Best Of The Fest

The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival is the setting for this engaging music video which features nearly a solid hour of live jazz, with a distinctively New Orleans style. The show kicks off with a solid performance from Irma Thomas, who belts out "I've Been Loving You." And the high quality is sustained throughout, as selections range in diversity from the gospel foot-stomping, hand-clapping "Raise Your Hands" by the Greater Macedonia Baptist Church singers to the mellow "With You in Mind" by Rita Coolidge and Allen Touissant. The legendary Dr. John is also on hand, both as a performer, and as a commentator on the history of New Orleans Jazz. And Quint Davis, the festival producer, regularly interjects justifiably prideful remarks ("New Orleans hasn't turned into America yet," etc.) in between the acts. Other acts include the one-and-only Professor Longhair, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Los Lobos, the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, and a smashing reggae finale by the Neville Brothers. It's a good time on the bayou for all. Recommended. (Available from most distributors.)