By Denny Dyroff, Entertainment Editor, The Times
The Rumble
New Orleans is a great cultural city – especially for food and music.
Many of America’s legendary musicians are from New Orleans – Professor Longhair, the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Louis Prima, The Meters, Fats Domino, the Wild Magnolias.
Music is everywhere in Crescent City – from small clubs to huge festivals like the New Orleans Jazz Festival.
There are the famous krewes which perform in the streets at Mardi Gras and other times during the rest of the year.
There is also the tradition of Mardi Gras Indians.
Mardi Gras Indians (also known as Black Masking Indians) are black carnival revelers who dress up for Mardi Gras in suits influenced by Native American ceremonial apparel.
Collectively, their organizations are called “tribes.” There are about 40 tribes which range in size from half a dozen to several dozen members. The groups are largely independent, but a pair of umbrella organizations loosely coordinates the Uptown Indians and the Downtown Indians.
In addition to Mardi Gras Day, many of the tribes also parade on Saint Joseph’s Day (March 19) and the Sunday nearest to Saint Joseph’s Day (“Super Sunday”). Traditionally, these were the only times Mardi Gras Indians were seen in public in full regalia. The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival began the practice of hiring tribes to appear at the Festival as well. In recent years it has become more common to see Mardi Gras Indians at other festivals and parades in the city.
For the last few years, New Orleans has enjoyed the sound and energy of a new band performing the music of Mardi Gras Indians – The Rumble.
The Rumble, headliner of a show on July 27 at City Winery (990 Filbert Street, Philadelphia, www.citywinery.com), is a lively seven-piece band which formed more than a year ago after some of its members broke from Cha Wa, a Grammy-nominated band.
The Rumble represents an important facet of New Orleans culture. Composed of Second Chief Joseph Boudreaux Jr. of the Golden Eagles, trumpeter Aurélien Barnes, trombonist José Maize Jr., bassist TJ Norris, guitarist Ari Teitel, keyboardist Andriu Yanovski, and drummer Trenton O’Neal, the group fuses iconic New Orleans funk in the vein of The Meters and The Neville Brothers. The Rumble has updated that classic sound, adding splashes of hip-hop into the mix.
At one point, most of the members of The Rumble were in Cha Wa, another Mardi Gras Indians band. Cha Wa formed in 2014 after working with Big Chief Monk Boudreaux (Joseph’s grandfather). Cha Wa gained national attention in 2018 with its Grammy-nominated 2018 album, “Spyboy,” which featured J’Wan Boudreaux, Big Chief Monk’s grandson and Joseph Boudreaux’ nephew.
“The Rumble – the name and the band – only came about early last year,” said Boudreaux, during a phone interview Tuesday from a tour stop in New York. “But most of us played three or four years together in Cha Wa.
“It wasn’t just a name change. We created the sound and the music, and we were still considered to be hired hands. We didn’t own the name so we couldn’t do anything. So, we just decided to split ways.
“We were the ones who made the music. We had the Grammys Award even though it was credited to Cha Wa. We had all played together for a while. We are making the music for our culture, and we did it our own way.”
The Rumble represents the past and the future.
“The city’s music starts here,” said Boudreaux. “We take those elements and things from the past like The Meters, the Nevilles and The Wild Magnolias, and mix in our own flavor and style.”
The Rumble’s music is tied musically and spiritually to the Mardi Gras Indians, a colorful New Orleans subculture with tribes, elaborate beaded suits and percussive music.
According to Boudreaux, the son of legendary New Orleans musician Monk Boudreaux, “Native Americans gave refuge to runaway slaves in the swamps of Louisiana, leading to cultural exchanges, friendship and respect. We grew together and learned some of each other’s ways. We’re the next generation of an old generation.”
When Mardi Gras Indians parade during the annual Carnival celebrations, they produce a wild blend of sensory stimulation. Dressed in handcrafted, Native American-inspired “suits,” participants chant and sing call-and-response songs, punctuating these vocals with the sounds of tambourines, cowbells, drums and other percussion instruments.
The Mardi Gras Indian tradition is a distinctly African American one. Its’ roots stretch back to the late 19th century, when Black New Orleanians started dressing up as Native Americans to pay homage to the Indigenous people who’d helped them survive. Local tribes such as the Choctaw, the Seminole and the Chickasaw helped enslaved Africans escape from plantations and live off the land.
Excluded from mainstream Carnival celebrations, New Orleans’ Black community cultivated its own traditions, including the Mardi Gras Indians. Archival evidence traces the practice to the 1880s, when the Seventh Ward’s Becate Batiste founded the Creole Wild West tribe. But researchers argue it could go back even further. Dozens of tribes independently organized in the years after the Creole Wild West’s formation.
Traditionally male-dominated, tribes boast a big chief, a queen and a banner-brandishing flag boy, among other roles. The spy boy precedes his tribe in the streets, scouting out rivals. Some tribes have released commercial recordings of their music. The Wild Tchoupitoulas produced a 1976 album that had an island flavor. Another tribe, the Wild Magnolias, embraced funk.
Mardi Gras Indians employ visual, musical and theatrical arts. Some of their handcrafted suits could be deemed fine art, while others are displays of abstract art. Uptown tribes often utilize intricate beading, while downtown tribes embrace architectural designs with three-dimensional elements. Suits can weigh up to 100 pounds, and the materials required to make them can cost thousands of dollars.
“With The Rumble, when you take the percussion with the drums we use, it’s African Beat and that came from the Congo. It’s the Masking Indian tradition. I’m a third generation Chief. My dad is the oldest living working Chief. Golden Eagles is my tribe. This edition has been around for more than 100 years.”
Earlier this year, the band released its debut album, “The Rumble Ft. Chief Joseph Boudreaux Jr. Live at the Maple Leaf Bar.”
“The album came out in May 2023,” said Boudreaux. “We wanted a live album because our show is so much live, in-your-face energy. The live show album brings you into the show.
“We actually had a studio album done before we did the live album. We decided to do it this way because the live album put the energy on display. That way, when the studio album comes out, fans will be familiar with our music. They’ll know what to expect.”
Video link for The Rumble — https://youtu.be/uzhtNYKtjBE.
The show at City Winery on July 27 will start at
Tickets are $22, $28 and $30.
Other upcoming shows at City Winery are Chuck Brown Band on July 28, Tiera O’Leary on July 30, Joey McIntyre on August 1 and Kamasi Washington on August 2.
Like NOLA, Jamey’s House of Music (32 South Lansdowne Avenue, Lansdowne, 215-477-9985,www.jameyshouseofmusic.com) is a place where tasty food and tasty music come together to create a harmonious blend.
Jamey’s is known for having good menus – menus featuring culinary excellence and good music.
The club’s kitchen offers an eclectic and delicious made-to-order menu of Asian-inspired American fare – including many vegetarian options — along with yummy desserts, fresh brewed coffees from Green Street Coffee Roasters, assorted espressos, and cold drinks.
It is the inspired work of Jamey’s wife, Suyun.
Lisa Chavous
This weekend’s musical menu is also top-flight with Geraldine Oliver as the appetizer on July 27, Lisa Chavous as the main course on July 28 and Watermelon Slim as the tasty summertime dessert on July 29.
Jamey’s features a popular “Guest Singer Series” on Thursday featuring many of the best singers in the region performing a set from 7-8 p.m. with the backing of the Dave Reiter Trio and occasional guest musicians.
The Dave Reiter Trio lays down the backing for some out of this world jazz to happen, and you never know who might show up to join in. Reiter is a long-time jazz pro and is equally at home on the seven-string guitar, Nord keyboard or the venue’s top of the line Hammond organ setup. Bill Marconi is on drums; his name is known to jazz aficionados around the world. Holding down the bottom is first-call Philly bassist, George Livanos.
The “Guest Singer” for this Thursday is Geri Oliver.
Geraldine (“Geri”) Oliver is a vocalist whose singing reaches deep down and touches your heart, taking you on a journey to a place inside your soul, called “reverie.”
With an uncanny ability to hold you captive, her instrument of voice weaves a lyrical and melodic story that colors the atmosphere with healing hues. Add the live, fluid, dynamism of jazz tones emanating from the band, and you become engulfed in a must hear and must feel, musical mosaic.
Video link for Geraldine Oliver — https://youtu.be/gRFQmpjfcm8.
Doors open at 6 p.m. on July 27. Oliver will perform from 7-8 p.m. followed by an “Open Mic Jazz Jam” from 8-10 p.m. There is a $10 cover charge.
The headliner for July 28 is Lisa Chavous, who is one of the most respected jazz and blues singers in the Philadelphia music scene. She is also is a Delaware County girl all the way.
She grew up in Sharon Hill and graduated from Darby Township High School. She studied for a career in nursing at a hospital in Delaware County. Now, Chavous is a resident of Lansdown and could easily walk to Friday’s gig if she so desires.
Chavous is making a return visit to Jamey’s House of Music – the venue where she had a CD release party for her most recent album, “Breaking Down the Walls.”
“The CD is dedicated to my late husband Michael Hayes,” said Chavous, during a phone interview from her Delco home. “He died of cancer in 2014.
“We had a tour in Paris in 2019 and two trips to Puerto Rico. The Puerto Rico shows were tributes to Aretha Franklin and Tina Turner. One of them raised $3,000 for emergency relief in San Juan. Then, the pandemic hit, and everything shut down.”
Chavous has been singing her whole life.
“I started performing and singing in church when I was really young,” said Chavous. “The, my mom and dad managed me. Eventually, I got calls from agents. So, I started putting bands together – Lisa Chavous and Friends.”
In 1989 she began performing with the group Chapter One in banquet halls such as The Twelve Caesars and the Riviera Ballroom. In 1997 Lisa won first prize while competing in the Temple University jazz station talent contest sponsored by B&V outreach. In 1999 she began forming bands that performed for a variety of audiences. These ensembles eventually became known as Lisa Chavous and Friends.
“My first band was a jazz band. We played a lot of jazz clubs including the Blue Note in New York. I was on the jazz side for a while.
“We were really blessed with being able to book shows at country clubs in Delco. One night, the sax player couldn’t make the show. So, they sent another cat – and it was Byard Lancaster.”
The late, great Byard Lancaster was an alto saxophonist/flutist from Philadelphia who was part of the wave of free jazz inspired by John Coltrane. His music had many cultures in its DNA such as blues, reggae and Afrobeat and he lived in a variety of places including Chicago, France and Nigeria. But he always returned to jazz and his hometown.
After watching Chavous perform many years ago, Lancaster said, “I have recorded with Jonny Copeland, and have known Shemekia Copeland since she was a lttle girl, when I was on the road with her father. I’ve got to tell you the best female blues vocalist to come along since Shemekia is without a doubt, Lisa Chavous.”
This quote came from the musician who discovered Kevin Eubanks, the Roots, and Stanley Clarke.
“A couple years later, I ran into Byard at a blues festival in Media,” said Chavous. “He told me there was a blues band — the Philadelphia Blues Messengers –that needed a vocalist and asked if I wanted to go to Paris. That was in the early 2000s. He opened so many doors for me.
“For me, getting into the blues was a fluke. I was supposed to be going Motown and playing country clubs. Then, blues came in with Byard. I just became an icon in Philly as a blues singer. People wanted the blues and it never stopped. I realized – this music is me.”
Chavous is frequently compared to Tina Turner, Etta James, Aretha Franklin, Ruth Brown, and Irma Thomas, who along with Billie Holiday and Mahalia Jackson are among her primary musical influences. She a been singing in church and performing in shows since she was five in a career that encompasses jazz, blues, soul, gospel and rock.
In 1989, she began performing with the group Chapter One in banquet halls such as The Twelve Caesars and the Riviera Ballroom. In 1997, Chavous won first prize while competing in the Temple University jazz station talent contest sponsored by B and V outreach. In 1999, she began forming bands that performed for a variety of audiences. These ensembles eventually became known as Lisa Chavous and Friends.
Chavous has performed with jazz greats Byard Lancaster, Odean Pope, Trudy Pitts, Pat Martino, Jimmy McGriff and Bootsie Barnes, and is regularly backed by former members of Patti LaBelle’s band, as well as by Don Evans, former guitarist for Billy Joel.
Chavous, who is a nurse, has also donated her talents at a variety of functions that benefit children’s organizations supporting research for multiple sclerosis and the anti-AIDS foundation.
Lisa’s forte is her great versatility in singing jazz, blues, and rhythm and blues, all with tons of soul that projects her sincere love and devotion to her music and that creates powerful audience attraction and response.
Chavous will be selling her new CD, “The Underground Hustle” at this weekend’s show.
Video link for Lisa Chavous – https://youtu.be/3N0iG_x7u44.
The show on July 28 will start at 8 p.m.
Tickets are $20 in advance and $25 at the door.
Bill “Watermelon Slim” Homans has received numerous honors for his music including Paste Magazine 2x Winner: 2008 Blues Music Award Band of the Year and Album of the Year; 2x Winner: 2006 & 2007 MOJO Magazine’s #1 Blues Album of the Year; Winner: 6th Annual Independent Music Awards Blues Album of the Year.
Homans has built a remarkable reputation with his raw, impassioned intensity. Watermelon Slim & The Workers have won 17 Blues Music Award nominations in four years.
One of Slim’s most impressive industry accolades may be the liner notes of “The Wheel Man” eagerly written by the late legendary Jerry Wexler who called him a “one-of-a-kind pickin’n’ singing Okie dynamo.”
Homans was born in Boston where his father was a progressive attorney and freedom rider, and his brother was a classical musician. He was raised in North Carolina listening to the housekeeper sing John Lee Hooker songs. Homans attended Middlebury College on a fencing scholarship but left early to enlist for Vietnam.
While laid up in a Vietnam hospital bed, he taught himself upside-down left-handed slide guitar on a $5 balsawood model using a triangle pick cut from a rusty coffee can top and his Army issued Zippo.
Slim first appeared on the music scene with the release of the only known protest record by a veteran during the Vietnam War. The project was “Merry Airbrakes,” a 1973 protest-tinged LP with tracks later covered by Country Joe McDonald.
From then until the turn of the century, Homans has been a truck driver, forklift operator, sawmiller (where he lost a partial finger), firewood salesman, collection agent, funeral officiator and, at times, a small time criminal. Due to aforementioned criminality, Slim was forced to flee Boston where he had played peace rallies, sit-ins and rabble roused musically with the likes of Bonnie Raitt. Recently Raitt singled out Slim to her audience as a living blues legend during a summer 2009 performance.
From Boston, Slim landed in his current home state of Oklahoma and began farming watermelons – hence his stage name. Somewhere in those decades since Vietnam, Slim completed two undergrad and a master’s degree, started a family, painted art and joined MENSA. When he’s not on tour, Slim loves to fish and garden.
Video link for “Watermelon Slim” – https://youtu.be/tFbk3dtkSMg.
The show on July 29 will start at 8 p.m.
Tickets are $20 in advance and $25 at the door.
The “Sunday Blues Brunch & Jam” is scheduled for every Sunday from noon-3 p.m. with the host band’s set from noon-1 p.m. followed by an open mic from 1-3 p.m.
The first, third, fourth and fifth Sunday sessions are hosted by the Philly Blues Kings while the hosts for second Sunday sessions are the Girke-Davis Project.
The exciting new addition is the newly formed all-star band, the Girke-Davis Project, featuring international artist Roger Girke on guitar and vocals, Dukes of Destiny front man John Colgan-Davis on vocals and harmonica, Hammond organ ace Glenn Bickel, drummer extraordinaire Fred Berman, and Reilly on bass.
Colgan-Davis started playing the harmonica in local blues and folk clubs back in the late 1960s while he was still a high school student. He played and recorded with Philadelphia singer-guitarist Jesse Graves and played with Bonnie Raitt when she lived in Philadelphia in the early 1970s.
Through Raitt, he had the opportunity to meet and play with Mississippi Fred McDowell, Arthur Crudup, Buddy Guy, Skip James, Mississippi John Hurt, and others. He has also jammed with James Cotton, John Hammond, Charlie Musselwhite, John Lee Hooker, Bill Dicey, and Louisiana Red.
Colgan-Davis has toured nationally and has recorded two CDs — “Cold and Lonesome on a Train” and “Heroes and Hard Times.”
Colgan-Davis and the harmonica have a long history together.
“I started acoustic harmonica when I was in high school at Philadelphia’s Central High School,” said Colgan-Davis. “Central High had a folk music club, and we had a budget big enough to being Skip James and Son House to play at our school.”
Colgan-Davis’s introduction to the blues came when he was in high school and saw the Rolling Stones performing with Howling Wolf on the “Shindig” TV show. Howlin’ Wolf, whose real name was Chester Burnett, was an American blues singer, guitarist and harmonica player who was one of the premier Chicago bluesmen.
“When I saw Howlin’ Wolf on that TV show, I jumped up and said — this is what I want to do,” said Colgan-Davis. “I started playing blues when I was 16. My dad gave me a grab bag for my birthday and a harmonica was in it.
“I started listening to blues records a lot — players like Muddy Waters and James Cotton. I was really into Chicago blues of the 1950s and 1960s when I started. Then, I got into guys like Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee. One of the first bands I played in was a Philly blues band called Sweet Stavin’ Chain.”
A while later, the Dukes of Destiny became the main musical vehicle for Colgan-Davis.
He also performs in the Two Johns with Johnny Never, who attended West Chester Henderson and graduated from Westtown School.
Colgan-Davis’ weekend schedule includes two Two Johns shows — July 28 at Hummingbird to Mars (West 16th Street, Wilmington, Delaware, catherinerooneys.com/hummingbird-to-mars) and July 29 at The Bellefonte Café (804 Brandywine Blvd, Wilmington, Delaware, www.thebellefontecafe.com).
According to Colgan-Davis, “We are in two of our favorite spots this weekend. The Hummingbird is a fun and wonderfully designed spot which takes the speakeasy theme seriously. Good food and a variety of drinks abound. The Bellefonte is a unique and wonderful eclectic place with great art on the walls, original and inventive food, a great waitstaff, and a relaxed, old-school coffeehouse vibe.”
East Coast bluesman Johnny Never has a mission to deliver pure, unadulterated vintage blues to those who already love the blues as well as those who have never heard it. Whether solo or with accompaniment, Never has energized audiences in Northern Maryland, Southeastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey from small bars and restaurants to music halls such as the MAC Concert Series, The Mainstay, the Kennett Flash and Jamie’s House of Music.
Never, who has also performed in a variety of music festivals, delivers his take on the blues as a solo performer as well as with a duo and a trio.
Often referred to by blues enthusiasts as “the real deal,” Never pays homage to, but does not mimic, the vast array of original bluesmen that gave birth to the genre more than a century ago. He is known for his covers of artists like Son House, Robert Johnson, and Charlie Patton.
His original compositions possess the qualities of the genuine article, delivered through deft finger-style guitar work and a voice that reeks of authenticity.
These qualities have earned him recognition by blues and folk music societies from Memphis to Philadelphia. In 2014, Johnny was a quarterfinalist in the International Blues Challenge in Memphis.
Johnny Never – a.k.a. John Dorchester — is a multi-discipline artist/creator who grew up in West Chester and attended West Chester Henderson before graduating from Westtown School.
Colgan-Davis, harmonica and vocals, started playing the harmonica in local blues and folk clubs back in the late 1960s while he was still a high school student. He played and recorded with Philadelphia singer-guitarist Jesse Graves and played with Bonnie Raitt when she lived in Philadelphia in the early 1970s.
Through Raitt, he had the opportunity to meet and play with Mississippi Fred McDowell, Arthur Crudup, Buddy Guy, Skip James, Mississippi John Hurt, and others. He has also jammed with James Cotton, John Hammond, Charlie Musselwhite, John Lee Hooker, Bill Dicey, and Louisiana Red.
Colgan-Davis has toured nationally and has recorded two CDs — “Cold and Lonesome on a Train” and “Heroes and Hard Times.” A founding member of The Dukes of Destiny, John also taught social studies at Friends Select School in Philadelphia for 29 years and has written articles and supplements for The Philadelphia Inquirer on Blacks in the American West, Black Literature, the History of Black Philadelphia, and other topics.
For a long time, the two Philly area blues aces were aware of each other and their talents. A few years ago, their paths came together.
“About four years ago, Johnny and I were at the same gig and started talking,” said Colgan-Davis.
“We started hanging out together. Then, I sat in with him at a mini-festival bit I can’t remember where. It was somewhere out in the country. He also had a bass player with him – Dave Young who since has moved to Colorado.”
In a phone interview, Never said, “John is a great harmonica player. I’ve been playing blues for decades and had a parting of ways with my previous harmonica player. I called John up to see what would happen.”
Colgan-Davis said, “For the past few years, we’ve been playing as The Two Johns. Our first real show was at Hummingbird on Mars in Wilmington.
“I love playing acoustic again. There are things you can do as an acoustic harp player that you can’t do with a loud band.
“Johnny is a very good picker and a great slide player. He’s also a great Piedmont Blues player.”
Colgan-Davis and the harmonica have a long history together.
“I started acoustic harmonica when I was in high school at Philadelphia’s Central High School,” said Colgan-Davis. “Central High had a folk music club, and we had a budget big enough to being Skip James and Son House to play at our school.
“With The Two Johns, we play a couple songs I played in high school – including Son House’s ‘Death Letter Blues.’ We play a lot of Piedmont Blues, ragtime and some 1920s jazz ‘Ain’t Misbehavin’,’ a Fats Waller song. We do things I haven’t found a way to do with the Dukes of Destiny.”
Never said, “Music is about feel. When you play with somebody, you need to make sure you can connect with the feel. John’s playing works very well with old blues – especially Piedmont style. I play guitar almost exclusively acoustic. Early blues didn’t have electric guitar.
“I got attracted to early acoustic blues as a young person. It was a slow evolution. As a teenager, I heard recordings by Charley Patton and Son House. It hit me – and really stuck with me. When I was in my late 30s and early 40s, I really started working at it.”
As an adolescent, Never had a keen interest in landscape painting and filmmaking — studying painting with Nantucket artist, Warren Krebs, and filmmaking with Earl Fowler, whose famous brother, Jim, made nature films for Mutual of Omaha’s “Wild Kingdom.”
“I’ve had a bunch of different jobs,” said Never/Dorchester. “I started as an AFA painter and then got into commercial filmmaking from 1993-2014. Now, I’m back to being a fine artist working in oils”
He is also back to being a fine musician who has teamed with Colgan-Davis to keep early acoustic blues alive.
Video link for The Two Johns — https://youtu.be/ny2EmfXYMR0.
The show at the Bellefonte Café will run from 7-9 p.m. Reservations are recommended.
Uptown! Knauer Performing Arts Center (226 North High Street, West Chester, www.uptownwestchester.org) will present “We May Be Right: Billy Joel Tribute” on July 29.
Billed as “a powerhouse ensemble,” the band focuses entirely on the music of one artist.
“We May Be Right” delivers an electrifying performance as they authentically re-create the music of the “Piano Man” — Billy Joel.
Against a New York City skyline, the band delivers hit after pounding hit along with some of Joel’s best deep cuts. They capture every note, every riff, and every nuance with spot-on vocals, stage presence and energy.
At every performance, “We May Be Right” delivers what the audience wants to hear – the music of Billy Joel.
Video link for “We May Be Right” — https://youtu.be/GRX3bV94uMc.
The show on Saturday night will start at 7:30 p.m.
Tickets are $35, $40 and $45.
On July 27, Kennett Flash (102 Sycamore Alley, Kennett Square, 484-732-8295, http://www.kennettflash.org) is presenting an evening of American Roots Music History with Jerron Paxton & Dennis Lichtman in concert.
Jerron Paxton carries the torch for traditional acoustic roots music. Dennis Lichtman is a multi-instrumentalist deeply entrenched in early-to-mid-1900’s American music, from traditional jazz and swing to bluegrass and western swing.
The show on Thursday will start at 8 p.m.
Tickets are $20.
Kennett Flash is hosting “Dead Flowers — performing the music of the Rolling Stones” on July 28.
The concert was scheduled to be held in the evening – outdoors on a rooftop as part of the venue’s “Rooftop Series.”
But, with the heat index for Friday expected to be in the 104-degree range, Kennett Flash wisely decided to move the concert to its indoor venue.
The show on July 28 will start at 8 p.m.
Tickets are $20.
