{"id":466,"date":"2011-11-22T20:09:05","date_gmt":"2011-11-22T20:09:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/?p=466"},"modified":"2011-12-08T07:58:06","modified_gmt":"2011-12-08T07:58:06","slug":"michael-wolff-returns-to-nawlins-at-snug-harbor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/michael-wolff-returns-to-nawlins-at-snug-harbor\/","title":{"rendered":"Michael Wolff returns to N&#8217;Awlins at Snug Harbor"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>If it&#8217;s Thanksgiving time in New Orleans, then pianist, arranger and composer <strong>Michael Wolff <\/strong>can&#8217;t be far off. Raised as a youngster in New Orleans, he has returned to what he regards as his hometown yearly and has camped out at <strong>Snug<\/strong> <strong>Harbor<\/strong>, the city\u2019s premiere jazz club, for most of the past five Thanksgiving holidays.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_467\" style=\"width: 279px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/Michael_Wolff_edit.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-467\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-467 lazyload\" title=\"Michael_Wolff\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/Michael_Wolff_edit-269x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"269\" height=\"300\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/Michael_Wolff_edit-269x300.jpg 269w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/Michael_Wolff_edit.jpg 427w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 269px) 100vw, 269px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 269px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 269\/300;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-467\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-467\" title=\"Michael_Wolff\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/Michael_Wolff_edit-269x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"269\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/Michael_Wolff_edit-269x300.jpg 269w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/Michael_Wolff_edit.jpg 427w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 269px) 100vw, 269px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-467\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jazz pianist Michael Wolff returns to Snug Harbor this weekend.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Wolff, who has played with highly regarded jazz and contemporary pop performers like <strong>Nancy Wilson<\/strong>, <strong>Cannonball Adderly<\/strong> and the late<strong> Warren Zevon<\/strong>, garnered national interest when he served as the musical director on the <strong>Arsenio Hall Show<\/strong>. But even after the gig with Hall was over, Wolff consistently toured and plied his craft on the piano keyboards creating an impressive set of original compositions and musical stylings from the works of jazz and popular composers.<\/p>\n<p>More recently, the 59-year-old Wolff has teamed up with former <strong>Herbie Hancock<\/strong> drummer <strong>Mike Clark,<\/strong> a respected artist and performer with outstanding jazz and funk credentials. The two enjoyed performing together over the last several years so much, they formed a new trio with bassist <strong>John B. Williams<\/strong> called the <strong>Wolff and Clark Expedition<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re kinda mixing up some of this funk style and mixing it with jazz. I call it \u2018junk jazz,\u2019\u201d he says. With Wolff\u2019s New Orleans and Memphis roots (his family moved there while he was still a kid) jazz, blues and funk come easy to him. But like Clark, he also enjoyed time growing up in the San Francisco Bay area and the two were exposed to many of the same musical influences, although Wolff is five years his junior. \u201cHe\u2019s a really great drummer and one of the most original drummers I know,\u201d Wolff says of his creative partner. \u201cHe has his own way of feeling his own sound.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_21516\">\n<p>Jazz drummer Mike Clark appears with Michael Wolff at Snug Harbor as part of the Wolff and Clark Expedition.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_468\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/MIKE-CLARK_edit.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-468\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-468 lazyload\" title=\"MIKE CLARK\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/MIKE-CLARK_edit-300x298.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"298\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/MIKE-CLARK_edit-300x298.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/MIKE-CLARK_edit-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/MIKE-CLARK_edit.jpg 500w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/298;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-468\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-468\" title=\"MIKE CLARK\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/MIKE-CLARK_edit-300x298.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"298\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/MIKE-CLARK_edit-300x298.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/MIKE-CLARK_edit-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/MIKE-CLARK_edit.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-468\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jazz drummer Mike Clark plays with Michael Wolff at Snug Harbor<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Through the years both Wolff and Clark have led their own groups. Perhaps because of their common musical backgrounds, integrating each other\u2019s playing style with the other has come easy, Wolff suggests. Aside from funk-tinged jazz they still do quite a bit of straight ahead jazz. \u201cNone of it is perfect or pristine,\u201d he warns, explaining the players would be too easily bored if they played every song note for note night after night.<\/p>\n<p>The experience Clark brings to the table is notable, Wolff continues. \u201cLike me, he got to play with some of the most famous people in the Seventies,\u201d adding that both their heroes were <strong>Miles Davis<\/strong> and Hancock. \u201cI think that what we (both) bring is that experience, but being more single-minded about wanting to be creative and still loose, so nothing is rigid.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Over the course of the summer Wolff recorded two new albums. The first was the self-titled <strong>Wolff and Clark Expedition<\/strong> album containing well known Seventies classics like \u201cFor the Love of Money\u201d and \u201cMercy, Mercy, Mercy\u201d as well as standards like Cole Porter\u2019s \u201cWhat Is This Thing Called Love?\u201d and Horace Silver\u2019s \u201cSong for My Father.\u201d He promises to cover all or most of that material in his two upcoming nights of performances at<strong> Snug Harbor Jazz Bistro<\/strong> this Friday and Saturday nights.<\/p>\n<p>The second album Wolff recorded was that of his Michael Wolff Quartet with bassist Williams and <strong>Mark Isham<\/strong> on trumpet. That release features his own original compositions and those of Wayne Shorter, Davis and others.<strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Recently his own fame has been overshadowed by his newly-famous sons <strong>Nat and<\/strong> <strong>Alex Wolff<\/strong>. Previously known as <strong>The Naked Brothers Band<\/strong>, the two were formerly seen in a Nickolodeon TV series. The series, which also featured their dad as a nerd, helped launch their real life musical careers.<\/p>\n<p>The series followed excited interest from tweens following release of a movie directed by their mom and Wolff\u2019s wife, <strong>Polly Draper<\/strong> (\u201cThirty Something\u2019). Their recently released \u201c<strong>Black Sheep<\/strong>\u201d is their first studio recording since the demise of the series and the two are touring at clubs around the country in support of the CD.<\/p>\n<p>Alex has just completed shooting a new movie \u201c<strong>Hairbrained<\/strong>\u201d in which he stars with <strong>Brendan Fraser<\/strong> as a 13-year-old college genius. Meanwhile, older brother Nat is featured in the upcoming holiday release \u201c<strong>New Year\u2019s Eve<\/strong>\u201d along with a plethora of major film stars. Wolff says Nat also finished shooting \u201c<strong>Peace, Love and Misunderstanding<\/strong>\u201d with Australian film director <strong>Bruce Beresford<\/strong> (\u201c<strong>Tender Mercies<\/strong>\u201d and \u201c<strong>Driving Miss Daisy<\/strong>\u201c) and that film is scheduled for release in 2012. Both boys continue to tour in support of \u201c<strong>Black Sheep<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Understandably proud of his boys, both of whom he considers \u201camazing actors,\u201d Wolff is reluctantly traveling to the Crescent City without his creative and loving wife. Draper is in the middle of a six-week run off-Broadway in a role in \u201c<strong>Standing on Ceremony<\/strong>,\u201d an evening of short plays about gay marriage. Sadly, because of her contract, she won\u2019t be able to join with other family members in New Orleans for Thanksgiving celebrations.<\/p>\n<p>There will be two shows nightly at Snug Harbor on both Friday, November 25 and Saturday, November 26. Start times are 8:00 and 10:00 p.m. with doors opening one hour before each show. Tickets for the <strong>Wolff and Clark Expedition<\/strong> featuring <strong>Michael Wolff<\/strong> and <strong>Mike<\/strong> <strong>Clark<\/strong> are $25.00 each and available by dialing 504-949-0696 and leaving credit card information.<\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/noscript><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"Tumblr\",\"Email\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"Michael%20Wolff%20returns%20to%20N%27Awlins%20at%20Snug%20Harbor\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[59,55,56,60,61,58,62,57],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=466"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":508,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466\/revisions\/508"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}