Traditional Jazz

Kris Tokarski

Fri, 08/04/23
Kris Tokarski is a quiet, powerful pianist with a modern jazz background and a firm rooting in the New Orleans jazz professor tradition. That combination of bebop and Jelly Roll Morton sparkle up Tokarski’s performances with a contemporary shine. He’s played with a Who’s Wh... Read more

Kid Merv

Fri, 08/04/23
Kid Merv is New Orleans music to the bone: as a youngster he played trumpet in the vaunted St. Augustine Marching 100 and the venerable Olympia Brass Band, moved on to form his own Young Olympians, which morphed into the funky Soul Rebels Brass Band. Born Mervin Campbell, K... Read more

Kevin Louis

Fri, 08/04/23
Kevin Louis is an accomplished trumpeter and leader of the Preservation All-Stars, an adjunct of the Preservation Hall family. He has toured around the world with heavy hitters like Jimmy Heath, Nicholas Payton, Mos Def, and the Duke Ellington Orchestra, and always brings a... Read more

Kermit Ruffins

Fri, 08/04/23
Trumpeter Kermit Ruffins embodies the exuberant spirit of Louis Armstrong and the New Orleans entertainment culture. He co-founded the Rebirth Brass Band and is perhaps best known for performing with his longtime group, The Barbecue Swingers. Born in 1964, Ruffins took up ... Read more

Katja Toivola

Fri, 08/04/23
Katja Toivola is a Finnish-born trombonist and bass drummer who loves New Orleans music so much she wrote her thesis on the Rebirth Brass Band. After moving to New Orleans, she connected with the Preservation Hall and with trumpeter Leroy Jones; the two are now married and ... Read more

Jumbo Shrimp Jazz Band

Fri, 08/04/23
The Jumbo Shrimp Jazz Band got their start busking on New Orleans street corners; today, they are an in-demand trad jazz dance band that is known for high-energy performances and for jumping across genres at any given moment. Leading the charge is the dynamic bandleader, si... Read more

Josh Paxton

Fri, 08/04/23
Josh Paxton studied piano with Ellis Marsalis, and the keyboard master’s style is a combination of New Orleans' deep piano traditions inflected with modern jazz twists, classical technique, and a funky rhythmic drive. He’s toured with a wide range of artists ranging from Br... Read more

Jon Gross

Fri, 08/04/23
Jon Gross powers his tuba and sousaphone sounds with New Orleans-inflected energy and passion. Gross can be found with more traditional Crescent City jazz bands such as the Treme Brass Band, Loose Marbles and the Panorama Jazz Band, or exploring the outer edges of jazz in p... Read more

John Saavedra

Fri, 08/04/23
John Saavedra channels the spirit of Django Reinhardt into an energetic, New Orleans-inflected guitar sound that propels the swing music sound into this century just as it propels the dancers to the floor. Along with singer Giselle Anguizola, Saavedra leads the rotating cas... Read more

John Royen

Fri, 08/04/23
John Royen rules the stride piano, bringing the syncopated sounds to clubs and festivals around New Orleans and across the globe. The veteran pianist has performed with a Who’s Who of traditional jazz, from Pete Fountain and the Dukes of Dixieland to Duke Heitger and the Pr... Read more

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