Sherpa Music Vol 11. New Orleans
My first visit to New Orleans was in 1979.
I was a young partner at a major commercial architectural interior design firm back then. Looking for new opportunities, my client and dear friend, Howard Ecker suggested we take a trip to New Orleans to meet his friend Lee, and see if the market there was ripe for a firm like ours. The rest is history; we met with Lee, had dinner at Manale’s, and within a day arranged to open a New Orleans office with me as the Partner in Charge.
Within a few months, I was living in the French Quarter, in a one hundred and fifty-year-old apartment, gazing out at tin roofs, alley cats, banana trees, and soaking in the magic and the aroma of the place.
The office was hugely successful. I lived in New Orleans through the mid-’80s, returning to Chicago, but NOLA never left me. Once it's in your bones it takes a firm hold.
It never left because I got a quick lesson, from some real characters, in the cultural unorthodoxies, food, hang-outs, and music of the place. My first weekend there, I caught the Neville Brothers at Tipitina’s and the earth shifted. They called down the spirits and shook the walls, leaving us drenched, screaming for more, and back out into the steamy night on Tchoupitoulas and Napoleon.
There were ritual Friday lunches at Galatoires, dinner at Mosca’s, catching music at Jimmy’s, a memorable night of seeing the Radiators at the Maple Leaf, dancing in a half-inch of water that found its way in the door from a recent downpour. Mardi Gras parades, JazzFest days that turned into nights and back again to day at the Fairgrounds, as if we were being pulled by a music magnet that told us there was no time for sleeping, you might miss something.
This collection just begins to scratch the surface of the music, rooted in New Orleans. The diversity is immense, from early R&B to funk, jazz, cajun, zydeco, folk, and every crazy hybrid you can dream up.
It goes out to the people who were gracious enough to teach me the ropes and welcome me to their one-of-a-kind city. Love and gratitude to; Howard Ecker and family, Lee Schlesinger, John and Barbara Kushner, Mike and Aimee Siegel, Rusty Palmer, Peter Fischbach, Bennet Davis, Stephanie Ruello, Chappy Hardy, Katie Dinkler, Kathy Kaiser, Steve Martin, Donna Olsen, my team at RMM, the crew at Cosmos, Larry at the Royal O, and many others.
Turn it up. Do the second line around the living room, pass it along to those you love.
Be well, be safe, dance!
With love, Jim
