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Krawelligator Ball: Earl King/Professor Longhair/Earl Turbinton/Rhapsodizers/Reggae Sunday |
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Reviews
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Saturday, 04 February 2006 23:33 |
Krawelligator Ball
Earl "Trick Bag" King / Professor Longhair / Earl Turbinton & Nucleus / The Rhapsodizers / Reggae Sunday
at Waterworks Park, New Orleans, March 3, 1976
By John Sinclair
Poppa Gator and his Alligator Krewe combined with the Krewe of the Krawe to stage the "strictly 'scocious" Foteenth Annual Krawelligator Ball, an outdoor masked jamboree held the day before Mardi Gras in the compact Waterworks Park at South Claiborne & Leonidas, on the eastern edge of town.
An intimate crowd of a thousand or so mostly costumed young white people pranced and danced through the afternoon and evening to a spicy musical gumbo made up of equal parts blues (Earl King), R&B (Professor Longhair), roots rock & roll (The Rhapsodizers), jazz (Earl Turbinton & Nucleus), and white folk/reggae/ragtime (Reggae Sunday).
For those who hadn't had enough by midnight, the thoughtful Poppa Gator had arranged for The Meters to keep things going at the popular 501 Napoleon Club, a funky joint at the corner of Napoleon & Tchoupitoulas, just off the Mississippi River, and Longhair could be heard at Jed's in the college district with the rest of his band until 4:00 am.
But the Alligator Ball was the main thing that day, and its comfortable distance from the madness going on in the Vieux Carre lent the event a superbly mellow vibe which took this jaded reporter back to the days of the Tartar Field free concerts, or the early Ann Arbor West Park afternoons, with the added treat of the many imaginative costumes being sported by the masked set.
Hundreds of free bananas were set out in front of the stage, crawfish could be bought and eaten by the pound, beer and wine were in plentiful supply, and the joints did be passed around all day.
A blond-haired brother on enormous stilts danced with a gypsy lady, while a bearded woman and her hirsute mate, both dressed in full Middle Eastern drag, looked on and smiled. The human six-pack of Dixie beer, conspicuous at the Mardi Gras Mambo the night before, circulated around the grounds, exchanging pleasantries with the Tin Man and a couple of Frankenstein-looking fellows. And the weather was just as mellow as you could ask for.
The music fit into the afternoon like a hand in a glove. Reggae Sunday, a four-man ensemble (2 acoustic guitars, stand-up bass, and congas), started things off with a long, laid-back set of folkie blues, lightweight jazz, and airy reggae which finally brought the sun down over the hills behind the waterworks next to the park.
The Rhapsodizers followed with some good-time boogie from a blues-band perspective, drawing the maskers to their feet for some energetic warmup dancing and lots of good-time smiles all around.
Professor Longhair and his electric piano popped in next, with Alvin "Shine" Robinson on guitar, Julius Farmer on bass, and the Rhapsodizers' drummer and a conga man laying down the second line. Longhair played his irrepressible Mardi Gras set--"Go to the Mardi Gras," "Big Chief," "Mardi Gras in New Orleans"--and had the big top swaying for a solid hour before packing up and splitting for the nighttime gig at Jed's on Oak Street.
Earl "Trick Bag" King, one of New Orleans' most unsung musical heroes, took the stand with a pick-up band for a well-received set of his patented soul blues. King, a guitarist/vocalist/composer who is responsible for the rock classic "Come On (Let the Good Times Roll)"--recorded by Jimi Hendrix and Dr. John, among others--is a solid but unspectacular performer who labors in the funky local bars with the occasional white college or concert gig to keep his hopes up, a 45 every few years to keep his name alive, and a die-hard audience of local blues fans to follow his unflagging efforts to gain the audience he deserves. Poppa Gator and krewe are to be commended here, as throughout the evening, for their exquisite taste in all things.
Earl Turbinton is the city's pre-eminent modern jazz light and a musician of inspirational breadth and depth--he plays regularly in Longhair's band, backs up the Wild Magnolias on their dates, and experiments with jazz units of a number of persuasions, maintaining his own Nucleus for opportunities like this one, where he can stretch out into space and go as far as his horn will let him.
A strong player in the grand tradition (Sonny Rollins, Coltrane, Jackie McLean), Earl led his quartet (bass, drums, and a woman playing flute) through an exhilarating set of unique and wide-ranging improvisational music, charging the waning audience with enough spirit to keep them on their feet whooping and cheering until the very end.
As Earl Turbinton packed up and headed for Longhair's gig (these cats worked almost steadily, two and three jobs a day, all through the Mardi Gras season), the rest of the crowd shuffled to their cars for the crosstown pull to the 501 Club and the hot rock & roll of The Meters. On the way out of the park they stooped down and picked up every vestige of waste the afternoon had produced, leaving the site as clean as they'd found it.
Ah, Poppa Gator--you were too much, my man!
--Detroit
April 1976
(c) 1976, 1997, 2006 John Sinclair. All Rights Reserved.
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