It’s been a busy summer already and I’m just getting around to documenting my latest musical adventures. Today was a perfect, sunny day for a Jazz Fest, held on the Capitol Riverfront on the Anacostia River. The concert was the finale of a week-long festival in its 10th year and was focused on the jazz of New Orleans. I’ve never been there, but those boys and girls rock!

It opened with the  Crawdaddies, a 7 piece Cajun/Zydeco/Blues band out of Baltimore, followed by Irma Thomas, “The Soul Queen of New Orleans.” She belted out a rendition of “You can take my husband but stay away from my man” that was a crowd-pleaser.

Crawdaddies at the DC Jazz Festival

Irma Thomas

But the best was saved for last, the Rebirth Brass Band, a 9 piece kick-ass street band from the French Quarter. A few of them once came by Wally’s with some emergency repairs when they were playing in Portland. I worked on a couple trombones and a trumpet. It looked like the lead trumpet player now plays a smoked nickel-plated horn with Saturn water keys and an elliptical tuning slide. They were raucously soulful and left everyone smiling, including yours truly.

Rebirth Brass band