My wife, an EPA Incident Commander, has lived and worked in New Orleans since the day that bitch Katrina came ashore. I never see her unless she has a random weekend off or I go to NOLA and hang with her, squeezed within her 7-day work week. While this has caused a great deal of stress on our marriage, New Orleans often quells my angst with some of the best food, art and music in these United States. Last weekend was a perfect example of this.

Shepherded by my wife’s local counterparts, we buzzed between several musical acts in the hip-for-locals neighborhood of Faubourg Marigny. Since jazz is the dominant genre in this town and there are so many forms represented, my naive ear often has a hard time filtering the unique and original from the traditional and rote. Luckily this wasn’t the case with two shows last Friday.

First – Astral Project at Snug Harbor. There is simply too much talent in this modern jazz band. This is a truly professional act highlighted by drummer John Vidacovich. I don’t usually enjoy the standard procession of theme intro -> comping over sax -> guitar -> bass -> drums -> return to theme -> end… rinse and repeat for EVERY SINGLE SONG. I always want to edit time and reposition the solos simply because the context becomes so repetitive and predictable that it ruins the overarching mood of a song. It is as if the solo exists for the sake of the player instead of the song. Luckily this wasn’t the case with Astral Project. The structure didn’t bother me as much because Vidacovich played with such dynamic finesse, using every part of the kit appropriately to push each comp along. I found myself watching him during the other member’s solos as wild and chop-laden as they were. A very original and uniquely talented drummer.

Second – Skip Heller at d.b.a.. Now here’s a guy I can relate to. So much that I ordered five of his cds from cdbaby the next day. Reared on bands like X, XTC, Dead Milkmen, etc., Heller takes those indie-rock roots and other musical styles and somehow fuses them with his own self-taught Philly jazz guitar style. He reminds me of Snakefinger for some reason. The guy transformed ‘Dear God’ into his own wonderful rendition, his guitar easily skittering the melody line over a leslie-driven organ which filled in perfectly for the acoustic arpeggio part.

It was a sight to behold the behemoth speaker spinning fast and slow and fast, arching the organ across the club while the tasty guitar melodies sprung out above it. I was really impressed with his demeanor and style. A very enjoyable performance, easy going at times, harsher at others – even throwing in the Dead Kennedy’s ‘California Ãœber Alles’ ending to one song! He provided a history of music in a few short sets. I pray he comes to Dallas soon so you can see first-hand what I mean.