Mardi Gras Mambo

Posted on Thursday, June 16

Mardi Gras Mambo: New Orleans comes to Symphony Center
by Don Macica
Chicago-based writer and Marketing Director

New Orleans has always been something very different from the rest of the United States.

No doubt much of this stems from the fact that while England was colonizing what would become the east coast of the United States, the French and Spanish were busy colonizing the Caribbean, South America and, well, New Orleans. Havana and New Orleans were major trading ports on a route that included the island of Hispaniola. What all three colonial powers shared (plus the Dutch and Portuguese) was a dependence on slavery to power their economies. In the English colonies, slaves were thoroughly stripped of their history and heritage, but everywhere else, the drums and deities of home were allowed to exist, even in the midst of slavery’s bondage. Thus, the music and culture of New Orleans has much more in common with Cuba, Haiti and Brazil than it does with the United States.

The full glory of that culture was on display at Symphony Center Sunday night in a wonderfully designed show called “A Night in Treme”, a nod to both the terrific HBO series and the community that gives it its name. Treme is the oldest free black community in the United States. It was already flourishing in 1803 when Napoleon, his treasury depleted by the slave rebellion in Haiti, sold the territory that included the port of New Orleans to the United States.

The first half of the program was narrated by actor and New Orleans native Wendell Pierce, who plays the part of musician Antoine Batiste in the HBO series. It colorfully tied together gospel, blues, jazz and rock n’ roll in a continuum starting with ‘Mother Africa’. Master New Orleans musicians helped illustrate every point with commanding performances. Donald Harrison, Jr. played two roles. He is a thoroughly modern alto saxophonist, ripping an extraordinary flurry of notes from his horn. At the same time, he is a Mardi Gras Indian Chief, part of a long tradition honoring the Native Americans who sheltered runaway slaves. Clarinetist and educator Dr. Michael White colored the lines where the rhythms of Africa met French opera and art song, both elements in the invention of jazz, just as Africa met Spain in Cuba and mingled with Portugal in Brazil to create those musical innovations.

Pierce’s narration then traced Elton John back to Fats Domino, and Domino back to Professor Longhair, and Longhair back to Treme resident Jelly Roll Morton, who famously noted the infusion of a ‘Spanish Tinge’ into his piano playing, calling it crucial to how he went about creating the new style that would become jazz.

Two other Big Easy stalwarts made major contributions to the show: Trombonist Big Sam Williams and the ‘Satchmo of the Ghetto’, James Andrews, on trumpet. (And yes, the original Satchmo, Louis Armstrong, the other inventor or jazz, grew up in Treme too.) Backing it all up was the marvelous Rebirth Brass Band, sons of Treme all, products of a New Orleans tradition of funeral marches that start out with solemn hymns and finish with riotous celebrations.

The second half was a showcase for Rebirth and included selections from their new CD along with some of their classics, including ‘Feel Like Funkin’ it Up’ and a cover of Miles Davis ‘All Blues’. Truth be told, though, the formality of Symphony Center, despite one of the rowdiest audiences I’ve ever witnessed there, seem to place them slightly out of their element, and I longed to see them up close in a club, or better still, out in the street, leading a second line parade.

In 2000, Jesus Alemany’s Cubanismo band traveled from Havana to New Orleans to mingle with some of the city’s finest musicians (including Donald Harrison) and record ‘Mardi Gras Mambo’, a rich exploration of their shared Afro-Caribbean musical traditions. You could hear those shared echoes of Africa Sunday night at Symphony Center.