KMHD celebrates Mardi Gras with N.O. jazz band

By Nick Ngo

For 10 years New Orleans native Deborah Smith hosted a live radio show on KMHD to commemorate Mardi Gras. Tuesday’s show, airing from 7 a.m. till 10 a.m., had a different angle compared to her previous shows. For this show, New Orleans Straight Ahead headlined.

It was a new experience for both Smith and the members of the band. Smith had special guests on her show before, but never a live performance. For New Orleans Straight Ahead it was their first time doing an in-studio performance and interview.

Saxophone player Devin Phillips said it was definitely a new experience to him. He mentions that playing on the radio was different from playing in front of an audience.
“I’m trying to express something to the audience. This performance was different because I couldn’t see the audience,” Phillips said. “It’s a new experience and it’s interesting.”

Smith described the performance of the band as “outstanding.”
“They are all professionals, they know what they are doing, [and] they know the music. They came to play with heart and they did,” Smith said.
The band consists of Phillips, drummer Mark DiFlorio, pianist Andrew Oliver and bass player Nobu Ozaki. Ozaki was not able to attend the show so Eric Gruber substituted.
Phillips, DiFlorio and Ozaki evacuated to Portland with the aid of a program called NOLA2PDX, which stands for New Orleans, La., to Portland. According to DiFlorio, an email was sent to all the jazz musicians they could reach in New Orleans. They offered to fly the musicians to Portland, set them up with housing from Federal Emergency Management Agency and the American Red Cross, loan them instruments, set them up with gigs, get them some money and integrate them into the jazz scene. They took the offer and came up at different times.

“We had a good time,” Phillips said. “It’s not the usual [style for] Mardi Gras, it’s usually on the street with a couple of hundred people. But we had a great time.”
Besides showing the audience what kind of music is played at Mardi Gras, they also wanted to help people get into the spirit of Mardi Gras. DiFlorio says for this performance he wanted to keep the spirit of Mardi Gras alive.

“I wanted to feel the spirit of Mardi Gras because I was there last year. I miss it so much and I wish I was down there,” DiFlorio said. “I wanted to share it with whoever I can.”
For her previous shows, Smith would normally play music from her CD library. This year, Smith wanted to have an even more in-depth show.
“Being so connected to New Orleans, we wanted to have a really true authentic connection and what better than musicians who come from there,” Smith said.

To find out if any New Orleans musicians had relocated to Portland, she went to the NOLA2PDX website and read about the musicians who relocated here. Phillips’ group caught her eye.
She attended a Jan. 28 performance at the Blue Monk in Southeast Portland.
“I was impressed, I was absolutely impressed with their ability to play and they played straight ahead jazz and they played some New Orleans tunes,” Smith said. “I said,

‘These are the people I want on my show.’”
Smith met up with Phillips three times after that to prepare for the show. The first time she met up with Phillips, she interviewed him. She wanted to see if he’s the person that she wanted on her show.
“Yes, I heard him, but can he speak in a microphone and be comfortable,” Smith said.
She explained that some musicians aren’t comfortable with doing things like that. Some can express themselves very well with music, but not verbally.
“Devin had both: He can play and he can speak. He speaks from the heart,” Smith said. “The person that you see on the stage is the person that he is when he is chatting with you.”

Tuesday morning Smith arrived at the MHCC campus at 5:15 a.m. to do her pre-Mardi Gras show in the studio. She had someone go pick the band up and they arrived at 5:45 a.m. By 7 a.m. Smith joined the band in the Band Room and the show started.
Once they started, they were all a little nervous – so they had to get the flow going. Smith said it was a bit awkward because she is usually in the studio with headphones on and controlling the board. It was different for her because she was relying on Dan Gurin, from KMHD, in the booth to give her cues and inform her what was going on back at the studio.

Performing in the Band Room created some complications for New Orleans Straight Ahead. The band had to be spaced out, so they could have good sound for broadcasting.
“That was a bit challenging just being so far from each other and not being able to hear the instruments well,” DiFlorio said. “I just know to have fun when I’m playing music. The problems are not a big deal in the end.”

Oliver was placed to the north end of the room on the classical piano. DiFlorio played his drums at the east side of the room. Gruber was stationed towards the west side of the Band Room. At the southern end Phillips played his saxophone.
All their areas were set up with microphones to catch the sound of their instruments. Smith conducted her show in the middle of the room.

“They got with it, if you’re a really good musician you can play under any circumstances,” Smith said. “That was their first time to play broadcasting and they never been broadcasted before. It was a new experience for them and they came through.”

There were three segments to the show: Classic Parade Toons, Mardi Gras Indians and Party Music. Smith chose these themes because they meant a lot to her. Her favorite segment was the Mardi Gras Indians. She explains that a person needs to know New Orleans to find the Mardi Gras Indians. She says that it is in the neighborhood, and that you have to get away from the Mardi Gras scene from downtown Bourbon Street.
“I brought the Mardi Gras that is family and neighborhood oriented,” Smith said.
The show ended with the Party Music segment. Smith said this segment is fun also because you get a chance to dance. During the last song performed, Smith and Kathleen Kennedy, a member of the audience, did the Second Line dance.

The Second Line is a New Orleans dance for a unique New Orleans funeral. Smith explained the band marches to the graveyard and it is very solemn. The body is laid and prayers are said. The band plays music leading behind the family; they’re second in line. They begin to play happy music because they’re celebrating the life of the person. Behind the band, the people who came to the funeral begin to dance. Now it is used as a Mardi Gras dance.

Smith said she got some phone calls from her audience saying how much they liked this year’s show. She doesn’t know what she has planned for next year’s show. Smith will thnk about it when Mardi Gras rolls around next year.