Student Activities and Programs

Don Vappie
Thursday, February 2, 7:00 p.m

Banjo virtuoso Don Vappie is descended from a long line of New Orleans musicians that go back to the nineteenth century, including early jazz greats Papa John Joseph and Willie "Kaiser" Joseph. Vappie leads and tours with his Creole Jazz Serenaders, whose music incorporates the musical legacy of his own heritage of New Orleans Creole culture, a society that sprang from the mixture of French, Spanish, African and American Indian people with strong ties to the Caribbean islands.  A frequent performer with Wynton Marsalis and Jazz at Lincoln Center, member of the Four String Banjo Hall of Fame, former member of the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, and recipient of the Louisiana Creole Society Award, Vappie also plays mandolin, guitar, tuba, bass violin, string bass, and is a vocalist as well.

Vicente Archer
Thursday, October 6, 7:00 p.m.

Born in Woodstock, New York, Vicente Archer began his musical career on guitar at age sixteen. Primarily self-taught, he learned from his parents’ Wes Montgomery and George Benson records. While studying at Boston’s Northeastern University, he switched from guitar to acoustic bass. Soon after, New Orleans-based saxophone master Donald Harrison Jr. utilized his talents on Harrison’s Free to Be release on Impulse Records. Archer has since performed and toured with several modern jazz giants including Freddie Hubbard, Terence Blanchard, Stefon Harris, Kenny Garrett, Roy Haynes, the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis, Nicholas Payton and many others.

Ed Petersen
Thursday, November 10, 7:00 p.m.

When not teaching saxophone and jazz improvisation as the “Al Beletto Professor of Jazz Studies,” the multiple Grammy-nominated Petersen performs with Irvin Mayfield’s New Orleans Jazz Orchestra. In the past, he has played with legends such as J.J. Johnson, Johnny Griffin, Clifford Jordan, Lionel Hampton, Benny Goodman, Ella Fitzgerald, David Liebman, Ellis Marsalis, and several others. Petersen has also recorded with Kurt Elling, Ron Carter, Cedar Walton, Clark Terry, Art Farmer, and Ruth Brown, to name a few.

Reggie Quinerly
Thursday, November 17, 7:00 p.m.

Modern jazz drummer Reggie Quinerly was born and raised in Houston, Texas, and moved to New York City, the “jazz capital of the world,” for college. While there, he performed with Vincent Herring, Joe Lovano, Jason Moran, Jimmy Cobb and Lewis Nash, among many others. He is committed to the education of young people and has been affiliated with the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts’ “Jazz in Schools” project (NYC), “Redefinition: An Artistic Experiences” (Houston), and his own creation, the Substantive Discussion Arts Forum. 

John Doheny and the Professors of Pleasure, featuring guest vocalist Colleen Savage
Thursday, February 3, 8:00 p.m.

John Doheny serves as a professor of practice in Tulane’s Jazz Studies program and also leads its faculty quintet, better known as the Professors of Pleasure.  Before settling at Tulane, Doheny kept busy as a well-respected saxophonist in the Vancouver music scene, and also spent time touring with blues legend Albert Collins’ band.  Colleen Savage, also an established Vancouver jazz artist, is a voice teacher and coach who continues to perform on concert stages and at major jazz festivals across Canada. 

Mark Braud
Thursday, February 10, 8:00 p.m.

Born into New Orleans’ legendary Brunious musical family, Mark Braud has been described by his peers and predecessors as one of the city’s most versatile young trumpeters. He has performed with artists as varied as the famed Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Blind Boys of Alabama, Nicholas Payton, Dr. Michael White, Harry Connick, Jr., and the Nashville Symphony, not to mention leading his own groups The New Orleans Jazz Giants and the Basin Street Brass Band. Influenced by the traditional jazz style of greats like Waldren “Frog” Joseph and Percy Humphrey, Braud continues to be an active player in the jazz scene, which he has been an integral part of since beginning his professional career at age fifteen.

Andrew Baham
Thursday, March 24, 8:00 p.m.

Currently a member of the popular Big Sam’s Funky Nation, trumpeter Andrew Baham has performed with everyone from contemporary jazz stalwarts Adonis Rose and Delfeayo Marsalis to the Soul Rebels Brass Band and Ellis Marsalis. Having played trumpet since age eleven and inspired by New Orleans marching bands, Baham is a graduate of the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts (NOCCA) and was the first recipient of the Doc Cheatham Memorial Scholarship. He has released two albums with his own band, featuring “jazz with a progression into the future.”

This edition of Jazz at the Rat will also feature saxophonist Godwin Louis, formerly a member of the Grammy-nominated The Either/Orchestra and currently performing with the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Ensemble.

AFO Records 50th Anniversary Tribute
Thursday, April 7, 8:00 p.m.

Musicians Max Moran, Joe Dyson, Rex Gregory, Godwin Louis, James Westfall, Andrew Baham and Jesse McBride pay tribute to the legendary AFO Records, founded in New Orleans in the 1950s by Harold Battiste. AFO Records was the first African American musician-owned and –operated record label in the United States. 

Fall 2010 Jazz at the Rat Schedule

The Music of Thelonious Monk
Thursday, September 23, 8:00 p.m.

Explore the genius works of Thelonious Sphere Monk, the highly inventive – and ambidextrous – jazz pianist and one of the century’s greatest American jazz composers. Both brilliant and “eccentric,” Monk has become “perhaps the most talked about and least understood artist in the history of jazz.” Featured musicians: Allen Dejan Jr., tenor saxophone; TBA, alto sax; Jasen Weaver, bass; Alfred Jordan, drums; Jesse McBride, piano; and Steven Lands, trumpet.

Jesse McBride presents The Next Generation, Featuring the music of Clyde Kerr Jr.
Thursday, September 30, 8:00 p.m.

New Orleans lost another of its jazz legends when trumpeter and music educator Clyde Kerr Jr. passed away at age 67 in early August. Whether performing with Dr. John, Aretha Franklin or Kidd Jordan’s Improvisational Arts Quintet, Kerr’s do-it-all approach was part traditional, part experimental – and all fearless. The Next Generation, a band of young New Orleans jazz musicians led by Tulane Jazz Studies instructor and pianist Jesse McBride, and founded by renowned jazz artist Harold Batiste, will keep Kerr’s spirit alive with an evening of Kerr compositions. Featured musicians: Jasen Weaver, bass; Alfred Jordan, drums; John Michael Bradford, trumpet; Alexey Marti, percussion; Douane Wamples, tenor saxophone; Jesse McBride, piano.

Saxophone Colossus: Cannonball and Coltrane
Thursday, October 7, 8:00 p.m.

Some of New Orleans’ most talented young saxophone players join Tulane Jazz Studies students and faculty for “Saxophone Colossus,” an evening devoted to the legacy of two of the most influential jazz saxophone heavyweights: hard-bop pioneer “Cannonball” Adderley and free jazz progenitor John Coltrane.

Tap Jam featuring Michela Lerman
Thursday, October 28, 8:00 p.m.

New York-based rhythm tap artist and one-woman percussion section Michela Lerman performs at a very special “Tap Jam” edition of Jazz at the Rat. From her first performance, at age 5, on Sesame Street, to being named one of the “20 hottest tap dancers under 20,” Lerman’s work is “dedicated to spreading the art of tap around the world.” Most recently, she was featured in the hit show Wonderland, an all tap show set to Stevie Wonder’s music; choreographed and directed Tapsploitation, a 1970s urban American-themed work which was commissioned by the American Tap Dance Foundation; and danced with Roy Hargrove at the Jazz Gallery and Village Vanguard.