Congo Square Comes to New York

So I missed Wynton Marsalis's performance of his new composition, Congo Square, in Tampa, because I was already in New Orleans for Jazz Fest. And, sadly, Wynton didn't play Jazz Fest this year, although he was in town a week or two earlier for the debut of the piece.

I guess I'll have to be satisfied with experiencing it vicariously, by way of such stories as Nate Chinen's review , in the New York Times, of Wynton's new large-ensemble work at Lincoln Center (but of course).

Here's Chinen's conclusion:

"Mr. Marsalis still takes compositional cues from Duke Ellington: there were bursts of brass, sweeping reeds and intricate internal harmonies. But there were also a few experiments in timbre, involving flutes, clarinets and muted horns. The orchestra was invariably up to the task.

What was missing, notwithstanding a saccharine ballad sung by Imani Gonzalez of Odadaa!, was a strong melody. That deficiency became more of a liability as "Congo Square" approached and passed the two-hour mark. The suite could be trimmed significantly and still pack a serious punch. But even then it might feel less than suitelike: a patchwork rather than a fabric."

Here's hoping I get a chance to make my own judgment about it.

Starting With a Jazz Fest Blog

I'm re-launching a pop culture blog, as sort of a sister site to my books/authors/writing blog.

And by popular demand (or something like that), I'm reprinting the entire blog that I recently did on the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival for the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.

Here it is. More soon.

May 1, 2006, 12:21
Bruce Springsteen, The Meters cap emotional first weekend
Art Neville and George Porter, Jr. (The Meters)

“The healing power of music” was the theme of this year’s Jazz Fest, and those words appeared on several official souvenir T-shirts and other festival items.It’s an apt slogan: The sentiment was expressed by plenty of folks in the audience, and several artists.“I’m lovin’ it,” Los Hombres Calientes percussionist Bill Summers said about this year’s impressive turnout when we ran into him behind the Congo Square stage Sunday afternoon.

“Katrina’s gone and we’re moving on,” New Orleans trumpeter Christian Scott said during his set Sunday at the Jazz Tent. Scott and his dynamic band went the funk and fusion route, with the title track and other tunes from his recently released CD “Rewind That,” including a newfangled take on Miles Davis’ “So What.”“It’s not swingin’, but it makes people happy,” Scott said about his music, which is too rock-oriented for mainstream jazz but too jagged for “smooth.”
Optimistic words were delivered, too, when Allen Toussaint and special guest Elvis Costello churned out a set of New Orleans R&B at the Acura Stage. The pair, joined by an oversized band featuring Crescent City trombonist Big Sam and three other horn players, offered up several gems from “The River in Reverse,” their forthcoming CD collaboration.

The funk was deep and wide when the reunited Meters played at the Southern Comfort Blues Stage. The quartet – keyboardist Art Neville, guitarist Leo Nocentelli, bassist George Porter Jr., and drummer Zigaboo Modeliste – demonstrated where jam bands everywhere got their inspiration. Unstoppable grooves and acid-washed guitar never sounded so good together.The set included “Cissy Strut,” “Chug Chug Chug-a-Lug,” “They All Ask’d for You,” “Fire on the Bayou” and “People Say.”

And for the end of Bruce Springsteen’s set, the rock superstar and his band from his new “We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions” CD slipped into a quiet version of “My City in Ruins.” Arms were raised everywhere when Springsteen sang the line, “Tell me, how do I begin again?” and responded, “with these hands.” Different city. Similar crisis and sense of loss. And now, thanks in part to Jazz Fest, a renewed sense of zeal to recover. Here’s hoping that that optimism prevails long after the last concertgoer has left the Fair Grounds on May 7.

**********


May 1, 2006
Clubland a highlight of Jazz Fest

The Jazz Fest experience isn’t just about spending mornings, afternoons and early evenings at the Fair Grounds, where more than 400 acts will play over the course of the event.It’s also about clubland: Many of the same acts playing the main event, whether Louisiana artists or visitors, also play the nightclubs, primarily in the French Quarter, the Garden District and the Riverbend area.

Our Jazz Fest trip officially kicked in with a world music night on Thursday. The concert, organized by the Putumayo label and held at the House of Blues in the Quarter, was a benefit for the Habitat For Humanity Musicians’ Village.

The show, intentionally or not, felt something like a microcosm of the Jazz and Heritage Festival. New Orleans music was represented by two bands. Trumpeter James Andrews and his brother Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews, both first-rate jazz players, got the crowd pumped up with a set that included Professor Longhair’s “Big Chief” and a Latin-tinged version of Louis Armstrong's hit “What a Wonderful World.”

The hometown audience responded warmly as well to the roots-rock and Tex-Mex sounds of The Iguanas.The “world” portion meant the lilting rhythms and acoustic guitars of Cape Verdean singer Maria de Barros and her band, an absolutely captivating act deserving of wider attention; the urgent high-energy grooves of Carimi, from Haiti; and ska favorites The Skatalites, from Jamaica.

Maria de Barros Maria de Barros, on stage at the House of Blues for Putumayo World Music night on Thursday.

Dozens of other first-rate club shows took place throughout the weekend. On Friday, I made my way to Le Bon Temps Roule, Uptown on Magazine Street. The free-form New Orleans funk, provided by Meters bassist George Porter Jr., Astral Project drummer Johnny Vidacovich and pianist Henry Butler, was intoxicating, once it finally got started – the advertised start time was 10 p.m., but the music didn’t start until nearly midnight. And the place was a ramshackle, laidback delight. But it was packed to the extreme. Once inside, it was impossible to move, let alone dance.

Something similar might be said about One-Eyed Jacks, the French Quarter club we visited on Saturday night. Olu Dara, a trumpeter and singer from Mississippi, offered an amazing set of grooving jazz and roots music, including the infectious tune “Herb Man” from Dara’s 2001 “Neighborhoods” CD. The upside to the overcrowding: Nice to see a full house for a sorely underappreciated artist. Singer-songwriter Alex McMurray’s solo opening set was a gem, too.

Cassandra Wilson, the jazz singer who guested on Dara’s “Neighborhoods,” coincidentally was in New Orleans over the weekend. We ran into her on Sunday evening at Café du Monde, where she was doing what the tourists do, drinking café au lait and eating beignets. Wilson, recently on the cover of Jazz Times magazine, said that she was just visiting a friend and relaxing, not working or attending the Jazz Fest. (Later, I read that she was slated to play a show May 5)

**********

April 30, 2006, 13:51
Clarence Frogman Henry's R&B resonates strongly with hometown audience

It takes, oh, about five minutes at Jazz Fest to run into someone with a personal tale of Katrina-related devastation.

On Saturday morning, veteran New Orleans singer Clarence “Frogman” Henry delighted the crowd at the Southern Comfort Blues Stage with a set of R&B and blues heavily influenced by regional Louisiana music.

Coral Maher, 48, and her friend, both settled into the stage for the day (Etta James was scheduled to close), lost their homes in the storm. Maher’s house in Lakeview, where she had lived for 16 years, was destroyed, and so was her childhood home, where her 80-year-old father lived. She evacuated on that terrible Saturday.

Her father decided to stay, and nearly drowned in the flood; he has suffered severe emotional and mental consequences, she said.“Nobody has any idea of the devastation you feel when you walk into a house and see mold everywhere,” said Maher, a New Orleans native and ad sales rep for Fox Channel 8. She’s temporarily living in the French Quarter.

“We’re here to stay,” she said. “People that own their homes and are middle class are back. They’re renting. I do wanna rebuild, but I’m gonna build eight feet up.” Others, though, with less means of support, have not returned.Coral was moved by the huge turnout for Jazz Fest, but she’s worried that glowing media coverage about the fest might lead some people to assume that all is well with New Orleans.“It (the turnout) makes me cry. But I’m scared that people will think we’re OK, that we don’t need any help.”

Meanwhile, Frogman and his band rolled on, offering dance-worthy fare including “Everybody Got Trouble” and big 1957 hit “Ain’t Got No Home,” the latter featuring his inimitable croaking “frog” voice.Both songs likely resonated strongly with many residents of this still suffering city.

**********

April 30, 2006, 11:36 am
Herbie Hancock a highlight of Saturday's fare

Saturday at Jazz Fest was another day of musical highlights and culinary delights.I’ll start with a quick list of food consumed: Crawfish pie, shrimp and okra gumbo, and crawfish monica.Word on the street was that U2 guitarist The Edge, who has been active in Katrina relief efforts, sat in with The Dave Matthews Band. It’s also been reported that he did a guest spot with the New Birth Brass Band, for “Stand By Me.”

Galactic turned in a set of deep, deep funk jams and noisy, experimental electronic sounds at the Acura Stage, with the help of guest saxophonist Skerik.

Herbie Hancock brought an SRO crowd to the Jazz Tent, so slammed with people that stage officials warned that the show wouldn’t take place until the aisles were cleared.The show was worth the hassle. Hancock was joined by a superb band: Marcus Miller, the bass virtuoso who once served as Miles Davis’s right-hand man; drummer Brian Blade, a Louisiana native now working in the Wayne Shorter Quartet; and Lionel Loueke, the West African guitarist whose day job is with New Orleans trumpeter Terence Blanchard.

The pianist, alternating between a grand piano and electric keyboards and synthesizers, opened with the groove-intensive “Canteloupe Island,” a favorite of jazzy jam bands everywhere, and invited Blanchard on stage for Miles’ “Tutu.” The show was capped with the Hancock standard, “Chameleon,” featuring a guest appearance by Bill Summers, original percussionist for Hancock’s Headhunters, and co-leader of the popular New Orleans group Los Hombres Calientes.

Blanchard, during his own set at the Jazz Tent, reportedly endorsed Louisiana Lt. Governor Mitch Landrieu for mayor; Landrieu is battling the incumbent, Ray Nagin, in a run-off election.

Los Hombres Calientes, with Summers and trumpeter Irvin Mayfield, New Orleans’ official cultural ambassador, and longtime member Victor “Red” Atkins on piano, sounded as tight and righteous as ever. The band, at the mid-sized Jazz and Heritage Stage, got the crowd moving with a set of Latin jazz, funk and Afro-Cuban music, including “Foforo Fo Firi,” from the band’s 2001 “New Congo Square” album (http://www.basinstreetrecords.com/); New Orleans favorite “Hey Pocky Way” and “Shake Your Money Maker.”

**********
April 29, 2006, 11:41 am
Bob Dylan, Dr. John and Others Cap a Successful Opening Day

Bob Dylan was, well, Bob Dylan, during his late afternoon set at the Acura stage, one of the festival’s two largest venues. Dressed in a stylish white Western suit and a cowboy hat and seated behind keyboards, the folk-rock giant croaked out a set of songs including “Maggie’s Farm,” “Highway 61 Revisited,” “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right,” “Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues” and, on the encore, “Like a Rolling Stone” and “All Along the Watchtower.”

Dylan’s voice may be as unintelligible as ever, and his harmonica playing might best be described as hapless, but at least he still has the good sense to put together a dynamic roots-rock band. Texas blues guitarist Denny Freeman delivered some serious six-string scorch, and Donnie Herron, formerly of Nashville alt-country favorites BR549, turned in plenty of tangy pedal-steel lines.

First-day attendance figures are yet to be released, but it certainly looked as crowded as any Friday I’ve witnessed at the festival -- another indicator of its success. Once arrived at the Acura area for Dylan’s show, it took me half an hour to work my way back to my wife, who was standing in a sea of people in shorts and T-shirts, including those emblazoned with “ReNew Orleans,” “Make Levees Not War” “Rebuild? Hell Yes” and a few messages that can’t be published in family newspapers.

Later, New York band Yerba Buena turned in a high-energy show at Congo Square, with a mix of Latin funk laced with South American folk (thanks to fiddle lines), hip-hop rhythms and even a snippet of “Hava Nagila.”

The fest wound down with well-received shows by piano man Dr. John, whose super-sized band punched out “I Walk On Gilded Splinters” and other swamp-funk familiarities; and Irvin Mayfield and the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra, joined by Bill Summers, Donald Harrison, Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews and others for a set capped with a suite including “St. James Infirmary.”

“We’re gonna take y’all from the graveyard to the second line,” said Mayfield, suggesting the emotional route traveled by New Orleanians in recent years: Many will tell you that they’ve moved from misery and a sense of hopelessness to real optimism for the city’s future.

**********

April 28, 2006, 4:15 pm
Jazz Fest: A Sign of New Orleans' Rebirth?

Stand in the long line for Fried Oyster Po' Boys or dodge the even longer line for souvenir posters, and you'd get the feeling that Katrina never happened: Judging by the look and feel of the crowds on opening day, the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival is as popular and crowded as ever.

Other indicators suggest a successful post-Apocalypse edition of the festival that almost didn't happen. The hotel occupancy rate is 90 percent; 60 or so journalists from all over the world are in town to cover opening weekend, and, not least, there's an hour-and-a-half wait to get into the revered, funky Jacques-Imo's restaurant in the Riverbend area.

The recent tragedy, though, and the city's determination to renew itself, is certainly evident in the spirit of joyful celebration on stage and in the audience.

On a picture-perfect sunny, breezy morning, in contrast to the steam bath that occasionally characterizes Jazz Fest, the Jazz Vipers offered the optimistic "I Hope You're Comin' Back to New Orleans," which had saxophonist Joe Braun singing, "I'm here to stay and rebuild my life in New Orleans," before the group continued with Fats Waller's "Zonky"; both tunes appear on the Vipers' new CD.

The fest, as usual, is a smorgasbord of American and international music, with acts spread out on 10 stages at the Fair Grounds Race Track. Betty Winn and One A-Chord, a 13-piece gospel choir, also offered a message of encouragement, with the exuberant "Somebody to Lean On."

Also on the list of (early) Friday highlights: A hypnotic performance by African-rooted group Michael Skinkus and Moyuba, a trio of white-robed singers backed by congas, acoustic bass and trumpet; Swedish-born guitarist Anders Osborne's bluesy funk blast, abetted by Kirk Joseph's rubbery sousaphone lines; and a crowd-pleasing set by saxophonist and singer James Rivers, a longtime festival favorite who doubled on bagpipes for a medley starting with "Chim Chim Cheree" and closing with "Amazing Grace." He also demonstrated admirable skills on flute and blues harmonica.

Now, it's off to a quick stop at the mango freeze booth, and on to Bob Dylan and Yerba Buena, a Latin funk band playing at the Congo Square stage. Unless, of course, that game plan is scrapped for a new one.

**********

Local musicians still waiting for their due

You never know who you’ll meet on the street during Jazz Fest week in New Orleans.

While chowing down on crawfish monica and artichoke dip Thursday evening at O’Henry’s in the Riverbend area, we saw former Tampa guitarist Elliott Cohn scurrying to his car, on his way to a gig at a private party. It was one of 12 shows, including a Jazz Fest set this Saturday, which Cohn and his Cosmic Sweat Society band are slated to play during the 10-day period ending May 7.

Cohn and co., including fellow Tampa expatriate Kenny Green on bass, are performing those shows with Dirty Dozen trombonist Sammie Williams; they’re now officially the “Funky Nation” part of Big Sam’s Funky Nation.“Take Me Back,” the just-released new disc from Big Sam’s Funky Nation, was engineered and produced by Cohn at Green’s house in Tampa, and mixed and mastered in Brandon.

Cohn, who moved to New Orleans in 2001, returned to Florida after mold made his home unlivable, and in March he finally moved back to the Crescent City, putting down a deposit on a new rental located about halfway between Lee Circle and the Riverbend.

So what’s it like for the average talented musician to find steady work in New Orleans, post-Katrina? There’s no shortage of work, Cohn said. “A lot of the bands that had a monopoly aren’t here as much. It’s actually opened up for a lot of new people to do their thing. You still have to be competitive and you have to be good and you have to keep their (audience’s) attention.”

The downside to the uptick in job opportunities? Exorbitant rental charges.“You can get gigs, but the pay for the gigs hasn’t gone up to match the cost of living,” he said.Even more opportunities may come Cohn’s way in June, when the Cosmic Sweat Society’s new CD is released.

Our conversation took place just a short distance down Carrolton from the Camellia Grille, a once-popular tourist destination now shuttered. Nearby is the historic streetcar line, its tracks covered in dirt in many places. Along one section, on St. Charles, two big yellow Caterpillar construction machines straddle the tracks, sprawled out like a pair of dead dogs. At another point, a green street lamp remains where it fell on the tracks.

Earlier that day, while stuck in a two-hour traffic jam on the way to our Canal Street hotel from the airport, we took in a few sad sights. FEMA trailers remain parked in front of many residences. Workers can be seen buzzing around many homes, scrambling to finish repairs and renovation before the start of another hurricane season.

Of course, what we saw is just the tip of the iceberg – the Ninth Ward and other areas remain devastated.

“New Orleans … is still in dire straits,” as favorite son Harry Connick Jr. told Matt Lauer on the “Today” show this morning. Jazz Fest kicks in today. With any luck, the fest will provide a needed economic and emotional salve for the city.

**********

April 27, 2006, 4:30 am
Getting Ready for Jazz Fest: It's an Art and a Science

There are no wrong notes in jazz, as one wiseacre said.

Similarly, there’s no wrong way to get ready for a trip to Jazz Fest. Mess up, and you’ll have a great time, anyway. It’s New Orleans, right? Besides, you can always prepare the perfect fest pack next year.

Herewith, a few recommended methods for preparing body, soul and mind for the trip:

First, listen to New Orleans music non-stop. Lately, I’ve been plugging into several post-Katrina compilations. “Our New Orleans” (http://www.nonesuch.com/), one of the best such discs, offers choice new recordings by Dr. John, The Dirty Dozen Brass Band, powerhouse R&B singer Irma Thomas and Cajun favorite Beausoleil. The lead-off track, piano man Allen Toussaint’s spirited version of The Pointer Sisters hit “Yes We Can Can,” by rights should be this year’s official Jazz Fest anthem. Toussaint and Elvis Costello, playing the Fair Grounds on Sunday, have teamed for a CD, “The River in Reverse” (verveforecast.com), recorded in New Orleans and due June 6. Festgoers should expect to hear new collaborations and vintage Toussaint songs from the disc. Also worth seeking out is The New Orleans Social Club’s “Sing Me Back Home” (burgundyrecords.com), an all-star gathering with percussionist Cyril Neville of The Neville Brothers; his nephew, keyboardist Ivan Neville; the omnipresent Dr. John; Irma Thomas and Marcia Ball; The Subdudes; and mighty New Orleans funk bassist George Porter Jr. More audio options: “Higher Ground,” mentioned in the below post; “Voice of the Wetlands” (http://www.rykodisc.com/), with Louisiana blues guitarist Tab Benoit joined by Dr. John, Cyril Neville, George Porter Jr., master New Orleans drummer Johnny Vidacovich and six-stringer Anders Osborne; and Dr. John’s EP, “Sippiana Hericane” (http://www.bluenote.com/).

Secondly, go see a New Orleans band on tour. The Subdudes, last week at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, turned in an invigorating, roots-deep performance of old favorites as well as new gems from the recently released “Behind the Levee” (http://www.backporchrecords.com/), one of the most accomplished CDs yet from the band, which reunited two years ago after an extended hiatus. “Late at Night” benefited from an extended a cappella gospel workout, and an unplugged “Known to Touch Me” was performed out in the aisles. Appealing new tunes “Next to Me” (Memphis R&B, ala Al Green), “Social Aid & Pleasure Club” and “Papa Dookie & the Mud People” were beautifully played, y played, too. Singer Tommy Malone, in fine form on acoustic, electric and bottleneck slide guitar, offered this introduction for “One Word (Peace)”: “This is an opinion with a groove on it.”A consolation prize for those not going to Jazz Fest for the first weekend, or for those not going at all: Check out the performance of Wynton Marsalis’s new suite, “Congo Square,” by the trumpeter and his Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra on tonight at Ruth Eckerd Hall (http://www.rutheckerdhall.com/) in Clearwater. Marsalis and Ghanian master drummer Yacub Addy co-wrote the composition, and the big band will be joined by Ghanian percussion and voice ensemble Odadaa! Marsalis, members of the LCJO and Odadaa! gave the world premiere of the suite last Sunday in New Orleans, following a triumphant march from a Catholic church in the Treme district to Louis Armstrong Park. Keith Spera, music critic for the New Orleans Times-Picayune, described it this way: “As the mass moved toward Esplanade Avenue, picking up even more marchers, the core of musicians contracted and expanded with the undulating flow” (http://www.nola.com/).

How else to get ready?

Listen to the experts: A veteran Houston devotee of Jazz Fest has assembled a comprehensive list of tips at a comfy Web destination he calls swagland (http://www.swagland.com/). Loads of great information, and great Internet camaraderie among the friendly “threadheads,” can also be found on the chat board at the official Jazz Fest site (ww.nojazzfest.com).

Read up on the talent: Opinionated guides to Fair Grounds acts are available at the sites affiliated with essential New Orleans music monthly Offbeat (http://www.offbeat.com/), the Times-Picayune (http://www.nola.com/) and Gambit Weekly (http://www.gambit.com/). The Jazz Fest site also includes descriptions of artists.

Make your evening-concert game plan: Why labor to assemble your own schedule of night-time club hopping – as well as daytime performances at music stores and hotel lobbies – when others have already done it for you? Check out the Jazz Fest Grids (http://www.jazzfestgrids.com/), a labor of love assembled by a threadhead, and the listings in Offbeat, the T-P and Gambit.

Grab a good New Orleans book for the plane ride or road trip: John Kennedy Toole’s comic masterpiece “A Confederacy of Dunces” (http://www.groveatlantic.com/) is a good choice, and so is “The Moviegoer” (http://www.vintagebooks.com/), written by Walker Percy, who was responsible for getting Toole’s novel published posthumously. Try anything by crime novelist James Lee Burke, or Florida writer Harry Crews’ strange and wonderful “The Knock-Out Artist” (http://www.harpercollins.com/), or former Tampa journalist Ace Atkins’ mystery tale “Crossroad Blues” (http://www.constablerobinson.com/).

Tune in to New Orleans community radio station WWOZ-FM (http://www.wwoz.org/) for hours of great jazz, blues, roots, rock and regional Louisiana music, and live broadcasts from the Fair Grounds.

Finally, work out and eat right in order to lose weight before the trip, so that nobody will notice the five pounds you gain via consumption of Crescent City delicacies and assorted brews. Uh-oh. Too late.

**********

April 25, 2006, 11:44 pm
Jazz Fest or Bust: Like I Had a Choice

I’ve never lived in the Crescent City, although I flirted with the idea for about five minutes one year, after a buddy and I stayed in town for both weekends of Jazz Fest, a 10-day blast of impossibly rich food and the earthiest, hardest-grooving music on planet Earth. This was pre-marriage and pre-children, approximately 15 years ago.Yet again, I heard more good music – modern and traditional jazz, blues, gospel, zydeco, Cajun, swamp rock, funk, Latin, African, Caribbean – in a few days than I would hear the rest of the year, even though I made a living as a pop music critic at the time.Back when New Orleans was devastated by THE THING, as some of its residents refer to Katrina, refusing to say aloud the name of the apocalyptic hurricane to end all hurricanes, I went into mourning. As the extent of the city’s tragedy became apparent, I mourned for all that was lost, or threatened with loss, and remains on the endangered species list. I was deeply saddened by the potential extinction of the culture and spirit of a place that’s simply unlike any other on Earth. Wynton Marsalis, in his liner notes for the "Higher Ground: Hurricane Relief Benefit Concert" CD (http://www.bluenote.com/), the companion to the knockout PBS special, referred to his hometown as “America’s soul kitchen.” It’s a city that has given rise to some of the world’s finest and most influential musical, literary, artistic and culinary traditions. Tom Piazza nailed some of the particulars of this tragedy in "Why New Orleans Matters," (http://www.reganbooks.com/), a fast read and one of the most incisive pieces of writings on the subject. The short book is highly recommended; Piazza will be on hand at the fest’s book tent on Saturday. This year’s Jazz Fest will my first since reeling from the massive crowds on hand for the 2001 event, when 160,000 people crowded onto the Fair Grounds on a Saturday when both the Dave Matthews Band and rapper Mystikal played. Can you say “human sardines”? The next year, I opted to attend the French Quarter Fest, smaller and far less crowded but still musically rewarding. I’ve been looking forward to Jazz Fest with mixed emotions. It feels strange, to some degree, to be preparing to eat, drink and be merry in a land that was so recently the site of so much human misery. Only half of the city’s residents have come home, and some of those folks have returned to utter devastation, with another hurricane season on the horizon and the levees still inadequate.On the other hand, I honestly believe that the survival of Jazz Fest, once the city’s second-biggest tourist event after Mardi Gras, is essential to the health and welfare of the city’s music, culture and economic backbone. And if Jazz Fest and Mardi Gras are to survive, then the tourists must come. Tourism dollars ultimately will help to "ReNew Orleans," as a popular T-shirt (http://www.reneworleans.com/) so pointedly proclaims.Is all this merely a rationalization for wanting to have a great time hearing, for example, the reunited Meters and Herbie Hancock and The Subdudes, and for dying to fill my stomach with jambalaya and crawfish etoufee and file gumbo (not all at the same sitting, of course)?Maybe so. Maybe not. Either way, I can’t wait to get there, to be greeted by a blast of traditional jazz in the hallways of Louis Armstrong International Airport, to get my first glimpse of the mighty Mississippi, to take a walk through the French Quarter, to check out an in-store performance at Louisiana Music Factory (http://www.louisianamusicfactory.com/) and to indulge in my first round of coffee and beignets at Café Du Monde.It will be joyful, and sad, maybe at the same time. I know this: After Katrina, I really had no choice. I had to go to New Orleans for Jazz Fest.