The Rhythmakers at Fritzel’s. Ryan Burrage plays the alto clarinet, an unusual axe in a trad band. He’s accompanied by Jim Hession on piano and Jungo Kang on drums. Bassist Will Buckingham is not visible. Click here for more photos.

Continued: New Orleans Notes

An impressive new book has recently come across my desk. Edited by Indiana University professors Mellonee V. Burnim and Portia K. Maultsby, it is a substantial collection (707 pp.) of essays by reputable scholars entitled African American Music, An Introduction (2006, Routledge, New York & London). It covers all musical genres from blues to classical, but the portion devoted to jazz (Chapter 6) is only about 40 pages long (with New Orleans taking up barely a page and a half). I would not dismiss it on those grounds, however.

Local label Basin Street Records, which has been dormant since Katrina, will have its first post-K release on April 1: an album featuring pianist Ellis Marsalis and trumpeter Irvin Mayfield called Love Songs, Ballads and Standards. This is Basin Street's 10th year in business, and plans for new albums by Michael White and Henry Butler are also in the works.

Speaking of new recordings, talented local (Danish) reedman Christian Winther has a new release, Soul House, on the Danish Steeple Chase label. Respected both as a trad/swing clarinetist and contemporary tenor saxophonist, Winther is in a more modern groove in this one. He had a CD release party at Snug Harbor on Feb. 28.

The official 2008 Jazzfest poster is out, and it has received a good deal of favorable comment. It is a representation of Grammy-winning singer Irma Thomas done by Louisiana artist Douglas Bourgeois. A limited number of prints will be available at the festival itself, but a variety of editions ranging in price from $69 to $895 can be ordered online at www.art4now.com.

The Times-Picayune announced on March 2 that a non-profit organization headed by Jerome "PopAgee" Johnson has secured ownership of the historic Eagle Saloon building at the corner of Perdido and Rampart in the CBD. Well known as a haunt of jazz pioneers such as Buddy Bolden, the building has been vacant for decades. Johnson plans to turn the first floor into a jazz club, with a museum on the second floor. The third floor is designated for an "event space." As of press time, there is no indication of when restoration of the building will begin. Stay tuned.

We send our congratulations and good wishes to veteran reedman Bob Wilber, who turned 80 on March 15. Still busily touring and recording, Wilber resides with wife, vocalist Pug Horton, in the U.K. You can send greetings to him at bobandpug@mac.com.

Comings and Goings

The city lost one of its most respected jazz veterans with the passing of trumpeter John Brunious Jr. from a heart attack on February 12. He was 67.

Born in the city's Seventh Ward, Brunious grew up playing a variety of musical styles before settling in as leader of the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. He had been a part of the band for about 20 years and, at his death, was the group's senior member. Despite relocating to Orlando, Florida after Katrina, he continued to tour extensively with the band.

The funeral service attended by countless friends, relatives and musicians took place at Charbonnet-Labat Funeral Home on Friday, Feb. 22. On the following day, a jazz funeral second-line procession set out from Preservation Hall and wended its way throughout the French Quarter passing two significant sites in his musical life, the former location of Lu & Charlie's Nightclub on Rampart St. and the Famous Door on Bourbon St., before returning to the Hall.

John Brunious is survived by his wife Terry, two stepdaughters, a son, a granddaughter, two brothers, and four sisters. He was but one in a family of distinguished jazz trumpeters, starting with his father, John Sr., and including brother, Wendell (who now lives in Sweden), and nephew, Mark Braud.

Among new residents in the city is veteran jazz journalist Willard Jenkins, who comes here from Washington, D.C. His wife, Suzan, is senior vice president at the Thelonious Monk Institute, recently relocated to Loyola University.

First-time visitors to New Orleans were members of the fine trad band, jaZZmaZZ, from Trondheim, Norway. While in town, they were featured in a jazz service at the Norwegian Seamen's Church on Feb. 17, followed later in the same week by performances at the Palm Court Jazz Cafe and on the Steamboat Natchez. Led by clarinetist Inge Solem, the seven-piece group can be heard on its new CD, jaZZmaZZorene, released last year. For more about the band, see their website www.jazzmazz.com.

The Pensacola (Fla.) Jazz Festival celebrated its 25th anniversary on the weekend of April 5-6 (just a week before the FQF`s 25th). Among its headliners were pianist Butch Thompson's Trio, which includes our own Duke Heitger on trumpet and vocalist/banjoist Jimmy Mazzy. I'm not sure about Butch, but I know that Duke will be in New Orleans the following weekend.

Until next time. twj@tulane.edu.

April 2008 issue | © 2008 The Mississippi Rag

P.O. Box 19068, Minneapolis, MN 55419.