The heartbeat of New Orleans – Jazz, Blues and Gospel

8th September 2014   ·   0 Comments

By Geraldine Wyckoff
Contributing Writer

Derek Douget is payday loans opinions solid on New Orleans’ jazz scene but usually in the role of sideman. The saxophonist performs at Snug Harbor every Friday night with pianist Ellis Marsalis and moves upriver to Bourbon Street to play as part of the NOJO Jazz Jam on Wednesdays at Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse. Douget often gets the call from a variety of bandleaders – drummers Herlin Riley and Shannon Powell, pianist David Torkanowsky – whenever a saxophonist with chops and soul is required.

While Douget frequently takes center stage when blowing some fine solos with these artists, at Snug Harbor on Friday, September 12, he’ll step to the front as he leads his own quintet. The group will include drummer Adonis Rose, bassist Jason Stewart, pianist Joe Ashlar and trumpeter Ashlin Parker.

“I haven’t really wanted to lead my own group in the past but more and more I have wanted to in order to do different projects,” says Douget. “Slowly, I want to at least make it a little bit more even.”

Douget can most often be heard in straight-ahead jazz settings though for his Snug Harbor date, he promises a more eclectic and funkier approach. In part, that will be accomplished during sets of original material and “a little bit of who knows what” with the his use of several devices. He’ll employ a loop pedal and a bass guitar pedal to distort the sound of his saxophone, the latter of which has the ability to give it a wah-wah effect. (Think trombonist Mark Mullins’ use of pedals when he plays with Bonerama.)

That’s a pretty long leap for a musician who began performing classical music. It wasn’t really until Douget, a native of Gonzales, Louisiana, arrived in the city to study at the University of New Orleans, that he got seriously into jazz. The saxophonist, who graduated and received his cash phone Masters degree from UNO, soon began blowing saxophone with Ellis Marsalis. As a classical musician and early on in his jazz career, he played alto and soprano saxes. However, as a jazz artist, Douget became frustrated with the alto.

“I couldn’t play what I was hearing in my head because of the alto’s range,” he explains. “So I bought an old tenor and started to practice. I said, ‘Okay this is what I’m hearing.’”

Douget, who was still playing alto and soprano got support for his thoughts about switching to the tenor following a performance with the Ellis Marsalis Quartet at a Jazz Fest in the early 2000s. After the set, fellow saxophonist and Ellis’ son, Branford, gave him some advice saying, “Man, you’re a tenor player. Everything you play, it sounds like you listen to tenor players. I hear your vocabulary and it sounds more like tenor players and you’re trying to play it through the alto. I had the same issue because I played alto too. You should try playing tenor for a while to see if you can get to where you want to get to that way.”

Done deal… Douget focused on tenor though he held onto the soprano.

After Katrina, Douget moved to New York City, a place he always wanted to experience. It was a natural at the time as his longtime partner, trumpeter Maurice Brown had headed north. Other musical friends such as Stewart and drummer Jason Marsalis were also living there at the time.

“I never really intended to stay in New York,” says Douget who returned to New Orleans in 2009 and is presently the music education coordinator for the Don “Moose” Jamison Heritage School of Music. “I realized once I got there that I love New York and I love the musicians and everything, but it’s just not for me. I grew up in the woods. I really don’t like having somebody 10 feet away from me at every second of every day.”

We know, but then again don’t know Derek Douget, a serene man and spiritually driven saxophonist. When asked what would be the most surprising thing to learn about him, he related that following a minor accident, he lost one entire finger nail and a half of another and continued on to perform at the Brooklyn Hip Hop Festival.

Oh, really….

Gospel Music Festival at the Carver

The Gospel Music Festival, presented by the Archdiocese of New Orleans and the Office of Black Catholic Ministry, celebrates its 6th anniversary at the Carver Theater, 2010 Orleans Avenue, on Saturday, September 13. The free event, which has moved around to different venues through its history – Xavier University, Congo Square and St. Mary’s Academy – brings under one roof a collection of some of the finest gospel choirs in the area. They include the Voices of Peter Claver Choir led the well-know figure in the New Orleans gospel community, Veronica Downs-Dorsey. It’s an all-age ensemble that is well-versed in performs both traditional and contemporary gospel styles.

The highly-regarded Connie & Dwight Fitch will lead and perform in front of the united church choirs that make up the St. Raymond/St. Leo the Great Choir. Others from New Orleans rich gospel community who are slated to perform include the Our Lady of the Sea Choir, the St. Joseph the Worker Choir, Blessed Trinity, the Drexel Catholic Church Choir and more. Perform­ances begin at 6 p.m. Attendees are asked to bring canned goods or non-perishable food items to be donated to the Second Harvest Food Bank. For more information go to obcm.arch-no.org or call (504) 861-6207.

This article originally published in the September 8, 2014 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.