eddiebo
On Thursday, May 4, 2006 at DBA on Frenchman St., in New Orleans, La., just as the second weekend of Jazz Fest was kicking off, Fog City Records presented ' An Evening with Eddie Bo, Papa Mali, Kirk Joseph and Robb Kidd ' as part 2 of their 10th Anniversary celebrations.
Folks, I gotta tell you - I have had many, many amazing adventures and numerous highlights throughout my 30 plus years of musical travels. I have collaborated with legends, heroes and leading lights in every genre that has captured my hungry ear and I have had the extreme pleasure to stand, in awe and on stage, with many giants in their respective fields.
But playing, singing and just hanging out with Eddie Bo has set a new standard of funky elegance and down-home genius, roots authority and sweet inspiration!
Big shout out to Dan Prothero for making it happen and especially to all of you who attended - give yourself a righteous soul-clap for knowing a good thing when you see it! Thanks largely to your insider instincts, and your sly way of putting the word out on the street, the show was a massive success on many levels - not the least of which was musical!
After a couple of warm up tunes with me, Kirk and Robbie... it was STAR TIME! Eddie was clearly in his element from the moment he stepped on stage, and when he reached into his big bag of R&B chestnuts, soul classics and funky miracles, the capacity crowd simply surrendered to the groove and let it all hang out!
" Check Your Bucket ", " The Hook and Sling" and "Check Mr. Popeye" all elicited whoops and hollers from the mostly young crowd, many of whom were seeing this legendary performer in person for the first time.
But it was somewhere during the nearly 15 minute version of Ray Charles' "What'd I Say" that I felt one of those rare, magical moments - where band, song, venue and audience became one pulsating, gyrating, swaying, undulating, heaving, breathing mass of sweat, sex and rhythm! I swear, it felt as though the floorboards, walls and ceiling in the historic, divided shotgun-style room were moving in and out in time with Kirk Joseph's always deep and funky sousaphone lines!
Meanwhile, Eddie - a very young seventy-something master of the piano and singer extraordinaire - is still a ladykiller, as evidenced by the line of beautiful girls passing their phone numbers onto the bandstand! Some things never change, and something tells me that this is all in a day's work for Eddie Bo. Too cool to fade, the man got no choice but to burn brightly!
And, as if that weren't enough, a guest appearance by my good friend Big Chief Monk Boudreaux of The Golden Eagles, did the seemingly impossible feat of taking it up another couple of notches! It was clear by the look on Eddie's face when Monk walked in the backstage area before showtime that these two go waaaaaay back and enjoy a long-standing simpatico. And when Monk hit the stage, these two masters smiled knowingly at one another as if to say : "OK...you want some of this? Come and get it!"
Earlier, Monk had invited me to play with him and The Golden Eagles the following day on the Congo Square stage ( see photo below ). I am always honored and humbled to share the stage with The Big Chief , but it was especially rich to share in the tradition, history and visual splendor of their Jazz Fest '06 fairgrounds performance, where they pulled out all the stops and mesmerized the huge crowd with material that was ancient, timely, thought-provoking and profoundly emotional in this post-Katrina environment. Many historians and musicologists have rightly observed that the cultural contributions of the Mardi Gras Indians (as well as the social and pleasure clubs) have always set the trends, pointed the future and been the heartbeat and pulse of New Orleans. If Big Chief Monk Boudreaux and the Golden Eagles are any indication, then watchout world! Because the real-deal, nitty gritty soul of New Orleans is coming back with a vengeance...and all the hell, high water and land-grabbing developers in Babylon, D.C. can't stop it !
There were so many musical high points at this year's Jazz Fest! Galactic just gets better every time I see them, which is no easy feat, let me tell you! These guys have really been good friends to me, too, and earned my respect a long time ago...always giving props to their influences and eager to share the spotlight with the musicians who have inspired them. During their blazing set at Tipitina's annual 'Instruments-A-Coming' fundraiser, they called me up to join in on guitar as they proceeded to pay tribute to Monk and Bo Dollis ( who had just minutes before been honored with a Tip's sidewalk 'star of fame'). So there I was, onstage at Tipitina's with Galactic, Big Chiefs Bo Dollis and Donald Harrison, Leo Nocentelli, Henry Butler and the amazing, teenage Troy 'Trombone Shorty' Andrews...playing - what else? - the late Earl King anthem "Big Chief"!
I could've died right then and there - Lord knows, I was already in heaven! Thanks, fellas!
But thank goodness I didn't pass on quite yet, as I would have missed my own fete', 'Papa Mali's Second Annual Stoned Soul Picnic' , which was a smash success and featured The Soul Rebels Brass Band, Henry Butler, Big Chief Monk Boudreaux, Kirk Joseph, my own Papa Mali Trio ( featuring Robb Kidd drums, Kevin T. White bass ) and surprise appearances by Big Sam ( phenomenal! ), Maurice Brown, Gary Brown, Harold Wilson and Smokey Greenwell (WAR) and Marc Stone. The music started at 11pm and went until 7am without a break! Thanks to the Blue Nile on Frenchman St. for hosting this event and my manager, Brandon Mann for helping to organize everything(on my birthday, no less)! Nicely done!
Over the 10 days I spent in New Orleans I also had nice musical sit-ins with friends The Radiators, David Egan, Anders Osborne, Tim Green, Eric Bolivar, John Gros and Ivan Neville. I had lovely visits with old friends Kevin O'Day, George Porter Jr., Keith Abel ( thanks for the hospitality, buddy), Zigaboo Modeliste, Flavorman and many more...and of course I ate like a king everyday.
Well I better get going. I got to finish Ruthie Foster's record before hitting the road for a summer full of excitement ( including a brief tour with The Rhythm Council, a new band featuring Henry Butler, Kirk Joseph, Robbie Kidd and me!).
And it is official! The new record will be released, at long last, this fall on Fog City Records! Produced by Dan Prothero and recorded in New Orleans and San Francisco, it contains some songs most of you have never heard, a few songs that you have heard and guest appearances from a few of the folks I have been talking about throughout this column, including Monk and The Rhythm Council.
That's all for now...see you soon!
Love,
PM
