May 26, 2026 11:08 AM
Sonny Rollins Passes Away at 95
Sonny Rollins, the iconic saxophonist, composer and improviser whose career stretched from the origins of bebop to 21st…
The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival continued late into the night on Friday, April 29 with a free improvised set by bassist Cecil McBee and alto player, Gary Bartz. Joined by local composer, Hannibal Lokumbe on trumpet and Adonis Rose on drums, McBee and Bartz rounded out their group with percussionist, Alfred Uganda Roberts, who made his mark recording with Allen Toussaint, Professor Longhair and the Wild Magnolias back in the ‘70s. Playing to a small crowd of locals, McBee combined a New Orleans sense of rhythm and blues with odd times that sounded like they were caught somewhere between funk and free jazz.
At the Fairgrounds yesterday, Jamie Cullum played a new composition he said he wrote over the holidays when he was visiting family, looking at old photos. Using just piano and voice, the ballad, “Ordinary Life,” showcased Cullum’s rich rasp well, but some of his usual energy was lost on the big stage. Still, he managed to win back the baking hot audience with his Coldplay cover, “High And Dry.”
Playing a much funkier brand of piano, Henry Butler heated up the blues tent with a few tunes from his new album, “Homeland,” while the New Orleans Klezmer Allstars brought a little rock to their Klezmer swamp-funk with the help of a large dose of guitar feedback. Nicholas Payton joined the Doc Cheatham Tribute, playing traditional classics like Fats Waller’s “What Did I Do To Be So Black and Blue.” While Payton shines among older players, though, he seemed constricted by the formal format of the music and a somewhat predictable order of solos. Payton’s Sonic Trance plays today in the Jazz Tent, where the leader should feel more comfortable letting as loose as he does on the album.
Onstage, Rollins would move about restlessly, thrusting his tenor sax in the air as he blew.
May 26, 2026 11:08 AM
Sonny Rollins, the iconic saxophonist, composer and improviser whose career stretched from the origins of bebop to 21st…
To the world, James Blood Ulmer was a legend, a visionary and a musical force whose sound was distinctive and unique. To his family, he was their teacher, their storyteller and a source of strength.
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