Kick Out the Jams
The new wave of jam bands come out after midnight during Jazz Fest.
By Cristina Diettinger
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Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe sold out its late-night show at Tipitina’s in eight hours.
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The sun was coming up as Walter “Wolfman” Washington was playing the Maple Leaf Bar on the closing night of Jazz Fest a few years back, when saxophonist Tom Fitzpatrick stepped up to the microphone.
“He said the immortal words, ‘We have to go home now. I’ve got to drive my kids to school,’” remembers Maple Leaf owner Hank Staples. “It was 6 or 7 on a Monday morning, and the crowd still wanted more.”
The concentrated demand for live music during Jazz Fest has expanded the annual Jazz Fest music celebration beyond the gates of the Fair Grounds, into a concurrent club festival. And now, more and more clubs are extending hours of operation, turning the Festival into an around-the-clock musical candy store.
The current late-night phenomenon caught on at the Maple Leaf, a cozy club located Uptown on Oak Street. Staples says that booking live music in the middle of the night didn’t seem feasible until he witnessed it at Carrollton Station. During the 1990 Jazz Fest, Staples stood in for a friend as late-night doorman at the nearby club, where bluesman John Mooney was scheduled to play a set starting at 2 a.m. Staples assumed that most people would be reluctant to pay a $5 cover charge at that hour, but patrons started streaming in. “People were just handing me crumpled balls of money, sometimes more than $5,” he says. “They didn’t care. They just wanted to stay out and keep partying.”
The next year, Staples enlisted Walter “Wolfman” Washington to play the Maple Leaf’s first “sunrise show.” An instant success, late-night shows have been a Maple Leaf mainstay ever since. “We’re a small room,” Staples says. “It’s hard to compete. Some of the bigger rooms can load up with several acts, or big national acts. All we can do is extend the hours. We’ve always been known as a late club anyway.”
The Maple Leaf was instrumental in jump-starting the late-night scene in the early ’90s, and by the mid-90s, other factors contributed to its expansion. House of Blues opened in 1994, but the real turning point was the 1996 appearance of mega-cult jam band Phish at the Fair Grounds. Phish’s hordes of fans introduced Jazz Fest (and the surrounding clubs) to a whole new out-of-town demographic. These gluttonous music fans fall mostly between the ages of 18 and 25, are often referred to as “hippie kids” or “jam-band kids,” and prefer the extended jamming of the bands that absorbed much of the Grateful Dead’s following after Jerry Garcia’s death in 1995. Bands such as Widespread Panic, moe., and Leftover Salmon dish up the never-ending extended grooves that these fans crave.
Now, many of these music lovers want to see their favorite jam bands in New Orleans, during Jazz Fest. As a result, demand for club shows has risen dramatically, enabling clubs to double-book on festival nights, extending their hours of operation from early evening to early morning. Jonathan Mayers and Rick Farman, co-owners of local music production company Superfly Presents, say that jam-band fans make up a large part of their target market. “[Phish’s appearance] started a chain of events that led up to the way things are now,” says Farman. “[The club scene has] just gotten bigger and bigger every year.”
But jam-band kids are not the only people packing into clubs around Fest time, and jam bands (in the strict sense) are not the only acts offered. Another major factor contributing to the club show explosion is a nationwide funk revival that has brought a lot of attention to the New Orleans funk scene. Bands such as Galactic have swept hordes of jam-band fans into their fan bases, thanks to constant touring and extended performances. They also appeal to a slightly older audience by concentrating on instrumental funk and groove-jazz. This cross-genre approach, combined with a marathon show format, has made these two bands the most popular acts on the late-night scene. Both groups are appearing multiple times during Jazz Fest 2001 in order to accommodate demand, but tickets to these shows are still hard to come by. The Tiny Universe late-night show at Tipitina’s Uptown sold out in eight hours.
The rising popularity of “hippie funk” draws thousands of music fans from out West to New Orleans for Jazz Fest. With bands like the Greyboy Allstars and their offshoots spreading their grooves in that part of the country, a whole new faction of people is being turned on to a funky sound inherent in New Orleans music. Colorado is a popular jam-band market; New Orleans funk bands like the funky Meters, Galactic, and newcomer Papa Grows Funk consistently sell out shows at venues from Telluride to Boulder. There’s also a longstanding San Francisco-New Orleans music connection that brings a chunk of Bay Area residents to Jazz Fest. Galactic’s biggest market is San Francisco. The New Orleans funksters had no problem selling out their New Year’s 2001 two-night stand at San Francisco’s Warfield Theater — a pair of gigs reserved for the Grateful Dead for many years.
Superfly’s Rick Farman says that the crowds aren’t limited to people from those regions. “They come from all over the place,” he says. “Obviously, there’s a lot of San Francisco, Colorado, New York, and a lot of kids from the Southeast, too. But it’s all 50 states. People are looking for [club shows], and they’re waiting for it every year now.”
Festival patrons can see many of their favorite touring bands in their hometowns several times a year, but they are well aware of the special atmosphere of a club show in New Orleans during Jazz Fest. Tipitina’s Uptown is just one venue with the mystical allure of a historic New Orleans nightclub, where an ordinary show can turn into a monumental event. People are still talking about last year’s late-night Project Logic show at Tipitina’s. A recording of the New York avant-jazz band’s three-set, all-night Jazz Fest finale is a must-have among tape traders.
Some purists complain that Jazz Fest and the surrounding club scene is overrun with out-of-town acts that divert attention from local acts, but others think that high-profile acts, local and national, can only make the event more successful for everyone involved. Superfly’s Rick Farman believes that booking jam bands in clubs and theaters can make New Orleans music fans out of jam-band fans. “We have all these kids in here from out of town,” he says, “and they’re going to see some stuff that they wouldn’t have been exposed to otherwise. They might stop at the gospel tent, or see Snooks [Eaglin] on some stage, or a brass band. It gets New Orleans music out there.”
Tipitina booking agent Adam Shipley takes a direct approach to promoting New Orleans music via popular national acts. “We’ve got 1,000 captive people [in the club],” he says, “and we can educate them about New Orleans music.” Shipley frequently books local acts as openers, and has brass bands second line between sets. “I’m definitely for doing the out-of-town bands that sell out in 10 hours,” says Shipley, “but I’m going to make damn sure that there is New Orleans music in Tipitina’s every night of the week during Jazz Fest.”
The mass influx of visiting musicians heightens the musical atmosphere during Festival time. Many bands enjoy inviting surprise guests to their shows, and the possibilities are nearly endless. A fan who buys a ticket to a Galactic show, for instance, could end up seeing musical contributions from Karl Denson, John Medeski (of Medeski Martin & Wood), or members of the Li’l Rascals Brass Band. “A lot of the musicians that are coming to play for us are staying several nights,” says Superfly’s Jonathan Mayers, “and we’re going to encourage them to check out other shows. A lot of these musicians are friends.”
Local musicians are more likely to mix it up during Jazz Fest as well. Maple Leaf Bar owner Hank Staples recalls a few memorable sit-ins: “We’ve had some great shows when [Jon] Cleary sat in with Walter “Wolfman” Washington. And Kermit [Ruffins] played with ReBirth one year. That was like old times.”
Apart from the magic that comes with seeing live music with surprise guests and unexpected twists, sometimes it’s the simple fact that one can do this all night in New Orleans that draws people in from out of town. Staples emphasizes the importance of late-night activity to the local scene. “I’m glad we’re in a city where we don’t need special permission to stay open late,” he says. “People who come here from California, where last call’s at 1:30 [a.m.], they love it.” Popular Bay Area guitarist Steve Kimock has never played in New Orleans before, yet his late-night show at Tipitina’s during Jazz Fest sold out in less than a day. A large chunk of the tickets were sold to his hometown fans who want to party and see Kimock play all night — which they can’t do in San Francisco.
Sonny Schneidau, director of talent and tours at House of Blues, also thinks that the late-night scene can be a saving grace for the exhausted Festival attendee. “I think the time slot in general is one that lends itself to people who want to hear music,” he says. “A lot of folks will stay at the Fair Grounds until 7, get to their car by 8, and get to their restaurant at about 9:30 or 10. They might not even finish dinner until midnight. Then, lo and behold, it’s 1:30 in the morning and they want to hear some music. I think it’s a great option for fans of all kinds.” .
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