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, Aaron Neville!

R&B and soul vocalist Aaron Neville was born in New Orleans on January 24, 1941, into one of the most prolific music families of the City. Neville has recorded as a solo artist, with his brothers Art, Charles and Cyril as The Neville Brothers, and he is the father of singer and keyboard player Ivan Neville, and vocalist and rap artist Jason Neville. In addition, his uncle, George "Big Chief Jolly" Landry, was lead singer of the Mardi Gras Indian group The Wilde Tchoupitoulas. 

Neville’s debut single, “Tell It Like It Is”, was #1 on the Soul chart for five weeks in 1967. During the course of his career, he has had four platinum albums and four Top 10 hits, including three that went to #1 on the Billboardcharts. In 1989, Neville recorded the album Cry Like a Rainstorm, Howl Like the Windwith Linda Ronstadt, which included the #1 Grammy-winning hits “Don’t Know Much” and “All My Life”. In 1991, his cover of “Everybody Plays the Fool” reached #1, and some of his other hits include “Don’t Take Away My Heaven”, “Can’t Stop My Heart From Loving You (The Rain Song)”, and “Hercules”. In 1993 and 1994, Neville ventured into country music, and recorded Patsy Cline’s 1961 hit “I Fall to Pieces” with Trisha Yearwood, resulting in a Grammy Award for the duo in in 1995. As a result, Neville became one of the only African American recording artists to win a Grammy in the Country category.

Neville’s home was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, moving to Nashville after the storm. He ultimately returned to New Orleans, but while he was away, he recorded the albumBring It On Home … The Soul Classics, released in 2006, featuring songs by Sam Cooke, Otis Redding, Marvin Gaye, Curtis Mayfield, and others, and featuring collaborations with his brother Art, Chaka Khan, Mavis Staples, and David Sanborn. In 2013, he released My True Story, a collection of doo-wop songs from his youth, including backup by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Neville continues to perform and tour to the delight of his league of fans worldwide! Let’s wish this incredibly talented man a very happy birthday!

Celebrating the Birthday of Snooks Eaglin

Guitarist and vocalist Fird “Snooks” Eaglin was born in New Orleans on January 21, 1937. Not long after his first birthday, Eaglin lost his sight due to glaucoma. At about five years of age, his father gave him a guitar, and he taught himself to play by listening to and playing along with the radio. Mischievous as a child, Eaglin was given the nickname "Snooks" after a radio character named Baby Snooks. In 1947, at the age of 11, Eaglin entered a radio talent contest, and in 1950, he dropped out of a school for the blind to become a professional musician. Two years later, he joined a local band started by Allen Toussaint called the Flamingoes. Eaglin played both the guitar and the bass parts simultaneously on his guitar, and he stayed with the band until they disbanded in the mid-1950s. 

His vocal style was reminiscent of Ray Charles, and he played such a wide range of songs and styles of music, sometimes within the same concert, album, or song, that he was nicknamed “The Human Jukebox.” He usually did not prepare set lists for his live shows, playing songs that came to him on stage and taking requests from the audience. Amazingly, his musical repertoire was said to include 2500 songs. Though he had a lengthy career spanning nearly five decades, Eaglin’s recording and touring as a solo artist were inconsistent. Over the years he worked with luminaries such as James Booker, Dave Bartholomew, Ellis Marsalis, Professor Longhair, and the Wild Magnolias. He was at his most consistent between 1987 and 1999, when he recorded five albums and recorded with other artists including Earl King and Henry Butler. 

Eaglin was scheduled to make a comeback appearance at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival in the spring of 2009, but sadly he passed away on February 18, 2009. Today we celebrate the life and legacy of one of New Orleans’ own.

Photo by: Masahiro Sumori - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Sumori

The New Orleans Cigar Box Guitar Festival - January 18 - 21, 2023

Little Freddie King and Ghalia Volt will kickoff the 7th annual CBG Festival at the New Orleans Jazz Museum! More than twenty professional acts will perform, making the event the largest of its type in the world. The New Orleans Cigar Box Guitar Festival is a unique celebration of the art, music, and cultural history of homemade stringed instruments in the city where those rudimentary devices played a key role in the early development of both the jazz and blues musical traditions. But, one of the keys to the uniqueness of the festival is that it's not a Jazz festival or a Blues festival .... not a Folk festival or a Rock festival. It's a music festival performed on unique instruments. The cigar box guitar world is populated by musicians of almost every inclination, representing the various genres, sub-genres and combined genres of today's music. The CBG festival reflects that wide array. Only 100 seats are being sold, guaranteeing each and every attendee a comfortable and intimate experience in the New Orleans Jazz Museum's state-of-the-art 3rd floor Performance Center. Enjoy this unique music festival!

Celebrating the Birthday of Allen Toussaint

Pianist, songwriter, arranger and record producer Allen Toussaint was born in Gert Town in New Orleans on January 14, 1938. He was an influential figure in New Orleans rhythm and blues from the 1950s to the end of the century, described as "one of popular music's great backroom figures". Many musicians recorded Toussaint's compositions, including “Whipped Cream”, "Java", "Mother-in-Law", "I Like It Like That", "Fortune Teller", "Ride Your Pony", "Get Out of My Life, Woman", "Working in the Coal Mine", "Everything I Do Gonna Be Funky", "Here Come the Girls", "Yes We Can Can", "Play Something Sweet", and "Southern Nights". He was a producer for hundreds of recordings, among the best known of which are "Right Place, Wrong Time", by his longtime friend Dr. John ("Mac" Rebennack), and "Lady Marmalade" by Labelle. Toussaint was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998, the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame in 2009, the Songwriter's Hall of Fame and the Blues Hall of Fame in 2011. In 2013 he was awarded the National Medal of Arts by President Barack Obama In 2016, he posthumously won the Pinetop Perkins Piano Player title at the Blues Music Awards. Sadly, Toussaint passed away on November 10, 2015, while on tour in Madrid, Spain. Today we celebrate the birthday of a true New Orleans luminary.

Photo by Henryk Kotowski