenny G’s, Illuminasti Trio, Hairy Apes BMX), Ted Joyner (Generationals), Brian Stoltz(funky METERS) and DJ Soul Sister.

JOHN “PAPA” GROS || PAPA GROWS FUNK

John “Papa” Gros @ Hogs for the Cause 2011 – Photo by Jeffrey Dupuis

3 Most Memorable Shows you played and/or witnessed in 2011?

My favorite set to see was Jeff Beck at Jazz Fest. Not only is it amazing what he can do on the guitar, but his musicianship and ability to transcend six strings into an emotional, lyrical voice blows me away, a true master.

April 10th Jammin’ for Japan Benefit at the Rock ‘n Bowl. I was privileged to be an organizer in this event. It was an amazing experience the way all the different people in our community (musicians, restauranteurs, bar owners, graphic designer, press, radio, tv, artists, music fans, etc) came together to help with little to no notice. Papa Grows Funk performed along with five prominent NOLA artists, over 900 fans attended and $52,000 was raised. One of the proudest moments of my professional life.

This was not a show, but the three days Papa Grows Funk spent working in the recording studio with Allen Toussaint will stay with me the rest of my life. It’s overwhelming when you spend your life working at a craft then have one of your heroes validate the lifetime of preparation. Thank you Allen.

What will you remember most about 2011

More was accomplished in 2011 than any other year I can remember, personally and professionally. I had some very long term goals achieved, not without great sacrifice and dedication. It is a rewarding feeling to cross major goals off the list with recording PGF’s Needle in the Groove being the biggest accomplishment.

Favorite NOLA festival set and/or moment?

We look forward to our JazzFest set every year. It was especially fulfilling being able to play new songs from Needle in the Groove and watching the crowd’s reaction.

What’s on tap for you guys in 2012?

Work, work, and more work. We have to tour Needle in the Groove and see how far it can take us. We need to start planning our next recording and we need to count our blessings that we have received after 12 years of jamming together.

Favorite festival of the year?

Besides Jazz Fest, we love The Oak Street Po-Boy Festival. You won’t find another festival like this anywhere in the world. It is unique to New Orleans and to Uptown. We have closed it out every year and after five years it feels like a tradition has started. This year, our dear friend and mentor, Walter Washington, jumped up and sat in with us. People like Walter make this such a special place to live in.

Most memorable festival set of 2011?

There are bunch that come to mind, but the reason they do is because of the reaction the audience gives us is nearly the same at all of them. The people tend to sit in their chairs waiting for their favorite band to come onstage but they have to listen to us first. They are patient, they start out talking, barely paying attention to us, but after two or three songs they start paying atention, then somewhere in the middle, they can’t help it anymore, have to move closer to the stage and they start moving around and begin to dance. By the end of the set they are screaming, hollering and yelling for more. Our connection with our fans is what allows us to do what we do. We are nothing without them.

Brad Houser || The Dead Kenny Gs

Brad Houser of Dead Kenny G’s

3 Most Memorable Shows you played and/or witnessed in 2011 (anywhere)?

Hairy Apes BMX at Dragons Den, w/ Simon Lott and Brian Coogan (during Jazz Fest), Illuminasti Trio w/ Coogan & Houser sitting in at the Voodoo Experience. Suzanna Choffel at Austin City Limits (great set, sweltering heat, drenched in sweat).

Album from this year you’ll probably still be listening to in 2021.

The Dead Kenny Gs – Operation Long Leash

What will you remember most about 2011?

The epic Texas heat and drought.

What’s on tap for you in 2012?

In 2012 I look forward to more Dead Kenny G shows, and evolving as a musician. I also look forward to the end of the world.

NEAL EVANS || SOULIVE

Neal Evans of Soulive

3 Most Memorable Shows you played and/or witnessed in 2011 (anywhere)?

Bowlive, the West Coast Lettuce run, Royal Family Ball at the SF Fillmore, and the Groove Connection shows in Japan.

An album from this year you’ll probably still be listening to in 2021.

Album from this year that I’ll be listening to next year in reverse as well isCaveman’s debut album CoCo Beware.

What will you remember most about 2011?

Seeing the Royal Family Affair come to fruition will definitely be one the most memorable events of the year.

Favorite NOLA show of the year?

Best NOLA show was when the Royal Family took over at the CAC during Jazzfest.

What’s on tap for you in 2012?

2012 I plan on producing, recording, and getting out as much music to listeners as I’m physically able to do.

Jeff Harshbarger || Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey

Jeff Harshbarger of Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey

3 Most Memorable Shows you played and/or witnessed in 2011 (anywhere)?

Wayne Shorter Quartet at SF Jazzfest
Bela Fleck, Edgar Meyer and Zakir Hussein at Yardley Hall
Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey at The Jazz Standard

An album from this year you’ll probably still be listening to in 2021.

Miles Davis Quintet – Live in Europe

What will you remember most about 2011?

Recording and touring JFJO’s Race Riot Suite

Favorite NOLA show?

Playing with Nikki Glaspie, Will Bernard and Marco Benevento at Saucefest.

What’s On Tap For You in 2012?

World premiere of my score for the play The Candidate
World premiere of the new Owen/Cox Dance Group piece
Release of the People’s Liberation Big Band DVD of Battleship Potemkin
JFJO European tour including North Sea Jazz Fest

Favorite show you played during Jazz Fest this year?

Helen Gillet CD release party at The Zeitgeist

MIKE DILLON || GARAGE A TROIS, DEAD KENNY G’S, ILLUMINASTI TRIO, HAIRY APES BMX

Mike Dillon with Garage A Trois @ Megalomaniac’s Ball 2011 || Photo by Jimmy Grotting

3 Most Memorable Shows you played and/or witnessed in 2011 (anywhere)?

Witnessed…

1. Flaming Lips and Primus. Red Rocks.
2. Aloke Dutta – The Blue Nile
3. Fishbone @ Voodoo Experience

Played…

1. Dead Kenny Gs at The Mix in Seattle. A year of touring pays off with a well executed performance.

An album from this year you’ll probably still be listening to in 2021.

tUnE-yArDs – Bizness

Favorite NOLA show?

1. Illuminasti Trio at Voodoo Experience
2. James Singleton Quartet at Snug Harbor. Playing creative music with my hero.

What’s On Tap For You in 2012?

New LP from The Dead Kenny Gs

Favorite show you played during Jazz Fest this year?

1. Garage a Trois at The Howlin’ Wolf @ Megalomaniac’s Ball (5/4/11). Total blast of a Jazz Fest night.
2. Hairy Apes BMX – The Dragons Den late night. Once again we destroy all the posers.

TED JOYNER || GENERATIONALS

Generationals || LMB NOLA Artist of the Month (April 2011)

3 Most Memorable Shows you played and/or witnessed in 2011 (anywhere)?

We played a show in Spain on this hill overlooking these vineyards as the sun was going down. Then like a week later we played this show in a barn in Iowa literally in a corn field as the sun went down. This last show we did at One Eyed Jacks was fun.

An album from this year you’ll probably still be listening to in 2021.

No idea. I feel like I might have fallen behind a little on new music this year. I really like that Craft Spells record. Also, definitely Gardens and Villa.

What will you remember most about 2011?

Spain!

Favorite NOLA show?

Getting to play Jazz fest for the first time was pretty cool for us.

What’s On Tap For You in 2012?

We will start recording a bunch of new stuff in January 2012.

Favorite festival you played in 2011?

Hopscotch in Raleigh was definitely a fun one. The Fun Fun Fun Night show in Austin we played with Mates of State was a fun show too. And of course Jazz Fest.

DJ SOUL SISTER || WWOZ “Soul Power” DJ

The Queen of the Rare Groove – DJ Soul Sister

3 Most Memorable Shows you DJ’d and/or witnessed in 2011?

“That’s a hard question, but if I had to pick my 3 most memorable shows of 2011, I’d list opening for Bootsy Collins at Tipitina’s, opening for Ellis Marsalis at the Contemporary Arts Center, and a combination of just about any random Saturday night for my “HUSTLE!” party at Mimi’s in the Marigny, which will celebrate 8 years next year. A combination of good feelings, good people, unforgettable moments, spot-on mixing, and creative song selections, which I never plan out, make these the best. One thing folks might find interesting is that I sprained my foot the night before the Bootsy show. I was in a special kind of intense pain that night. LOL! But no one would have ever noticed because I was flying high on happy, opening up for my Funk hero and wanting to give it all I could. And that was a helluva show. Special mention goes to concert co-presentations of Dam-Funk & Master Blazter and of The Foreign Exchange that I was involved in, as well as the roller skating party I hosted, featuring DJ Dave Soul with proceeds benefiting Hagar’s House for women and children of New Orleans.”

What will you remember most about 2011?

“I’ll most remember being told that I’m here to remind people to have fun. And being compared to DJ legend Ron Hardy. And meeting Erykah Badu.”

Most memorable festival show you saw this year?

“The Original Meters at Voodoo Music Experience. I knew it before, but now 300% convinced that George Porter Jr. is a divine life force of The Funk.”

What’s On Tap For You in 2012?

“More right on party situations and sound scenes, more expanding musical minds via WWOZ, more ‘soulful takeover’ events like concert co-presentations, film screenings, and other fun events that I believe in where I’m not necessarily DJing; and some other things in the works that haven’t materialized yet, but will.

Favorite Local Festival of 2011?

“The New Orleans J*** and Heritage Festival, though I won’t use the “J” word anymore. Curious why? Read these two blogs: http://nicholaspayton.wordpress.com/2011/12/02/1319/ and http://marcusstrickland.wordpress.com/category/b-a-m-faq/

What’s new at WWOZ in 2012?

“For me at WWOZ, in addition to continuing my “Soul Power” show on Saturday nights, which is going on somewhere around 18 years now, I’ve been filling in on lots of “j***” shows, and expanding my musical offerings to listeners, as well as getting them to hear soulful sounds in a different way. It’s all about Black American Music – always soulful.

A special thanks from LMB NOLA to each participating artist’s publicity and management teams for helping to facilitate the interviews captured in this feature.

BRIAN STOLTZ || I-12 ALL-STARS / funky METERS

Brian Stoltz with George Porter Jr. @ Tipitina’s Uptown – 1/14/11 || Photo by Jimmy Grotting

3 Most Memorable Shows you played in 2011?

1) Brian Stoltz & The I-12 AllStars, French Quarter Fest, April 10, 2011 Abita Stage

2) Benevento, Porter, Stoltz & Deitch (<– DOWNLOAD LINK), The Parish, Late Night May 6, 2011

3) Solo set at the 1st Annual Maui Jazz & Blues Fest, Sept. 24, 2011

An album from this year you’ll probably still be listening to in 2021?

Byrdawg – Raining On The Sunshine

What will you remember most about 2011?

You really don’t want to know, but I will talk about it when it’s over.

Favorite NOLA show of the year?

Benevento, Porter, Stoltz & Deitch, The Parish, Late Night May 6, 2011

What’s on tap for you in 2012?

Starting January 2nd working on tracks for an upcoming Johnny Indovinaalbum, a couple of records I am being considered to produce, a few funky Meters shows and hopefully more I-12 AllStars dates.

{ MORE }]]> OffBeat Magazine honored Papa Grows Funk with three nominations in their 2012 Best of the Beat Awards. PGF was nominated for Best R&B/Funk Artist, Best R&B/Funk Album and John Gros was nominated for Best Piano/Keyboardist. (He won this award in 2011.)

Now it is up to the general public to vote the winners. All you need to do is click here, register to vote, scroll to our nominated categories and vote. You can only vote once, so pass it along to your friends and family, too. Thanks for your support.

{ MORE }]]> For the 12th consecutive year, Papa Grows Funk will perform at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival presented by Shell on Saturday, April 28th on the Gentilly Stage. Always a festival highlight. look for the boys to dish out a heavy dose of funk from their new CD, Needle in the Groove.

The Eagles will land at the New Orleans Jazz Fest in 2012. So will Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, the Foo Fighters, Jill Scott, My Morning Jacket, the Zac Brown Band, John Mayer, Ne-Yo, Florence + the Machine, Bon Iver, Herbie Hancock, Al Green, Yolanda Adams, Maze featuring Frankie Beverly and hundreds of Louisiana-based acts.

All are bound for the Fair Grounds for the annual New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival presented by Shell, April 27-29 and May 3-6, 2012.

“It’s piled-up high, in every direction — depth, width, height,” Jazz Fest producer/director Quint Davis said. “It’s the most stuff we’ve had, combined with the earliest we’ve gotten it out. The festival is growing artistically. It’s growing talent-wise. It’s bursting at the seams.”

Click here to view the complete list of performers by weekend.

Two more major artists are confirmed, but cannot be announced before those artists reveal their own touring plans in the coming weeks.

More marquee acts translates to higher costs; Jazz Fest’s talent budget runs into the millions of dollars, an expenditure that must be approved by the nonprofit New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation, which owns the festival.

The challenge facing the fest’s co-producers — Davis’ Festival Productions Inc.-New Orleans and international entertainment conglomerate AEG Live — was, “How do we generate more ticket income without raising the price?”

The solution was a “discretionary increase.” Advance tickets bought before March 1 are the same price as the past two years: $40 a day when purchased as part of a limited number of weekend ticket blocks, or $45 for an individual ticket. Children’s tickets remain $5.

This year, after March 1, advance single tickets will be $50. Tickets purchased at the gate will be $65, a $5 increase from last year.

“If you want to pay $5 more, you can,” Davis said. “If you don’t, you don’t have to.”

Many veteran Jazz Fest fans have wondered who would close out the Gentilly Stage in place of the now-disbanded Radiators. In 2012, it will be a one-off celebration of Preservation Hall’s 50th anniversary with a parade of special guests.

“It wasn’t just about the last set. It was about the whole day there,” Davis said. “It was important to be deep New Orleans, and also not to initially tie (the closing slot) to one thing or one group. How can you get more heart and soul, hardcore New Orleans than Pres Hall?”

Less hardcore New Orleans, but long sought for Jazz Fest, were Petty and the Eagles.

“We never were able to get one of them,” Davis said. “To get both in the same year is a watershed. It was not easy. There were a lot of moving parts. The bottom line, beyond the money, beyond the availability and all the variables that go into booking somebody, is they wanted to do it.”

The Eagles nearly committed to the 2011 festival, but ultimately passed. Bon Jovi filled that slot instead.

This time around, Eagles manager Irving Azoff greased the wheels. “If he had not gotten involved and moved this along,” Davis said, “it wouldn’t have happened.”

So far, the Eagles have announced no other performances for 2012.

After the Eagles and Petty were confirmed, the festival received a call from the Foo Fighters camp. Ten years ago, Davis likely would not have considered a raucous arena rock band of such recent vintage. Pearl Jam’s well-received set at the 2010 Jazz Fest paved the way.

“Pearl Jam opened that window,” Davis said. “That was the first time we got on that ledge.

“We look at icons, people that are, besides talented and brilliant, important in a whole genre. We’ve always looked at it in the Santana sense, or the Al Green sense, or the Allen Toussaint sense. We saw that in (Pearl Jam’s) Eddie Vedder. And you have to see that in (Foo Fighters frontman) Dave Grohl. He is a seminal figure in a few decades of American rock.”

Indicative of the festival’s drive to feature fresh talent, the roster includes Feist, Gomez, Iron and Wine, Grace Potter & the Nocturnals, Janelle Monae, fast-rising Texas blues guitarist Gary Clark Jr. and jazz bassist Esperanza Spalding, the surprise winner of the 2011 Grammy for best new artist.

Local heavyweights include Dr. John, the Funky Meters, Pete Fountain, Irma Thomas, the Neville Brothers and Allen Toussaint. Long-running local hard rock trio Zebra will make its Jazz Fest debut.

“All I can say is, ‘Finally!’” Davis said of Zebra. “It’s embarrassing that it took us this long.”

Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews, the breakout local star of the past year, is featured for the Jazz & Heritage Foundation Gala on April 26 at the Hilton. The gala, which benefits the foundation’s Don Jamison Heritage School of Music, also features Big Sam’s Funky Nation, James Andrews and Glen David Andrews.

Expect more high-profile acts on the Fais Do-Do Stage this year. Steve Earle, Iron and Wine, Asleep at the Wheel, the Carolina Chocolate Drops and Ani Difranco are likely candidates.

“The Fais Do-Do has grown itself up,” Davis said. “It’s another evolution of a whole stage.”

Also at the Fair Grounds, Levon Helm is slated to perform with special guest vocalist Mavis Staples. Saxophonist David Sanborn is paired with organist Joey DeFrancesco. Latin music star Paulina Rubio is slotted for May 5, aka Cinco de Mayo.

A tribute to the late Wardell Quezergue includes the Dixie Cups and Jean Knight, for whom he arranged classic singles.

Alex Chilton, the former Box Tops and Big Star frontman who lived quietly in the Treme neighborhood until his sudden death in 2010, is the subject of a tribute featuring Soul Asylum frontman Dave Pirner, Susan Cowsill, Alex McMurray and Iguanas bassist Rene Coman, a long-time Chilton sideman.

The “cubes” with the stage-by-stage, hour-by-hour schedule, won’t be released until spring. As Davis tinkers with the giant puzzle, he hopes to alleviate the sort of scheduling conflicts that inevitably vex fest-goers.

“We can’t keep having so many people that last hour,” he said. “You’ll see us break that up this year. We’re going to play around with that and let more people see more people.”

For the past few months, Davis and his team built the Jazz Fest schedule in secret, with no feedback from fans. He admits to a bit of trepidation just before their handiwork is revealed to the world.

But he’s also confident fans will embrace the packed 2012 roster.

“This is not my first rodeo,” he said. “I think they will like it.”

Keith Spera can be reached at kspera@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3470. Read more music news at nola.com/music. Follow him at twitter.com/KeithSperaTP. Comment and read more at nola.com/jazzfest

{ MORE }]]> by John Swenson
offBeat Magazine
December 2011

Back in the 20th Century when John Gros was enrolled in the George Porter, Jr. Academy of Funk as a member of the Runnin’ Pardners, he also held down a bread and butter gig playing for tourists at Tropical Isle. Gros never complained about playing the hits on Bourbon Street, though. He studied the crowds to see what hooks or choruses from the pop rock songbook people responded to. That pop savvy is one of the key elements that separates Papa Grows Funk from the rest of New Orleans funk hierarchy, even though funk’s reliance on the playing skills of band members made Gros’ instincts for pop hooks and catchy melodies a subtle subtext in the groove-heavy jams the band is known for.

PGF’s four albums have done a good job of translating the group’s energy in the studio, but Needle in the Groove is the first PGF recording that sounds like it was crafted to be a pop record. It is far from a Gros takeover, however—reedman Jason Mingledorff, guitarist June Yamagishi, bassist Marc Pero and drummer Jeffery “Jellybean” Alexander are all as important to the sound as Gros’ keyboards and vocals. Significantly, all the titles are credited to the group, although I’d guess that Gros brought at least “Make It Right Now,” “Planet of Love and Hate” and the title track to the table.

More importantly, the band called on two outside producers, Allen Toussaint and Better Than Ezra’s Tom Drummond, to make what could have easily become two distinct albums. The result is a great record that works out in the tracking order as a carefully constructed session of songs supervised by Drummond and designed for contemporary airplay sandwiching a classic New Orleans R&B session. Using Drummond’s work to frame the album and Toussaint to define the core identity of the band is a master conceptual stroke because everything on the album feels in its right place.

Drummond’s influence is most obvious on the opening track, “Do You Want It,” a group vocal over a popping bass line and electronically enhanced drum beats. The song is the most modern-sounding track on the record, and it segues into what has been one of the band’s most expansive recent live vehicles, “Make It Right Now.” But that song is positively sculpted here, with the keys to the band’s sound all in the details—Yamagishi’s subtle rhythm guitar track; the way Gros’ vocal hovers over the mix; the understated vocal chorus under Mingledorff’s tenor solo. Mingledorff is at the center of the first of Toussaint’s tracks, “Yes Ma’am,” playing the theme on alto and accenting it with a funky baritone overdub. The band is swinging on a clavinet-driven syncopation as intricate as a Cupertino motherboard, and when Yamagishi unleashes his one chorus solo, it’s clear the maestro has worked his magic.

Drummond’s meticulous handling of “Planet of Love and Hate” offers a revealing contrast between a style intended to craft a sound and Toussaint’s instinct for letting a band find its own direction, as he does brilliantly on the Meters-like instrumentals “Red Spark” and “Out of the Mud.” Gros gets a gorgeous B-3 organ solo on the former and Yamagishi plays his best choruses of the album on the latter. Toussaint’s stamp is also clear on the closest thing to a ‘60s R&B track on the record, Gros’ piano and vocal romp “Back Home,” a clear illustration of how he utilized that songwriting information he studied at Tropical Isle.

The band emerges from the fat mini-set of Toussaint-produced tracks into Drummond’s summation, the quick, airy instrumental “Rollo,” which appropriately “rollos” along on a crisply percolating bass line, and the finale, “Needle in the Groove.” This may be the most ambitious song Gros has ever written, and Drummond arranges the rhythm track to add drama to the story line.

Papa Grows Funk has established itself as one of the more popular New Orleans exports on the touring circuit, but the band’s ambition to become something even more led PGF to consult with two of the city’s great producers. The result is an album that defines the band once and for all.