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What is it that makes Papa Grows Funk so special?
This two year-old New Orleans funk band has been scoring lots of points lately with fans of the jamband scene, and it doesn’t take long to see why. Even on paper it's an exciting band: these musicans have starred in the best New Orleans funk outfits of the last decade, including the funky Meters, George Porter Jr.’s Runnin’ Pardners, Galactic and the Wild Magnolias. But on stage the chemistry between the individual members is even better. Seeing them play together, it hits you that they are even better than their credentials indicate.
 I caught up with PGF members John Gros (Hammond B3, keys and lead vocals) and Jason Mingledorff (sax and background vocals) this week, fresh off their big victory at Gambit Magazine’s Big Easy Awards (New Orleans’ version of the Grammys), where PGF took the Best Funk Band award, beating out the funky Meters and Galactic. They (along with the rest of the music world) were preparing for what promises to be for them a very busy and very exciting New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.
In the past year and a half, PGF has been laying down their old-school Meters-esque funk all over the country; this winter the band did two major Colorado tours in addition to a big East coast swing and three sold-out nights in San Francisco. In March, in a decided shift towards the festival market and steady touring, PGF signed with Skyline Music, a major booking agent whose varied roster includes the Radiators, Liquid Soul, Merl Saunders, Victor Wooten, Oteil and the Peacemakers and Michelle Shocked, among others.
With six club appearances during Jazz Fest, a prime festival spot on the fairgrounds (Sunday May 5th, Sprint Stage, 1:30-2:20pm), and a 14-show East coast tour following Jazz Fest, Papa Grows Funk appears to be on the verge of a major national breakthrough.
A CONVERSATION WITH JOHN GROS
I first noticed John Gros as the longtime keyboardist for George Porter Jr’s Runnin’ Pardners, a gig that began for him in '95. These days, in addition to being one of the busiest musicians in town, he is the bandleader, keyboardist and vocalist for Papa Grows Funk… and a bad motherfucker on the cell phone.
Patrick Templeman: What is the first music you remember hearing as a child?
John Gros: Let’s see…Well, I remember lots of Fats Domino… my dad always played that. My dad played piano so he always played a lot of Fats Domino. And I also remember going to the Mardi Gras Parades with my grandparents all the time since I was a little kid. Just all the marching bands, "Hey Pocky Way", Audubon Zoo, that song, at a very early age. My first favorite song was "Maxwell’s Silver Hammer" by the Beatles. I think my dad was watching us one day and he always played music late so I think he put on this record thinking the "Octopus’ Garden" and "Maxwell’s Silver Hammer" would kinda crack us up, keep us occupied… and maybe we would take a nap (laughs). And I fell in love with that song "Maxwell’s Silver Hammer", so that was my first favorite song.
PT: I still like "Octopus’s Garden." Crazy stuff.
JG: Yeah, and something about having the Beatles’ Abbey Road as my first album that I ever heard really put a high standard for music for me just in general… 'cause that’s just a masterpiece record, in my book.
What keyboardists do you enjoy watching or listening to?
Art Neville, any chance I can get. Dr. John. One of the guys I have the most access to nowadays is Ivan Neville… that’s Aaron Neville’s son. He actually sat in with us last night and he sits in with us a lot when he’s in town. He’s great.
Same style as his uncle?
Yeah, probably the closest link to Art Neville… and that school of playing. But he’s also pretty versatile. He understands lots of different types of music. He’s just a world-class musician. And he’s straight up New Orleans. And one of the newest guys is John Medeski, because the things he can do with two hands just blows me away.
On the B-3?
B-3, clavinet, you know, piano, he’s just a phenomenal musician.
How about any of the other B-3 guys, Joey DeFrancesco or anyone like that?
Yeah, actually I am big into Joey. But I was never really big into Jimmy Smith, or Jack McDuff. I never really studied any of that school of playing, although I’m just really starting to really get into listening to it and appreciate it, but it isn’t really a part of me as a player. Jimmy McGriff was one of the guys that I really took a liking to early on. And I just kind of stumbled across him, I don’t know where, it was probably by accident, but just the way he could swing and play a blues really latched on to me.
How about James Booker?
Yeah, just phenomenal.
Did you see him play when you were growing up?
No, I never did see him. I was raised in Baton Rouge, and didn’t really get to New Orleans until ’84 when I started at Loyola and started living on my own and started checking out a lot of different stuff…you know, hands-on kind of checking out. And Booker had already passed away by then.
He really blows me away.
Yeah, and the one thing about Booker that a lot of people don’t know is that he was a great Hammond B-3 player. There were a lot of things he did with Joe Tex, the blues singer. He spent a lot of years with him, touring bands, sessions. He did a lot of sessions playing just organ. I haven’t heard this yet, but there’s a couple of bootlegs out with him sitting in with the Grateful Dead. [Editor’s note: Jerry Garcia Band.]
Tell me about playing with George Porter, Jr. - maybe a favorite story or anecdote?
There’s tons. He’s just been the greatest music teacher for me. Teaching me New Orleans music, the New Orleans music heritage, the tradition, and really passing down the respect and honor it is to be a New Orleans musician. I guess one example of his way of teaching – this was probably about 9 months to a year that I had been playing with George…
When did you start playing in his band?
’95. It was a local gig, and I think it was during a drum solo or something like that, so we were standing on the side of the stage. And I said “George, thanks for hiring me.” And he goes, “Man, thanks for playing in our band. You sound really good. Just quit fucking up.” (laughs)
What is your favorite New Orleans music moment on stage to date?
It would have to be a gig we did in Austin, Texas. It was George and the Runnin’ Pardners when it was just four of us: Brint Anderson the guitarist, Jellybean [Jeffrey Alexander] the drummer, myself and George. We went to Austin, and we did a set, then we backed up Snooks Eaglin's first set, then we backed up Earl King. I had been playing with Snooks for a while so I have a lot of great memories from playing with Snooks. Snooks’ set went great, it was one of his really good nights, then Earl King came up and I got to play with Earl King. It was my first time playing with Earl, and I was pretty much just in awe the whole set, because he sounded great that night! And Earl has a lot of ups and downs when he plays, and they were all ups that night, and I just have great, great memories.
Do you remember some of the songs you played?
JB: Oh we did "Big Chief", "Let the Good Times Roll", "Happy Little No Good Waggy Tail Dog", just a bunch of his tunes. Did a little bit of homework, learning a bunch of his obscure stuff. You know, when those legends get together and George is playing with them, you know they have a lot of respect for George and for what George has to offer and for what George has done for New Orleans music. Those guys really come to life and really play a little bit differently then when they’re just playing with a pickup band. So that was one, I don’t know if it was the best, but that was definitely one great, great memory.
We already talked briefly about this when you mentioned the Beatles, but who else has influenced your songwriting?
I definitely don’t know if it comes out in the Papa Grows Funk stuff, but just in general, Neil Young is a great songwriter; a lot of the traditional bluegrass songs, real traditional kind of stuff.
You grew up listening to that stuff?
No, no, no, just something that I took a liking to. Van Morrison, I learned a lot of stuff off of him. Peter Gabriel. I love Elvis Costello. More of the pop stuff. And then definitely Earl King and Allen Toussaint. Allen Toussaint is probably the model for New Orleans music. But you know, before I really dug deep into New Orleans music, I grew up listening to the radio in the late 70s and early 80s.
So when you grew up listening to the radio, you weren’t hearing lots of New Orleans rock and roll?
Oh no, lots of Journey, lots of Eagles. New Orleans music as far as radio had pretty much fell by the wayside.
Have you ever played with Allen?
No, I have not. I did some computer work for him for a little while, when he was learning music software. Helping him learn the programs, do some sequences. He had bought a synthesizer; I showed him how to work the synthesizer, how to hook it up to his computer, and how to do some sequences so he could get some ideas down.
Would you like to work with him again sometime?
Oh, I would love for him to produce a tune for us. I would love to do that.
Do you know if he is keeping busy?
I don’t know. He could be a busy man; maybe he’s not. I know this weekend he is playing his first weekend of jazz gigs. So he‘s probably been doing a lot of practicing on the piano. He really is a student of the instrument.
Jazz gigs?
Yeah, he’s got a weekend at Snug Harbor and it’s supposed to be a jazz quartet or something like that.
Have you ever thought about doing something like that?
No. (laughs!) Jazz, I don’t know what it is about it, but it is just not for me. The tricks and tools of the trade, as far as jazz communication, a high level of awareness that you have to have rhythmically, harmonically, melodically. I am very interested in pursuing those aspects of the music. But as far as dealing with swing, and strictly instrumental type music, I don’t know, it’s not for me. I like to see people getting down.
What makes Papa Grows Funk appealing to the fans of jambands?
We’re five guys who love playing together, and love being together, and sharing that moment of music on stage together. We get along, we have a great time, we have a great deal of respect for each other, and when it gets down to throwing down a groove, we all do it together and we’re all on the same page. It’s a lot of giving and taking, just a lot of communication going on. People see that, people get off on it, and the music, the solid groove, the interaction, the energy, the excitement all comes out of our relationship as a band. It’s five guys! People pick up on that and know that it’s not phony, it’s not fake, it’s very genuine and that comes out in the music. And not only can they see that on stage, they can actually hear that in what we’re playing. The grooves are very cool and the jam band kids, they love to do a lot of dancing, and the music is there for them.
What differences do you see in your group as compared to other jambands? What sets you apart?
Well, we’re from New Orleans. And just being from New Orleans is not enough, but we’re all students of New Orleans music. And that’s not enough, but we learned hands-on from the people that put New Orleans music on the map and created it. So there is a really strong direct link as far as the tradition of the style of music that we are playing. It’s been passed on to us. And I think that is what separates us from all the other jam bands that are playing funk music. We play New Orleans funk music, which is completely different from the James Brown school.
Because of the beat?
Well, it’s the syncopations, and it’s the history of where it comes out of. A lot of it comes out of the street bands – two drummers, you have a snare drummer, a bass drummer, and a tuba player – you know that’s where the music comes out of. That’s different from how James Brown put his sound together, it’s different from the West coast boogaloo kind of sound, it’s different from the acid soul-jazz. Those come out of different traditions and we come out of a very neighborhood, interactive, social type of music where the music is integrated into the lifestyle at a very early age.
Continuing with that New Orleans vibe, talk to me about your favorite restaurants in New Orleans.
(Laughs) Let’s see… I got three. The first one is Irene’s: that’s number one for me. It’s in the Quarter, Chartres and St. Philip. No reservations. You get there and wait as long as they need to get a table for you. It’s New Orleans-Italian, and is about four to five star quality for a two star price. The bang for the buck is unbelievable. Unbelievable! Real cozy. I went there the other night and it’s just awesome. I love Brigtsen’s. I think the chef’s name is Frank Brigtsen. He and Emeril were working at Commander’s Palace together. I guess Emeril was the chasing success and trying to be a millionaire and Frank Brigtsen just wanted to have a nice little restaurant. So when they left Commander’s, Emeril went on to take on the world, and this other guy had this nice little cottage. He bought an old house right at the riverbend, and put a small little restaurant there and it’s just top notch. And number three and the one I go to the most is Jacques-Imo’s. Right next to the Maple Leaf, the food is just incredible, and it’s just always a great time there.
Let’s try the old exercise where you say the first thing that comes, musically, about each of your bandmates.
Jason Mingledorff: a perfectionist, wants to make everything really right, and very concerned about the nuts and bolts and how it is put together. Peter V.: groove, he just lays down a groove. June Yamagishi: Mr. World Class, everything about the guy is just world class. Russell Batiste: a creative spark, keeps you on your toes all the time, you never know what is going to happen 24 hours a day. Mark Pero: a great truck driver, when he’s laying down the groove, he’s just really pushing, taking charge of what direction we’re running, how fast we’re moving and where we’re gonna turn, he’s back there driving a truck… pushing everybody.
What musicians out there would you like to collaborate or jam with?
Man, I’m thrilled with all the experiences I’ve had. There are always other great guys to play with but… hmmm. For this Jazz Fest, DJ Logic has been a guy that I’ve been completely intrigued with. I’ve never actually heard him yet.
You think you’ll be at the Mermaid for any of his gigs?
I don’t think I’ll be at the Mermaid, just cause I’m giggin’. Giggin’ or sleeping – one of the two things I can do during Jazz Fest. There’s a couple things I’m going to be doing with some of the Deep Banana Blackout guys, and I think he’s going to try to take part in some of that stuff. I’m looking forward to meeting him. He’s come to see us play and we’ve passed hellos a couple times through different people but I actually haven’t had a chance to shake his hand and sit down and talk to him, and I haven’t had a chance to listen to him yet.
It would be cool to get him on a track or two on the new record.
Yeah, I’m really dying to find out what it is that makes him so special. Because right now… I just know that he’s special. He’s one out there guy who just really intrigues me. Other than that, any chance I get to play with George Porter, Leo, Art Neville. I guess Dr. John might be one that I would just love to play with. He’s just a consummate New Orleans musician. A student of the music, laying guitar tracks in the 60s, a session piano player, songwriter, producing the records, he’s done it all. And then he went on to become an artist after that, and now he’s just a star.
What tips would you give to the Jazz Fest rookie?
Here’s your daytime tips: drink lots of water, sunscreen, enjoy the food, and the neatest thing is try to pull yourself away from the big crowds. When you see someone you really know is going to be great, and you got tons of people going to that stage, go somewhere else. When you can enjoy the festival and not really deal with a schedule and not lock yourself down to the main acts and you can go float around, see stuff you never seen before, get into the gospel tent whenever you can, find the little stages, find the little nooks and crannies of the Jazz Fest, those little pockets that are just very sparse and always something great going on. You know, really take your time to be a part of the fest instead of just get to the main stages to see you know, Jimmy Buffett or String Cheese… because you see those people all the time. And when you can really go find out what makes New Orleans music and Louisiana music so special, why all these people come to New Orleans for this time of the year and why people pay lots of money to get New Orleans music to their town, to their festivals. You can do it here at the Jazz Fest so cheap and it’s all accessible. Don’t miss out on that!
Are you going to jam with Jimmy Buffett this year?
Ah, I don’t think so. He didn’t ask yet. (laughing)
And the nighttime tip?
Nighttime tip: pace yourself. And have a good time.
A CONVERSATION WITH JASON MINGLEDORFF
Jason Mingledorff plays saxophone for Papa Grows Funk. In addition, he has shared the stage with many of today’s best jazz musicians and is a full-time member of the brass band New Orleans Nightcrawlers.
Patrick Templeman: When did you first start playing music?
Jason Mingledorff: Probably way back in seventh grade, I started out playing tenor saxophone in the band at school. And I didn’t really get serious until I got to college at the University of Alabama. I moved down to New Orleans after that and I went to UNO for grad school.
PT: Music school?
JM: Yes, Jazz Studies at UNO where Ellis Marsalis was the head of the program.
He just retired, didn’t he?
Yeah, he just retired. I think Terence Blanchard is doing it now. I finished up there and I studied with this guy Victor Goines, who I think teaches at Julliard now, and he is also in Wynton’s band. And this guy Ed Peterson was my main teacher there.
Both saxophone teachers?
Yeah, those were my saxophone teachers. And when I moved to town, I started playing pretty much right away with the New Orleans Nightcrawlers Brass Band, and I learned a lot from that because the other sax player in that band is Eric Traub, who plays with Dr. John and just about everyone in town.
Tell me a little about that band: how long have they been around?
The Nightcrawlers have been around probably about six years now. It started out as kind of a band for composers to get together and write for. Then it kind of turned into its own thing and we were signed to Rounder Records and did a couple of records with them. It’s a brass band in the tradition of the Dirty Dozen.
No piano player?
Right, no piano player. But it’s ironic though because the guy that started the band, Tom McDermott, is a piano player. But he’s not even in the band. He used to write some music for the band. He did an arrangement for the Dirty Dozen on this album called Jelly, a tribute to Jelly Roll Morton. And after that, he wanted to write some stuff for brass bands, so he got together with some of his friends and they had some arrangements they wanted to do. I came on a little bit later, maybe six months or a year after they started, and then it turned into its own thing. Great band, I love playing with them. I think we are playing the first Friday at Jazz Fest. [12:20pm at the Sprint PCS Stage]
Going back to UNO, who else did you study with, not only teachers but also fellow classmates?
The tuba player for the Nightcrawlers, who actually got another gig, he was my combo leader, a guy named Matt Perrine. He plays bass and he is an amazing tuba player. And another one was Red Tyler. He used to play with Fats Domino and tons of guys. Actually when I was a kid he came to Montgomery where I grew up, and did a concert, and they did this version of "People Make the World Go ‘Round" by the Stylistics. It was really cool. All I remembered was the name and it was awesome. And I looked for it for years and years, because I didn’t know who did it or what – I didn’t even know that it was a soul tune. And I finally found it when I was in college, probably eight or nine years later. And I always remembered Red Tyler, you know. He was a great guy, he was different than any other jazz teacher. He would teach us stuff – I call it old school – he would basically play us all the music, and it wasn’t until we had it all learned and memorized, then he would give us the music, written down. It was really cool because it was a different way of doing it, it made you use your ears and you learned the songs before you even knew it.
In addition to all that stuff with Fats, he also played on James Booker’s Classified.
Yeah, yeah, he did that too. And the nicest guy in the world. He passed away a couple years ago. It was real sad. I actually wrote a song for the Nightcrawlers and dedicated it to him. Called "Red’s Cap", it was on our last album. He was great.
Have you ever thought of doing his arrangement of "People Make the World Go 'Round"?
Actually when he was at UNO, we did it with my combo, he taught it to us. We should do that, man, I should get Papa Grows to do that. That’s a cool song. I know they all dig that song. It’s a little laid back you know, but it would let the people relax.
I asked this question of Gros as well, and it’s because I know, for me, that some of the stuff I listened to when I was real young I still dig now, or I dig even more now. So what was some of the stuff that you listened to or your parents had you listen to?
Yeah. Man, well some of that’s embarrassing, but stuff that I remember really digging, that was cool, was some of the pop stuff of the day, but the soul stuff in particular… early Michael Jackson, the Commodores, things like that, which is kind of cool, it all comes back around. Growing up in Alabama, I always remember my first serious jazz record that I got, and it will always be my favorite. It was John Coltrane, but it was a whole album of alternate takes from Giant Steps. And what was messed up with it was that the song titles were on the wrong side of the cassette. And I didn’t know anything about John Coltrane, all I remember is that it was a great album. And so now when I hear it, I’m familiar with the alternate takes. And also I knew the wrong titles. So I thought that "Giant Steps" was called "I Will Wait and Pray." And I thought that "Cousin Mary" was called "Syeeda’s Song Flute." But I listened to it over and over and I would transcribe the melodies and stuff, and this was before I really knew anything about what I was doing but I really dug that album. And it still to this day is probably my favorite.
How old were you?
I was probably a senior in high school. A lot of people start off earlier with all of that stuff, but I didn’t really have much access to it.
Who is the best horn player you have ever played with?
Oh man… (long pause) Well, I tell you what. I did a concert a little while ago with this Matt Lemmler Project, which is actually playing Jazz Fest [Tribute to Stevie Wonder, 1:30pm at the WWOZ Jazz Tent on Saturday April 27]. We did a concert back in December and Nicholas Payton was on it. And he is just amazing! Blows me away.
What about him?
He’s just so sure. Everything he plays is confident. But not cocky, just right there in the pocket and beautiful. Amazing sound. He sat right behind me. It was great. That’s just off the top of my head. Let me see… I get to play with so many great guys down here.
How about your favorite saxophone player?
Oh man, I can’t answer that. It depends upon the day of the week. Today? I don’t know… I didn’t wake up too long ago. I’m a big fan of Sonny Rollins, I’m a big fan of Stan Getz, Lee Allen, who is great. I remember one of my first lessons, my teacher asked who are my favorite sax players. And my favorites at the time were Lee Allen, who did all the old sax cuts for Little Richard and all those old New Orleans things, and Stan Getz. And that’s about as polar opposite as you can get. (laughs) So he was like, that doesn’t make any sense! And that’s kind of like what makes me what I am. I really love all of them. For the modern guys, I really like Joshua Redman, this guy Chris Potter, who is a really well-rounded, amazing player, James Carter, Joe Lovano – he is coming to jazzfest this year. There’s a lot of good guys out there and they all have something to offer, their own thing, and should be accepted on the terms of what kind of music they are trying to make, and you can get something out of it. I mean there’s some things that I just don’t get into, like the soft light jazz stuff. It just doesn’t do much for me, but that doesn’t mean some people can’t get into it.
Sticking with that same topic, are there any gigs at the Fest this year that you will make a point of seeing?
Well, I want to see Joe Lovano, I want to see Wayne Shorter with Brian Blade. Of course, Brian Blade is going to be playing earlier that day with me, with the Matt Lemmler Project. I tell you what, talking about amazing musicians, Brian Blade is just such a joy to play with. Great.
Always seems to have a smile on his face.
Yeah. Well he’s got this whole spiritual side to him; it’s beautiful. And he just likes to make good music, it kind of flows throughout the band, no bad vibe at all. I want to see King Floyd; I love King Floyd. Although last time I saw him he played Groove Me three times. But he’s great, an old New Orleans R&B singer. I love seeing those guys too. And this guy David Sanchez, from Puerto Rico, who is supposed to be real good.
You’ve told me that you have been playing baritone saxophone lately. Why are there so many more tenor sax players than baritone sax players, and have you ever thought of playing baritone with PGF?
The first answer to that question, and the most obvious, is that it’s a bit of a pain in the ass to lug a bari around. (laughs) Most of the influential saxophone players in jazz are alto and tenor, and when you think about it you hear that sound in your head, you hear that range, and it kind of brings itself to your playing. I picked tenor saxophone because it looked cool and I remember seeing it in a Hall & Oates video, "Man-eater" or whatever when I was a little kid. (laughing) Oh that looks cool! (laughing more) But with the bari, even though there’s some great bari players out there, you don’t really see them that often. As for the second part of your question, we used to do this cool thing with Galactic where we’d do bari and tenor or bari and alto, and get some cool sounds with it. But bari all by itself, sometimes it’s kind of hard to cut through. Now what I have been doing is playing some more alto with the band. I just now started playing more of it, and I like it, it cuts through too, the guys in the band can hear it a little bit better. I just kind of switch off every couple of songs. I’m not really an alto player, but I’m getting into it. One of these days I’ll bring out the bari.
What makes Papa Grows Funk special?
I think it’s the camaraderie and the fact that we all kind of come from a similar place. We all basically just love good music. And it’s so funny that everybody in the band has their favorite song or their favorite artist, and it’s real eclectic and you just never know. Russell will listen to something on the radio, it could be some rock band or something and he just listens to it for its pure musical sense. And he’ll say “Man, that’s really good, I like that.” He won’t just kind of toss it off because it’s not funk or jazz. And the same thing with Pero, our bass player. He’s always up on all sorts of different kinds of music, and you never know what kind of corny 80s song he’s going to pull out. Like, “Oh my god, I haven’t heard that since I was a kid!” And the same with all of us. But we all have that grounding, we all love funk music. And we all listen to the same stuff and if something comes up we kind of have that in common. And I think we feel like a family, and I think you can feel that on stage.
I’m going to mention each of your band mates’ names and I want you to give me the first thing that comes to mind about them musically.
Russell: A force to be reckoned with. Pero: A monster. Yamagishi: Korean BBQ (June’s recipe)… no, no, ch-chink. Gros: always a good vibe with him. Peter: solid.
Discuss the creation of a typical Papa Grows Funk song?
Man, it’s different I think with a lot of the songs. The basic thing is that one of us will come up with something. For me, I’ll be singing something in the car and I’ll just call home and leave it on my answering machine. And then, kind of have a sketch of ideas, whether it’s chord changes or melody or something, and then bring it to the band, and kind of work it together piece by piece. Usually I like to have the guys in the band add something to it, to kind of make it our own. It’s funny now, when we actually get together for a rehearsal, which we did once, we came out of it with a whole bunch of tunes. It was like bam bam, real creative energy. I think we’ve got to get together pretty soon because we’ve got about three or four songs that we want to work up, that we’ve got that we just need to get going. But sometimes I’ll just sing the bass line to the bass player right before the gig and say, go with that, and when I look at you go to this, and let’s just do something with it. And sometimes we’ll just make up a song right on the gig. And that’s the great thing about this band is that everyone has got these giant ears wide open, listening to what everyone else is doing, and we’ve got John leading us with ideas, taking us here and there, and that’s kind of how the songs are created.
Tips for the Jazz Fest rookie?
My philosophy of Jazz Fest is to go with the flow. I know you got your schedule and you mark out all the things you want to see and you try to see all of them. But my best Jazz Fest moments are just being somewhere where I wasn’t expecting to be. I’ll walk by something and it sounds good, and if it sounds good, you should stop and check it out because it probably is good. And then you’ll be like oh man, I missed so-and-so, I was going to see them. Well, that probably wouldn’t have been as good as what you saw. And check out all the tents. I always like to check out the Gospel Tent, even the Economy Hall Tent, which is traditional jazz, the Fais-Do-Do, which is Cajun/zydeco tent. You’re going to get a great experience if you do that. And don’t forget the grandstand is a great place to get out of the sun. [Editor’s not: air conditioning!]
Papa Grows Funk Jazz Fest Schedule
Friday April 26 | Maple Leaf Bar Sunrise Show | 3am (actually 4/27)
Sunday April 28 | Parish @ the House of Blues | 11pm
Monday April 29 | Boom Boom Room Presents @ Maple Leaf Bar | 10:30pm (Little Hercules opens)
Wednesday May 1 | Louisiana Music Factory | Free in-store performance | 1:00pm
Friday May 3 | Puff Presents @ the Blue Nile | 10:30pm (Brides of Jesus open)
Sunday May 5 | Jazz Fest Fairgrounds | Sprint Stage | 1:30pm-2:20pm
Monday May 6 | Tower Records | Free in-store performance | 3:00pm
Monday May 6 | Maple Leaf Bar | 10:30pm (Netwerk: Electric opens)
PGF East Coast Spring Tour
Friday May 17 | The Jewish Mother | Virginia Beach, VA
Saturday May 18 | All Good Festival | Terra Alta, WV (4:00pm-5:15pm)
Monday May 20 | Murray’s Inn | Wilkes Barre, PA
Tuesday May 21 | House of Blues | Cambridge, MA
Thursday May 23 | Mexicali Blues | Teaneck, NJ
Friday May 24 | Metronome | Burlington, VT
Sunday May 25 | Jam on the Rive | Philadelphia, PA (3:30pm-4:30pm)
Tuesday May 28 | The Crowbar | State College, PA
Wednesday May 29 | TBA
Thursday May 30 | BB King Blues Club | New York City
Friday May 31 | Black Eyed Susan Paddleboat | Inner Harbor, Baltimore, MD
Saturday June 1 | North by Northwest | Philadelphia, PA
Sunday June 2 | Crawfish Festival | Stanhope, NJ (2:00pm-3:00pm)
Check out the Papa Grows Funk website for information.
Patrick Templeman
JamBase | Denver
Go see live music!
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