Wednesday, March 19, 2008

The Record Crate: Jazz in Baton Rouge Exists!

The Spanish Moon continued pulling in the talent on their way to and from Austin's mammoth SXSW music festival this past week, the highlight of which was Wednesday night's packed house for Man Man, Blitzen Trapper and The Extraordinaires. I've seen Man Man's crowd-working mayhem a number of times before and was really looking forward to Blitzen Trapper, but The Extraordinaires were the ones that caught my ear the most. You rarely see a band have as much fun belting out sounds. The Philly band lists The Muppet Show and video game music composer Koji Kondo as influences, and it all makes sense in their wacky but completely engaging rock. And they are one of the few non-zydeco/Cajun bands of late to pick up an accordion during their set where I didn't wish they’d put it back down.

Hey, remember jazz? That sophisticated kind of music that people always wish there was more of around here? Chelsea's is keeping the torch lit with exquisite jazz guitarist Dave Mooney playing a dinner set on Wednesday followed by the Mike Foster Project later that evening, and the mighty New Orleans Jazz Vipers swing onto stage Thursday.

And double hey, a new club downtown, the M Bar, is hosting blues journeyman Nelson Adelard on Saturday. Adelard started out playing in L.A. clubs at age 15, and continued on to share stages with the likes of Muddy Waters and James Cotton. His 2006 album Unplugged was No. 10 on Living Blues magazine's annual countdown. Also if you haven't had a chance to catch the sophisticated punch of Lil Dave Thompson's Mississippi blues, he's at Teddy's Juke Joint on Friday.

Click here for the full events calendar

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