Jazz Fest on WWOZ, Sunday, May 4

12:05 NY time. Hazel throws to the Fairgrounds and no one answers.
Long silence... then a CD plays at a good level. Charles Burchell and
Dave Dauterive are the DJs.

revised schedule
11:30 - Paulin Bros, reairing of previous set
12 something - Jonathan Batiste
2:10 - Pfister Sisters
5:50 - Bob French

None of this is worth listening to. I'll pay attention to the AT&T webcast.

Charles sounds tinny. Two DJs talking reasonably.

They play the Paulin Bros from 4/27.

- We hear I'll Fly Away. Trumpet is low in the mix. Duh.

- Basin St Parade. These guys are low key, nice compared to the
in-your-face of most brass bands.

- Closer Walk With Thee

Then the rest as was aired on 4/27 I suppose.

some Professor Longhair cuts...

Jonathan Batiste (a better pianist than I thought but I'm not into
this kind of jazz)

Nice cheer to show how the audience loves being in this "fair city"!

Nice moment in the improv on the rag (Maple Leaf? I forget which one)
with some nice chords....

Wonderful World. Gets to be sickening to hear this after awhile.

It's so rare to hear a New Orleans band in tune...

Pfister Sisters now. I can't listen to this. Too painful.

John Ellis from before.

CDs

The Bad Plus from Thursday. REALLY low level. Not surprised.

I miss a bunch of this.

Bob French and the Original Tuxedo Jazz Band
A good band. Too bad Bob is such a jerk. Piano is low in the mix then
brought up. Good mix! Bob's mic is out of the mix, thank goodness.
Then it is brought up.

The end.

Jazz Fest on WWOZ, Saturday, May 3

I tune in at 11:30 NY time. What is it with OZ? They have no concept
of levels. The Irish show on now (Music In The Glen), while I love
the music, has low levels for the DJ and HIGH levels for the CDs.
Does the transition between the two bother anyone? Apparently not.
Idiots. (CDs averaging 0db. DJ -10. Good.) True, Sean has a quiet
voice but there is still no excuse except for incompetence.

The CD is so hot it's overmodulating. He turns it down, good. Working
For The Pharoh (Richard Thompson wrote it).

They go to the Fairgrounds at 12:03 NY time. Mark Hawkins and Sondra
Bibb. OK. Sondra: "Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah...." OK.

Mark Hawkins is OFF-MIC, you moron. They are so clueless.

Sondra sounds tinny. CD level is good. Good. Well, I thought it was
good but it had a quieter opening. Let's see about others. Love
Alejandro Escovedo.

subdudes? iguanas? I can't keep them straight. (good level)

Iko Iko - Dixe Cups

DJ, a bit hot but tolerable.

12:27 NY time. Hey, they actually turned down his level!! Thank you!
Now the level is going WAY down... Idiots. They have no clue.

The sun is coming up?

Sondra is fun to listen to. A great laugh. (I met her back in the
late 90s, at an OZ on-air pledge drive and liked her then.) There are
some nice people at OZ but so many have such bad technical skills.
Mark is fun to listen to too.

Don Vappie, right behind us? I guess he is saying that that was what
we just heard. It's sort of the same concept, just mangled.

Mark, remember you are in front of a microphone. There is something
called overdoing it. If you're going to shout, maybe you can aim your
voice away from the microphone? No, he is oblivious. And distorting.

Have Lillian Boutte cued up. She's onstage doing her thing. Piano
Players Rarely Ever Play Together is a MOVIE. (Is is a musical too?)

Lillian Boutte on at 12:51 NY time. A good band behind her. Sax is
low in the mix. What else is new?

My Darlin' New Orleans!! The hair stands up on my neck. One of my
favorite songs when Lil Queenie did it but I like this version!!

Good enough mix. Levels good.

Don't You Feel My Leg. Nice intro. What a great voice! Love the
growl. Love the quieter but bright sound. Sax is low, almost out of
the mix. Sorry folks. You don't get to hear the sax. The sound crew
isn't going to fix this. Tough luck.

Funny and serious message to internet listeners! (She says how
important jazz is and then does an R&B song...) Dedicates it to her
family, the queers. She teaches the crowd to sing the song!

God bless you, Lillian.

Dedicates this to Dr John and all of us. Tears well up. You've Got A
Friend. I am not overwhelmed with the song though. Singers aren't
quite all on the same page.

The New Orleans music scene could be compared to big karaoke bar. All
these covers... People singing other people's songs. Sure would be
nice if they had their own ideas. Rehashing the hits gets real boring
fast.

Awful end notes, harmonies off. Love her message though.

Bootee'. I thought it was pronounced Bootey'.

Mark on and level is good. Sondra too.

Repeat of Liz Wright on in the next hour.

Still have some overmodulation despite lower level of mics. Overall
level too hot.

They play some Lil Buck Sinegal crap. Violins in the background?

I too love these band names!

No, it's not the Louisiana Jazz and Heritage Festival. Idiot.

I miss who they are playing now. I later find out it is Liz Wright
from Friday, 4/28.

Neil Young's Old Man.

Hit The Ground Baby? (Thought it was something about a brown baby before.)

Gtr is out of the mix for Why Don't You Leave Me (Alone?). Nice song,
nicely sung.

unknown song.

I pick up with same woman, new song.

More in this style. Walk With Me.

(No DJs have been interrupting!!)

Thank You (Little Drops of Rain) (cover of Led Zeppelin) Very nicely
done. Makes the song new.

Stage MC barely heard.

DJ, Mark Hawkins, talks reasonably.

He says "As well as it should be". He meant to say 'As well it should
be', which is the expression. (Typical mangling of the language by
people who are poorly uneducated, to put it one way.)

Piece on the NOMC.

Tribute to Max Roach feat. Herlin Riley, Shannon Powell & Jason Marsalis
We come in as they doing one tune.

- fast bass and drum, 'Terry Keith? Drummer style.'

- Jason Marsalis introduced on. His level goes up a little way in
then down again. The Man With Two Left Feet.

- Herlin Riley introduced. Not very well mic'd. I couldn't tell what
the title is.

- Shannon Powell introduced.

- Jason featured. Just The Way You Look Tonight on vibes. Level comes up.

- Something by Danny Barker.

DJ ID Missy Bowen and Bob French. Bob sounds mellow so far. Don
Vappie on later.

James Singleton on now.

String quartet sounds good.

3:50 pm NO time. Bob is an idiot.

Dr Michael White on now. Minutes earlier they announced who would be
up later. I guess they didn't know until now that they would be
airing this. One has to wonder. Some nice playing.

"Keep right going." Missy. I think she means, 'keep right on going'
but that would be too many words and it's too hot out. Or, living in
New Orleans does that to you.

Pinstripe Brass Band CD. I'm Wanna Go Back To New Orleans. Nice.
Brass bands as they should be. Although hearing this, it is like
there is one tune for brass bands and all the bands play variations
on it. This could be Give Me My Money Back amongst other tunes. Nice
and long. Too many tourist references though. Riff from another
familiar tune.

...

Midnight Disturbers.

Leo Nocentelli with Etta James now. Great! They play unmastered track.

More Midnight Disturbers.

5:50 pm NO time. Bob, 'Today is the third? 3rd of what?' May, you moron.

Cresent City Allstars with James Andrews
We join them as they play Miss Liza Jane. OK mix. Bass and kick drum
are too high. Gtr low. Some distortion heard. Overmodulating.

Bob does ID. So go, idiot.

- Big Chief

- When The Saints, 'do the funky saints'. Next.

Missy does ID.

- Iko Iko. This is a waste of time.

6:29 NO time. Bob does ID

Distortion on this brass band tune. Electric bass and gtrs instead of
brass. Distortion seems to get better, level goes down a little. Tune
goes on too long though.

Oop poo pah doo, another too long song.

...

7 pm NO time Bob. They go off soon.

Jazz Fest video on AT&T, Sun 5/4

(The slate at the end of yesterday's webcast says they start at 1 pm but they don't, thankfully.)

I tune in at 1:54 NY time and they are showing the crowd at some stage. Can't tell who is on stage, some jazz. No lower third to ID this.

This is the Salvador Santana Band. They're not supposed to be on till 4... (They are actually on live I guess.) stupid rap, latin

2:03 NY time. Screen fades to black then they go to intro to Porter Batiste Stoltz. Good.

Audio still ahead of the video. No phasing to speak of.

Now this is some nice music!

- Heavy delta slide blues. Meet Me In The Morning? (Chicago blues) (some 16k!)

2:13 PM Alejandro Escovedo

Right on time. Too short for Porter Batiste Stoltz but I love Alejandro's music. Good lyrics and heartfelt tunes.

- eh

- Nice, typical Alejandro stuff. Cello is a tough instrument to sell in the rock world. Great shot of Alejandro and fiddler trading licks.

- Sweet intro. Sister La Soul, Brother La Soul?

- Another sweet intro. waltz? real slow. Now a different tune, tempo. Familiar. From Lives (Songs?) of the Fathers? (That "opera" he did.) A haunting tune, lovely. Rosalie. What Alejandro does best.

- song from his earlier band, Sensitive Boy.

- Nice intro. (It's going on after 2:40 so I'm glad it's continuing.) Heavy. Makes No Sense, Makes Perfect Sense... Nice.

- More! High pitched squeal of feedback. 'Real as an animal...' (Iggy Pop)

- 'All I ever wanted was a 4 piece band...' 'I'm the last drink of water from the Salton Sea...'

- Well alright, another one. This song ended up on Bush's top 10 iPod songs. Dedicated to Joe Strummer... Dumpstaphunk up next? What happened to Papa Grows Funk? I Like It Better When She Walks Away. Quint gives him a hug.

3:00 PM Ivan Neville’s Dumpstaphunk (live)
- We catch the first tune after it started. Boring. Show Me How To Funk Like You

- another... For whatever reason I don't get into though the beat is good. Some nice camera work. .... shake your bitty booty... Good music to make lunch by. ... I'm getting into it as time goes on.

- Shake It Off. Sax is low in the mix.

3:37 Now they play the Salvador Santana Band. What happened to Bonerama?
Too latin for me w/ rap. ... Evil Ways (Art Neville up next. The schedule is all f'd up.)

4 pm. They do a piece on the fest.

Art Neville on now. (is that the Dumpstaphunk gtr-ist?)

- We miss the beginning of this tune. The difference between these guys and say, Salvador Santana Band. These guys aren't trying so hard to impress. They're getting more out of less.

- old song (for him). forgettable 50s tune.

They cut out of that and go to the host.

Santana (Carlos) as they are starting up a tune or ending one. Some sort of classical-based tune. Then chaos. This will win them over. Carlos directing the chaos with his hands. Drummer goes nuts then into a nice beat. Jingo! Nice. Dual maraca players with two bright yellow maracas in each hand! This is live. Conga player with black hair flowing in the wind. Carlos continues to be one my favorite rock dinosaur gtr players. Ever since Caravanserai.

- "new" singer. Saw him on Later? His vocals get left out at one point... And again.

- Wow, this is a flashback! The old Tower of Power/San Francisco horn sound. Can't remember the name of this, Sing It Round? Somebody's out of the mix.

- Another blast from the past. I'm sure others are having flashbacks too. Another familiar tune in there. And another. And now into a blues tune. A big smile as he finishes up a hot riff. Very nice.

- Familiar but with more noise.

- I Ain't Got Nobody (That I Can Depend On). I hope everyone's drugs are kicking in about now. Yeah! The crowd loves it! "We are the continuation of their voices... We are the opposite of George Bush... The power of love... unity, harmony, compassion... gentleness."

- Dedicates this next tune to the women because "nothing happens unless the women are happy." Naima (John Coltrane) Trumpet solo. Nice closeup of organ player. This could be any jazz band... Nice!

- latin hip hop... Maria, Maria... mama chola... something mambo

- unknown latin/Cuban/Mexican? tune. Good direction, they hit the horns just when needed. Nice shot of Carlos. Yeah!

- Black Magic Woman. (w/ Hendrix's Third Stone From The Sun?) thrown in there) Nice

- Right into Oye Como Va. (Never Go Back To Georgia! thrown in there. I think I've heard him do that before.) Organ is a little low in the mix. Hard to hear it's solo. Prince's Love Bizarre thrown in for one second. This is called blowing the roof off the sucker! Crowd loves it.

- IDs the band. "Your purpose is to create a masterpiece of joy in your life... Heal people in this world"... Video part of the stream is being jerky. Probably lots of viewers. Audio is fine. Unknown song... coño.... We hear the Woodstock chant after they're done! lol

- (tune played at Woodstock, Soul Sacrifice?) Nice mix!! Timbale player using his elbows. Kid on timbales! Then to silence as the tune would normally crescendo. Carlos plays solo at the head of the stage. Then he brings it back up again into a heavy metal riff. Then to (?). Then to a church choir, as they pray. Then into another tune. Peace! Indeed. Carlos shakes the hands of the stage mix engineers as he goes off.

5:59 pm Vaucresson Sausage Co spot. Crawfish sausage! This guy can sing too.

Bonerama! The host previewed this by saying 'see some of the local entertainers or some such.' That's kinda what Jazz Fest should be about, isn't it? Sound problem. Can't hear the CD being used as backup. Elvis... The National Anthem. Done straight. Mostly.

- Crosstown Traffic. Craig has his reneworleans sticker on his horn.

- Hang up the phone and drive... This trying to be "heavy" with these power chords is tiresome.

- new: Hard Times. The dancing girls sure don't hurt! (Fan dancers wearing too much clothing.) The AT&T feed is loving it!

- Nice effect on this funky intro. Is this on their first album? Shake It Down? Shake my rugelator... Craig's singing is pretty weak. (Always?) Papa Grows Funk coming up next.

That's it for them. Not so great. Now wee see some scenes form the fest.

6:27 PM Papa Grows Funk
Nice outfit on the gtr-ist. Video still jerky, might be worse.

6:43 PM They cutaway from Gros and we see the host.

Neville Brothers. Quint intro. Live. AT&T director did the right thing, came in at the right time. Thank you.

- Indians on stage! Wild Tchopitoulas

- Meet De Boys On The Battlefront (gonna stomp some rump) Nice to see them dancing with the crowd behind them. Big Chief Jim Robinson? singing the verses.

- Fire On The Bayou

- Bass starts out. Must have put voodoo on me...

- Long Time Coming beautifully sung by Aaron. Nice!

- Tipitina! Yeah.

- latin beginning... Beasme Mucho, jeez. Nicely done though.

- Tell It Like It Is sung by Aaron. I hear women screaming in the background as this starts! Very nice.

- Carlos Santana comes onstage. Did I see the drummer just lose a drum stick? Had a new one in a second. That's My Blood Down There.

- Ain't No Use To Cut You Loose. Carlos is igniting the band!

- Brother Jake. Nice.

- Yellow Moon. Nice duet w/ gtr-ist

- Brother John Is Gone/Iko Iko (8pm NY time)

- Mean Willie Green starts out on the drums. unknown song/ When You Go To New Orleans? Nice dancing on stage! "Shake what your mama gave ya." " We all Nevilles", Quint after listing all the Neville family members on stage.

- Amazing Grace? Yes. (Sung by Aaron, of course.) One Love! Yes!!! w/ People Get Ready.

- Big Chief. w/ Trombone Shorty on trumpet... Killer drum solo.

Nice ending from Quint.

Stream hasn't gone out today! Video is jerky but it didn't stop. Audio good with a few exceptions. (This is SO much better than listening to WWOZ!!)

Jazz Fest video on AT&T, Sat 5/3

Overall: Stream audio is well mixed but two problems: audio is slightly out of sync with video, ahead of it! and phasing got bad towards the end. Video is freeze-framing here and there but it's so much better to see this stuff. And they've thrown in some features, my favorite being watching the second line with the New Wave Brass Band. They even added some acts that weren't on their schedule: Widespread Panic and Jimmy Buffett who was recorded that day!

Saturday, 5/4
AT&T webcast in the order they appeared (times are NY time)

Roddie Romero and the Hub City All-Stars! The audio on this is overmodulated. The stream stops. On restart I miss most of his set. Probably a buffering problem.

A piece on Muses.

Susan Cowsill
This is on 2:41 NY time. River Of Love.

Theresa Andersson Group!
Looking hot as usual.

Kim Carson
White trash. Another cover - Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here. Nice.

Jon Cleary!
- Tipitina, done with all the latin influences heard before.
- Zulu Strut
- It's All Over Now
- typical R&B played well but awfully repetitive.
- nice drum intro! nice gtr solo. What We Got, No Different Than What You Got. Good funk groove.

Good mixes so far w/ AT&T. Sounds good other than that one spot where it was distorting. Well directed and cameras are doing a good job.

Dr John! (everyone getting wet)
- Right Place, Wrong Time. Nice shot of keyboard and crowd! Very nostalgic for the pics of Jazz Fest I've seen from the 70s, black and white...
- Keep That Music Simple, funny.
- 'Let's get Shannon McNally's ass up here and do one of them Bobby Charles tunes.' lol. You can lose everything and you still have music. A song for the hurricane survivors. 'Give it up for her ass'.
- song about murders in New Orleans. Say What? Jab at Bush! Yea! "There's a whole lotta shit to be answered for." Hear, hear.
- I'm Qualified, comparing rich vs poor.

Voice of The Wetlands All-stars!
Quint intros them wearing an LSU shirt. LSU sucks! Sorry, I couldn't help myself. All stars indeed. The cream of the crop. Don't Let The Water Wash Us Away.
- Louisiana Sunshine. Another song to help people rebuild their lives. Disco beat?

Stream stops and restarts at beginning.

I get it to work again but I miss the next song.

They don't edit out the between-song wait.

- Dedicates this song to the people who are trying to move back to New Orleans. Sung by Jumpin' Johnny Sansonne. 'Insurance man nothing more than a big ball buster.' Good to hear these songs about how hard it's been. (AT&T has the wrong lower third up as Johnny sings. It's not Dr John playing anymore...) Bush and Haliburton and Blanco. Good song.

- Ain't Gonna Lose No More. (We Gonna Fight). A Mardi Gras Indian is on stage in pink. (Monk Boudreaux) Saving our wetlands in Iraq, we want our money back! Alright!

- Hold Em Joe? chant. The rain is coming down! They cut it short.

The subdudes!
.... What an honor to play after the Dixie Chicks, I mean Dixie Cups.
They are subdued. I always thought the name was more 'sub dudes' but it sure applies to their music now and then. Subdued. Subdued dudes? Sub ub ub...

- Lord you got to help me now... late at night. (ED problems?)

- '1972, the hippies came and rearranged our minds'! Love is a beautiful thing. A familiar tune. 'Leave the mud people alone.' (That's the year I came down there too.) Nice to hear this again.

Now they show a tent where Strum Sticks are sold. A non-musical host.

Zac Brown (on ahead of schedule)
- generic, boring country.
- hard rock w/fiddle and organ, then reggae. Who Knows. Into ska w/ fiddle then Allman Bros. Gtr and fiddle trading licks.
- 'right cheer', cracker for "right here." Whoa, an Irish riff?
- Opening for Etta James that night at the HOB. Talk about a mismatch. Another generic country tune. Just As Free As We'llo Ever Be. Then into Van Morrison's Into The Mystic. Funny, I was thinking he sounded similar to Van, except for the lyrics, phrasing, band, and talent. Then back into his song. "Though we don't have a lot of money, all we need is love." He's from GA.
- Lists his favorite things: ' cold beer on a Friday night, a pair of jeans that fit just right' All country cliches. Next! And he loves his mama. Give me a break. Thanks the soldiers for dying so he doesn't have to sacrifice. (Expletive edited out.)

Irma Thomas! (and the Professionals)
- It's Raining? I miss this.
- Ruler Of My Heart. Sounds like she's going to play the hits. Nothing wrong with that. Thanks the out-of-towners.
- unknown song. The horn players have got their little dance routine with Irma.
- If You Want It, Come And Get It...
- Soul Survivor
- Time Is On My Side
- I Just Got Over! complete w/ second line audience participation. And Iko Iko and Hey Pocky Way and then back into I Just Got Over. Thanks the audience for helping out the city again.

Stream stops then restarts back at the Voice of the Wetlands.

Wayne Toups! (long set)
Starts early. OK
- nice
- Leap Of Faith (hear some phasing throughout AT&T webcast)
- slow dance song
- some song about a train
- from a soundtrack...
- unknown song with bad audio problem (kind of like an echo/phasing problem)
- song in French, nice and long.
- unknown song
- another. Some nice jams. The Allman Brothers Blue Skies - ending.
- ending tune, phasing is bad at points. Phasing continues after tune ends.

Not on the schedule but it appeared anyway:
Widespread Panic, phasing is bad at times. It's adding it's own rhythm track.
Not much to this music. Gets better. "Sewing machine" is an important lyric, important enough to be repeated three times? This at least has a harder edge than whatever I'd heard Phish do.

Tim McGraw - which I could not watch. Awful stuff.

piece on soft shell crabs!

piece on second lining with the New Wave Brass Band!

(rec today!) Jimmy Buffet (w/ Sonny Landreth? Allen Toussaint comes in)
Is this a little lagniappe?
I am no Jimmy Buffett fan these days. I did like his Why Don't We Get Drunk And Screw days though. This stuff is music perfectly safe for an elevator near you.

- One Particular Harbor
- Ilo Ferreira, more elevator music
- fins song
- Ralph MacDonald on percussion! Brings Allen Toussaint on to do Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans. That was a jazz Fest moment? Pretty pitiful.

Looking forward to tomorrow.