Doyle “Red” Cooper took up the trumpet at age 10; by the time he turned 30 he’d played the Jazzfest nearly 50 times. Today he is a fixture on the trad jazz scene, playing trumpet or tuba, in his own Doyle Cooper Jazz Band or with the Storyville Stompers, the Red Hot Brass B... Read more

C. R. Gruver is a keyboardist, educator, and bandleader who can usually be found performing with the hard-touring New Orleans Suspects or as head of the New Orleans School of Rock youth program. His musical stylings emerge from a multitude of influences ranging from Little ... Read more

Brad Walker is one of the city’s – no, make that the country’s – most in-demand sax players. Whether he is leading the horn section for Sturgill Simpson at the Grammy Awards, backing up Anders Osborne, or jamming at a New Orleans jazz club, Walker’s energetic, soaring and t... Read more

Big Joe Kennedy is a staple on the New Orleans trad jazz and burlesque scene, holding down regular gigs around town as a sideman and as a solo pianist. While his own set lists trend heavily towards jazz staples, the versatile performer has written songs for the city’s burge... Read more

BC (Brian) Coogan is a versatile, highly regarded keyboardist, comfortable covering the New Orleans – make that entire contemporary - songbook on organ, electronic keyboard, and the piano. His solo outings find him in some of the Crescent City’s best listening rooms, includ... Read more

Alex McMurray was born in New Jersey and made his way to New Orleans in the 1980s as a student at Tulane University. Instead of following an academic path, McMurray started to learn about New Orleans through its street culture, and playing and writing music. McMurray has de... Read more

John “Papa” Gros (pronounced Grow) is a pianist, organist, vocalist, and composer who combines the best of New Orleans’ piano professor traditions with contemporary funk, rock, and blues to create his own distinctive and dynamic sound. He is an established solo artist and i... Read more

The Dirty Dozen Brass Band launched in 1977, at a time when New Orleans brass bands were dwindling and the traditions of street parading were dying out. The Dozen revolutionized – and revitalized - the traditional brass band genre by injecting funk and modern jazz styles an... Read more

Joe Krown is a New Orleans piano and B-3 master, known for his prowess in the funk, blues, boogie-woogie and jazz arenas, and for his work with The Joe Krown Organ Combo, for his legacy with Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown and, presently, as a member of the hard-touring Kenny Wa... Read more

Bruce “Sunpie” Barnes is truly a Renaissance man. Known primarily for his work as a musician, Barnes is also a former National Park Service ranger (retiring after 30 years), ethnographic photographer, actor, author, former high school biology teacher, former pro football pl... Read more