Call Me The Entertainer

Kermit Ruffins w/ Papa Grows Funk at House of Blues Houston 7/2/10

I was late…very late, so late I missed the opening act of what was dubbed Madi Gras in July at the House of Blues. The double bill of New Orleans superstars Papa Grows Funk and Kermit Ruffins was one not to miss, but with the tail end of Hurricane Alex beating down on Houston all day, making traffic a mess and going outside a cautionary tale…it is quite understandable why I was late (sorry “Papa”). The less than sell out crowd also indicative of the nasty weather conditions could have spelled disaster and made my excursion a waste…however being late has it’s rewards - I lucked into a plum parking spot right in front of the joint…valet…I don’t need no stinking valet!!

Upon entering the funky haze of the House of Blues I was immediately assaulted… funky music hit me hard and as Bob Marley noted…when music hit ‘cha you the good thing is ya feel no pain. I made it, not too much of a crowd but then a good friend asked me a great question…”what’cha drinking?” “Heineken please”, the first sip is the best aaahh, just in time to get rained on again, this time with the sound of Kermit Ruffins and his fellow New Orleans noise makers! Encompassing everyone from Sly & the Family Stone to The Spiral Starecase singular hit (“More Today Than Yesterday”) even Sidney Bechet was in the house (a tribute to all you “Vipers” out here – remember puff, puff pass).

Tonight no musical genre was safe, we heard Cab Calloway ”Hi De Hi De Ho”, Lee Dorsey “Holy Cow”, The Notorious BIG “Big Poppa” and of course we had to head down to the “Treme” (just me and my baby). Eclectic and infectious…Kermit standing on stage in his white on white ensemble complete with a wide brim cap encouraging the crowd to drink along with him…(“All Aboard”?) sipping on his brew between songs, notes, ideas…the question sprung to my mind is Kermit Ruffins the new Louis Armstrong?

Like Louis Armstrong, Kermit Ruffins is a Jazz trumpeter more inclined to “shine” for the people and entertain…than to stick with the modern Jazz tradition of reaching for higher & higher artistic achievements….more motivated by giving the people what they came for and smiling and enjoying it all the while.

This entertainer profile during the late 1950’s and into the 1960’s was rejected by jazz artists. It was a sign that a musician was a sell out, a modern day “step n fetch it” (…this idea was personified by the likes of Charles Mingus, Max Roach and Miles Davis who formed an aesthetic that was in keeping with a black militant stance of the day). “Satchmo” (short for satchel mouth) was pushed aside by the up and comers of the 1960’s and his career and popularity faded as a result. However, times change and so do perceptions. Music is to be enjoyed. By the listener, true but by the performer as well. Kermit Ruffins is a talented gifted musician and is versatile enough to play any style. His style is like his fore father and New Orleans brother – the style of “The Entertainer” and entertain he does.

We live in extraordinary times. Have your cake and eat it too I say. I love Jazz music. I can go to Blues Alley in DC or The Village Vanguard in NYC and many other such venues and hear “serious” Jazz musicians reaching for artistic depth…but when I wanna party..I wanna party! And there ain’t no party like a New Orleans party ‘cause a New Orleans party don’t stop. In fact I’m told the party kept on from the House of Blues on over to The Red Cat Café for an unscheduled appearance there. Say what!!

Well, I didn’t make it to the Red Cat but I did run into Kermit outside the stage door as he was leaving the House of Blues…as engaging as he was on stage, he was just as gracious on the street. He smiled, obviously enjoying his recent star power - shaking hands and patiently posing for pics with me and my friends and all the others who came out to have Madi Gra in July. I wanted to ask for an interview and get to the heart of the man who know finds himself on a hit HBO series all about his hometown called “Treme”, but I settled for the photo opp and let him know I loved the show and for him to keep doing what he does…cause like Billy Preston once sang “…entertain the people, the people want to be entertained”!

Shine on Kermit, keep entertaining the people and I promise next time I’ll be on time, right on time! You should too! For more info on Kermit and the whole New Orleans music scene visit www.basinstreetrecords.com

-Brian “Katzpheno” Phoenix

Brian Phoenix is the Host and Producer of “Jazzism (a katzpheno mix)” a 60 minute jazz music podcast available via iTunes.

Jazz Among Us

I am an unabashed, unashamed young lover of the music we so lovingly call Jazz.

I have had a love affair with jazz most of my adult life. Jazz, as we call it is an improvisational musical art form. An art form that challenges the most talented, creative artisans of the craft to create a masterpiece on the spot, in front of a well informed, sophisticated and educated audience. Hence, the concept…”no room for squares”. Step onstage and perpetrate if you will…mess around and get your feelings hurt. Jazz is real!

However, there is a debate that surfaces from time to time; usually outside knowing Jazz circles…that jazz is anything but real…they claim in fact that Jazz is dead. The argument goes along the lines of declining record sales, minimal significance in pop culture and other such nonsensical material concerns. This false argument is even supported by folks who know better. Dead, really, seriously?

How can an art form that began some 100 years ago, evolved and continues to evolve, is played, admired and replicated all over the known world, is spontaneous and demanding to play, fresh and innovative at it’s best and simple and pure at it worst, performed, enjoyed, recorded, distributed and available 24 hours a day for those who want and need it…be dead? On top of that, the best improvisational performances that constitute the heart of jazz music aren’t even written down! To create it and to hear it is to be alive to be in the moment.

Jazz has a history, a present and a future. For those who may have fallen victim to the aforementioned falsehoods of the demise of jazz music - may I humbly suggest you plop your clueless ass on the couch and view the documentary “Icons Among Us: Jazz In The Present Tense”.

Directors Lars Larson and Michael Rivoria present the antithesis of the well known documentary “Ken Burns Jazz”. Flipping the historical argument on its head it owes no patronage to the past…not disrespectful of it but upholding the one and only truth that with jazz music all that matters is now. Isn’t that what Charlie Parker was hinting at through his classic bebop tune “Now’s The Time”? As pianist Robert Glasper ( one of the 75 active musicians featured in “Icons”) puts it…if Charlie Parker was somehow resurrected and happened to walk into a Jazz club and heard an alto saxophonist playing his music riff for riff (…as could happen) he would be pissed! Charlie Parker would call the cat a lame and put shame to his game. The risk takers of the 1940’s and 50’s Jazz scene that so many revere, would expect- no, demand the new cats take the seed they created and plant it fertile ground.

Well, fellow citizens have no fear; the Jazz GOD’s are well pleased! Jazz is alive and kicking!! The 1 hour and 33 minute documentary stands as a testimony that there is no need to deify Miles, Louis and the Duke as the only true Jazz icons…there are, as the title insists… ”Icons Among Us”, and if you didn’t know…now ya know. “Icons Among Us: Jazz In The Present Tense” was produced in 2009 and is available now on DVD.