On Oscar night in 1978, while Annie Hall swept four Academy Awards — including Best Picture — Woody Allen was across the country, clarinet in hand, playing New Orleans jazz at Michael’s Pub in Manhattan. That lifelong devotion to the music would evolve into a storied Café Carlyle residency that lasted more than two decades, featuring a band of world-class players like Zambian-born, Grammy-winning pianist Conal Fowkes and Australian trumpeter Simon Wettenhall.
Now, that spirit lives on in the High Society New Orleans Jazz Band, co-led by Fowkes and Wettenhall, who’ve brought their jubilant energy and reverence for tradition to a weekly Thursday night residency at Birdland since March 2024. Their debut on Turtle Bay Records, Live at Birdland, recorded August 22 and 29, captures the band’s electrifying interplay, heartfelt swing, and unfiltered joy.
The group — Fowkes, Wettenhall, Harvey Tibbs (trombone), Tom Abbott (clarinet), Kevin Dorn (drums), Brian Nalepka (bass), and Josh Dunn (banjo and guitar) — channels the spontaneous, communal energy of old-school New Orleans jazz. They don’t use written charts, relying instead on intuition and shared pulse. “They are living and breathing as one,” wrote jazz historian Chip Deffaa, praising their “terrific ensemble sound” and “organic feel,” calling them “essentially Woody Allen’s band, without Woody Allen.”
The band’s collective resume reads like a who’s who of classic jazz revivalists — many have appeared in Allen’s films, from Sweet and Lowdown and Midnight in Paris to Blue Jasmine and Café Society. But on Live at Birdland, the spotlight is fully theirs.
After a brief “Introduction,” the band opens with a New Orleans funeral-style medley of “Flee as a Bird” and “Oh Didn’t He Ramble,” shifting from mournful procession to full-on street-party jubilation. “In a nutshell,” says Fowkes, “this beautiful hymn followed by all the exuberance says a lot about the breadth of emotion in New Orleans music.” That breadth carries through the record, from the joyful romp of “Here Comes the Hot Tamale Man” to the blues-soaked “Dallas Blues,” where Wettenhall’s vocals and horn lead anchor a powerful statement of longing and movement.
The set hits its stride on “Ace in the Hole,” a good-humored jam packed with blazing solos, and “Shreveport Stomp,” their fiery nod to Jelly Roll Morton that lets Fowkes cut loose on piano while the horns and drums trade call-and-response lines. The mood shifts with “Say Si Si,” a charming Cuban classic sung by Fowkes that highlights the Caribbean roots running through New Orleans jazz.
Of course, no show would be complete without “High Society” — the band’s namesake tune and an enduring jazz anthem first recorded in 1911. Their version is a barn burner, driven by Abbott’s clarinet fireworks and Dunn’s snappy banjo. They close the album with “When I Leave the World Behind,” an Irving Berlin gem sung by Nalepka. It’s a clever, heartfelt reflection on legacy and remembrance — and, as Wettenhall jokes, “it ended up being the perfect farewell for the album too.”
From start to finish, Live at Birdland is a vibrant, joyous celebration — not just of New Orleans jazz, but of the living, breathing conversation that keeps it alive. Fowkes, Wettenhall, and company don’t simply preserve a tradition — they inhabit it, transforming Birdland into a modern-day Frenchmen Street.
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