On May 10, Smithsonian Folkways will release Jazz Fest: The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. The five-disc, 53-track box set will feature live recordings from 1974 through 2016 from the iconic music festival which turns 50 this year.
The set will cover the diversity of the music of Jazz Fest featuring everything from jazz to funk to hip-hop to Cajun and zydeco while putting an emphasis on highlighting local New Orleans artists. Trombone Shorty, Irma Thomas, Big Freedia, Professor Longhair, The Neville Brothers, Allen Toussaint, Dr. John, Kermit Ruffins, Terence Blanchard, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Champion Jack Dupree, Buckwheat Zydeco are among the artists that will appear on the massive set.
Jazz Fest: The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival will also include a 136-page book that will feature a series of essays about the history of the festival along with detailed notes on each song selection. The box set is currently available for pre-order now.
Listen to Trombone Shorty’s 2010 Jazz Fest version of “One Night Only (The March)” from the box set, which premiered via Rolling Stone:
