Apr 29, 2025 11:53 AM
Vocalist Andy Bey Dies at 85
Singer Andy Bey, who illuminated the jazz scene for five decades with a four-octave range that encompassed a bellowing…
NEW ORLEANS—George Brumat, who founded New Orleans joint Port of Call, owned jazz club Snug Harbor and became a well-known advocate for the New Orleans jazz community, died Saturday of an apparent heart attack, the New Orleans Times-Picayune has reported. He was 63.
Brumat was not married and had no children. He spent most of his nights at Snug Harbor, which he opened on Frenchmen Street in 1983, long before the area had developed into the bustling entertainment district it is today.
Brumat rode out Hurricane Katrina at his apartment, guarding Snug Harbor against looters in the turbulent days that followed. Music resumed at Snug with free shows by a handful of available musicians. Those shows lost money, but Brumat believed that live jazz was important for morale—both his and those struggling to return and rebuild.
Brumat is survived by a brother in Pascagoula, Miss., and two nieces in Italy.
As for the future of Snug Harbor, the club’s manager said Brumat had expressed his desire, in the event of his passing, for the club to continue.
“It kind of slows down, but it’s still kind of productive in a way, because you have something that you can be inspired by,” Andy Bey said on a 2019 episode of NPR Jazz Night in America, when he was 80. “The music is always inspiring.”
Apr 29, 2025 11:53 AM
Singer Andy Bey, who illuminated the jazz scene for five decades with a four-octave range that encompassed a bellowing…
Foster was truly a drummer to the stars, including Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins and Joe Henderson.
Jun 3, 2025 11:25 AM
Al Foster, a drummer regarded for his fluency across the bebop, post-bop and funk/fusion lineages of jazz, died May 28…
“Branford’s playing has steadily improved,” says younger brother Wynton Marsalis. “He’s just gotten more and more serious.”
May 20, 2025 11:58 AM
Branford Marsalis was on the road again. Coffee cup in hand, the saxophonist — sporting a gray hoodie and a look of…
“What did I want more of when I was this age?” Sasha Berliner asks when she’s in her teaching mode.
May 13, 2025 12:39 PM
Part of the jazz vibraphone conversation since her late teens, Sasha Berliner has long come across as a fully formed…
Roscoe Mitchell will receive a Lifetime Achievement award at this year’s Vision Festival.
May 27, 2025 6:21 PM
Arts for Art has announced the full lineup for the 2025 Vision Festival, which will run June 2–7 at Roulette…