Happy Birthday, Joe Krown!

Keyboardist Joe Krown was born on March 26, in Long Island, New York, and started playing piano in his childhood. He discovered the Hammond organ while in college, which he left to pursue career as a professional musician. In the 1980s, he joined Chuck Berry's back up band and toured with him on the East Coast. In 1991, Krown moved to New Orleans to join legendary Louisiana blues musician Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown's band, Gate's Express, recording four albums with him and touring across the U.S. and overseas, including as an opening act for Eric Clapton’s world tour in 1995. In 1998, he released the solo album Just the Piano...Just the Blues. 

The Joe Krown Organ Combo was formed in 1999 and performed every week at one of the many New Orleans nightclubs, as well as making regular appearances at the French Quarter Festival and the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. Krown also played with guitarist John Fohl and harmonica/accordion player Johnny Sansone in 2000, releasing a self-titled album in 2004. Krown has been a headline performer at WWOZ's Piano Night during the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival every year since 1997, producing it for the first time in 2017, and then every year since, with great success. 

Krown’s trio with Johnny Sansone & John Fohl won a 2004 New Orleans Big Easy Award in the Blues category. In 2005, he formed the Joe Krown Trio, featuring Joe on the Hammond B-3 organ, legendary Louisiana guitarist Walter Wolfman Washington on guitar & vocals, and Russell Batiste, Jr. on drums. In the spring of 2007, the trio started playing every Sunday night at the Maple Leaf Bar. The Sunday nights were so successful that the trio released a live CD, Live at the Maple Leaf, in Oct. 2008. They won a 2009 New Orleans Big Easy Award in the Blues Category and a 2009 Offbeat Award for Best R&B/Funk Album. In April 2014, Joe was honored with a Piano Legacy Award, presented by the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra and for being a "Master of Piano".

In June 2017, Krown joined the Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band, and tours all over the U.S. and the world as the organ/piano player for this multi award winning, chart topping band. Krown continues to perform solo and with his trio, and he has played the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival as a featured artist every year since 2001 and the French Quarter Festival every year since 1998. Today we wish this supremely talented musician a very happy birthday! 

Photo: Masahiro Sumori

Mardigramus - Miracle

Mardigramus the soothsayer dispenses pointless wisdom and useless observations every Tuesday. Today’s sooth is called “Miracle”. Click on the image to view his visionary video.

Celebrating the Birthday of Marva Wright

Vocalist Marva Wright was born in New Orleans on March 20, 1948, and started singing in church at age 9, with her gospel singer, piano player mother accompanying her. The world-renowned “Queen of Gospel” Mahalia Jackson was an early friend of the family. Wright turned professional in 1987, at nearly 40 years old, after she was discovered while working as a secretary. She began singing as a second job to support her family. While Wright sang traditional jazz and gospel, she was better known for sultry, sometimes bawdy blues songs.

During a live set at Tipitina's in 1989, Wright made her first recording, Mama, He Treats Your Daughter Mean., and in 1991, she made her national television debut and met the late CBS news anchorman Ed Bradley, who encouraged her career and introduced her at every JazzFest. Wright's first full-length release, Heartbreakin' Woman, appeared later that year, and was named blues album of the year by the Louisiana Music Critics Association. Her album Born With The Blues was released in France in 1993, and worldwide in 1996. Her 2007 effort, After The Levees Broke, addressed the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, which destroyed her house and all her belongings. In August 2008, she performed with the Louisiana Wetlands All Stars at both the Democratic National Convention in Colorado and the Republican National Convention in Minnesota.

Wright also sang backup for such artists as Allen Toussaint, Glen Campbell, Joe Cocker, Cyril Neville, Harry Connick, Jr., Bobby McFerrin, Aaron Neville, Fats Domino, Lou Rawls, and Marcia Ball. Sadly, she passed away on March 23, 2010. On this day, we celebrate the life of the Blues Queen of New Orleans, Marva Wright.

Happy Birthday, Clarence "Frogman" Henry!

R&B singer and pianist Clarence “Frogman” Henry was born in New Orleans on March 19, 1937, and is best known for his hits "Ain't Got No Home" (1956) and "(I Don't Know Why) But I Do" (1961). Influenced by Fats Domino and Professor Longhair, Henry started learning piano as a child, and started playing professionally in 1952. One night that year, he improvised the song "Ain't Got No Home", using his trademark croak. He recorded it in Cosimo Matassa's studio in 1956, and it eventually rose to number 3 on the national R&B chart and number 20 on the US pop chart. This earned Henry his nickname of 'Frogman' and jump-started his career. Henry opened eighteen concerts for the Beatles across the US and Canada in 1964, but his main source of income came from performing on Bourbon Street, where he played for nineteen years. In 2007, Henry was inducted into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame. He continues to draws adoring fans at the various events and festivals where he performs, including the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. Today we join Clarence in celebrating his birthday! Many happy returns, Frogman! 

The Axeman of New Orleans

The Axeman was a serial killer who terrorized the New Orleans area from May 1918 to October 1919, and whose vicious attacks left six people dead and six more severely injured. Mainly targeting Italian immigrants and Italian-Americans, the serial killer usually attacked with an axe, often belonging to the victims themselves. The Axeman sent a letter to the New Orleans Times-Picayune newspaper in New Orleans which was published on March 16, 1919, threatening to kill again on March 19 at 12:15 am, if he discovered any household not playing jazz music at that time. That night all of New Orleans' dance halls were filled to capacity, and bands played jazz at parties throughout New Orleans. There were no murders that night. To this day the murderer’s identity remains unknown and his crime spree stopped as mysteriously as it had started.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!