NEW ORLEANS (AP) – Performances by Maroon 5, the Alabama Shakes and Usher & The Roots brought crowd-pleasing rock, blues and R&B to the second day of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, while jazz clarinetist Pete Fountain earned a special place in the event’s history.
Fountain, a festival favorite who died Aug. 6 at the age of 86, was recognized Saturday with the unveiling of a larger-than-life hand-painted portrait in the ancestor area, memorializing those who have helped shape the festival since it began in 1970.
“Welcome back, Pete,” said Quint Davis, director and producer of the festival, as the portrait was unveiled.
“There’s been Fats Domino. There has been Mahalia Jackson. There has been Louis Armstrong,” Davis said. “There have been very few great, great men who have carried the banner of New Orleans around the world through music. And one of those men is Pete Fountain.”
Kicking off with “Lily of the Valley,” members of the Half Fast Marching Club, which Fountain founded, and the Storyville Stompers Brass Band led a second-line there from the Economy Hall Tent, where Fountain last performed in 2013.