Mardi Gras in Minneapolis

The New Orleans Tribune catches up with Cultural Ambassador for the city of New Orleans and the state of Louisiana jazz trumpeter and band leader Irvin Mayfield. In July 2008 Mayfield was appointed Artistic Director of Jazz at Orchestra Hall, the jazz series of the Minnesota Orchestra.

In mid-February, jazz trumpeter, Irvin Mayfield and a host of musical luminaries paraded a taste of New Orleans’ rich musical culture in the Twin Cities during a performance at Minneapolis’ Orchestra Hall. The line-up of talent included the Rebirth Brass Band; Grammy-award winning R&B singer Irma Thomas and the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra, featuring Evan Christopher on clarinet, Vincent Gardner on trombone, Don Vappie on guitar, David Torkanowsky on piano, Neal Caine on bass and Jaz Sawyer on drums.

Mayfield, who was recently named artistic director of Jazz for the Minnesota Orchestra, is a musical treasure most jazz enthusiasts are familiar with. The jazz lion is also a professor of professional practice at the New Orleans Jazz Institute at the University of New Orleans. With a no nonsense attitude, he is known for taking a college band on tour or having them performing on a professional stage. In addition to being a bandleader of his own jazz ensemble, he is the cofounder of the Latin jazz group Los Hombres Calientes and the director of New Orleans Jazz Orchestra.

In between teaching a master class and performing a concert at Orchestra Hall, I sat down with Mayfield to talk about what his current musical endeavors in the two cities on opposite ends of the Mississippi River—New Orleans and Minneapolis.

Question: Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to do this interview in person. Did you bring us some red beans? Mayfield laughs. Question: Let’s start where we left off. When did you start NOJO (New Orleans Jazz Orchestra) and what was the concept behind it? Mayfield: NOJO was started six years ago when I was working at Dillard University at the Institute for Jazz Culture. The institute dealt with all kinds of things surrounding jazz concepts but not really the music itself. At the institute you could study jazz photography and jazz literature. So, I realized that we need a business that invested in the performance of jazz, like the NBA invests in the actually performance of basketball. I got together with a friend, Ronald Marker, who is now the CEO and founded the business six years ago. For the past six years, we have been building a sustainable business. Being able to have a staff large enough to accomplish the mission of the orchestra has been a focus. One of our objectives in the mission is to be able to have professional musicians performing the music; in addition to outreach and educational programs; and building an iconic space for jazz which we have yet to do. Question: It sounds like a lot of work, which brings me to my next question. You currently are the youngest Cultural Ambassador for the City of New Orleans, which was a position once held by Louis Armstrong. In such a distinguished position, what are your responsibilities and how is the culture is developing in New Orleans since the hurricanes? Mayfield: I have been the Ambassador for about five years. My job is basically to be the official spokesperson for the city and state on all things that have to deal with the culture and that applies to a couple of technical positions. For instance, I am the chairman of the board at the public library. What I try to do is to illuminate things that are important to the culture of the city; and if there are issues and platforms that I think need more visibility, I try to support them. That could be things from libraries to homelessness to jazz. It just does not have to stay in the realm of culture in the basic definition of the word. Question: Some people do not understand what real New Orleans culture is all about. For instance, when you are a resident in New Orleans you may see a Second Line at 2 in the morning. If your are living in the historic Treme, you may accidently run into a jazz funeral on your way to the grocery store; and once upon a time on a Sunday you could check out Father LeDoux and a jazz mass at St. Augustine Church. Then you have the Black Indians, the magnicifient culinary artists, photographers, the masonry . . . the list is endless. In your ambassadorship are you promoting other artists besides musicians? Mayfield: If you look at New Orleans culture, there are those things you just mentioned. But the real question is “What New Orleans is missing?” How can a hurricane come and wipe all that away? Mostly, what I am trying to do as an ambassador is to talk about the void that is missing as opposed to the things that are there. Of course, I am a supporter of all that stuff from the culinary to the Mardi Gras Indians to the churches. I am an active supporter and participator because I am a performer too. But there is an invisible piece. There is a void, and that is what I try to talk about. How do we shore up the culture and to have a better support system for it? Question: I could only image that is challenging right now considering that people are still rebuilding. What are some of the obstacles you are facing? The largest obstacle is much like America. Out of the multi-billion dollar stimulus package what is the amount that is going to be invested in the culture of America. Well, the same issue is with the city of New Orleans. Out of the billions of dollars issued to rebuilding, how much money is invested to the culture? Very little goes into the culture itself, especially towards individuals because people feel that is the last piece of something that needs to be invested in when there is a crisis. And they feel that is the first thing that needs to be cut when there is an economic challenge. So, when rebuilding the city some people want to rebuild and they want to do these things, but they think about it tangible tactical terms; and a lot of times, the culture is the last piece that really get looked at. The irony is that really all a nation or city really has is its culture. It should be the most important piece. When you are rebuilding a city, you have to rebuild people. When you are rebuilding people, you have to invest in them individually; and culture is the best way to make an investment in an individual. Question: Having said that, I noticed in Minnesota they incorporate arts in education at the ground level in areas including English, math, science and history. Even though the children of New Orleans are inundated with culture on levels that are mind blowing, do you plan on taking any of these ideas back to the great City of New Orleans? Once again, it comes down to the culture of it. For instance, if you look at the master plans for the recovery school systems, the recovery school districts, the charter schools, and the Orleans Parish schools, if you look at the mission statements you are not going to find culture being the number one piece that students need to be provided with. It is just hard to infuse something when it is not a part of the overall mission and vision of the institution. Rather than just putting a program in place and giving kids music, what I am trying to affect are the policies. They need to go back to the mission statements and say every child in New Orleans needs to know the sound of Louis Armstrong’s trumpet; they need to know what is means and how much work goes into putting together a headdress and why the Indians come out at six o’clock in the morning and where they come out at, which is Orleans and Claiborne. I think it is more important to infuse those ideas into the missions of the educational institutions as opposed to just a program. When funding gets cut, programs get cut. But if it is a part of the mission, the school has to make some choices. Anyway, I think you understand where I am going. It is the policy issue that needs to be addressed. I understand that you are currently the Artistic Director of Jazz with Minnesota Orchestra? What projects do you have in store for the Twin Cities? Mayfield: Of course we are hosting a lot of great music. To initiate the jazz series, we are bringing Irma Thomas, The Rebirth Brass Brand, Don Vappie, Evan Christopher and Neil Kane; a host of great music to initiating the first concert series of jazz. About ten days later we have Wynton Marsalis with Jazz at Lincoln Center. They are doing two nights, and they are also going to do a free family concert. We are bringing McCoy Tyner who is a legend; Ramsey Lewis—another great legend. And I am doing a commission with the full Orchestra called “The Art of Passion,” which is all about creativity, inspiration and adventure. We are going to mold jazz music and classical music together where one does not having to sacrifice for the other. That is the basic season for this year for jazz at Orchestra Hall. Question: That is pretty amazing. Some of my friends told me about the concert you performed with Yolanda Adams. Can you talk about the melding of jazz and gospel music? And, are you planning on recording with any gospel artists anytime soon? Mayfield: Yolanda had a good time. I had a good time. We played some good church music. It was for the opening of the Mahalia Jackson Theater. Mahalia was one of the most important gospel legends to ever have lived, and she was from New Orleans.

Of course, jazz was born in the church. And really the first jazz songs were church songs. As a matter of fact, when you think of the most famous jazz song, “When the Saints Go Marching In” that is a church song. The reason the jazz funeral procession came into existence because of people playing those church songs like: “I’ll Fly Away,” “Over in the Glory Land,” “Just a Closer Walk with Thee” and “When the Saints go Marching In.” People played those songs on the way to the graveyard and then they changed the rhythm on the way back. They had a lot of passion in them. Jazz and church music were one in the same at one point. So, they come together quite naturally. In New Orleans when you come up, you play in the church. Question: Do you plan on recording with any gospel artists anytime soon? Mayfield: Yeah. I don’t have a problem recording with Yolanda Adams, first of all. She is serious. She sings like a jazz singer. I always wanted to do a gospel record. I just haven’t had the opportunity to get my hands on how to do a successful one yet. But some point, I think I will do one.
Reporter: Thank you for your time.

Theresa Crushshon is the author of “Malcolm X,” published in 2001 by Child’s World Press, a writer for the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder and jazzreview.comand creator of three dimensional paintings, hand-made artist’s books, and mask with the Mardi Gras Indians.