Daze Between New Orleans welcomed audiences back to Faubourg Brewery on Tuesday to kick off the third annual installment of the two-day festival between Jazz Fest weekends. While performances by Lettuce with guitarist John Scofield, The Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Krasno/Moore Project, and others dominated the stage, the common thread of the day was a a vibrant musical community both onstage and in the crowd that thrived off of the spirit of generosity.
Cool Cool Cool set the day’s theme during the band’s set early in the afternoon. Following a much-appreciated onstage shoutout from vocalist Shira Elias to Live For Live Music and all those involved in making the festival happen, the septet welcomed Portland piano man Swatkins to the main Daze Between Stage to help Shira and Sammi Garett belt out CCC’s “Gotta Give It Away”. The song’s hook, “You gotta give it away if you want to keep it,” may as well be the motto for Jazz Fest: Between the hundreds—if not thousands—of musicians who give out all their energy from the stage, the many more fans who dish out their love from the crowd, the promoters who book the shows to share in the music with everyone, the members of the fan community who contribute to the experience in myriad ways for the love of the game, and the hospitable locals who let us share in their paradise, Daze Between day one was all about giving it away.
One of the hallmarks of Daze Between New Orleans has always been its mix of influential local acts and notable touring artists from around the country. On Tuesday, Grammy-nominated Mardi Gras Indian funk unit The Rumble set a uniquely New Orleans tone as the festival’s opening act on the Jerry Garcia Wellness Stage. While the magnetic Chief Joseph Boudreaux Jr. led the charge in his traditional pink, feathered regalia, the power of this sextet as a unit was the biggest takeaway from the set. Each member of the band shined on their respective instrument when the time was right, but they sounded most impressive when they were all serving the groove in specific roles, whether that meant singing backing vocals, carving out deep pockets, or tagging into the rhythm section (each of the band’s six members played percussion at some point during the performance, often several of them at once).
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From the time gates opened to Lettuce’s final note, the music never stopped at Daze Between festival as acts switched off between the main Daze Between Stage and the Jerry Garcia Wellness stage on the opposite side of Faubourg Brewery’s lush grass campus, with Meyer Sound providing crisp audio all day. In addition to hosting performances on the Jerry Garcia Wellness Stage, the CBD company sold gummies and Garcia-themed artwork at their booth. Meanwhile, Reign Storm kept the festively dressed audience cool and lively in the hot sun by doling out free “clean energy” drinks and RePowerEco helped fans stay charged up and connected with their crews with portable chargers for sale in the Sponsor Village.
New Jersey jam upstart Dogs in a Pile made their Daze debut on the Jerry Garcia Wellness Stage, the band’s blend of swinging rock melodies providing some welcome stylistic diversity to a day filled with brass and funk. The band also served up a plate of red beans and rice via a cover of Ween‘s “Voodoo Lady”, a warm surprise to the Boognish’s many followers who were missing the band’s semi-annual run at the Orpheum Theatre this year (get well soon, Deaner). It isn’t New Orleans without a bit of the voodoo, and Dogs keyboardist Jeremy Kaplan channeled some Gene Ween energy for the faithfully executed cover.
Dogs In A Pile – Daze Between New Orleans 2024 – 4/30/24 – Preview
More local New Orleans luminaries followed on the Daze Between Stage next with seminal NOLA outfit Dirty Dozen Brass Band, a group that’s been giving its unique style of in-your-face brass funk away to audiences in the Crescent City and around the world since 1977. The Dirty Dozen—which currently does not have a dozen members—made sure to tip their caps to some other New Orleans staples with covers of The Meters‘ “Hey Pocky A-Way”, Dr. John‘s “Right Place, Wrong Time”,and more. Standing out there on the lawn of Faubourg with the sun shining high and music-lovers gathered together to enjoy some world-class talent, we were all in the right place at the right time.
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All day long, Purple Hat Productions founder, Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park staple, and Daze Between producer Paul Levine was giving away glowing introductions to each of the acts that performed. For his intro of the Krasno/Moore Project, Paul dubbed Galactic drummer Stanton Moore “The Crown Prince of New Orleans” ahead of his set with Soulive guitarist Eric Krasno and organist Joe Ashlar (who played in place of the trio’s usual organist, Eric Finland). Ashlar fully gave himself to the Kraz/Moore team, which last year issued its instrumental tribute to the ladies of music, Book of Queens. The trio dug into the disc on Tuesday with Amy Winehouse‘s “You Know I’m No Good”, H.E.R.‘s “Carried Away”, and more along with “Pot Licker” from Stanton’s new solo album, Groove Alchemy, released last week. The set came to a climax when the sun finally dipped over the horizon while the band turned in a moving cover of The Beatles‘ “Eleanor Rigby” borrowed from Kraz’s Soulive bag of tricks.
Finally, the main event arrived at 7:45 p.m. sharp when Lettuce took the Daze Between Stage. Paul Levine had some help in his intro from the founders of fellow Daze Between New Orleans producers Live For Live Music and GMP Live before bassist Erick “Jesus” Coomes dedicated the band’s performance and the entire festival to late Dumpstaphunk bassist Nick Daniels III who passed away last week following a lifetime of sharing his musical gift with audiences in New Orleans and across the country. Lettuce had been out on the West Coast performing a string of dates with Sco for the past week Tuesday marked the band’s first show of Jazz Fest 2024 and its first opportunity to properly honor Nick in his hometown.
Lettuce – Daze Between New Orleans 2024 – 4/30/24 – Preview
Charging out of the gate with “It’s Just Begun”, Lettuce hit the nail on the head at the top of the two-hour marathon set. The band enjoyed itself for a bit—especially on a clubby “Vámonos”—before guitarist Adam “Shmeeans” Smirnoff welcomed his “favorite guitarist in the world” to the stage and a paisley-clad Scofield strutting into view. Though he was of course the man of the hour, Scofield is also a consummate professional and a team player and donated his skills in service to the group as keyboardist Nigel Hall led a serene “Make it Better” (and he did).
But Scofield also got his time to shine, like on his own “Pick Hits”, as the bombastic funk gave way to cool acid jazz. The ensemble nodded to New Orleans legends The Meters with a “Hand Clapping Song” that got the appendages moving and hips gyrating. Scofield wasn’t the only special guest of the set, as Snarky Puppy/Ghost-Note drummer Robert “Sput” Searight slyly snuck onstage and took over Adam Deitch‘s drum kit mid-song for a quick solo on “The Flu” before relinquishing the hot seat. Saxophonist Cochemea, who had jumped in with Krasno/Moore Project earlier in the day, also got in on the action for a song. Nods to more classics followed, including a jam based around of Miles Davis‘ “Jean Pierre”, a subtle wink to Sco’s time playing with the birther of cool.
After nearly two hours of non-stop funk, Lettuce took a brief and well-deserved respite from the stage before returning for one more song. It all began where it started, with Lettuce again paying tribute to the late Nick Daniels by performing the song he wrote with Nigel Hall, “Everything Is Gonna Be Alright”, putting a cap on day one of Daze Between 2024.
Daze Between New Orleans 2024 continues today, Wednesday, May 1st at Faubourg Brewery (and the weather is looking fantastic). Tickets are available at the box office or via the festival website.
Daze Between New Orleans 2024 is set to close out with a guest-filled Gov’t Mule set featuring Scofield, Chuck Leavell, Ivan Neville, Karl Denson, The Dirty Dozen Brass Band, and Daniel Donato, along with sets by Galactic and Jelly Joseph, Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe, Daniel Donato’s Cosmic Country, Karina Rykman, and The Iceman Special. Can’t join us in New Orleans? Tune in to the broadcast on nugs, free to subscribers.
[Editor’s Note: Live For Live Music is a nugs affiliate. Ordering your nugs subscription or purchasing a download via the links on this page helps support our coverage of the world of live music. Thank you for reading!]
Check out photo galleries from Daze Between New Orleans 2024 day one below courtesy of Nick Langlois and Stephanie Parsley.
The post Daze Between 2024 Kicks Off With Lettuce & John Scofield, Dirty Dozen Brass Band, More [Photos/Videos] appeared first on L4LM.
