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Live Reviews
9th Annual Satchmo Summerfest Heats Up New Orleans
Sandy Ingham
Making my way from festival to festival.There was more club-hopping. I checked out trumpeter-bandleader-civic leader Irvin Mayfield's swanky new club at the Royal Sonesta Hotel, where elegant singer Johnaye Kendricks mixed standards with some adventurous originals.
On another memorable night, John Boutte, a great singer, was backed by a fine trio at d.b.a. Boutte's high tenor handles jazz standards, gospel and r&b with equal skill, and his occasioinal rants about "loudmouths" in the audience and gripes about a quirky sound system are endearing parts of his act as well.
Just up the street, Herlin Riley led a quintet in a late set with trumpeter Marlon Jordan and the ubiquitous Wessell Anderson in the front line. His opening whacks on a tambourine, creating an inimitable New Orleans groove, set the pace for "Night in Tunisia," and he remained in stellar form all set. Things only got better when brothers Branford and Delfeayo showed up and sat in for more than an hour.
Before the closing "St. Louis Blues," Riley paid tribute to Armstrong. "All of us who play jazz, or any kind of American music, are standing on Louis' shoulders," he said. Amen.
