Congrats to another great Satchmo SummerFest in the French Quarter!
Last weekend, there’s no doubt that that the French Quarter was full of hot New Orleans bands playing the jazz music that made New Orleans famous! The first weekend in August is always known at Satchmo SummerFest and is a free event dedicated to New Orleans native son, Louis ‘Satchmo’ Armstrong.
So what would Louis think of it all? We’ll never know for sure, but we’re inclined to think he’d be honored and pleased that the genre he almost singlehandedly established goes on and that it would bear his name.
With groups like Jeremy Davenport, Allen Tousaint, Preservation Hall and The New Orleans Jazz Vipers to name a few, the musical message was loud and clear. Traditional dixieland jazz is alive and well in New Orleans. To top it off, Yoshio Toyama was on board from Japan along with a Japannese student jazz band who did an absolutely outstanding job.
Since it’s a free event, it’s the perfect spot to take the kids and introduce them to a cultural phenomena that’s not always easy to come by now a days.
Louis Armstrong loved music, he loved people and he loved kids. I suspect he would have been as bothered by the heat as anyone else, but hey!… the easiest way to beat the heat is to play some cool blues. Of course, we can almost here his opening number as he was apt to play; “When It’s Sleepy Time Down South”. Ah! That’s classic New Orleans jazz at it’s best!