All that was missing was oysters on the half shell (well, actually, the Bowl IS a half shell, so there you go!) during the nearly 3 hour musical celebration of sounds from The Crescent City. Interestingly, the only style that was missing was traditional NO jazz, but that’s another story. ..
The show started off with some exciting Cajun-styled tunes from Roddie Romero, straight from Lafayette, LA. The quintet of Romero/g-acc, Eric Adcock/p-B3, Chris French/b, Chad Viator/g and Gary Usie pulled out all the stops on stomping Zydeco 2 steppers like “Zydeco Cha Cha” and “Allons a grand Coteau.” The mix of B3 and accordion evoked images of an emphysemacs convention, while struttin’ tunes like “Walkin’ to New Orleans” got the crowd in a festive mood, with images of Clifton Chenier and Fats Domino filling each note.
Trombone Shorty’s band turned around on the stage, and told someone to turn the volume up to 11, as the sound was loud enough to drown out an indoor shooting range of AK47s. The band of Mike ballard/b, Tim McFatter/ts, Dan Destreicher/bs, Pete Murano/g and Joey Peebles/dr had a funk feel that seemed like what Tower of Power would be if they lived in the Bayou. Songs like “Slippery Lips” and “Craziest Things” had a swagger to them, and Shorty’s got MEGA chops, as he amply displayed. His voice has an attractive earthiness as well, giving a heady swagger to “I Got A Woman,” but scores of autos had their alarms go off in the parking lot due to the ear shattering volume. Ear plugs, anyone?
The Neville Brothers got together for a final farewell tour, and they sounded as warm and inviting as fresh red beans and rice. Aaron’s voice was tender on “She’s A Lady,” and Charles’ tenor was smoking on the jam sessions. They were able to create a festive mood with classics like “Tipitina” that turn into incessant grooves, as well as “Fire On The Bayou,” with a looseness that can only come from the land of moss hanging from the sycamore trees. It’s hard to keep still with the exciting back beat of “Hey Pocky Way” which infuses earthy rhythms with those patented velvety voices that will soon and surely be missed.