Check out Jazz Fest's official poster for 2017! Featuring The Meters, this beautiful artwork was created by artist Francis X. Pavy. It features The Meters with the four original members, Art, George, Leo, and Zig, as they appeared together onstage at Jazz Fest 2015. 

The Jazz Fest poster is an historical document that strives to capture the moment in time that a performer achieved acclaim (see, e.g. JF2007 Jerry Lee Lewis, JF2011 Jimmy Buffett). How does one portray the inventors of New Orleans funk, who laid tracks behind nearly every great record produced by the legendary Allen Toussaint (JF2009) and others, as well as on eight albums under their own name? 

The transformative sixties and deeply soulful players with expressive style led to the idea of a concert at the 1930s era Municipal Auditorium (still standing but shuttered since Katrina). Ideas flowed from that: A majestic burgundy velvet curtain… Embroidered with a French Quarter scene (from an original sketch by Kathy Schorr for an un-produced BayouWear® fabric)… Descending as if from a heaven filigreed with a swirling Pavy motif… Still more was needed: A metaphor for what they accomplished; their reverence by peers and knowledgable fans; a band that broke up 4 decades ago that’s been sampled more than Prince, the O’Jays, Queen and Led Zeppelin. They cast a giant shadow! That’s it. Light them from below. Show their shadow dominating the City that inspired them; striding across a world stage that’s all theirs. Negative (space) becomes positive; paralleling what The Meters didn’t play that made it funk. Three months after receiving the commission, Pavy delivered a classic for the ages.

The poster is available for sale here.

For more Jazz Fest posters, check out nola.com's look back at all of the posters from 1970 to now.

WWOZ will be broadcasting live from all 7 days of the festival! Check here for the latest on our broadcast schedule.