JazzFest Finale: A Joycean Rejoicing

With apologies to James Joyce who never went to JazzFest or if he did never wrote about it I must wax on breathlessly and without any impediments like punctuation or paragraphs because the weather report for Sunday in New Orleans said it was going to rain real hard and rain for a long long time so my krewe had to decide if we would go out or enjoy some of New Orleans other attractions indoors and if so when but we’re all stalwarts and properly goretexed against the elements so we made it to the Fairgrounds in time for Sierra Leone’s Refugee All-Stars who are just as the name implies meting at such a camp yet make lovely and sometimes strident music having just cut an album in New Orleans aided by a couple of guys from Bonearama who were introduced with the question you’re probably wondering who these white boys which caused a laugh but underscored how music is cross-pollinated in the Crescent City proven yet againr as maybe a hundred yards away from that Congo Square stage on the Heritage Stage we heard sounds from half a world from Africa provided by Chouval Bwa  from Martinique which band’s music is sweet and tropical but then the real fun began with R & B songstress Irma Thomas who was on her considerable game and who the Film Babe says has a voice like puddin’ as she taunted with her famous You Can Have My Husband But Please Don’t Mess With My Man and got folks on their feet at the Acura Stage with Break Away and some Second Line struts which were the order of this day again during the Neville Brothers traditional set to end the festival which was not their best but loose and engaging and indeed their most endearing as all sorts of family members generations apart joined them on stage for such fare as a hip hop version of Hercules which is what maybe a half century old or so plus the time honored finale with brother Aaron singing Amazing Grace as only he can followed by One Love and People Get Ready and those who stayed in the muck and mist left sated but not as wet as expected because the rains held off for the most part except during the extraordinary group of songs between Thomas and the Nevilles by Van Morrison an Irishman of equal genius to Joyce who was feeling the spirit especially during his version of an old New Orleans tune St. James Infirmary and his closer Ballerina and as we reluctantly left JazzFest for another year I thought back on the amazing music I’d heard from the above and Jeff Beck and Henry Butler and The Subdudes and John Mooney and the New Orleans Klezmer All-Stars and the Johnson Extension and Gipsy Kings and Marcia Ball and Dr. John and Voice of the Wetlands All-Stars as well as a bunch of other I can’t even remember at this moment knowing in my heart there’s nothing like a holiday in New Orleans with friends and the only love of my life and the joy and serenity that comes from hearing music from around the globe as well as the epicenter of it all New Orleans and the coup de grace that was Van Morrison in the rain with my sugar baby by my side