NEW SYLVAINE SANCTON WEBSITE

After a total remake by graphic artist Hamish Robertson, Sylvaine's new website is now online. The elegantly sober design features some three dozen pieces of her sculpture (bronze, wood, glass, stone and mixed) and will soon include her photography. Check it out: http://sylvainesancton.com

TOMMY SANCTON GIGLIST, APRIL - MAY 2011

Wednesday, April 13: Palm Court, 1206 Decatur Street, 8 – 11 pm. With Lars Edegran Band, featuring Jason Marsalis on drums.

Sunday, April 17: Preservation Hall, 726 St. Peter Street, 8 – 11 pm. New Orleans Legacy Band.

Sunday, April 24: Preservation Hall, 726 St. Peter Street, 8 – 11 pm. New Orleans Legacy Band.

Wednesday, April 28: Palm Court, 1206 Decatur Street, 8 – 11 pm. With Clive Wilson's New Orleans Serenaders

Thursday, April 29: New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Fesival; Economy Hall Tent. Time tba. With Clive Wilson's New Orleans Serenaders

Sunday, May 1: New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Fesival; Economy Hall Tent. Time tba. With the Tommy Sancton New Orleans Legacy Band, featuring Jason Marsalis

BLACK EAGLE REUNION BAND ON FQF

The Black Eagles are back in town! Well, some of them, anyway. The band's original front line (cornetist Tony Pringle, trombonist Jim Klippert and myself on clarinet) will be reunited with Black Eagle banjoist Peter Bullis at the Palm Court Jazz Café on Wednesday, April 7, 8 - 11 pm. We will be joined by Lars Edegran on piano, Kerry Lewis on bass and Frank Oxley on drums. (Cf. article in this week's Gambit:http://www.bestofneworleans.com/gambit/tom-sanctons-black-eagle-reunion-band/Content?oid=1658579

This will mark the first time the original Boston-based Black Eagles have played together in New Orleans since our appearance at Jazzfest in 1971, the year we recorded our first album with the legendary Chester Zardis on bass. The Jazzfest gig will live forever in our memories because Kid Ory was sitting on the front row and shook our hands after our set. (Woody Allen was also on hand, waiting in the wings with the Galvanized Washboard Band.)

After I graduated from college and left Boston in 1971, the band was reorganized as the New Black Eagle Jazz Band and went on to fame (if not fortune) with U.S. and European tours and numerous recordings. And they're still at it 40 years later! (Check their website: blackeagles.com)

In addition to the Palm Court gig (1206 Decatur Street), the Black Eagle Reunion Band will play on the French Quarter Festival on Sunday, April 10, 1:15 - 3:15, 600 block of Bourbon Street. Copies of our now historic 1971 CD will be on sale at both venues (also available through the blackeagle website).

Y'all come!

THE MAN WHO SENT US TO LIBYA

Want to know who pushed the French into a premature recognition of a rag-tag band of tribal rebels as the official government of Libya—and by ricochet, prompted the U.S. and NATO to intervene in an Arab civil war? According to the April 2 New York Times, it was the single-handed work of a French philosopher named Bernard-Henri Lévy. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/02/world/africa/02levy.html?scp=1&sq=berhard-henri&st=cse

Bernard-Henri Lévy, popularly known as BHL, is no newcomer on the French scene. He is a man who never met a microphone he didn't like or saw a stage that he did not want to occupy. He first sprang to prominence in the 1970s as one of the so-called "new philosophers." Those were the disillusioned French leftists who, somewhat belatedly, discovered that the Gulag was not a nice place. That was the brilliant perception at the heart of his 1977 bestseller, Barbary with a Human Face (the title sounds better in French).

Since then, Lévy has made a career of dispensing his political opinions via countless magazine articles, op-ed pieces, books, and characteristically French talk shows where everyone talks at once and insults one another. The main advantage to him of the TV appearances is that they allow him to show off his invariably white designer shirts, worn rakishly décolleté, and his lovingly coiffed mane of (now graying) black hair. The other advantage of his self-sustaining celebrity is that it helped him attract leggy blonde lady friends like singer-actress Arielle Dombasle, whom he married in 1993.

Over the years, Lévy has embraced causes ranging from the Afghan mujahidin (since become the Taliban), the Iraq invasion (he was for it), the defense of Israel, western intervention in Bosnia... Okay, he is usually on the right side of important issues (at least from the American point of view), but he manages to become aggravating with his incessant, predictable, and highly visible espousing of something. He flogs causes the way Häagen Dazs flogs flavor-of-the-week ice cream.

His latest cause is the largely unknown Libyan opposition—whose exact composition the C.I.A. can't even figure out—that seems to be made up largely of tribal leaders, defecting soldiers, adventure-seeking teenagers, and Islamists, along, one would hope, with some genuinely democratic professionals and intellectuals. The point is, we don't know

who they are. When Qaddafi is gone—which we all cheering for—we may be facing a Libya run by Islamic fundamentalists, or military officers, or groups so riven by factionalism that, like Iraq, they can hardly function at all.

Such uncertainties did not stop Lévy from charging single-handedly into Libya (well, not really single-handedly, since he also invited some photographers along to document his adventure), contacting

rebel leaders and offering to put them in touch with French President Nicolas Sarkozy. The next thing anyone knew, Levy and rebel leader Mahmoud Jabril were sitting in Sarkozy's office in the Elysée Palace. They convinced Sarkozy, who was caught flat-footed by the Tunisian and Egyptian uprisings, to shore up his own stature by taking the lead among Western nations in recognizing the rebels as the legitimate government of Libya. Incredibly, the French President not only agreed, but immediately promised to send an official ambassador to rebel-held Libya and bomb three Libyan airports. And Sarkozy became a leading advocate for the U.N.-mandated no-fly zone and the full-fledged Western intervention that followed. Where it will all end knows God. But for better or worse—at least "by his own reckoning," as the Times puts it—we apparently have Bernard-Henri Lévy to thank for it.

And that's scary.

NEW CD HAS ARRIVED!

With the release this month of this GHB album, a new band is born. Actually it is a band that's been playing together informally at Preservation Hall and the Palm Court Jazz Café for some time now. Now we have a name and an official lineup for this debut CD.

The name: The New Orleans Legacy Band

The lineup: Tommy Sancton (clt.), Lars Edegran (piano) — co-leaders; Jason Marsalis (dms); Kerry Lewis (bass); Clive Wilson (tpt); Ronell Johnson (tbn and vocal)

The tunes: City of a Million Dreams, High Society, There Goes My Heart, Un Hombre Fiel, Just you Just Me, I Want a Little Girl, Somebody Stole My Gal, You Tell Me Your Dream, Love Me or Leave Me, Make Me a Pallet on the Floor, Yearning, Strike Up the Band.

The session was recorded at Audiophile Studios (just above the Palm Court) on December 20 and 21, 2010, engineered, edited and beautifully mastered by Richard Bird. The sound quality is superb. The CD (BCD-527 on the GHB label) can be ordered by mail at Jazzology/GHB Records, 1206 Decatur Street, New Orleans LA 70116, or on line at jazzology.com. Or better yet, buy it from us directly on our gigs and save the tax and shipping. We're at Preservation Hall most Sundays (see schedule on this site).

BETTENCOURT SCANDAL UPDATE

After three years of litigation that dominated French headlines and shook the government of President Nicolas Sarkozy, L’Oréal heiress Liliane Bettencourt and her daughter, Françoise Bettencourt-Meyers, have agreed to bury the hatchet.

In a move apparently intended to consolidate the family’s control over L’Oréal, the world’s leading cosmetics conglomerate, the two women announced via a joint communiqué on Monday that they were dropping the suits and countersuits that had divided them since December 2007.

[Read my complete article on the Vanity Fair website: http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2010/12/after-three-years-of-litigation.html]

SYLVAINE'S OPEN HOUSE

The Open House at Sylvaine's studio in the Bywater last night was sparsely attended but a lot of fun. Visitors seemed most interested in the 8-foot pecan log (a victim of Katrina) that she is sculpting into a kind of wavy obelisk with hammer and chisel, covering the floor with wood chips that would make great kindling if we only had a fireplace. We also offered some music along with the wine and cheese crackers, as Seva Venet joined me on guitar for a little jam session in the corner.

Check Sylvaine's website: sylvainesancton.com

Remembering Walter Payton, 1942 - 2010

Walter Payton, a great jazz bassist and educator, died Thursday at the age of 68. He was a longtime regular with the Preservation Hall touring band, and a genial music professor who taught generations of students in the New Orleans public schools.

I have known Walter since he first appeared in Preservation Hall one night in 1965, a soft-spoken 23-year-old among all the "old men" who then played at that historic jazz venue. The regulars around the Hall looked on him as the "young hope"—the first young musician from the local black community to take up the flambeau of traditional jazz. Four decades later, he wound up, with his twinkling eyes and gray beard, the very emblem of the "grand old man" of New Orleans jazz. I heard Walter play many times, and was fortunate enough to play with him on several occasions. I was always struck by his mastery of the instrument and his ability to drive a band. I also enjoyed his warm personality and humor. But my friend Ben Jaffe, Walter's ex-pupil, who currently runs Preservation Hall, knew him far better than I, and recounted his thoughts about him in a recent email. With Ben's permission, I reproduce his moving tribute here:

Walt's been a part of my life as long as I can remember. I started studying music with him at Mcdonogh 15 when I was in pre-school. I wasn't supposed to be in band, but Walt knew my dad and he let me hang around. I went on to study upright bass with Walt. He lived on St. Phillip Street at the time in Big Jim Robinson's old house right off Rampart Street across from the park. I would carry my bass over to his house every Saturday morning. I didn't look forward to those lessons. He was hard on me. Extremely strict. He pushed me harder than any other teacher I've ever had. We would sit for hours playing scales up and down, a cigarette dangling from his lips. His salt and pepper beard. His rock solid build. His stare...His playfulness...

Walt was a great athlete. He studied karate for years. He became a black belt. He was proud of karate and applied many of the lessons to life and music. I remember him staying up late at night, after our shows, practicing for hours. He made a bet one night that he could kick the sign hanging outside...

The other party eventually backed down. I don't know if it was because the wage was too high or they actually thought he could do it! There was no doubt in my mind he could.....

Walt could be intimidating. One minute ice cold and soft as a kitten the next. He was solid as a brick wall which could be deceiving since he had the temperament of an artist. He was often misunderstood. He could stop you mid stride with his glare. In grammar school, I saw him peg a kid once with an eraser from 30 feet away without even looking! I would not want to ever be on Walt's bad side.

He was an exceptional musician. He took music seriously. Few people know he was the bass player on "Working In A Coal Mine"...He taught me to respect and study the fundamentals of music. He imparted the importance of practice and hard work. Walt taught school in New Orleans for decades. A mighty achievement. Hundreds, thousands, of students passed through his classrooms. Walt battled his own demons up until his transition. It was difficult to watch, knowing he didn't have the will to fight anymore. Katrina left an open scar on his soul. It was hard to stay upset at Walt for long. Walt had lots of sides, as we all do. Some good, some regrettable but mostly lovable. He had the most gentlest of hearts and at the same time could be hard as nails. He left behind a great legacy. His son Nicholas is one of the finest, talented musicians I've ever known.I don't know a world without Walt. I miss his chuckle dearly.

See also Keith Spera's obituary of Payton in the Times-Picayune: http://www.nola.com/music/index.ssf/2010/10/walter_payton_longtime_new_orl.html

FRANCE'S BETTENCOURT SCANDAL IN VANITY FAIR

Anyone who has been following this blog since last summer may have wondered why it suddenly went silent in July and August. (Probably nobody noticed or wondered anything at all, but just in case...) The reason is that my June 27 post on France's Bettencourt scandal attracted the attention of Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter, who asked me to do a full-blown piece on this juicy saga for his magazine. Though I had expected to spend the summer luxuriating in France, eating exotic food and pecking away at a new novel in my spare time, I eagerly accepted Graydon's offer. Abandoning my beloved chaise longue, I launched into ten-hour days of reading press clippings, pumping the Internet, tracking down sources and doing interviews over steaming expressos and, I confess, the occasional gourmet meal in a Parisian restaurant. The reporting and writing job devoured my whole summer, but now that it's out in Vanity Fair's November issue, as Edith Piaff sang, "Je ne regrette rien." It's an intriguing tale about an 88-year-old hieress who gave more than a billion dollars (that's nine zeros) to her fawning dandy friend, photographer/artist François-Marie Banier, and nearly brought down the French government in the process. Check it out:

http://www.vanityfair.com/society/features/2010/11/bettencourt-201011

TOMMY SANCTON QUINTET AT TRINITY 9/26

Sorry about the late notice, fans (fans? Do I have fans?), but my quintet is playing at Trinity Church this Sunday 9/26 at 5 p.m., as part of the Trinity Artists Series. The group features Seva Venet on guitar, Nobu Ozaki on bass, Lars Edegran on piano and myself on clarinet (see photo). We'll be joined by the delightfully exuberant trombonost Ronell Johnson (see my earlier post:

http://tinyurl.com/2drbweu) for a program of Gospel music and New Orleans Jazz standards. Trinity Episcopal Church, 1329 Jackson Avenue, New Orleans 70130, (504) 522-0276.