Fred Wesley, Flagboy Giz and Tra$h Magnolia Among Highlights for Second Thursday at Jazz Fest

Flagboy Giz at Jazz Fest, by Alex Rawls

Locals Thursday is one of the best days of Jazz Fest for the second weekend in a row.

[Update at 12:50 p.m.: The prospect of late afternoon storms has prompted Jazz Fest to edit the schedule to shorten the day and get everybody off the stages by 5 p.m. or so. In my picks, Alejandro Escovedo, Flagboy Giz, and Sasha Masakowski as Tra$h Magnolia have all been canceled. For an updated schedule, see the foot of this page.]

The second week of Jazz Fest starts with a second Locals Thursday and an interesting set of closers. Decades after playing with James Brown, Fred Wesley finally admitted his truth. “I’m a funky player who can play jazz,” he said, and he and His New JBs will close the WWOZ Jazz Tent (5:45 p.m.). He’ll also sit for an interview on his funky history with Melissa Weber (Allison Miner Music Heritage Stage, 3:45 p.m.).

When the New York Times released its list of the top 30 living songwriters, there was a disgruntled constituency who felt that the omission of Alejandro Escovedo (Sheraton New Orleans Fais-Do-Do Stage, 5:50 p.m.) was all kinds of wrong. The rock ’n’ roll spirit animates his songs, but the specificity in his writing and the singularity of the vision gives them life, so much so that you can hear why Bruce Springsteen’s manager managed Escovedo too for a short time.

Flagboy Giz will close the Jazz and Heritage Stage (5:50 p.m.), but he’s not co-billed with the Wild Tchoupitoulas the way he usually is. Does that tell us something? That this is a new presentation? My bet is that there’s less to the story that it seems, but whatever the case, his hip-hop flow is the freshest thing to happen to Mardi Gras Indian music in years.

Sasha Masakowski will perform as her electronic/art-pop persona Tra$h Magnolia at the Rhythmpourium (4:45 p.m.), and in 2023, we talked about Tra$h Magnolia and her relationship to improvised electronic music.

Lettuce (Festival Stage, 2:45 p.m.) have long been a fixture in New Orleans’ clubs during Jazz Fest, with members playing together or individually in ad hoc combos that live in the jazz/jam/funk vortex. That’s Lettuce, though with the emphasis on funk more than jam.

One caveat: It’s no knock on the band, but Festival Productions booked them and not a local band to play before closer Widespread Panic, who’ll close the Festival Stage with a two-and-a-half hour show. When Zigaboo Modeliste Funk Revue finishes at 2:20 p.m., New Orleans will turn the stage to touring acts.

Judith Owen for a long time lived in a musical in-between place as jazz, rock, and female singer/songwriters could all be heard in her music. The personal ways they came together made them magical for the people who were open to them, but like many artists who don’t fit neatly in genres, she found many people simply didn’t connect.

The idea of Owen as the opening act on tour for Bryan Ferry helped locate her in the British art rock tradition for me, but she’s found more success embracing her jazz side and performing with Her Callers (Economy Hall Tent, 3:10 p.m.). Her sense of humor remains irrepressible, but it’s not foregrounded either.

Trombone player Charlie Halloran plays often enough to have his mail forwarded to Frenchmen Street, and his calypso band Charlie & the Tropicales (Sandals Resorts Jamaica Cultural Exchange Pavilion, 2:15 p.m.) features familiar players as they approach a traditional body of music with a very New Orleans feel.

Halloran talked about their Christmas album, Presents for Everyone, and the life of a working New Orleans musician on our Christmas music podcast, “The Twelve Songs of Christmas.”

Finally, I’m keeping an eye on the Jamaican acts and am particularly interested in The Rising Suns (Sandals Resorts Jamaica Cultural Exchange Pavilion, 12:40 p.m.; Lagniappe Stage, 3:40 p.m.). The vocal trio strips down their sound to an acoustic guitar, an electric guitar and a handheld drum to clear the sonic space for their harmonies.

I usually do a guide to the international acts at Jazz Fest, but MACCNO’s Ethan Ellestad knows contemporary reggae better than I do, and I’d have to work hard to do half the job he did in his preview on Facebook. For a tip sheet for who ought to be on your Jazz Fest dance card this week, check his post.

Update: Here are screenshots of the updated schedule for Thursday at Jazz Fest. You can visit the festival website to see the updated schedule for yourself.