New Orleans Jazz Orchestra SONGS The renowned
New Orleans Jazz Orchestra reflects on the wide-ranging influence of the Big
Easy's own Allen Toussaint, the legendary composer, singer, pianist, and
producer, with the March 29 digital release of Songs: The Music of Allen
Toussaint on Storyville Records (physical release is set for April 19). The
album features six songs by Toussaint and one associated with him, as well as
two original tribute pieces. It also marks the NOJO leadership debut of
drummer/artistic director Adonis Rose, who assumed the mantle in 2016 to
navigate the 18-piece orchestra out of the troubled waters surrounding its
now-departed founder.
Toussaint,
who passed away in 2015, left his deepest footprints in R&B and rock 'n'
roll. However, he was also a major figure in the development of New Orleans
funk; resonated in country music (by way of Glen Campbell's smash hit cover of
"Southern Nights"); and, of course, was steeped in jazz. "[It]
was in his blood," Rose says. "There's always some connection to
jazz: When you're from New Orleans, there's no way around it."
When
frequent NOJO collaborator Dee Dee Bridgewater remarked that she'd never heard
a big band take on Toussaint's music, Rose was instantly inspired. "I
said, 'You know what? Yes. That's a great idea. Let's dig into this and make it
happen!'" he says.
The results
honor not only Toussaint, but the broader musical culture of his hometown. The
iconic "Working in the Coal Mine" does not feature a singer, but the
band members make New Orleans shouts out of its well-known lyrics.
"Southern Nights" takes on a brass-band street groove, while
"Java," a Toussaint-penned 1963 instrumental hit for trumpeter Al
Hirt, retains and even amplifies the original record's raucous second-line
feel. New Orleanian percussionist Gerald French contributes the original
"Gert Town," which he flavors with the music of Mardi Gras Indians.
Toussaint's
ballads get attention, too, with help from a powerhouse set of vocalists.
Bridgewater brings her vitality to the beautiful "It's Raining" and
"With You in Mind," the latter in a duet performance with New Orleans
vocalist Philip Manuel. The rhythm & blues staple "Ruler of My
Heart" takes on new majesty at the hands of Nayo Jones, NOJO's house
vocalist -- and a newly swinging energy in its second half, thanks to Rose and
the orchestra.
Adonis Rose
Adonis Rose was born January 11, 1975, in New Orleans, the scion of a musical
family. He began playing drums at 3 years old, following in his father and
grandfather's footsteps, and as a teenager became enamored with the music of
fellow New Orleanians Wynton and Branford Marsalis -- with whose father, Ellis,
Adonis studied at New Orleans Center for Creative Arts (NOCCA).
Rose won a
prestigious presidential scholarship to Berklee College of Music in Boston;
just afterward, however, Terence Blanchard called and invited him to tour.
"So two days after my high school graduation I went out on the road with
Terence. That was my first gig," he recalls. He continued to get work with
Betty Carter, Marlon Jordan, and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, ultimately
dropping out of Berklee to go on the road and make a home in New Orleans.
In 2002,
Rose became the founding drummer for the nonprofit, Grammy-winning New Orleans
Jazz Orchestra (NOJO), the only institution in jazz's birthplace that is
committed solely to the music's development. He maintained that position even
after moving to Fort Worth, Texas, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, where he
taught at the University of Texas at Arlington and established the Fort Worth
Jazz Orchestra. Rose moved back to the Crescent City in 2015, by which time NOJO
was his steadiest gig -- soon to be his full-time one.
For all its
uplift of Allen Toussaint and of New Orleans, Songs is also a personal triumph
for Rose. Following the controversial departure of founder Irvin Mayfield from
NOJO and its subsequent loss of institutional support, he set himself to the
fearsome task of rebuilding the orchestra while keeping its sterling musical
reputation intact. He succeeded.
"Almost
all of our shows since we started back have sold out," he says. "All
of the band members, every single last one of them, came back. The musicians
who built this organization, put it on their backs night after night, those are
the ones that are doing it again now, along with me." Songs thus stands as
a monument to Rose's accomplishment.
The
orchestra will be performing a CD release show at its home base, the New
Orleans Jazz Market, on Fri. 3/29, with other shows at the same venue to follow
on Fri. 5/3 (a tribute to Whitney Houston) and Thurs. 6/6 (a tribute to
Prince). NOJO is scheduled to perform at the Exit Zero Jazz Festival, Cape May,
NJ, 4/13; the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival 4/28; the St. Lucia Jazz
Festival 5/8-10 (the NOJO 7,with guest vocalist Ledisi); the Ascona Jazz
Festival, Switzerland 6/18-30 (in various configurations); and the Detroit Jazz
Festival 9/1 (with guest vocalist Dee Dee Bridgewater). NOJO will head to New
York later this year for a two-night stand at Jazz at Lincoln Center's Appel
Room (12/13-14, with guest vocalist René Marie). Rose, who has also recently
been performing with vocalist Kurt Elling's band, is already planning future
recording projects with the orchestra, including one with vocalist Ledisi and a
Brazilian-themed album. "With a new recording project, touring schedule,
and new leadership," says Rose, "the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra is
poised for success and committed to spreading our music around the world."
