There was a ton of amazing jazz, blues, world music, bluegrass and rock on the festival grounds Sunday as Jazz Fest wrapped up its first week of the 2024 run, but the day without a doubt belonged to Juvenile and Mannie Fresh who blew off more wigs than the moderately heavy winds during their two-hour set.
But before we get to the end, let’s start at the beginning, because start to finish Sunday was one for the books.
Despite some last minute warnings about possible thunderstorms, Sunday was another picture perfect day at the track.
The crowds were, for most of the day, blessedly smaller than Saturday, making it significantly easier to navigate the space, grab some food and enjoy a cocktail or two.
Colombia's finest
As through much of the first week, the wind was kickin' Sunday, and there were any number of hats that ended up flying around, setting off a scramble from friendly passersby. But it also helped keep the heat down, which in turn kept the heat down between tipsy folks who inevitably end up bumping and jostling in the crowd, making for a pleasant mass of humans (which, let's be honest, is increasingly rare these days).
Jontavious Willis may only be 29, but he’s already a heavyweight on the blues scene and his midday performance in the Jazz Fest Blues Tent proves why.
Jontavious Willis plays the Blues Tent
Willis is blues through and through, but he’s not beholden to the strict notions about the genre many fans have. Sure he can play delta and Chicago style blues with the best of them, but it’s when he stretches his legs into other areas that he really starts to shine.
Willis moved the crowd through a variety of styles, from straight forward blues rock to an achingly beautiful, dreamy tune that had a strong folk, singer songwriter feel to it. But it was when he moved into an early 50s rock sound where of the sort of proto-rock, jump blues-esque style he often plays truly shined.
For their Jazz fest debut, local alt rockers Silver Synthetic played the Lagniappe Stage, a relatively intimate setting at the festival. It was a great way to see the band, though their set also felt a bit like a unicorn, cause the tight, well polished four piece is destined for much bigger things.
While their EP “Out of the Darkness” and self-titled 2021 album are amazing, their show Sunday proved that they’re one of those bands that take it to eleven live.
Silver Synthetic plays the Lagniappe Stage.
Singer Chris Lyons led the band through a packed set of the band’s work. While they technically would fall in the alt rock category, it doesn’t quite catch their sound, which is a lovely mashup of pop, country, more modern rock sensibilities and an old school early 60s style of pop rock. They’re definitely one to watch.
New Orleans-based Otura Mun, who goes by the stage name IFE, had an undeniably dynamic performance at the Jazz and Heritage Stage. The percussionist and producer, who infuses Afrobeats, Jamaican Dancehall and trap music, led a thumping set with a backing band of lively percussionists and vocalists. Throughout the set, solo and ensemble dancers joined in, adding to the overall vibrancy of the experience.
Several of the musicians, and their instruments, were adorned with keffiyahs, the checkered scarves that have become global symbols of solidarity with Palestinians. IFE led the crowd in a chant of “Free Palestine” after the group's hypeman, King Coknl O'Dire, told the crowd, “I think all of us want to be free, but if you want it, you gotta want it for every body.” IFE, who said he wrote some of his tracks in Puerto Rico, dedicated much of the set to the concept of freedom and to ancestors who have fought for it. Visiting Colombian artist Goyo took over the stage for a few songs toward the end of the set, rapping and singing in Spanish. The artist is known for her soulful hip-hop that elevates Afro-Latina women. Overall, it was an empowering performance that focused on solidarity and social justice. As O'Dire put it: “all we do is protest and party.”
Yusa was another standout on Sunday. The Havana native, who now calls New Orleans home, positively beamed as she closed out the Rhythmpourium stage. The singer, composer and multi-instrumentalists has drawn comparisons to Tracy Chapman, and kicked off her set with a lively jazz number and continued to enchant the audience with her soulful blend of Afro-Cuban jazz over the next hour.
Many of the bands visiting Jazz Fest from Colombia fuse traditional rhythms like salsa and cumbia with contemporary sounds, especially rapping and hip-hop. Bomba Estereo's electro tropical music was an outstanding example Saturday, and two more bands showed their approaches today.
Gaita Loop performs on the Cultural Exchange Pavilion
Gaita Loop's approach will be familiar to local fans of cellist Helen Gillet, who uses loop pedals while playing solo to layer sounds. Colombia's answer to that is Leang Majarres, from Barranquilla. Majarres plays the traditional gaita, a sort of elongated flute from areas where Indigenous and African descendants lived. In live performances, Majarres plays the gaita and then builds complex songs by looping sound snippets and often adding electronic beats. In the Cultural Pavilion, he explored a range of sounds, from heavier hip-hop beats to more organic threads highlighting the gaita. He also sang some, but his alternative music is about reframing traditional sounds.
Jacobo Velez and his nine-piece La Mambanegra band hail from Cali, the proclaimed salsa capital of the world. Jacobo is both a saxophonist and producer, but with this group, he mostly raps and handles vocals as they build on traditional salas and bring in funk, hip-hop and other Caribbean sounds.
Jacobo Velez y La Mambanegra play the Cultural Pavilion.
In the group's final performance of the weekend in the Cultural Exchange Pavilion, Velez came out like a boxer, stalking the stage in sweat pants unsnapped down the sides. Matching his energy, the band launched into a furious set that had the dancing crowd's hands in the air and looked like a mosh pit was about to break out. The band is anchored by the funky bass of Yeferson Carabals Obando, a sizzling horn section, a keyboardist, drum kit and congas and two supporting vocalists. Though there were some breaks with instrumental solos, and Velez shared the spotlight with the other vocalists as well, and the band delivered a tight, propulsive set of Latin hip-hop.
Bela Fleck is a banjo virtuoso who's known for bluegrass but has collaborated with symphonies, with Chick Corea, with all sorts of musicians during the jam band craze, and has performed with his wife Abigail Washburn at past Jazz Fests. He's currently touring with his My Bluegrass Heart band, and the lineup at the Fais Do-Do Stage featured violinist Michael Cleveland, guitarist Bryan Sutton, Sierra Hull on mandolin and vocals, Justin Moses on dobro guitar and banjo and Mark Schatz on bass.
The ensembled delved into some extremely fast and nimble picking throughout the set, and at one point, Fleck announced that he was breaking out his sweatband. The band refers to it as his John McEnroe look.
Fleck turned up the heat a little with a double banjo tune he calls "Boulderdash." He also did a song he wrote for his son when he was stuck in an airport waiting for his connecting flight while Washburn gave birth. Most of the set was purely instrumental, but Sutton also took over vocals for a song he wrote about the current lack of civil discourse.
Sutton also credited Fleck with bridging jazz and bluegrass. The highlight of the set was a sort of centennial celebration. George Gershwin released "Rhapsody in Blue" in 1924. (Fleck couldn't resist noting that it was right around the time of the birth of Earl Scruggs, the father of the main bluegrass picking style.) Gershwin combined jazz and classical music in his composition. Fleck has been reconsidering it as a sort of "Rhapsody in Bluegrass," he said. His main adaptation is reworking it for banjo instead of a piano lead. It was an 11-minute epic, and both familiar from the original remarkably spare at times for bluegrass. But Fleck is as much the master musician as composer and bandleader. The only thing the set needed was more space for the the overflowing crowed at the Fais Do-Do Stage.
From his crisp white Kangol to his brilliant guitar licks, Toronzo Cannon oozes Chicago blues. And just in case you weren’t totally sure what city he reps, he helpfully carried a Chicago flag with him on stage.
The bus driver turned bluesman put on a blistering set showcasing his particular version of the Chicago style. He and his band are a tight, well-oiled unit – so much so that a malfunction with their organ didn’t slow them down at all.
Toronzo Cannon plays the Blues Tent
He’s also a charismatic frontman, and not just for the impeccable white suit he was wearing. Between songs his banter and general presence carried the energy forward and kept the packed crowd engaged.
Cannon’s guitar playing is surpassed only by his lyrics. His ability weave tales of love, lust, loss and life like in “I Hate Love” was on full display. Introducing his song “Him” by quipping “this song is dedicated to the woman who broke my heart. She just don’t know it yet,” Cannon expertly told the universal story of being in a relationship with someone still very much stuck on another.
Joining a long roster of rock and roll icons who will leave a lasting impression on Jazz Fest crowds was Heart, the 1970s rock outfit formed by sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson.
Currently on their “Royal Flush” tour, the Seattle natives absolutely rocked out at the Gentilly Stage — as if 50 years hadn’t passed since they first burst onto the scene. Early on, they played their hit song “Magic Man,” though they changed the lyrics from “let’s get high a while” to the more G-rated, “let’s catch up.”
Heart performs on the Shell Gentilly Stage
But the Wilson sisters, who are in their early 70s, showed they still had an edge — and a soft spot for love, as they reiterated early on when Nancy declared “We always write about love, because love rules and love wins.”
The sisters weaved in new songs throughout their set, as well as other familiar hits from their iconic album “Dreamboat Annie,” including “Dog and Butterfly” and the album’s title track.
The audience went wild when they played a cover of David Bowie’s “Let’s Dance” and the energy was palpable during the ballad "What About Love" and a Led Zeppelin cover. While singer and flutist Ann took the lead on most songs, Nancy, who played electric and acoustic guitar and mandolin, performed a solo tribute to her late friend, Eddie Van Halen. While touring with them in the 1980s, she recalled him writing a song for her on an acoustic guitar she had gifted him. “On my solo album, I decided to do a tribute for him, because he did that for me,” she told the audience.
The group pretended to close out with their hit “Barracuda,” before returning to the stage for two more songs during an encore. The only thing that had been missing from their epic performance was “Crazy On You,” which they played as a wholly satisfying end to Jazz Fest Weekend One.
But it was truly Juvie and Mannie’s day at the track Sunday. The Congo Square Stage area was full of folks through most of the day, and swelled well beyond its normal borders in the lead up to their set with Young Turk.
Juvenile and Mannie Fresh may be the happiest men in hip-hop, and their giant grins and joyful energy infected the crowd from jump. There’s some hip-hop artists who just aren’t made for the stage, and when they’re out there they lean on the “point the mic to the crowd for a sing along” move waaaay too much (we’re looking at you, Nelly).
But not Juvenile and Mannie Fresh. They were made to rock a crowd, and on Sunday they fully succeeded, running through their preposterous catalogue of bangers flawlessly. Pretty much everything you could ask for was there: they “[Got Their] Roll On,” killed it with Turk on “Welcome To Tha Nolia,” got “Real Big” and were “Big Ballin’,” declared they needed a “Project Bitch,” had that “Bling Bling” 'cause they definitely “Like It Like That” until y'all “Back That Ass Up.”
All corniness aside, their set was an instant classic in which Juvie shined and both Mannie’s legendary work as a DJ and producer were on display, but also his sometimes overlooked skills on the mic.
Their Jazz Fest appearance is the latest milestone in a yearlong “Juvie Renaissance,” which improbably all started when Juvenile didn’t know what NPR’s Tiny Desk is, which led to an appearance on the program, which led to a prime spot in last year’s Essence Fest celebration of 50 years of hip hop, which led to a tour, which led to the Chee Wee deal, which ... well you get the picture. Juvenile is on one, and he is showing no signs of slowing down.
In fact, while Juvie may be a world-renowned super star, he keeps on his grind: at one point he paused to promote his delicious 400 Degreez branded Chee Wees before throwing cases of them and a rack of t-shirts into the crowd.
And you know he didn’t leave the stage before reppin’ his Juvie Tuesdays. Every Tuesday at the Hideaway over on Claiborne under the bridge, ya hurdme?
