Joe Krown Trio to highlight Jazz Fest Shabbat

By ALAN SMASON, Exclusive to the CCJN

Joe Krown will bring a bit of his own brand of yiddishkeit to the Touro Synagogue pulpit this year as he and his trio headline the 23rd annual Jazz Fest Shabbat on Friday, April 25.

Headliners for this year's Jazz Fest Shabbat are Joe Krown, left, Walter "Wofman" Washington, center, and Russell Battiste, Jr. – the Joe Krown Trio. (Courtesy of Joe Krown)

The Joe Krown Trio which features Krown on boogie woogie and blues piano also includes legendary blues guitarist Walter “Wolfman” Washington and highly regarded jazz drummer Russell Batiste, Jr.

Krown, who was raised Jewish in the Westbury community on Long Island, has been a longtime resident of New Orleans, was pulled here by the lure of playing with celebrated stars like the late Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown. Even after 25 years, he still feels he is regarded as an outsider.

“You have to understand there’s this big occupation about where you grew up in this town,” he said in a CCJN telephone interview. “For someone who didn’t grow up here, I’m treated like an outsider and I understand it because people have a very strong feeling about that.”

But local or not, Krown has made great inroads in the local blues, jazz and rhythm and blues community. Since the recovery from Hurricane Katrina, he has quietly established himself as a major player, bringing in full houses at regular club dates at the Maple Leaf Bar on Oak Street and at Ralph’s on the Park Restaurant on City Park Avenue.

“Obviously, after 25 years, I’m established,” he admitted. In speaking about the gig at Ralph’s, Krown is circumspect to relate that one of his frequent “guests” at his piano is New Orleans legendary pianist, composer and arranger Allen Toussaint, who has surprised restaurant and bar patrons with frequent impromptu concerts with Krown. “I play there four days a week, but he’s so funny about it,” Krown related. “He comes in pretty regularly. He comes in a lot.”

But, if the crowd is too large or Toussaint feels less than anxious to play, Krown said, he just stops and waves at Krown to let him know he was there before moving on.

After moving from his home to Boston, Krown ended up living there for nearly 14 years. He came to New Orleans for the first time when he was 31. “I just made 56,” he acknowledged.

Krown altered his playing styles between cities. “I played “R&B” (“rhythm and blues”) when I was in Boston,” he continued. “At different times I was pretty big into Motown and the whole 60s, 70s, R&B and funk music (scenes). He claimed some of his repertoire included Sly and the Family Stone, Parliament, any kind of New Orleans music or even popular songs like that found in “The Big Chill” soundtrack. “Of course, being a piano player, the New Orleans music just drew me towards it.”

Krown originally came down to the Crescent City to play with “Gatemouth,” the celebrated blind blues guitarist. With New Orleans as a base, they regularly toured 150 days out of the year. Yet, when he walked down Bourbon Street, he seemed to know every musician playing there: “All the famous ones,” he recalled. “I knew all about the music.”

Brown became ill shortly before Hurricane Katrina’s landfall and tragically died in his Northshore home a few days after the storm compromised his health.

“The storm was one of those forks in the road,” the pianist continued. “Moving down here was one. When that storm hit,  it was another fork in the road for me.”

With the infrastructure of the city in ruins and the death of Brown, the main source of his revenue and his home had also been destroyed. Krown dug in deep. “I got back in. I rebuilt. I was always working on my own and took it up a notch,” he said.

Joe Krown Trio members. (Courtesy Joe Krown)

Krown started playing more and more regularly, lining up jobs on tours with others like Anders Osborne, Herman Ernest and on tour with Charlie Musselwhite, Mavis Staples and the Mississippi All Stars.

Eventually, though, his locals gigs had Washington and Battiste as his regular sidemen. It’s continued for several years. “For me it’s been great, because it’s exposure and it’s working every night,” he boasted. “Because of it, my chops are on fire. I play five or six solo gigs every week.”

And Krown has taken the lead in running the band. “It’s my band. My name is out front because I am the point person. I manage the band,” he explained.

Yet when it comes to musicianship, the process is much more democratic. “When you hear the music, we play all of our songs – those written by me, by Walter or by Russell. We take turns talking on the mike. There’s nights where they won’t talk and nights where I can’t stop them from talking,” he laughed. “It’s a collective unit musically and on stage.”

Krown knows full well of the Jazz Fest Shabbat. He played as an opening act for the patron party when Kermit Ruffins headlined the Jazz Fest Shabbat in 2008. He has also participated in several music events for the second night of Passover at Shir Chadash Conservative Synagogue as well. He knows many of the Jewish melodies he plays.

Although he has fond memories of his Conservative synagogue on Long Island and his Bar Mitzvh, Krown admitted he does not practice his Jewish faith often today. One brother became a shomer Shabbat Orthodox Jew, while his sister is married to a Catholic.

“I have a lot of issues with organized religions,” he mused. “If you come with it and it helps you, I’m all for it. It’s just I have a lot of issues with it.”

Cantor Jamie Marx will be making his last major public appearance at this year’s Jazz Fest Shabbat, having earlier announced his leaving New Orleans. Krown anticipates working as a single artist with Marx first before bringing up his trio to the bimah at Touro Synagogue, where the headliners perform.

Patrons enjoy a special Shabbat dinner and have reserved seats set aside for them in the sanctuary. Although today was the last day to have patrons’ names appear in the souvenir booklet, Touro Synagogue is still taking donations from $150 per person (Blues) to other levels (R&B, $300 per person; Zydeco, $500 per person; Jazz, $1,000 per person). The Jazz level includes two single-day passes to the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival (second weekend) and an autographed posted and Joe Krown CD, while the intermediate levels include just the poster or the CD.

To reserve space as a patron call 504-895-4843.

Touro Synagogue’s Social Action Collection will also be collecting travel size toiletries such as toothpastes, shampoos and soaps that will be donated to the Rebuild Center, a homeless shelter serving the Greater New Orleans area.

Music director Terry Maddoz will lead the Touro Synagogue Choir and Panorama Jazz Band as well. The patron dinner begins at 6:00 p.m. with doors open to the public at 7:00 p.m. The service begins at 7:30 p.m.