Stevie Wonder, Wilco bring message of unity to New Orleans Jazz Fest

NEW ORLEANS — Apparently nothing can bring down the party at Jazz Fest, a point that Irma Thomas made clear Saturday while talking to a crowd as large as one of the barges floating up the nearby Mississippi River.

"We celebrate everything in New Orleans," the homegrown soul legend claimed, ticking off a list that included death, frogs, insects, divorce and "when the pregnancy test comes back negative."

Death indeed came up a lot again on the second weekend of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage festival, now in its 48th year and still a regular pilgrimage for many music-loving Minnesotans.

Several performers again covered songs by Prince (who died a day before last year's fest started), while a parade and all-star tributes were held in honor of Louisiana's accordion king Buckwheat Zydeco (lost in September). Those were some of the weekend's most joyous moments, too.

Like Hurricane Katrina — which Jazz Fest quite miraculously survived and rallied around — last week's hotly topical American Health Care Act and divisive presidential politics were frequently brought up during the event, as if they were yet more reasons to celebrate America's most culturally diverse and musically replete city.

"Wilco is a preexisting condition," singer/songwriter Jeff Tweedy of Chicago cracked about his band during their truly celebratory performance Friday, a makeup date for a rained-out 2015 set.

With the weekend's constant mid-70s temperatures and blue skies enhancing the fest's good vibes, Tweedy actually apologized before launching into one of Wilco's more grim and downbeat songs, "Via Chicago." Fans were nonetheless happy to sing along to it, and they similarly welcomed the more low-frills tunes from the band's last record, "Wilco Schmilco."

Wonder's message was somewhat ironic to the 60,000-some fans watching him, since they were crammed together at that moment a lot closer than they cared to be, while thousands more concurrently took in Snoop Dogg, Meghan Trainor and the SF Jazz Collective on the fest's other eight stages (attendance thrived amid the pristine weather).

"I just beg of all of you: Don't let the love I've talked to you about be gone by those who would allow a lot of negativity in this nation," Wonder said. "And you can tell Mr. No. 45: God gave him that position of being what he is for a purpose of uniting people, not dividing them."

It was hard to argue against Wonder's and Thomas' continued musical prowess at ages 66 and 79, respectively. Stevie and his large band pressed the groove-overdrive button early on with "Master Blaster," "Superstitious" and "Higher Ground" and hit it again later on with "Livin' in the City," heightened by guest appearances from younger R&B stars Corinne Bailey Rae and P.J. Morton.

Thomas not only shined in Saturday's midafternoon sun, she was a bright presence late at night two nights earlier at the puny Preservation Hall. She and jazzy jam-band favorite Karl Denson joined the core lineup of the hall's namesake band for a magical installment of its Midnight Preserves fundraiser series, Thomas delivering "It's Raining" with an elegance that belied the hall's ruggedness. The band also spent the week touting a less traditional new album, "So It Is," produced by TV on the Radio's David Sitek.

Kamasi Washington, one of the most innovative and exciting new names in modern jazz, made a big splash with a six-show run of evening performances at the French Quarter rock club One Eyed Jacks. Saturday's installment sweetly featured the Los Angeles saxophonist's dad, Rickey Washington, on soprano sax and flute. Kamasi nonetheless stuck to some of his wildest, funkiest not-your-daddy's brand of jazz, including the provocative, hip-hop-spiked "Black Man."

Maybe the most wonderfully odd performance last weekend was by the city's young psychedelic groove band Tank and the Bangas, fresh off winning NPR's Tiny Desk Contest. The band brought out Teletubby-like dancers on the Gentilly Stage and a hip-hop-spiked sound like a hallucinogenic cross between Lizzo and the Polyphonic Spree.

Some of the other standout newcomers included Nashville-based retro-twang star Margo Price, who was booked on the Fais Do Do Stage traditionally saved for zydeco and Cajun acts but nonetheless had the audience still kicking up dust from dancing. Burgeoning jazz-pop quartet Lake Street Dive — with Twin Cities-reared guitarist/trumpeter Mike Olson — also made a strong impression in front of a large Gentilly Stage crowd, which they set in motion by covering Prince's "When You Were Mine." Even the band's one musical slip-up proved charming.

"Everybody deserves to do something wrong at Jazz Fest," singer Rachel Price coolly quipped.

Chris Riemenschneider • 612-673-4658

@ChrisRstrib