If you were listening closely this week, you could hear the first notes of Memorial Day Weekend. They may be faint now, but it will grow louder, like a parade getting closer, as the weekend draws near. That is because the Greenwich Town Party (GTP) announced their musical lineup this week and it is a great one!
Hold on to your hats because Greenwich is going to party New Orleans-style with the “Preservation Hall Super Jam,” a self-described once-in-a-lifetime collaboration of the best New Orleans music, to be held at Roger Sherman Baldwin Park. We will create our own Frenchmen Street by Greenwich Harbor. Frenchmen Street is just off the French Quarter in New Orleans and is the heart of the music scene.
We have written before about our admiration of Ray Dalio, Ray Rivers, Scot Weicker, and the entire team at GTP for all that they do to bring our community together on Memorial Day Weekend. They do not have to do all the work of planning and presenting a day-long festival of great music, food, and fun. They do it for a love of community and it shows.
So, what is New Orleans jazz? It is a “performance art based on the musical elements of syncopation, improvisation, blues scale, call-and-response, rhythm, tone color, harmony and interpretation.” It is the type of music that gets you moving, dancing, clapping, and having fun. Perfect for Greenwich.
This year Ben Jaffe of Preservation Hall Jazz Band and Eric Krasno, a multi-Grammy Award winner have curated the best of what New Orleans has to offer musically. The super jam on the main stage will include The Revivalists, Mavis Staples and The Dirty Dozen Brass Band. Amazing to have all three performing together.
As Ben Jaffe said: “This once-in-a-lifetime performance will feature the best of the best of New Orleans music. It will be a melting pot of styles, where jazz, rock, blues, and folk coalesce in a festive, creative way. While musicians entertain from the stage, the Greenwich community can dance in the park, like we do in the streets of New Orleans!”
In their announcement, GTP has said that in the spirit of a commonly used New Orleans term “Lagniappe,” which means “a little unexpected extra,” guests will experience a wide array of culture bearers and celebrity artists that all embody The Big Easy’s traditions. We are not sure what that will mean but hopefully it will evoke romanticism and mystery that is such a part of New Orleans.
We do know that a parade has been planned and approved by the town for Tuesday, May 23. It will start near the top of Greenwich Avenue and make its way to Havemeyer Field. That sounds amazing. (Obviously, if you read last week’s editorial you know we love a parade.) We are hoping this will be a traditional New Orleans style parade with great music and umbrellas and stilt walkers and more. At Havemeyer Field there will be a party for all! Wow! That is Tuesday, we wonder if there might be more announcements to fill out the week?
We applaud GTP on this year’s line-up. It is different and that is a good thing. Yes, Billy Joel was amazing. So was Zach Brown and the Eagles. This has a more community feel to it and not just a concert. Don’t get us wrong, we would love to see Jimmy Buffet or Garth Brooks at a future GTP, but this feels right for this year.
It may be easy, for some, to criticize Ray Dalio, Ray Rivers, and others for this year’s line-up. They would be wrong. This is the 12th GTP in the past 13 years. For twelve years they have said “we love Greenwich and want to bring our community together.” You cannot critique them for that effort. We all owe them our appreciation and thanks. We cannot wait to see everyone down at the Big Easy this year.
