At the Library in May
May 1, 2013
Andrew J. Cantrelle
May 2, 2013
Like a spell, he repeated the same line over and over and over, enough times to make his sign-language interpreter seem like she was dancing.
The distinction between lyric and chant was blurred, and an audience already spellbound by the sounds emanating from his cherry-red Epiphone Casino six-string watched with reverential dispositions.
“You gonna know my name,” he incanted with closed eyes and a clenched face, his temperament du jour, while his band mates rocked behind him.
It wasn’t the first time Gary Clark Jr. performed “Bright Lights, Big City” from his 2012 album Blak and Blu (and its 2010 release on an EP), and it won’t be the last.
Still, as he stood front and center on the Gentilly Stage at Jazz Fest on First Friday, blasting the final riffs of his captivating set on one of the festival’s main stages one year after performing in the Blues Tent, the line resonated.
At 29 years old and in closing a set that uniquely blended his understated persona with superlative music, the bluesman stuck to his anthem, avowing to stay the trail to immortality.
Then he relinquished the stage to the hard-rocking Band of Horses; the turnstile doesn’t stop.
Elsewhere along the festival grounds, scores of artistic vendors demonstrated crafts and sold their best efforts.
As always, a sampling of Tri-parish culture was on display.
Ivy Billiot, a wood carver and member of United Houma Nation, sat before a table of painted birds, other wildlife and a large boat, with a trailer and movable engine for the sake of authenticity. His products aren’t short on definition. “If I have to use a magnifying glass, I will,” he said.
“It passes the time away,” Billiot said of his trade. “(Jazz Fest) gets me out among the people.”
No more than 50 feet away, other members of his tribe served up the renowned fry bread, which the United Houma Nation has done for 17 years. The booth utilizes roughly 25 volunteers over two weekends for the group’s biggest fundraiser of the year, said Director Lanor Curole, her washboard earrings swaying in the wind.
In addition to the deep-fried bread – at its best when topped with sugar or taco toppings – the booth served up maque choux with shrimp or sausage (or both), Indian tacos and chili.
Tri-parish natives also took to the stages. Treater took to the Lagniappe Stage on Saturday, and Tab Benoit – as he does annually – joined forces with Cyril Neville, Johnny Sansone, Big Chief Monk Boudreaux and Anders Osborne as the Voice of the Wetlands All-Stars on the Acura Stage.
The second weekend also features locals on the festival stages.
Benoit closes the Blues Tent on Second Friday.
On Sunday, at 12:30, Blue Eyed Soul Revue performs with Clarence Henry, Frankie Ford, Robert Parker and Al “Carnival Time” Johnson. The collaboration is meant to replicate the style and energy of early soul and rhythm and blues.
And David Bergeron, of Thibodaux, returns to sell the frames, trunks and furniture he crafts from salvaged wood. “Instead of taking new wood and making it old, he’s making the old stuff work,” one of his customers said last year of his work, a kaleidoscope of colored, recycled lumber.
The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, to be sure, has ballooned since 350 people showed up to the first fest in 1970. Twelve music stages are scattered about the New Orleans Fairground, more than 70 food vendors serve the region’s flavor – and waft its scents – and dozens of artisans sell their wares.
“It has grown,” said the demonstrating chef Chris Montero, at his 33rd fest. “It’s not quite the bargain it used to be.”
At $50 for an advance single-day ticket, $5 per beer and about $10 for a plate of food in addition to parking fees and any souvenirs, Jazz Fest isn’t cheap. But there’s still a deal to be had.
To be sure, any festival that showcases an Anders Osborne-Luther Dickinson combo at 2 p.m. on a Friday has set claim to a cadre of talent. Osborne immediately preceded Clark and a lineup that over two weeks will include Billy Joel, Fleetwood Mac, B.B. King, Earth Wind and Fire, Widespread Panic (for two and a half hours), Willie Nelson, Jill Scott, Little Big Town, Frank Ocean, The Black Keys, Maroon 5 and Dave Matthews Band.
During this annual celebration, the music world seems to orbit around New Orleans.
As Band of Horses took Gentilly, the largest crowd on the festival grounds was bunched together at the Acura Stage.
First Friday’s headline act was John Mayer, who cancelled his scheduled booking at the fest last year along his entire summer tour as he prepared for throat surgery that would sideline him for 10 months.
His fans didn’t punish him for that absence, and they were rewarded with a primitive glimpse of a new identity.
Not 24 hours after Mayer completed his set – heavy on the blues guitar, himself, and with an ode to the Grateful Dead – New Orleans music critic extraordinaire Keith Spera and Rolling Stone published stories about how his performance was the first in a new trajectory.
The festival continues through May 5. Visit www.nojazzfest.com for more information.
Gary Clark Jr. rocks from the Gentilly Stage during Jazz Fest’s first day.
