New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, Days 4-7: May 5-8, 2011

Sandy Ingham

Concert/Festival Reviewer since 2003

Making my way from festival to festival.

Recent articles (56 total)

Published: May 26, 2011

A memorial concert for longtime local trumpeter and educator Clyde Kerr Jr. was organized by his "best friend" and Improvisional Artists Quintet collaborator, saxophonist Kidd Jordan. Jordan opened the hour with a customary avant-garde rant, but then a frontline of nine horn players, tutored by Kerr over the years, took the tribute down a more traditional path. The opening dirge saw each player—including Jordan's sons Marlon and Kent, and local trombone stars Troy Andrews and Big Sam Williams—make his or her own mournful statement.

Then it was jam time—a foot-stomping blues with novel harmonic twists that rose to fever pitch—as did the delighted audience.

Photo Credit
All Photos: Steven Sussman

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