Greyboy Allstars - Tipitina’s Late Nite

After a bowl of chicken gumbo, crawfish cakes and a short nap, I find myself at Tipitina’s Uptown hanging out in the balcony listening to the groove jazz of the Greyboy Allstars , Touring now in support of their latest album, What Happened to Television?  they are playing in front of a rocking sold-out crowd at 4 in the morning. With pictures of the Neville Brothers and Professor Longhair in their early years hanging on the walls, Karl Denson gets the crowd in the mood with a few funky dance steps before he picks up his sax to get the party started.  Heavy on the instrumentals and light on the verse,  other than some reunion shows in the past few years they have stayed in hiding too long but decided it was time to get back together and put out  a new album and hit the road again. Robert Walter on keyboards trading licks with Elgin Park on the guitar made this crowd more into a frenzy as was later in the set when Elgin traded his weapon of choice with Chris Stillwells’ bass guitar and Karl hitting the flute to further show that these guys are back for real. 

Sidenote : I bought the VIP package to see these guys because the regular tickets were sold out when I was laying out what music I wanted to see at night. Admissions was $200, usually a bit past my price point for one band but all of the ticket price went to the Tipitina’s Foundation to support the Instruments a Coming Program to help donate instruments to the younger generations in New Orleans. The Tipitina’s Foundation has several programs that help spread music education as well as helping rebuild the home of Fats Domino, a New Orleans icon and helping other musicians in need. If you want to donate to this great organization, go here.