The Caribbean Comes to the Quinnipiac (And Elsewhere) via NOLA
Charlie Halloran and The Tropicales bring the funky fun to the 8495
Charlie Halloran and The Tropicales are bringing the swing of New Orleans and its Caribbean connection to the Northeast with 10 shows in Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, and Vermont between Thursday and August 17. That’s Charlie center front (photo courtesy Charlie Halloran)
New Englanders are well acquainted with the snowbirds, those folks who, after many years of hard work and raising families here in the North, escape the cold winters in sunnier climes.
But there is a converse demographic, also. Let’s call them the “bayou birds,” those who escape the torpor-inducing heat and humidity of the Deep South in the summer by heading north.
Among those bayou birds we can count numerous New Orleans-based musicians and bands. Anyone who has ever spent a week in July or August in the Crescent City can empathize. Well-known jazz musicians and bands such as Tuba Skinny, who will play dates up here in late August and early September, and trombonist Glen David Andrews, with gigs slated for the Hudson Valley and Cheshire, CT, are among those who make the annual exodus from Jackson Square and Frenchmen Street.
As does Charlie Halloran, one of the best-known trad jazz trombonists in New Orleans, and his band, The Tropicales. They’ll be making a 10-show swing through the 8495 and elsewhere in the Northeast, and it all kicks off at New Haven’s “musician’s living room,” Cafe Nine, Thursday night. The band played the room last year and Charlie is eager to hit the Elm City again.
“Cafe Nine felt like home because it feels like The Spotted Cat,” Charlie told 8495Jazz, referring to the iconic Frenchmen Street trad jazz club. “And one of my ‘north star’ bands is the Iguanas, who have also played Cafe Nine. They told me, ‘You gotta play Cafe Nine,’ and when I called the club, they said ‘Oh, you know the Iguanas? OK, yeah. Sure. Come on up.’ That speaks to how great the Iguanas are but also to how cool Cafe Nine is.”
And, speaking of cool, a Tropicales show opens up a whole ‘nother angle of the New Orleans jazz canon to Yankee ears. Rather than songs derived from the delta blues and ragtime and nineteenth century parlor music that gave birth to what was commonly perceived as jazz, Charlie and the Tropicales show us that, in addition to being the southern terminus of our great Missisippi River, New Orleans is also the northernmost metropolis in the Caribbean. They show us that the calypso of Trinidad, the beguine of the French Caribbean, waltzes from Venezuela, and the ska of Jamaica is all part of the rich aural etouffee of America’s most beloved musical city.
The Tropicales started as a kind of one-off, Charlie said, as a recording project of some of the old tropical classics on a 78 RPM cutting machine back in 2016.
“We enjoyed playing it and picked up one gig randomly when the CD came out as kind of a lark,” he said. “And everyone in the band really enjoyed it – it was different music – we were all trad jazz players for the most part. And then we started playing on a rooftop hotel, then got a backyard wine garden kind of gig.
“There were a couple personnel changes, but it wasn’t long before we were really having fun and learning some new music, which was a nice change of pace as opposed to playing the same style of music all the time. And people started coming – we started getting cool people coming to see us and we said ‘What’s going on here?’”
What was going on turned out to be a very durable creative change of pace for Charlie, who arrived in New Orleans in the post-Katrina wave of trad jazz musicians with chops (in addition to Charlie, who was raised in St. Louis and holds a master’s degree in music from the University of Rochester’s Eastman School, musicians such as Tuba Skinny’s cornet player Shaye Cohn, a third-generation jazz musician, and pianist/trumpet player Ben Polcer, whose Dad owned a jazz club in New York City, also relocated to New Orleans and staked out claims for themselves).
And, though one might think the native New Orleans musicians might have taken umbrage at the influx of newbies, Charlie said he had no trouble fitting in fairly quickly.
“I started playing at Preservation Hall fairly quickly after moving here,” he said. “If you show up and you’re respectful and show a willingness to learn and take criticism it’s a very welcoming community.”
Over the years, too, he said that “welcoming” trad jazz community changed somewhat – some musicians moved away, some retired, some passed on – “so I kind of lost my immediate trad jazz scene and we started leaning into this style more.”
Lean in he has, with no fewer than four collections recorded: 2019’s Presents For Everyone, which put a Tropicales spin on holiday music; Shake The Rum, 2022’s “official” debut of the band; and Jump Up, a 2024 release that includes the tropical sounds as well as the New Orleans R&B and rock ‘n’ roll that inspired them (“Funny How Time Slips Away,” a Willie Nelson song, is a swamp pop killer on that LP).
But the fourth collection, another 2022 release called The Alcoa Sessions, is absolute gold for any serious student of music in historical and sociological contexts. In the aftermath of World War II, during the peak of the confidence – and hubris – of the Pax Americana, Alcoa actually ran combined cargo and passenger ships from New Orleans to Caribbean ports of call, with capacity for about 90 first class cruise customers in addition to the bauxite in the ships’ holds.
Charlie discovered the cruises accidentally, coming across print ads for the cruises while looking for some nifty mid-century advertising images to make gig announcement posters, and was immediately intrigued. The ads promoted the adventure and luxury of ocean travel, and also alluded to music. So Charlie started digging.
“I found everything you could imagine for those cruises except the music,” he said. “They released 45s – they reprinted them, they didn’t produce them. There was some Haitian drumming, some meringue records, and in their advertisements, they say ‘Sail from New Orleans to the land of the beguine!’ or to the land of calypso. They were using all that language. They talk about dancing under the stars on deck. But I never did actually find anything that confirmed live music onboard.”
So he imagined what bands on these combination cruisers/cargo ships might be playing under the Caribbean stars. The Tropicales give us the sounds of the whole of the Caribbean basin on the album, from Lionel Belasco’s waltz, “Miranda,” to swinging New Orleans R&B in Dave Bartholomew’s “Twins.”
Indeed, Charlie is the kind of musician able to give an involved listener both an historical rabbit hole and an earworm in the same beat. If you get a chance to see the Tropicales in the next couple of weeks, do so. There may be a conga line somewhere, and it would be a shame to miss that, wouldn’t it?
From the 2022 French Quarter Festival, Charlie and The Tropicales dole out some musical travel advice. Be forewarned – it’s a nuclear earworm.
Out and About with 8495Jazz
These listings are a curated sampling of shows in the region. As an independent resource for jazz news, 8495Jazz does not receive any consideration, free tickets, or affiliate fees for these listings. Please confirm events are still happening directly with the venue.
8495Jazz Wild Card Gig of the Week
General Stanton Inn, Charlestown, RI
General Stanton Inn Rhode Island Jazz Fest, Saturday, August 9, 1 pm – until whenever! Featuring Joe Parillo and the New Ensemble w/Paula Clare, Shawnn Monteiro, Dennis Hughes Quartet, and the Ricki Rizzo Trio. GA $30.80 including service fee, 4-pack $117.23 including service fee.
8495Jazz Spur of the Moment Gig TODAY
Cape Rep Theater, Brewster, MA
“Summer Starlight,” Cape Rep’s 40th anniversary gala feat. Elizabeth Bougerol and her band, also live auction including a walk-on part at Cape Rep. 6:30 pm. GA $200 including service fee.
Other Shows This Week
Jimmy’s Jazz & Blues Club, Portsmouth, NH
Terence Blanchard: FLOW (trumpet. combo), today, 7 and 9:30 pm. $25.30-$103.65 including service fee.
Bushnell Park, Hartford, CT
Paul Brown Monday Night Jazz Series feat. Live Poets, Ink., Noah Baerman Quartet w/Jimmy Greene, Monday, August 4, 6 pm. Free.
Music Mountain, Falls Village, CT
Christian Sands (piano, combo) Saturday, Aug. 9, 7 pm. GA $50-$65, student/teacher/veteran $20-$35.
The Falcon, Marlboro, NY
Glen David Andrews (trombone, combo), Saturday, August 9, 7:30 pm. $30 suggested donation.
Regattabar, Cambridge, MA
Berklee Garden Bar Series feat. Sean Temme Group (trumpet. combo), Wednesday, August 6, 6 pm. Free.
VFW Post 399, Westport, CT
Melissa Newman (vocals, combo), Thursday, August 7, 7:30 and 8:45 pm. GA $20.76 for first show, $10.76 for late show. Student/vet $15.76 for early show.
The Side Door, Old Lyme, CT
Billy Drummond and Freedom of Ideas (drums, combo), Saturday, August 9, 8 pm. GA $54.45, student $27.98 including service fee.
Jazz Forum Arts, Tarrytown, NY
Artemis (combo), Friday, August 8 and Saturday, August 9, 7 and 9:30 pm. GA $43 including service fee.
Elicit Brewing Co., Manchester, CT
Hartford Jazz Orchestra, Monday, August 4, 7:30 pm. Free.
Jams
Cafe Nine, New Haven CT
New Haven Jazz Underground jam, usually 2nd and 4th Tuesday of every month: free admission
Saturday jazz jam most Saturdays, 4 pm. Free.
Blackeyed Sally’s, Hartford, CT
Jazz Wednesdays, featured set 7 pm, jam session afterward.
Carmine’s, East Hartford, CT
Paisley’s All Star Memorial Jam, 3rd Tuesday of the month, 7:30 pm. House band set followed by jam. Free.
Mahoney’s, Poughkeepsie, NY
Poughkeepsie Jazz Project, every Tuesday, 7 pm. Free.
Jazz Societies and Organizations (great info on events, festivals, and more)
Jazz Society of Fairfield County
Jazz Fridays at Three Sheets New Haven 1st/3rd Fridays from 6-9pm
Jazz Thursdays at The Cannon New Haven every other Thurs from 7-9pm.
8495Jazz takes its name from the two Interstate highways that cross our region, I-84 and I-95. Within short driving distances from either, you can find incredible entertainment, from local jams to world-famous festivals in New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts. 8495Jazz: From Newburgh to Newport!
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