Auckland musician Paul Gurney reports from his pilgrimage to the New Orleans Jazz Festival as the event celebrates its 40th year
Elvis may well have left the building, but he still puts in an appearance at the New Orleans Jazz Fest - albeit as a spooky caricature atop a pole paraded through the event's fairgrounds.
In New Orleans, the home of voodoo, such sights are not unusual. They are just part
of a cultural assault that this city of the south unleashes on the first day of Jazz Fest 2009.
I may have spent 21 hours getting here by plane, but the cacophony of the stages, the aromas of the cuisine and the brassy second-line parades are enough to lift jet-lagged spirits.
Being the 40th anniversary, a concerted effort has been made to get some of the performers from the original festival back on stage, including local legends Henry Butler, Pete Fountain and bluesman Little Freddie King.
But it's still heavy on big-name headliners from across the generations.
Joe Cocker closes out the first day with a set built around an extended version of With a Little Help From My Friends - complete with four of his his trademark howls - in the song's riveting crescendo.
And like so many of the veteran acts here, Cocker's performance shows he is still a relevant and vital artist.
Jazz Fest runs for seven days, with three days to recover between the weekends, which means there's time to take in yet more music in the city.
It may say "jazz" in the name but the event's diversity is exceptional. It is hard to imagine any other festival that could feature artists such as Pete Seeger and Tony Bennett on the same billing as Wilco and the Drive-By Truckers.
At 90, Seeger can still play a mean banjo, and Bennett, at 82 the most enduring of the old-world crooners, is all class as he seduces the crowd backed by a faultless jazz quartet that includes Count Basie's drummer, the legendary Howard Jones.
Or consider the range of artists all closing out different stages at the same time on the second Saturday: Kings of Leon, The O'Jays, John Mayall - and Bon Jovi, whose appearance causes considerable debate amongst the purists as to their suitability.
But these kind of clashes can cause fans a major headache and lead to a uniquely Jazz Fest condition know as "FOMS" - fear of missing something.
There are 11 stages in total, ranging from the two main outdoor areas that accommodate the headliners, through to jazz, blues and gospel tents, and a number of smaller, more intimate stage areas where the bluegrass, folk and zydeco artists perform.
My highlights this year include gospel tent acts Aaron Neville and Mavis Staples, who both have the ability to send chills down the spine as they work their devoted audiences into a frenzy.
The backbone of Jazz Fest is provided by the local jazz and funk artists. Well-known names in the city such as the Neville, Marsalis and Batiste families pop up in various line-ups and combinations.
And it's the indigenous music and culture of New Orleans and Louisiana that Jazz Fest celebrates above all else.
If there is one thing that distinguishes the local acts, it is the almost uniform quality of the rhythm sections on display. Most bands consciously build their sound from the bottom up, with some, such as Ivan Neville's Dumpstaphunk, even indulging two bass players.
Other heritage acts include James Taylor, whose intimate, acoustic folk rock is lapped up by his legion of fans, and Emmylou Harris who performs a near-perfect set with her bluegrass trio.
Of course, the one thing that can wreck the best festival is the weather, and given that Jazz Fest takes place in spring, there is always the potential for sudden downpours that can flood the grounds in a matter of minutes.
I have experienced this phenomenon first-hand on previous occasions. This year, though, the weather gods are kind to the organisers, with beautiful sunny days prevailing right through to the last Sunday when the skies open up at 5pm - fittingly as Neil Young and Los Lobos are each completing storming sets on the two main stages.
The organisers of this year's New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival had good reason to be nervous heading into this year's event, with the city still in a slow rebuilding phase from Hurricane Katrina and the local population still at 80 per cent of its pre-disaster levels. Added to this is the current deep recession and its potential to reduce the numbers of fans attending from out of state and overseas.
Despite the concerns going in, the 2009 festival emerges successful with attendance figures topping 400,000 for the first time since Katrina. No wonder Elvis needed to get a better view.
Paul Gurney is the singer and guitarist with The DeSotos and four-time attendee of Jazz Fest.
