Happy Birthday, Don Vappie!

Banjoist, guitarist, bassist, singer, arranger-composer, educator, lecturer, record and event producer, Don Vappie was born in New Orleans on January 30, 1956. He was surrounded by music growing up, with notable relatives playing music, including Papa John Joseph who played bass during the era of Buddy Bolden. A cousin gave Don piano lessons but he preferred bass, playing with a funk group from the age of 13. When the band’s guitarist left, he taught himself to play and worked in Bourbon Street clubs as a teenager. After a few years he began playing bass with jazz trios, taught himself banjo, and studied music theory and classical bass at Loyola University and Xavier University.

He made his recording debut as a leader in 1986, started his own Vappielle label, began yearly visits to Europe around that time, and in 1990 recorded Crescent City Serenade with clarinetist Dr. Michael White. After meeting and impressing Wynton Marsalis, Don began working regularly with the Jazz At Lincoln Center Orchestra as a guitarist, banjoist and vocalist in 1994, an association that has continued for 25 years. While best known for his work in vintage New Orleans jazz, Don Vappie has a versatile style on his instruments and has performed and recorded along the way with such numerous luminaries. He has also led eight albums of his own including with his Creole Jazz Serenaders, a group that emphasizes superior obscurities from the 1920s.

Don Vappie has also been involved in many special projects. He starred in and co-produced the PBS documentary American Creole: New Orleans Reunion, writing the music for that special and for Zora Neal Hurston – Jump At The Sun, Mandeville: The Good Life, The Homefront, NCIS New Orleans and Treme. Don’s transcriptions of many early jazz recordings are available from Warner Bros. Publishing. He has done extensive research on the Creole music of New Orleans and the Caribbean, and as a speaker has lectured about everything from the influences of early jazz to the history of the banjo. In addition, he is a popular and prolific educator. Don is the jazz guitar instructor at Loyola University, an instructor at the Don “Moose” Jamison Heritage School of Music, works with many public schools, teaches privately (guitar, banjo, bass and mandolin), conducts master classes, clinics, workshops and seminars, and has presented many programs on New Orleans music for such organizations as Jazz At Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, Tulane University, NPR, and the Smithsonian.

Don Vappie is constantly creating music and spreading the gospel of New Orleans jazz. “Traditional New Orleans jazz is the foundation for all of the music that is around today. Although I’m best known for playing the older music, I still play modern jazz too. The music all connects together. When I came up, the older guys in New Orleans played everything. They would say that they play music. That is what I do too.” Happy Birthday to an incredibly talented artist and proud son of New Orleans!

Photo: Facebook

Happy Birthday, Dave Jordan!

Singer Songwriter and guitarist Dave Jordan was born on January 29, 1972, in Mandeville, Louisiana, and is an award-winning, critically acclaimed, roots rocker who has been a staple of he New Orleans music scene for over 20 years. Jordan was the bass player/lead singer/founder of the funk band Juice, which was part of the resurgence of New Orleans funk music. From the mid/late ’90s until the late ’00s, Juice released 3 albums and they toured relentlessly from 1999-2003, averaging over 180 dates annually. They were recipients of 2000’s Best of the Beat Awards for Best Emerging Funk/Soul/R&B Band and later nominated for Best Roots Rock Band and Album. 

Jordan has recorded or performed with a host of New Orleans luminaries, including Art and Cyril Neville, Anders Osborne, George Porter, Joe Krown, Johnny Vidacovich and countless more. His 2010 solo debut release, These Old Boots, co-produced by Grammy-winning songwriter/producer Anders Osborne, was named a Top 10 record of the year by the Times-Picayune. After the release of his 2013 follow up, Bring Back Red Raspberry, Jordan returned to nationwide touring, performing with his band, the NIA (Neighborhood Improvement Association). In 2017, the band was nominated in OffBeat Magazine’s Best of the Beat Awards for Best Roots Rock Band and Album for their 2016 release, No Losers Tonight, which features 10 originals, honed and crafted from the band’s 4 years of touring. In 2019 he released Burning Sage, reviewed by Offbeat Magazine as “a great album; perhaps the best of his long career as one of New Orleans’ foremost roots-rockers.”

In addition to his involvement with the Voice of the Wetlands, promoting the awareness and education of rebuilding the LA Gulf coast, Jordan is active in various organizations in the New Orleans community, including the Team Gleason Foundation, Upturn Arts summer art program, and the New Orleans Musicians Clinic. Besides being featured in their print ad campaign, Dave is the producer of Jamie’s BigAss Party, an annual event honoring the legacy and memory of his former bandmate and friend, Jamie Galloway. The block party/crawfish boil, held at the Maple Leaf Bar, has raises funds for mental health services provided by NOMC. Happy Birthday to a musician’s musician, and a generous, artistic soul!

Photo: Facebook

Happy Birthday, Big Freedia!

Rapper Big Freedia (Freddie Ross Jr.) was born in New Orleans on January 28, 1978, and is known for the New Orleans genre of hip hop called bounce music. Freedia has been credited with helping popularize the genre, which was largely underground since developing in the early 1990s. 

Freedia started singing in the choir of her neighborhood Baptist church, and started her professional performance career around 1999. In 2003, she released the studio album Queen Diva, and first gained mainstream exposure in 2009. In 2011, his 2010 album Big Freedia Hitz Vol. 1 was re-released, and she was named Best Emerging Artist and Best Hip-Hop/Rap Artist in January's "Best of the Beat Awards," and was nominated for the 2011 22nd GLAAD Media Awards. In 2013, she got her own reality show on the Fuse Channel, which chronicles her life on tour and at home. On July 7, 2015, she released her autobiography God Save the Queen Diva!.

In 2016 Beyonce released a surprise single, Formation, sampling Freedia's voice. 2020 saw a collaboration with New Kids on the Block, Jordin Sparks, Naughty by Nature and Boyz II Men in their Song "House Party", a song written during social distancing during Covid-19 pandemic, and the video for which was shot on everyone's cell phones. She also provided additional vocals for Drake's 2018 number-one hit "Nice for What", though she is not credited as a featured artist. In the late 2010s she befriended Kesha with the two collaborating on each others' projects. Freedia was going on tour with Kesha in 2020 but it was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But nothing can keep this energetic artist down! And today we celebrate Big Freedia’s birthday with her!

excerpted from Wikipedia

Photo: Kowarski

Happy Birthday, Billy Iuso!

Guitarist, singer and songwriter Billy Iuso was born on January 26, 1969, in Port Chester, New York. His first major musical success came in the early ‘90s after he formed the funk jam band, Brides of Jesus. The band played frequently in New York, released three albums between 1991 and 1994, and opened for groups such as The Dave Matthews Band. Brides of Jesus also opened for The Meters numerous times, connecting Iuso with Meters members George Porter, Jr., and Art Neville. Those relationships eventually inspired Iuso to relocate to New Orleans permanently, which he did in 1996. Shortly thereafter, the Brides of Jesus, which eventually included drummer Russell Batiste, Jr. were featured on the Rounder Records compilation "Ain't No Funk Like N.O. Funk," produced by Scott Billington.

Once he settled in New Orleans, Iuso began performing regularly with a variety of local players including Osborne and The Wild Magnolias. He also worked as a tour and stage manager for The Neville Brothers, the Meters and Porter's Runnin’ Pardners band. In 2002, Iuso returned to focusing on his own music and created the Restless Natives, which served as the Wild Magnolias' backing band in the mid to late 2000s. Iuso performs solo, and as an "artist-at-large" at various festivals on the jam band scene. In addition to his solo work, Iuso performs with drummer Bill Kreutzmann of the Grateful Dead and Paul Barrere and Fred Tackett of Little Feat in Dead Feat. The group formed after Iuso staged a fundraiser for late Little Feat member Richie Hayward prior to his 2010 death of complications from lung disease. In 2013, Iuso's album, "Naked" was given a positive review by Offbeat magazine, which noted the guitarist's departure from a jam-heavy approach to one in which he focused on song structure and development; the tracks also featured Iuso on lead vocals. Iuso's longtime collaborator Anders Osborne appeared on the album as well. Iuso lives in New Orleans with his wife and children. Today we celebrate a truly talented New Orleans-based artist … happy birthday, Billy!

Happy Birthday, Ben Jaffe!

Preservation Hall creative Director, tubist and double bass player Benjamin Jaffe was born in New Orleans on January 26, 1971, and is the son of Preservation Hall's founders Allan and Sandra Jaffe. Jaffe grew up in New Orleans' French Quarter, two blocks from Preservation Hall. His father, Allan, in addition to managing the Preservation Hall Jazz Band and Preservation Hall, played tuba with the band as well. From birth, Ben was brought on tour with the band during their international tours. Ben’s early musical memories are marching alongside his father in Mardi Gras Parades and jazz funeral processions. He began playing in grammar school at McDonogh 15 School for the Creative Arts in the French Quarter. During high school at NOCCA, he studied upright bass under Walter Payton. After high school, Ben attended Oberlin College where he received a degree in bass performance in 1982.

Following his graduation, Ben returned to New Orleans, resumed his father's position as manager of the Preservation Hall venue and joined the Preservation Hall Jazz Band on tour playing bass and tuba. Jaffe produced a number of albums for the Preservation Hall band, and co-produced the band's first album of original compositions "That's It," alongside My Morning Jacket frontman Jim James. Ben serves as the Chairman of the Board of the Preservation Hall Foundation, the charitable non-profit that serves the mission to "protect, preserve and perpetuate New Orleans jazz music and culture." On his birthday, let’s celebrate with someone who is helping to keep New Orleans music alive! Happy Birthday, Ben!

Happy Birthday, Huey "Piano" Smith!

R&B pianist and singer Huey Pierce Smith, known as Huey "Piano" Smith, was born in the Central City neighborhood of New Orleans on January 26, 1934. He wrote his first song on the piano at age eight, and began working in clubs and recording at 15 years old, signing a recording contract at 18. Influenced by the innovative work of Professor Longhair, Smith also incorporated boogie, jazz and rhythm-and-blues styles in his piano playing, and his sound was ultimately influential in the development of rock and roll.

Smith became the piano player with Little Richard's first band in 1955, and he also played piano on several studio sessions that resulted in hits for Earl King ("Those Lonely Lonely Nights") and Smiley Lewis ("I Hear You Knocking"). In 1957, he formed Huey "Piano" Smith and His Clowns, which hit the Billboard charts with several singles, including "Rockin' Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu", which sold over one million copies, achieving gold disc status. The Clowns' most famous single, "Don't You Just Know It", released in 1958, hit number 9 on the Billboard Pop chart and number 4 on the Rhythm and Blues chart. It was their second million seller.

In 1959, Ace Records erased Smith's vocal track from "Sea Cruise", the now-classic single Smith had composed, arranged and performed, and replaced it with a vocal track by the white singer Frankie Ford, which was a hit for Ford. Smith left Ace Records for Imperial Records, to record with noted producer Dave Bartholomew, but the hits did not follow, and Ace Records again overdubbed new vocals on another of Smith's unreleased tracks, to produce "Pop-Eye", the last hit single credited to Smith.

In the years following, Smith made several comebacks, and in 2000, he was honored with a Pioneer Award by the Rhythm and Blues Foundation. Smith became known for his shuffling right-handed break on the piano, and at the peak of his game, Smith epitomized New Orleans R&B at its most infectious and rollicking. Huey “Piano” Smith is a New Orleans original and innovator, and today we celebrate his many contributions to music! Happy Birthday, Huey!

Photo: source & disclosure