French Quarter Fest Picks- Part 2
Saturday and Sunday 2025
The French Quarter Festival expands to 22 stages during the weekend. I have picked out some interesting acts on the smaller stages since the big stages tend to get very crowded. The French Market Traditional Jazz stage has great acts all weekend starting on Saturday with Aurora Nealand and the Royal Roses (pictured above). Nealand is a saxophonist, clarinetist, accordion player and vocalist who leads a wonderful ensemble that plays sublime jazz in the classic style.
Margie Perez leads the Cuban music-inspired dance band Muévelo. They play mostly the music of vocal icon Celia Cruz and will have the Moonwalk Extension crowd dancing with wild abandon. Saxophonist and flautist Brent Rose adds a lot to the proceedings with impressive range on either instrument.
Unfortunately, conflicts abound because another great local saxophonist Jason Mingledorff is playing at basically the same time on a more intimate stage in the 400 block of Royal Street. Mingledorff is a jazz professor at Loyola University who has recorded with tons of local and national musicians. He recently released his first solo album and has another on the way. Shameless plug—I reviewed his first album. The piece is here if you missed it.
The Louisiana Fish Fry stage has a great two-fer for the last two slots on Saturday. Drummer Derrick Freeman and saxophonist James Martin lead SOUL Brass Band (pictured above). The two have worked together on a variety of projects, but here they come on strong with a great ensemble that doesn’t limit itself to the typical brass band fare.
For the last spot, Sporty’s Brass Band will tear the place up like you’re at a second line. Led by the group’s trombone-playing namesake, this band gives all the other parading brass bands a run for their money with a great front line of horns and a booming rhythm section. I’ve seen them many times on the streets, but not a stage—so far.
On Sunday morning head to the Krewe Eyewear stage in the 600 block of Royal Street where Los Tremolo Kings make their French Quarter Festival debut. The group plays a variety of Latin sounds and is led by guitarist Phil “the Tremolo King” Vanderyken. The Iguanas’ rhythm section of drummer Doug Garrison and bassist Rene Coman lay down the groove for Vanderyken’s psychedelic excursions. Singer Margie Perez often joins the band, though she is not billed here.
The BK House, in the 1100 block of Chartres Street, is a new venue for French Quarter Fest and it is by far the most intimate and gorgeous setting of all 22 stages. It’s a classic ancient New Orleans mansion set amid delightful gardens. There is usually a fee to enter except during FQF. Radiators’ guitarist Camile Baudoin will set up right in front of a flowing fountain for a picture-perfect performance with a group billed as “his friends.” You’ll feel like you’ve gone back in time outside the hubbub of the streets of the Vieux Carre.
Stick around for the Tin Men (pictured above), the eclectic all-metal, but not heavy metal, band featuring Alex McMurray on steel guitar, Matt Perrine on sousaphone and Washboard Chaz on his namesake metallic instrument. McMurray will entertain with his wry lyrics. If you’ve been having trouble dealing with New Orleans’ infamous infrastructure perhaps request his classic, “You’ve Got to Be Crazy (to Live in This Place).”
Another act making a French Quarter Fest debut is Sally Baby’s Silver Dollars. Sal Geloso leads this eclectic ensemble, which features a full horn section. They won the silver medal in last year’s prestigious NPR Tiny Desk Contest and are on a serious roll, recently earning this gig, a spot at Jazz Fest and a slot at the High Sierra Music Festival this summer. Catch them while you can. Shameless plug—look for my feature on the band in OffBeat magazine’s Jazz Fest Bible coming soon to outlets all over the city.
Finally, end your day and this year’s fest watching the sun set and the moon rise while dancing to Los Guiros (pictured above) on the Moonwalk Extension stage. This group plays psychedelic cumbias from all over Latin America and recently added Tuba Skinny’s Shaye Cohen on keyboards.