My first appearance on stage in New Orleans

The working title of this entry was: "My debut as a blues poet"

This year, with July 4 falling on a Monday, our factory found itself in the enviable position of being able to basically shut down for a week. Since that meant we could travel with little or no impact on my vacation hours total, Mrs. S and I decided to take a road trip. Then, when she found a great rate on a fancy, famous, landmark hotel in New Orleans, The Roosevelt, our destination was decided. One night of fireworks, half day poker tournament, three days of good food, and infinity of heat and humidity in the land of jazz was what we had in mind, and what we got.

Before the action: Make sure the stage looks nice for my NOLA debut

I won’t go into all the details of the food. We spent a lot, ate a lot, and thoroughly enjoyed everything. Even a travel day breakfast of southern fare at the Ruby Slipper was good. The fireworks over the Mississippi River were, well, average, but it had been a while since I had seen a professional level fireworks show, so even having to stand for an hour to hold a spot for the twenty-minute display seemed worth it in the end. The poker tournament, the first I played in like, I don’t know, five years, almost ended well, too. I finished fifth out of 26 players, but that was one out of the money. Just a few different cards, a few more calls, a few faster folds, and I’d’ve cashed.

On the last night, the eve of Mrs. S’s birthday, we got a front row table at Irvin Mayfield’s to see the Grammy award winner himself. He was appearing with what I guess is his sextet, with a phenomenal, sax player named “Choo-Choo” and a newly married trombone player with incredible chops, TJ Norris. I believe the drummer was the indefatigable Adonis Rose, but I’m not sure. Anyway, they were good.

 

Irvin does his thing

At one point in the show, Irvin brought up some famous poets who were in the audience, and they regaled us with some of their works over a slow blues riff that the band kept swinging. Then, he had one of the audience who was not a poet, who earlier in the show had commented about being married for 48 years and Irvin thought he would be a good candidate to talk over the blues. He said something about how happy he was, and got a warm reaction from the crown. Then Irvin asked for somebody to come up (I raised my hand) who was “unhappily married”. I lowered my hand. He asked for anybody, but nobody was forthcoming. I said, let me have a go. He looked at me kind of funny and said, “Come on up.”

I was not lying. That's me, on stage, at Irvin Mayfield's Playhouse.

I have little recollection of what I said while I was on stage, except for when Irvin tried to get me off stage by saying, “This isn’t working!”. I stated firmly into the microphone, “I’m trying to do the blues, Irvin! Did I not say I lost a poker tournament?” This got a good reaction from the crowd and enabled me to sort of rap a little rhyme that I masterfully ended in rhythm with the blues riff. I got a very appreciative round of applause from the crowd, and the saxophone player gave me a warm congratulatory handshake. As I made my way back to my seat, Irvin grabbed the mic and said, “White guy’s got some skills!”

Mrs. S, Irvin Mayfield, and the best improvisational blues poet wearing a gray shirt that night

After the show, I chatted with Irvin a little bit and he held still for some photos. He’s a very nice guy and a consummate musician. (Honestly, I don’t know how this guy isn’t more well-known. He’s tremendous.) Both Mrs. S and I commented about him not selling his CD’s at the show. We decided that he’s above that level. He’s one of the few who is truly keeping jazz alive and in the forefront. All that said, his show was terrific and we really enjoyed it, which says more about the power of jazz than anything else.

Although this wasn’t our first time to visit Irvin’s Playhouse, this was our first time to meet Irvin. Hopefully, this wasn’t our last time to do either of those.

Hanging in NOLA – Travel Log – Part Deux

There’s never a shortage of live music in New Orleans, however, finding the kind of live music or the artist that inspires you is not always easy. Thankfully, Mrs. S’s forte is figuring out what’s going on, finding what we are interested in, and then telling me so we can work on the logistics together. One of our favorite places to go is Snug Harbor, but the lineup for the three night we were there was not that attractive. Making things more difficult was the fact that we had reservations at three swanky places over the three nights, so logistics was going to be more of a challenge in any event. But Mrs. S found that Jason and Ellis Marsalis were performing at Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse, just a stone’s throw from our hotel, and starting at 8PM on a night when we had a 5:30 dinner reservation just ten minutes or so down the road. She even put our name on the guest list and told them to keep something down front available for us.

Piano mediocrity meets piano greatness (again): Me and Ellis Marsalis

After a fantastic dinner at August, we made our way to the club, where to our dismay and trepidation, they were turning people away at the door. No worries. As two couples did their about face, I told the woman at the door that we were on the list, gave her our name, and she smiled brightly and said, “Right this way.” She showed us a cushy table with padded seats and generous area, but right in front of that was a tiny table barely large enough for two drinks and two chairs on either side. I asked if we could sit there and she said sure. And there we were again, in the best seats in the house: front row.

The view from behind our table: That's our table right in front of the piano there.

Turns out our table was also right next to the Messrs. Marsalis’ table, so I went ahead and shook the elder Marsalis’ hand and had our picture taken prior to the show. The show was a captivating program of Christmas music, with Jason on vibes and his father playing piano (obviously), though Jason of course got behind his trap set for their rousing version of Little Drummer Boy. I don’t know if it was part of the act or what, but every tune, Jason announced as if nobody in the place had heard Christmas music before. It was really kind of laughable to hear somebody , in a deadpan serious voice, go, “That was a tune called ‘Santa Claus is Coming to Town’. Now, here’s ‘Away in a Manger’.” Thanks, Jason. What was amazing was Jason would grab their CD, look at the back, call out a tune and a key signature, and Ellis would kick it off and away they went. Again, not sure it was part of the act, or what. The show was somewhat disrupted by a table of four in the front on the other side of the stage, who were yelling, laughing, and carrying on, and who had no idea who the Marsalis’s were. I wanted to tell them to shut up, but I figured if Jason wasn't bothered by them, neither would I be.

Drummer vibraphonist meets pianist vibraphonist (someday): Jason Marsalis and me.

The night ended paying $20 for a $10 CD so we could get it signed and have some more photos taken with the Marsalises, so it ended up being a night worth remembering in a lot of different ways. Hopefully Mrs. S can keep her concert going radar up and running during future trips to the Big Easy.