The Jazz Voyager
Heading to O’Hare to catch a morning flight to NOLA to experience far beyond the French Quarter the city that gave the world Congo Square, Storyville and Preservation Hall. This week I’ll be sitting in the infamous Snug Harbor. Opening some thirty years ago in the Faubourg Marigny in the 7th Ward, it’s just downriver from the French Quarter and has been known as the place locals go for live music since the 1980s. Anchoring Frenchmen Street between Royal and Chartres Streets, there’s Live music 7 nights a week.
On the stage is bassist, composer, and bandleader Jasen Weaver who is a New Orleans native of New Orleans, who has established himself as a vital part of the city’s jazz scene and beyond. This will be this voyager’s first time witnessing his talent and of course will be at the second show at 9:30pm.
Cover: $41.30
Snug Harbor is located at 626 Frenchmen Street, New Orleans, LA 70116. For more information contact the venue at https://snugjazz.com/calendar.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Oscar Feldman was born on June 12, 1961 in Cordoba, Argentina listening to his father’s jazz collection. He attended Conservatorio Provincial de Musica and was soon part of the prominent music scene in his hometown, becoming a founding member of acclaimed band Los Musicos del Centro.
Beginning in 1979 when he was 19 Oscar accepted an invitation to join bandoneonist Hermeto Pascoal and Dino Saluzzi to join his group. Moving to Buenos Aires, Argentina his career took off and he became a sought after studio musician. He recorded more than 40 albums as a sideman and toured with Argentina’s most prominent artists. Winning the Outstanding Performance Award as the Best Soloist in Fusion in 1986, he went on to procure the Achievement Scholarship Award from Berklee College of Music and graduated cum laude in 1995 with a Major in Professional Music.
Realizing he could bridge two worlds he joined Dizzy Gillespie’s United Nations Orchestra conducted by Paquito D’ Rivera. Moving to New York City his reputation grew as a versatile musician, and worked with Al Di Meola, Eumir Deodato, Jeff Tain Watts, Avantango, Alex Acuna, Bebo Valdes and His All Star Latin Jazz Band. He toured and performed across the United States, Europe and Africa.
As a leader Feldman has led numerous tours Horacio Negro Hernandez, Alex Acuna, Dave Samuels, Otmaro Ruiz and Tom Kennedy. As an educator he is currently on the faculty at the New York Jazz Academy, has taught workshops and clinics at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. He leads his own music jam classes weekly in New York and has written an article for Down Beat Magazine.
By the end of the 1990’s he recorded his debut as a leader El Angel on the Songosaurus record label. For his sophmore ten track album Oscar e Familia was released in 2009 on Sunnyside, he put together a Pan-American cast of Mexican drummer Antonio Sanchez, Cuban pianist Manuel Valera, Puerto Rican bassist John Benitez and Curacao percussion master Pernell Saturnino.
Alto saxophonist and composer Oscar Feldman. known for his splendid tonalities and melodically outstanding charts, continues to transcend his musical horizons.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Danielle Wertz was born on June 11, 1994 in Washington, D.C. She was a semi-finalist in the 2015 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Vocal Competition.
Danielle independently released her debut album, Intertwined, in 2017 which ranked #4 on Capital Bop’s list of Best DC Jazz Albums of 2017 and was a finalist in both the Ella Fitzgerald Jazz Vocal Competition and the Mid-Atlantic Jazz Vocal Competition.
After making a cross-country move to California, Wertz quickly became an integral and sought-after musical collaborator and educator in the Bay Area. She has taught workshops and masterclasses at the Berkeley Jazzschool, joined the California Jazz Conservatory faculty, as well as the Sonoma State University faculty.
2022 saw her moving to NYC and being hired by Signature Theatre in Arlington, VA to co-create and co-star in a theatrical concert about the lives and music of Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen. In 2023 Danielle released her sophomore album, Other Side, as a composer and conceptualist. Reimagining arrangements of the Great American Songbook she paired them with her original compositions.
Vocalist, composer and arranger Danielle Wertz continues to collaborate as a new member of the NYC jazz scene, recording with Remy LeBoeuf, releasing a new album and looking forward to headline her first European tour.
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On The Bookshelf
JAZZ SINGING | WILL FRIEDWALD
America’s Great Voices From Bessie Smith To Bebop and Beyond
Jazz Singing is a biographical guide for those who desire to be knowledgeable about those voices that made the 20th century a great time in the creation of music. This treatise of 832 pages covers 210 singers from Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Louis Armstrong and Frank Sinatra to Elvis Presley, Johnny Mathis and Patti Page, to lesser known Jackie Paris, David Allyn, Edythe Wright, Irene Reid and everyone in between.
This book is not meant to be read from covers to cover. One should take a sip, uncovering nugget by nugget of information and insight on the classic blues stylists of the 1920s who laid the foundation on which the two greatest singers in our history, Louis Armstrong and Bing Crosby, built a tradition.
Jazz Singing reveals how the master jazz and pop singers created, what made them great, and why their music has the power to touch us so profoundly.
JACQUI NAYLOR
Vocalist and composer Jacqui Naylor returns to Snug Harbor following sold-out performances across Europe, Canada, Asia, and the United States.
With twelve albums and a dedicated global following, she is celebrated for her richly soulful voice, impressive vocal range, and distinctive arrangements of standards, covers, and original compositions. Naylor and her trio will perform selections from her 2024 release, Treasures of the Heart, along with fan favorites from throughout her acclaimed career.
She’s also known for her inventive arrangements that blend jazz standards with classic rock grooves and vice versa. She has headlined many of the world’s premier jazz clubs and festivals in the United States, Japan and Italy.
The Band:
Jacqui Naylor – vocals
Art Khu – piano
Jasen Weaver – bass
Jason Marsalis – drums
Shows: 7:30pm & 9:30pm
Tickets: $41.30
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