John Radanovich - Music writing

Jazz Cuba, Latin Jazz, Salsa Louisiana • Bill Summers • David Egan • Kermit Ruffins • Terrance Simien Reggae	Louisiana Music
	Bill Summers Pain Perdu Bill Summers' place in the jazz firmament was set the moment he tooted on a beer bottle tuned to C in the introduction to Herbie Hancock's "Watermelon Man" in 1973. The strange and haunting melody imitated the music of the Ba-Benzélé African pygmies, a long way from Detroit, where he grew up. Then again, that was a long way from the family's home in Ascension Parish. "My grandmother had been one of the first blacks to have a restaurant in Donaldsonville, in the ?30s. In my neighborhood, kids would ask what I ate for breakfast and I would say "lost bread." Until I was a teenager, I didn?t know that?s what people from down in Donaldsonville called French toast, "pain perdu." – download pdf
	David Egan Halleluiah, He's a Dreamer Pianist and songwriter David Egan doesn't want to be known as Louisiana's best kept secret. “That's seems so 90s now,” he jokes about his aspirations for his quartet, and how some blues musicians like to suffer in obscurity for its own sake. To a larger audience Egan has been an unknown, yet for musicians Marcia Ball, Irma Thomas, Solomon Burke, Percy Sledge, Etta James, John Mayall, and Joe Cocker, Egan has long been a go-to guy for an intelligent story song. Egan's most recent brush with the Grammys is a shared writing credit on “Peace, Love and BBQ” for Marcia Ball and several for Irma Thomas' “After the Rain.” His striking talents are so obvious that you wonder when he will emerge from behind the songwriter's curtain, like Willie Nelson or... – article continues – download pdf
	Kermit Ruffins and the BBQ Swingers Topsy Chapman, special guest For a New Orleans expatriate, one sure way to homesickness is to take a Thursday night call from a friend who is down at Vaughan’s jazz club, sipping Abita beer and listening to Kermit Ruffins and the BBQ Swingers. So familiar that he is known all around town by his first name, the trumpet player, good time ambassador, BBQ master, and getdown griot of the Tremé neighborhood, Ruffins is the beloved king of the New Orleans brass band scene and a memorable character as well. The sight of Ruffins’ red pickup truck with a giant, smoking BBQ grill welded in the bed is as ubiquitous in New Orleans as chicory coffee with hot milk. Year round, his shows are a perfectly good excuse for a party, since he not only plays but grills, cooks, and gives away his red beans and BBQ. Ruffins doesn’t often give up his grilling secrets, but he will pass on his trick for stamina. Shows at Vaughan’s don’t start until after midnight... – article continues – download pdf
	Terrance Simien and the Mallet Playboys Although the now immensely popular zydeco and Cajun musics grew from the same, wet Acadiana ground, outside influences molded them differently. Cajun grafted country western onto French ballads and Acadian folk tunes. Zydeco evolved parallel to Cajun music but was strongly influenced by a love of southern Louisiana Creoles for blues music. When Clifton Chenier took his new mixture of blues and French waltzes out to Los Angeles in the 1950s, homesick blacks from Louisiana and East Texas (who had migrated to California for work) packed little clubs to hear his completely original accordion blues music. Others, mainly LA session musicians (such as Steve Miller and Ry Cooder) took notice, too. Nowadays, it seems as if you can't go anywhere without hearing zydeco. The Madison Avenue advertising firms never seem to tire of using zydeco's fun, uptempo sound for selling cars and other objects that appear to need “excitement.” The good time irresistibility of the music has gained a large worldwide following; acts like Terrance Simien, Buckwheat Zydeco, and CJ Chenier tour incessantly. All three play more regularly in clubs in Chicago, New York, and LA than they do in their homes in and near Lafayette. – article continues – download pdf

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