Fairgrounds Leg 4 5/3/12

Dayna Kurtz was good.  It was more mellow than I wanted in that moment, but I did enjoy a couple of songs.



http://www.offbeat.com/2012/05/01/dayna-kurtz-dig-yourself/

http://www.nola.com/jazzfest/index.ssf/2012/05/dayna_kurtz_made_the_most_of_h.html

Henry Butler was great at the Congo Square Stage.  It was similar to his shows I've seen at the jazz clubs in NYC.
Henry Butler, in the colorful words of fellow Big Easy legend Dr. John, “is the pride of New Orleans and a visionistical down-home cat and a hellified piano plunker to boot.” Jazz Times, in reviewing Butler’s 1996 album For All Seasons, called him “the finest all-around pianist in New Orleans, a city known for its piano masters.” High praise indeed, and all of it warranted every time Butler slides behind a keyboard and works his magic. Blind since birth, Butler began playing piano at age 6 and hasn’t stopped since — though he also found time to earn a master’s degree in vocal music. His earliest albums, beginning with 1985’s Fivin’ Around, were jazz trio affairs, but he’s since proved to be equally at home performing blues, rock ’n’ roll, gospel, Caribbean, gospel and funk — pretty much any and every style found in the musical gumbo of the Crescent City. Naturally, Butler was a key component of the New Orleans Social Club, the supergroup behind 2006’s acclaimed Katrina relief album, Sing Me Back Home. His most recent solo effort, 2008’s PiaNOLA Live, was hailed by Offbeat as “a pure, uncut blast of New Orleans piano.”