Theodore’s Booze, Blues, and BBQ by Jimm O’D
‘Expansive’ is my new word for New Orleans music. It’s BIG. Brash, brassy, and all those other tried and trite descriptors apply, obviously; but there is more to it. The music of New Orleans is every kind of joyful, celebratory, welcoming and even inclusive. Can you imagine anyone, ever, not being greeted with ebullient delight (allowing for the obligatory exceptions to any rule)? I can’t.
Fat Tuesday is a Big Deal. Here in New England, though, a Tuesday is still a week-night.
I expected a good crowd at Theodore’s for Krewe Les Gras, but I thought I’d be able to get a table. A fairly full house would have been no great shock, at least for the first of their two shows; but the place was stuffed like a mirliton straight-on through. I was lucky (and pushy) enough to burrow myself into a spot just inside the front door, next to the servers’ station, and naught but a couple of feet further from the stage than the first table. Seriously- we chatted, even in the din.
When I first walked in, I was like, “yikes, it’s too loud!” but I got over that right quick. Even an introvert can’t help but be pulled in. ‘Infectious’ goes right along with ‘expansive.’ With eight bodies on the stage, there’s no more room up there than on the floor; besides the essential four-piece, this band boasts four big boules of brass as well.
Krewe Les Gras has been paying tribute by playing Theodore’s every Fat Tuesday for more than a decade now- except for one year, the Dread Year of Covid, in which they still managed to maintain the tradition by putting out a studio recording:
Krewe les Gras – Hey Pocky Way (2021 Covid Edition) –
NOLA music lovers will recognize most of the material from Krewe Les Gras- most, but not all- a percentage of their numbers are original compositions. The uninitiated, on the other hand, can’t tell ‘em apart if they don’t call it out. That’s how these journey-persons roll: in all of the many projects each of them has going, they are creators as well as respectful devotees of the various styles and genres that call to them, individually and in endlessly varying combinations with each other and some dozens of others in the regional music community. There are, quite literally, too many to list. They are a busy and productive lot.
Little Feat’s “Dixie Chicken” is the perfect showpiece for alla what they got goin’ on:
Here’s the thing about this ensemble, and each of its component members: they play with authenticity. They dig what they do. They dig in, get inside it, learn it, keep studying and working at it; and this holds true for every endeavor they engage in.
Their big finale tonight, as obvious as it ‘should’ have been, was a hugely exciting surprise. Even though the crowd had thin only a wee bit by this time, it was still jam- packed when these saints strapped on their alternate instruments- like the bassman grabbing a marching drum- and came off the stage to strut through the audience in glorious Cocek fashion.
Drums – Colin Jalbert
Organ – Darby Wolf
Bass – Chris Ball
Guitar – Dan Thomas
Vocal & Trumpet – Nick Borges
Trombone – Kat Ball
Sax – Steve Yarbro
Tuba – Jay Witbeck
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