JAZZMAN JOE VIDEOS - NOLA Jazz Band at Noce in Des Moines on Apr 27, 2018

"The NOLA Jazz Band began playing together for an initial gig at The Basement of The Des Moines Social Club March, 2015. It became so popular it is now an ongoing event. Since then band has taken the midwest by storm in a little over a years time.

"The bands monthly 'New Orleans Jazz Party' occurs every First Friday of the month at 'The Basement' playing to packed and many times sold out shows. Starting in 2017 the band will also be playing regularly at "NOCE" Des Moines new jazz and blues club. All band members have a common love for the sound and 'feel' of both traditional and current New Orleans based music – real, gutsy, raw, heartfelt, and entertaining.

"The NOLA Jazz Band has played alongside a number of well-known traditional jazz and music groups including Davina & The Vagabonds from Minneapolis, Sony recording artist Bria Skonberg from New York City, and Dom Flemons of The Carolina Chocolate Drops.

"Individual band members have shared the stage with Vincent Gardner, Maynard Ferguson, Benny Goodman, Kurt Elling, and many other well know jazz artists. NOLA Jazz Band members have also been inducted into the Iowa Jazz Hall of Fame, and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame."
- from their home page

Jazzman Joe for the videos' YouTube pages: "THE NOLA JAZZ BAND PERFORMED  AT NOCE JAZZ CABARET THIS EVENING ON 4/27/18 BEFORE AN ENTHUSIASTIC AUDIENCE. ABBIE SAWYER DELIVERED HER SMOOTH VOCALS TO THE DELIGHT OF EVERYONE IN ATTENDENCE."

PLAYLISTS: Mardi Gras - Iowa Style

Some people may find it strange for a website specializing in Iowa music to have a Mardi Gras post.

Well, there is a town named Iowa in Louisiana! - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iowa,_Louisiana

And although we are much further up The Mississippi River than New Orleans, I appear not to be the only lover in Iowa of the sounds and music coming from The Mississippi Delta and the Lousiana swamps and bayous. A few other Iowans, and Omahans, have found that sound as captivating as myself.

So with these two playlists, we present some Mardi Gras music for you with an Iowa flavor.

The first playlist features shorter clips with one or two songs. I put it in order of popularity, but I think it works best on shuffle. It features tunes from Omaha's Polka Police, their cajun/Zydeco band, The Prairie Gators, and their accordion party band, The Mighty Nish Band, as well as Des Moines's own NOLA Jazz Band, The Pelicans when they were The Party Gras Band, and our brass band, Grand Avenue Ruckus, plus some Dixieland jazz performed by Iowa jazz musicians.

The second playlists features whole shows, mostly from the NOLA Jazz Band, but a couple from The Pelicans, again when they were The Party Gras Band, and Grand Ave Ruckus, as well as Iowa jazz musicians doing New Orleans music.

IOWA MUSIC SHOWCASE PODCAST - Episode 9: Iowa Jazz Music

This episode is dedicated to my jazz-loving wife and father-in-law.

Sorry it's taken so long to get another podcast out. "Life is what happens when we're making other plans." Overtime, family gallbladder operation, and a graduation conspired against me. Something had to give, and it was the podcast. I'll try to get it back to every two weeks.

At a casual glance, one might not think much about Iowa's jazz scene. The fans and players are not nearly as numerous as, say the rock, alternative, or even the blues scene.

But what it lacks in numbers, it more than makes up on dedication. Many of the colleges have Jazz departments. And the ones, that may not be big enough to have a jazz department, will often have one member of the music department dedicated to jazz.  And the colleges and college towns, if they don't jazz festivals, will often host Jazz musicians.

Here in Des Moines, we have Jazz in July, a month-long Jazz festival. And the restaurant, Chuck's, features Jazz every Friday and Saturday night. And The Des Moines Social Club has started a monthly show with The NOLA Jazz Band.

And if that is not enough proof for you, check out Jazzman Joe's YouTube channel, featuring literally 100's of videos of Iowa jazz artists doing their thing
- https://www.youtube.com/user/jazzmanjoe100/videos.

So here in the episode, we present six bands and artists pushing Jazz forward here in Iowa.