James Martin cut his tenor sax chops with Trombone Shorty’s Orleans Avenue band, and has progressed with a fine career as sought-after sideman, songwriter, vocalist, and leader of his own band. He’s toured the world with stops at all the major festivals, and collaborated wi... Read more

Grammy-winning singer Irma Thomas had her first hit in 1959, and over the course of a six-decade career has earned the title, “Soul Queen of New Orleans.” Born in 1941 in Ponchatoula, Louisiana, Thomas was raised in New Orleans, singing in school and in church choirs, wher... Read more

Ingrid Lucia honed her jazz vocal chops in New York with her band, the Flying Neutrinos, and with top talent like Tony Bennett, and today she remains a force in her home town New Orleans with her confident, silky voice, glamorous outlook, and blend of jazz standards and ori... Read more

Helen Gillet is a master of improvisation, using an acoustic cello, voice, and looping techniques to explore the boundaries of synthesized sounds and textures. Her music, rich in depth and color, expresses her experiences as a world citizen, yet is steeped in the humid rhyt... Read more

Gerald French carries the mantle of jazz on his giant shoulders as the leader of the Original Tuxedo Jazz Band, arguably the oldest jazz band in the world. The Original Tuxedo Jazz Band, was founded in 1910 by cornetist Oscar “Papa” Celestin, and run for many years by Geral... Read more

David Boeddinghaus is a classically trained pianist with a traditional jazz soul, accomplished in bringing to life the sounds of classic artists like Jelly Roll Morton and Fats Waller. The veteran entertainer has worked around the world, from touring with Pete Fountain to a... Read more

Derrick “Smoker” Freeman is a man with many hats: drummer, songwriter, DJ, and leader of the soul-funk Soul Brass Band, the hip-hop Smokers World, the power trio MFG, Low End Theory Players, and the Band of Freeman. He performs with a kaleidoscopic cast of New Orleans music... Read more

Byron Asher is an adventurous composer and talented saxophonist and clarinetist “working at the intersection of broadly experimental composition and jazz and improvised music.” He’s been compared to Sonny Rollins, Dexter Gordon, and Ornette Coleman, and fronts the experimen... Read more