Dear Listener,

Brass Passes are completely sold out this year. I hope you got yours, so you can come in from the sun (or rain) to a misted, green space with tables, chairs, fresh fruit, iced coffee, joyous celebrants, and noisy celebrities: the WWOZ Hospitality Tent. The party going on in the back of the tent as our team of show hosts, directors and engineers blast Jazz Fest live to audiences all over the world through, via both the Internet and our simulcast on other community stations around the country.

Start-to-finish coverage each day runs from 11 am CDT to 7 pm CDT (April 24-26/April 30 – May 3), fifty-six hours of coverage in all, including thirty-two hours of live music performances interwoven with interviews, features and conversations with musicians on the Allison Miner Music Heritage Stage in the grandstand. This year, among many others, we’ll feature performances of Kenny Neal, Dr Michael White in a tribute to Jelly Roll Morton, Delfeayo Marsalis, Christian Scott, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, the Royal Southern Brotherhood and Kermit Ruffins.

It’s just as crazy-making for us to pick and choose which stages we want to broadcast from as it is for Fest goers to decide which stage to camp at. Adventurous souls gallop from one place to another. Some people just let serendipity guide their destination. Doesn’t matter, there’s magic moments in store for you no matter how you go about it. And for those who complain that Jazz Fest ain’t about jazz any more, I invite them to spend the entire 7 days in the Zatarain/WWOZ Jazz Tent. The lineup is amazingly strong this year. The most difficult day for me will be the last Sunday, when I’ll literally want to be at every stage at the same time.

And then there’s our night broadcasts from venues all over the place. Thursday night from 6 to 10 pm, April 23, WWOZ’s Boudin Man will be in Lafayette, Louisiana for the International Jazz Fest to bring you Bas Clas, Grupo Fantasma, Romero & the Hub City All Stars, Vieux Farka Touré and more. Then, two nights later, Saturday, April 25, discover the Bria Skonberg Quartet live from Snug Harbor and the following night, Sunday, April 26, check out the Word from the Joy Theater.

And if you’re out at the Fair Grounds, don’t forget to enjoy at least one cool, refreshing WWOZ Mango Freeze!

Yours in dancing masses and brass passes,

David Freedman
General Manager

Why do we love Jazz Fest so much? Let's count the reasons. It has an all-world music lineup including dozens of local favorites, with WWOZ live broadcasting some of the tastiest parts. It serves up a vast array of array of amazing food and drink, and it has the warm happy vibe of family reunion. Since it happens in New Orleans the music will continue in clubs and bars all night long.

» Jazz Fest, happening soon

» WWOZ's Live Broadcasts from Jazz Fest

Help us celebrate the New Orleans piano tradition at WWOZ Piano Night, our flagship benefit event and a tradition among lovers of New Orleans music. On Piano Night 2015, which happens April 27 on three stages at the House of Blues New Orleans, we'll be honoring Henry Butler with a lineup that includes, among others, the Robert Glasper Experiment, eleven-year-old prodigy Joey Alexander, Ike Stubblefield, Nigel Hall, Jorge Luis Pacheco, Brian Coogan, Joe Krown, and Marcia Ball.

» Get Piano Night Tickets

We'd like to thank our Jazz Fest Live Broadcast sponsor, LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans,  Louisiana's flagship academic health sciences center.  With schools of medicine, dentistry, nursing, allied health professions, public health, and graduate studies, LSU Health New Orleans trains the majority of Louisiana’s health care professionals and research scientists.

» More about LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans

WWOZ and Indywood Movie Theater present three special music-themed films to coincide with Jazz Fest. Collectively, the films reveal a great variety of cinematic approaches to exploring musicians and their music, and showcase a variety of genres. The films are "The Harder They Come," "Monterey Pop," and "Miles Electric: A Different Kind of Blue."

» Show times and more details

For your Jazz Fest planning purposes, don't forget about the WWOZ Livewire Music Calendar. We compile listings from New Orleans music venues, so you can find out who's playing where and when, from the Allways Lounge to the Zeitgeist Multi-Disciplinary Arts Center and everything in between.

 » Find Night Shows on the Livewire Music Calendar

If you bought a Brass Pass, you can pick it up at the station (1008 N.Peters, 2nd floor) 11a to 6p, through April 23. Starting April 24, pick up Brass Passes at the Sauvage Street entrance to Jazz Fest 11a to 6p. Because of the amazing love and support from our audience, we've reached our limit on the number of Brass Passes that we can sell each year. Yep, we're sold out. Brass Passes for Jazz Fest 2016 will go on sale at the end of the summer!

 » Brass Pass pickup

Last fall, the French Market returned to its roots as the city's original public marketplace by launching a farmers market on Wednesday afternoons. Now they've added a Saturday market. Both feature live music and cooking demonstrations by local chefs using ingredients from the market.

 » Saturday Market details 

 » Wednesday Market details

This tasty twist on traditional beignets are a perfect Southern treat. Each spice-packed beignet is called to be served on top of corn maque choux and garnished with ravigote sauce, a French classic. Recipe courtesy of Louisiana Cookin' magazine.

 »  Recipe: Shrimp and Andouille Beignets with Crawfish Corn Maque Choux