Nascent Trumpeters Blow, Besh Stands Up & Other JazzFest ’11 Daze Between Anecdotes

Posted: May 4th, 2011 | Filed under: Community, Culture, Music, Ruminations | No Comments »

Today has again dawned righteously. The horizon’s name is ROY G BIV.

Yesterday, apparently the only one that will have been less than stellar during my busman’s holiday, was less so. Cloudy. Windy. Cool.

As is my tradition, I jogged anyway — slowly, fitfully, but consistently — through the awakening Quarter.

On Royal, at the quiet end of the Vieux Carre, near Esplanade, there’s a community elementary school. As I trundled past, several youngsters — 4th, 5th, 6th graders??? — were practicing with their horns.

The unmistakable melancholy of “Harlem Nocturne” filled the air. Not the easiest of tunes. But hearing it confirmed yet again why music is what holds this fascinating burg together. It’s in the air. Literally. Figuratively. Indelibly.

New Orleans is surely the only town in our land where playing in the school band is the highest honor.

This is a piano town. This is a trumpet town.

It’s why the guys who make “Treme” are true to their vow of discovering the heart of the city. Every episode is filled with tunes.

Here, music is more than soundtrack.

It is sustenance.

* * * * *

They also like to eat down here.

Restaurateuring is the one endeavor one might argue is as strong an ambition as evolving into the next Satchmo. It ain’t quite so, but there are loads of good places to eat amazing meals.

John Besh is the current King of the Hop. Restaurant August. Domenica. Luke. American Sector.

My krewe ate at Domenica in the elegantly restored Roosevelt Hotel on Sunday night. My appetizer of wood fired sardines was fine. So too the Pizza Eno (anchovies, tomatoes, garlic and mortadello) we shared at the table, and my entree of branzino.

Other’s meals were less than satisfying, the service a bit sketchy. (Fine dining here during JazzFest suffers from the same syndrome as fine dining in Louisville during Derby.)

So, a friend emailed John Besh through his web site, constructively, at length and in detail, criticizing the experience. Within hours my pal received an email response, then a phone call, from Alon Shaya, the chef and Besh’s partner in the venture. Later in the day, another missive came from Besh himself.

Professionals both, they expressed legitimate appreciation for the salient observations, apologized for the flaws, and promised our whole gang a chance to make it up . . . on them.

So, last night I slipped over to Luke, for a quick repast. The bacon/ oyster/ avocaco salad was sublime, topping even the oyster/ bacon sandwich, the featured dish at Cochon here, one the NY Times Top 10 new eateries.

Music. Food. Friends. Life is good.

* * * * *

Most of yesterday, I spent checking out eastern New Orleans and the near Gulf coast in Mississippi.

Driving out of New Orleans, up Elysian Fields, then on Gentilly which morphs into Chef Menteur Highway (US 90), I was again struck by what a diverse town this is, not all trolley cars and elegant homes with immaculately kept yards.

I crossed the infamous Industrial Canal through areas of town where Hispanics reign, and Vietnamese reign, home to scorched, barren tracts where industry holds forth. It is the yin to the romantic yang of Satchmo and Storyville.

Bay St. Louis and Pass Christian were the epicenter of Katrina’s arrival on land. There are definite signs of life, but it is still springtime of the recovery.

Lots of empty acreage along the coast. The foliage-depleted areas are dotted with concrete slabs where buildings once stood. Woodrow Wilson’s summer White House withstood the storm. It and others like it are the exceptions not the rule.

There is the aroma of fresh 2x6s and paint in the air, the sound of nails being hammered.

Most residents, enamored of the casual beach culture, have returned. Many who came to help them recover, stayed.

If Haley Barbour talks of a new dawn along the Mississippi coast, he’s not just politicizing. It’s real and encouraging.

* * * * *

Tomorrow, the final four day run of JazzFest ’11 commences.

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