The Big Easy
The Big Easy
Sun 24 November 2024
Stage time / 1:15pm
Celebrate the music of Louisiana, from early-jazz big bands and cajun dance music to brass bands and carnival music.
Orphy Robinson's Big Easy Big Band, 12.45 - 13.15
Orphy Robinson's Big Easy Big Band brings together youth and adult amateur music-makers under the guidance of Orphy to learn an original suite of music, collaborate and develop their skills, and learn about the musical heritage of Louisiana and New Orleans. This exclusive premiere performance showcases the result of mass-participation sessions which have been taking place over the course of the EFG London Jazz Festival. Orphy Robinson is a British jazz multi-instrumentalist and composer who has worked with Don Cherry, Robert Plant and Courtney Pine.
Joli Blon Cajun Band, 14:00 - 15:00
Joli Blon, who take their name from a much-loved Cajun waltz, are an all-women's Cajun band who play traditional dance music from the swamps of Louisiana. Their stomping two-steps, mournful waltzes, Cajun French songs and three-part harmonies - with a bit of Blues in the mix - are popular with party people and roots music lovers.
DJ Lil' Koko, 15.00 - 16.00
DJ Lil' Koko spins rare New Orleans 50's RnB, swampy Brass, Funk, Jazz, gut-bucket Blues and Cajun punk oddities with a few detours into the Bayous of Louisiana. She tours the world spinning vinyl live, hosted a weekly New Orleans Jazz FM show and as a broadcaster and music journalist she brings the rich musical history and culture of New Orleans to the masses.
The Brass Funkeys, 16.00 - 17.00
The Brass Funkeys are a trailblazer in the new generation of UK Brass Bands. Formed in 2011, this 9-piece collective has a unique sound forged from their strong personalities and eclectic individual tastes, whilst still paying homage to their New Orleans Brass Band roots. The Brass Funkeys have honed their skills over 10 years playing the club and festival circuits in the UK and Europe, always exploring new musical directions while refining their exciting, eclectic and energetic live show, bursting at the seams with ideas and infectious energy.
DJ Lil' Koko, 17:00 - 18:00
DJ Lil' Koko returns for a second set.
Kinetika Bloco, 18:00 - 19:00
Kinetika Bloco is a youth music charity with an exuberant mix of young brass and woodwind players, drummers, steel pan and dancers all in costume creating a “unique new British Carnival sound with a decidedly London edge” (BBC Radio 2). They draw their influences from the Caribbean, Brazil, Africa and New Orleans, and have played with Ezra Collective, at the Notting Hill Carnival and have performed their own second-line in New Orleans, Louisiana.
“As a fully paid-up New Orleans-ophile, I will definitely recommend The Big Easy at Clore Ballroom in the Southbank Centre. This day-long event is free to come and go, and themed with the vibes and wonder of Louisiana's New Orleans, the Crescent City and the birthplace of jazz. Expect big beats, big brass, relentless groove and Cajun vibrations from Orphy Robinson's Big Easy Band, Joli Blon and Kinetika Bloco. There's also a lived-in DJ set from London's own New Orleans celebrant Lil' Koko at 5pm with a real authentic Nola booty shake for all. Take the kids if you have any, invite the family. They'll LOVE it.”
Chris Phillip, Jazz FM Recommends 2024

