Click here to read Mr. Pareles review of the entire fest, also featuring Glen David

At Jazzfest, Musicians Keep Turning Up in Different Company
By JON PARELES - MAY 2, 2009

Glen David Andrews was at center stage, tall and highly reflective in shades, white pants and a T-shirt almost completely encrusted in sequins. He was singing with a huge, swooping voice and whipping up crowd participation. To his left were two tambourine-equipped backup singers, also in white. To his right was half a brass band — trombone, sousaphone, two trumpets — and a gospel band, with piano and organ, all oom-pahing a second-line beat behind the songs Andrews was belting with preacherly passion.

They were old hymns, like “I’ll Fly Away” and “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” along with the title song of Mr. Andrews’s current album, “Walking Through Heaven’s Gate” (Threadhead Records). He was performing in the Gospel Tent, testifying to the power of faith with a euphoric mesh of New Orleans traditions. “If you’re ready for a blessing, say ‘Oh yeah!’ ” he proclaimed. “If you really want a blessing, say, ‘Oh Lord!’ ”

Soon, he was off the stage and out in the crowd, bestowing blessings. Back onstage, he put on his white suit jacket for a matter of seconds before tossing it away and signaling giant handclaps, then scat-singing a phrase with the horns. (The featured trumpeter was Troy Andrews, better known as Trombone Shorty, the ubiquitous New Orleans bandleader and sideman; he is Glen David Andrews’s cousin.)

It wasn’t the typical gospel set, which for all its vocal flamboyance tends to follow a certain arc of persuasion followed by celebration, and which doesn’t usually deploy horns. This was a sequined star turn for the Lord: showy, unpredictable, head-turning and ecstatic.

— — —

About two hours later, Glen David Andrews, Trombone Shorty and the clarinetist Evan Christopher were onstage with Bonnie Raitt; Andrews was playing trombone. They were the traditional-jazz horns for a slouchy New Orleans retrofitting of Sippie Wallace’s “Women Be Wise.”

That’s New Orleans and Jazzfest; musicians keep turning up in different company, and smart visitors like Raitt make the most of the local resources.