Tag: Ivan Neville

VIDEOS: Dumpstaphunk Jazz Fest 2011 Tour de NOLA

“Sleep is NOT overrated!” I once heard Ivan Neville exclaim between songs at a late night Maple Leaf gig. He should know, as one of the hardest working musicians in New Orleans during Jazz Fest week. (It’s usually a competition between him, George Porter Jr. & Stanton Moore as to who does the most gigs in that 10 day period.) For Jazz Fest 2011, Ivan did at least 9 gigs (if not more) during the second weekend, 3 of which were with Dumpstaphunk.

Gasman Chronicles > Do Ya > Deeper:

On Thursday, May 5th, Dumpstaphunk opened for Soulive & Lettuce at the Royal Family Ball at the Contemporary Arts Center. My pal Theo showed up and set up his audio recording equipment dead center, about 20 feet from the front rail (much closer than FOB). I clamped my video camera to the side of his mic stand, zoomed it in tight and just let it roll for the entire set. Here, I present 45 minutes of highlights from their 70 minute set. Note the rare cover of The Isley Brothers’ “Fight The Power” as the set closer.

Lt. Dan, Put It In The Dumpsta, Everybody Want Sum, Fight The Power:

The day before, on Wednesday, May 4th, Dumpstaphunk played an afternoon in-store performance at the Louisiana Music Factory record store on Decatur Street. This is an interesting set because Ivan is playing Joe Krown’s organ and without clavinet. Here is the full 35 minute set:

01. Everybody Want Sum – Do Ya:

02. Oughta Know Better:

03. Gasman Chronicles – Deeper (part 1/2):

04. Deeper (part 2/2):

On Sunday, May 9th, Dumpstaphunk closed down the week’s festivities late night at Tipitina’s for the 5th year in a row. The highlight for me was the unexpected James Brown cover, The Payback, sung by Nick Daniels. I didn’t shoot this video (I was too enthralled in the front row), but I sure am glad that my friend Chris Rogers was holding up his flash video recorder. Now I can relive one of my favorite moments from Jazz Fest 2011, as drummer Raymond Weber gives us those “hits” we so desperately need.

The Payback (James Brown cover):

BTW, this was a crosspost with Live Music Blog: NOLA. Definitely check them out to keep up to date with the New Orleans music scene!

Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe – Cinco De Mayo Celebration 2011 Late Night at Tipitina’s

SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEOS!

Talk about a party! Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe had Tipitina’s rocking from 2am to 5:30am on a Thursday night / Friday morning. We were in New Orleans after all, it was 2nd weekend of Jazz Fest and it was Cinco De Mayo! Well, it wasn’t actually Cinco De Mayo anymore as it was Friday morning by the time they started, but try telling that to the Professor Longhair bust in the Tipitina’s foyer: he was a sporting a huge sombrero all night!

This show had an insane amount of guests: Terence Higgins on a 2nd drum kit for the entire show, Ivan Neville, Eric McFadden, Nigel Hall, Tony Hall, Marco Benevento, Steve Molitz, Mike Dillon, Nikki Glaspie, The Shady Horns, Maurice Brown, Mark Mullins, etc… The most surprising guest was American Idol Taylor Hicks who demonstrated his harmonica skills on a wacky (at least it seemed wacky to me) cover of Wall of Voodoo’s “Mexican Radio”!

The full 3 hour audio recording is available to stream or download at Live Music Archive or to download via torrent at etree.

A big thanks goes out to Cosmicsoul420 for recording this audio and allowing me to use it on these videos.

This first video is a slamming cover of a Cold War Kids song that really shows the grittier side of Karl D’s voice. I can’t get this one out of my head, especially the a capella ending. Just feel that intro riff Chris Stillwell lays down on bass.

The second video is a Los Lobos cover that features Ivan Neville on organ & Eric McFadden ripping an acoustic-electric guitar like I’ve never seen.

This third video also features Ivan Neville & Eric McFadden, but don’t forget that Terence Higgins is guesting the whole show on that 2nd drum kit. This tune, Satisfied, really allows the dual drummers to show off a little with a drum breakdown near the end. We also find Karl D playing “more cowbell,” as well as a lengthy flute solo in the middle.

The fourth and final video features 8 horn players, Nikki Glaspie (Beyonce’s drummer) on one of the drum kits and Steve Molitz from Particle on organ. The horn players, in order of their solos are: Chris Littlefield on trumpet, Rashawn Ross on trumpet, Sam Kinninger on alto sax, Maurice Brown on trumpet & Ryan Zoidis on tenor sax. The video cuts here because my hand was too tired to record any longer, but the tune ended with an organ solo by Steve Molitz, a big horn blowout by everyone and a short Karl Denson sax solo. Two other horn players are present but don’t solo: Mark Mullins on trombone & Anthony Reed on sax. Of all of those horns, Maurice Brown’s solo really stands out for me.



Thanks goes out to Marc Millman Photography for the use of his images.
His site has some great image galleries, so check it out.

George Porter Jr, Ivan Neville, Johnny Vidacovich & June Yamagishi – Late Night at the Maple Leaf – Jazz Fest 2011

At the risk of making this blog too NOLA-centric, the next few posts will feature Jazz Fest related content. While I was in New Orleans for the 2nd weekend of Jazz Fest I shot around 9 hours of video footage in the span of only four nights. As that footage makes its way to youtube I’ll be posting it here.

First I’ll point out that a stellar audio recording of this show can be downloaded here: http://bt.etree.org/details.php?id=544956. (or 24bit for you audiophiles: http://bt.etree.org/details.php?id=545006)The rest of this blog entry will feature 5 videos, comprising about 67 minutes of footage from this two and a half hour show.

The first night after we arrived, I went straight to the Maple Leaf for a unique lineup that’s been over 2 years in the making (thanks to Deborah Vidacovich for the booking efforts, and the cookies). As some of you may know, Johnny Vidavovich (the legendary New Orleans drummer) has a weekly gig at the Maple Leaf on Thursday nights billed as “the Trio”. Although the gig doesn’t always consist of only 3 players, it almost always consists of the Johnny Vidacovich / George Porter Jr rhythm section. One of the most usual third players is June Yamagishi, guitarist for Papa Grows Funk. In fact, this Trio configuration has actually released a live album that you might want to check out: We Came To Play.

On this particular night, George, Johnny & June were joined by heavyweight Ivan Neville. Ivan’s barebones rig preference, like John Medeski, is a Hammond B-3 organ and Leslie speaker coupled with a clavinet. When Ivan comes to the Maple Leaf, he comes to bring it, and this night his chops were as deep as I’ve ever witnessed.

The night opened right up with some greasy funk improvisation until George broke a bass string. [about 5.5 minutes into the video located below] As he re-strung, Ivan & June locked into a nasty groove. That groove began to build up higher and higher until [about 10 minutes into the video] George releases all of the energy in the room and opens up the second weekend right, belting out the opening lines to “Let The Good Times Roll.” Then June let’s loose a straight fire guitar solo. Yeah, You Right.

This next video includes 4 tunes, beginning with a cover of the Jessie Hill classic “Ooh Poo Pah Doo,” which segues into another New Orleans classic “Don’t You Just Know It” by Huey Piano Smith. Then Ivan drops right into the “Cabbage Alley” organ riff, which really allows Johnny to show off his second-line drum rhythms. Johnny’s second line will have you mesmerized as they segue into another groove that George turns into a swampy version of Wilson Pickett’s “In The Midnight Hour.” Quite a first set, and captured from the perfect vantage point in the front row.

The second set began with more improvisation, which quickly turned into a cover of the Billy Preston tune, “Will It Go Round In Circles.” See the next video to watch Ivan get a little gospel with it.

Unexpectedly, Corey Glover, the singer for Living Colour (and more recently, Galactic), jumped on stage for a riveting cover of the Temptations’ mind-bender, “Papa Was A Rolling Stone”! There isn’t much else to be said, so just watch/listen to it!

This final video begins with Ivan leading the crowd on a sing-along through Prince’s “Little Red Corvette.” This moves into another very unexpected selection, “Come Back Jack” an unreleased tune by Leo Nocentelli, original guitarist for The Meters. That then turns into a song that I had hoped to hear, a tune that Ivan & George tend to bust out when they play together at the Maple Leaf, the Tami Lynn classic made famous by the Neville Brothers, “Mojo Hannah.”

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