Friday, April 26, at Jazz Fest: The Killers, Jon Batiste and more

Gambit's picks for Friday at Jazz Fest.

Los Cumbia Stars

11:20 a.m.-12:20 p.m. Friday

Gentilly Stage

3:30-4:30 p.m. Friday

Cultural Exchange Pavilion

Singer Cristina Escamilla and accordionist Juan Pablo Acosta lead this seven-piece band known for playing a very danceable style of tropical Colombian music. It's 2019 album "Los Cumbia Stars Vol. 2" was nominated for a Latin Grammy.

Leyla McCalla

12:20-1:20 p.m. Friday

Fais Do-Do Stage

Folk musician Leyla McCalla’s work tends to dig passionately into the music and living connections of the African diaspora. As a cellist with the Carolina Chocolate Drops, she centered Black American traditions in folk music as did Our Native Daughters, her Americana group with Rhiannon Giddens, Amythyst Kiah and Allison Russell, all on banjo. Her 2022 solo album, “Breaking the Thermometer,” turned to Haiti, the work of pro-democracy journalists there, and her own family history as an American of Haitian descent. For her fifth solo album, the recently released “Sun Without the Heat,” McCalla finds inspiration in Brazilian tropicalismo, Ethiopian folk, Afrobeat and American folk as well as the writings of abolitionist Frederick Douglass and Afrofuturist author Octavia Butler.

Leyla McCalla (copy) — Leyla McCalla will perform Friday at Jazz Fest.
Photo by Will Coviello / Gambit

Chloe Marie

1:10-1:55 p.m. Friday

Rhythmpourium

During the pandemic, Chloe Marie moved from Baton Rouge — where she fronted a great neo-soul band, Alabaster Stag — down to New Orleans and has steadily carved out a unique space in the indie music community as a solo musician. Last fall, she released the captivating EP “Close Enough,” which blends indie soul, pop and a powerful voice, and she can be seen at venues like Saturn Bar, Okay Bar and Hi-Ho Lounge. Along with her solo music, Chloe Marie also regularly performs with pianist Harry Mayronne and the 1940s style vocal group The Victory Belles.

Doreen’s Jazz New Orleans

1:40-2:40 p.m. Friday

Economy Hall

Clarinetist and vocalist Doreen Ketchens is a familiar sight to anyone who has strolled down Royal Street on a weekend. She and her band — which usually includes her husband, Lawrence Ketchens, and her daughter Dorian Ketchens-Dixon — typically can be found performing outside Rouses and drawing in a crowd with energetic New Orleans jazz, blues and gospel. Videos of Doreen’s Jazz New Orleans (DJNO) occasionally go viral, and the charismatic bandleader has appeared on “CBS Sunday Morning,” “Jimmy Kimmel Live” and “Treme.” Along with regularly performing on Royal Street and inside the occasional venue, DJNO has released more than 30 albums.

Spyboy J & Thee Storm

1:45-2:35 p.m. Friday

Jazz & Heritage Stage

Spyboy J’wan Boudreaux of the Golden Eagles caught national attention in 2017 and 2018 as the lead vocalist for Cha Wa, when the Mardi Gras Indian funk band released its Grammy-nominated album “Spyboy.” The grandson of Big Chief Monk Boudreaux and the nephew of The Rumble’s Joseph Boudreax Jr., J’wan Boudreaux today fronts Thee Storm, a relatively new group performing Mardi Gras Indian funk and traditional songs.

First day of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival 2018 in New Orleans (copy) — Donald Harrison will at Congo Square on Friday at Jazz Fest.
Photo by David Grunfeld / The Times-Picayune

Big Chief Donald Harrison Jr. with The Icons

2:45-3:45 p.m. Friday

Congo Square Stage

Big Chief Donald Harrison Jr., a NEA Jazz Master, has long incorporated hip-hop into his work, along with R&B, rock and soul for his noted “Nouveau Swing” style. Last fall, he debuted a new collaboration with rapper Choppa, vocalist Tonya Boyd-Cannon and producer BlaqNmilD called The Icons, which continues to push the New Orleans-rooted boundaries of hip-hop, bounce and jazz.

Mr. Sipp

3-4 p.m. Friday

Blues Tent

Mississippi musician Castro Coleman initially made a name for himself in the gospel music world, performing with groups like The Canton Spirituals and his own The True Believers. A lifelong blues fan, Coleman in the early 2010s created a blues alter ego, Mr. Sipp, and quickly began racking up awards, including winning the 2014 International Blues Challenge and the 2014 Bobby Rush Entertainer of the Year from the Jus’ Blues Foundation. His latest blues record, “Sippnotized,” pulls in funk and ’70s soul into his fun blues mixture. Mr. Sipp also will be interviewed at 12:30-1:15 p.m. Friday on the Allison Miner Music Heritage Stage.

Gov’t Majik

3-4 p.m. Friday

Jazz & Heritage Stage

With healthy doses of funk, soul and jazz and a deep love for Fela Kuti, New Orleans’ Gov’t Majik calls itself the Dirty South Afrobeat Orchestra. It was already an infectious, hip-moving blend, and the band took things a step further on its latest EP “The Bass Age” with futuristic, bass-heavy grooves. At Jazz Fest, the 11-member band will be joined by Parliament-Funkadelic saxophonist Greg Thomas.

Esther Rose

3:05-3:55 p.m. Friday

Lagniappe Stage

After a number of years in New Orleans, country singer-songwriter Esther Rose took a chance, hit the road and found a new home in New Mexico. It was out west that she finished up her fourth album, “Safe to Run,” a record full of wanderlust and reflections on where her life has already led her. While rooted in country, Rose’s engaging music also incorporates rock ’n’ roll and pop influences.

Oumou Sangare

4:10-5:10 p.m. Friday

Congo Square Stage

One of Mali’s best-known performers, Oumou Sangare specializes in Wassoulou music, a popular, string-forward and percussive style from the country’s southern region. But while her music is rooted in a traditional style, Sangare’s work is wholly contemporary, with influences from modern, popular African genres and progressive social commentary (Sangare also is well-known in Mali for her activism work). Her latest record, “Timbuktu,” incorporates some electric instrumentation, blues and Western pop sounds, while lyrically focused on upheaval in her home country.

Treces del Sur

4:15-5:05 p.m. Friday

Lagniappe Stage

Anchored by percussionist Ignacio Chacon, Treces del Sur is a collective of musicians playing crowd favorites in a range of Latin genres, including merengue, salsa, cumbia and bachata.

Naturally 7

4:15-5:30 p.m. Friday

WWOZ Jazz Tent

The seven members of Naturally 7 are masters at vocal precision, harmonies and beatboxing. The a cappella group — they’ve coined the term “vocal play” to better describe their style — use their voices to replicate a range of instruments, from brass, strings and electric guitar to a full drum kit, for original songs, on-the-fly improvisations and covers. Naturally 7 has toured with Michael Buble and performed with Coldplay, Quincy Jones and Stevie Wonder.

Three Generations of Indians

4:30-5:15 p.m. Friday

Allison Miner Music Heritage Stage

Big Chief Monk Boudreaux is one of New Orleans’ best known Black Masking Indians. He, along with Big Chief Bo Dollis, pioneered putting Mardi Gras Indian songs to electrified funk and helped spread the New Orleans tradition around the world. The big chief of the Golden Eagles continues to make new music, and now his son, Second Chief Joseph Boudreaux Jr., fronts the powerhouse Indian funk band The Rumble. Spyboy J’wan Boudreaux, Monk’s grandson and Joseph’s nephew, also now leads his own group, Spyboy J & Thee Storm. The three Indians perform at this year’s Jazz Fest and will be interviewed together by Tipitina’s co-founder Steve Armbruster.

The Jones Sisters

5:15-5:55 p.m. Friday

Gospel Tent

Sisters Kayla, Kiera, Dalia and Dejon Jones grew up hearing their parents sing and play music in their Marrero home and in church. And each sister took to learning to sing and, for Kiera, play piano. The Jones Sisters opened a concert with gospel singer Kierra “KiKi” Sheard when they were just 8, 6, 3 and 2, and have been singing together ever since. The gospel quartet has performed around the country and have made several recordings with praise for their vocal harmonies.

The Killers

5:30-7 p.m. Friday

Festival Stage

Twenty years on, and you’d be hard pressed to find a party playlist that doesn’t include The Killers’ “Mr. Brightside.” The big, synth-pop track and the debut album “Hot Fuss” catapulted the Las Vegas-based rock band to international stardom (“Mr. Brightside” is the longest-charting single in the UK), and The Killers remain one of the country’s most prominent arena-filling rock bands. That’s because rather than rest on debut, pop rock laurels, The Killers have consistently tried something new, from the Springsteen-esque turn on their also massive sophomore album “Sam’s Town” to their concept-driven seventh record, “Pressure Machine.” The Killers in 2024 are celebrating 20 years of “Hot Fuss,” so Jazz Fest may hear many of those hits.

Jon Batiste

5:30-7 p.m. Friday

Gentilly Stage

Jon Batiste rocked the Festival Stage in a big way last year. The Grammy-winning Kenner native and St. Augustine High School and NOCCA alum was joined by members of the St. Augustine Marching 100, a choir, second-line dancers and Indigenous band Native Soul for a vibrant homecoming performance that celebrated Black New Orleans culture. Batiste returns to headline the Gentilly Stage, with his latest Grammy-nominated album, “World Music Radio,” in tow.

Kem

5:40-7 p.m. Friday

Congo Square Stage

Singer-songwriter Kem has been making smooth, romantic R&B — the kind of music that deserves the tag “grown and sexy” — for more than 20 years. While his 2003 debut, “Kemistry,” broke into the top 100 on the Billboard charts, his 2005 follow-up was certified platinum and his 2010 third album peaked at No. 2 on the charts, cementing Kem’s place as a modern icon of soulful R&B. His latest EP, “Full Circle,” includes groove-oriented collaborations with Rick Ross, Babyface, Ty Dolla $ign and others.

Jason Danti and the Krewe de Bechet

5:45-6:45 p.m. Friday

Economy Hall

Clarinetist, saxophonist and flautist Jason Danti can be seen around New Orleans performing with The Tangiers Combo, which blends originals with New Orleans standards, Parisian tunes, Bossa Nova and Calypso, as well as with musicians like Jeff Klein, Carl Keith and Dylan James. At Jazz Fest, Danti will lead the Krewe de Bechet, a tribute to Sidney Bechet, the legendary New Orleans-born saxophonist and clarinetist who found fame in France.

Joe Louis Walker

5:50-7 p.m. Friday

Blues Tent

Joe Louis Walker is one of the legends of today’s blues. The Blues Hall of Fame inductee was born in San Francisco and developed a deep love for the blues at an early age, but as he came of age in the psychedelic ’60s, rock, soul and gospel also influenced his sound. Over his storied career, Walker has performed with B.B. King, Buddy Guy and James Cotton, and he has a number of acclaimed, boundary-pushing albums to his name. His latest record, “Weight of the World,” was released last year.

Lost Bayou Ramblers

6-7 p.m. Friday

Fais Do-Do Stage

The Cajun rockers earlier this year won their second Grammy Award for a collaboration with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra (The win also marked the first Grammy for the LPO). It’s a good reminder — as if anyone really needed one — of how great the Lost Bayou Ramblers are: A band of talented musicians pushing forward Cajun music in new and interesting ways. Festivalgoers can also catch the band’s fiddler and vocalist Louis Michot solo at 3:35-4:20 p.m. Friday on the Rhythmpourium stage.