John Boutte

Genre: Jazz Hometown: New Orleans LA
www.johnboutte.com

Saturday, March 18   12:00 a.m.
Elephant Room   (315 Congress Ave)

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  John Boutte - Why
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On Sundays as the red beans were soaking for Monday's dinner, John Boutte was awakened by the sounds of his New Orleans neighborhood. Voices carried over the fence from the church behind his home in the Seventh Ward, the home where his mother Gloria still lives, where most of his Creole family still lives and sings. Past the front yard, second-line parades rolled by, matching the madness of Carnival season and the transcendent joy of the jazz funeral. This roux of influences created John Boutte, and serves him to this day.

So think of Nat Cole, and then of Jackie Wilson, and then of Marvin Gaye, and then of Sam Cooke and Joe Williams. Not of them actually, but of the moods that surrounded them, and especially of their audiences. Think of the way they treated an audience, of the way they read the room. Think of how the audience felt about themselves on the way home. Then treat yourself to the music of John Boutte. www.johnboutte.com