2024 French Quarter Festival Recap
With the exception of some cool, cloudy weather on Thursday morning, the weather featured the sun shining and low humidity all weekend long. At 11:30 AM, on the opening day, Rory Danger and the Danger Dangers came in hot a few days after a total eclipse amazed the nation. They deliver on the promise of an “Impartial Reclipse” and even covered “Total Eclipse of the Heart.”
(ABOVE PHOTOS: STEPHANIE DOUGHERTY)
Later in the day with the sun shining on the river and a massive cruise ship heading downriver, Los Guiros delivered an impassioned set of cumbias. A fellow fan, Naomi Hill, coined a great term for a group’s rapidly growing fan club, “Los Guir-itos.”
Friday’s exceptional set belonged to guitarist and oud player Mahmoud Chouki. With a killer band featuring Sam Kuslan on keys, Noah Young on bass, Ricardo Pascal on soprano and tenor sax and Alfred Jordan on drums, they were phenomenal. At the end of the set, Simon Moushabeck sat in on accordion.
On Saturday, I enjoyed the set by saxophonist Jason Mingledorff in the garden of the BK House. I have walked by this historic building thousands of times so it was great to see killer jazz in a new setting, with Joe Ashlar on keys, Ed Wise on bass, Doug Belote on drums and Eric Merchant on guitar.
Charlie and the Tropicales performed a tight set of Caribbean groove music on the intimate Traditional Jazz stage. At one point, he had three percussionists on stage along with Doug Garrison on trap drums.
On Sunday, I was surprised by how uncrowded the two stages and food booths were around the U.S. Mint/Jazz Museum complex. Nolamericana singer Lynn Drury debuted some of the songs off her new album, with producer Papa Mali on lead guitar.
On the other side of the building, saxophonist Martin Krusche and his band, Magnetic Ear demonstrated what the Dirty Dozen Brass Band would sound like if they started their careers in Germany.