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Attention Louisiana Artists!

If you’re a musician or band in Louisiana, you need to be on the Jazz & Heritage Talent Exchange.  The Talent Exchange is an interactive and easy to use website with a simple purpose: put more money in your pockets. 

We want you to get more gigs.  We want your music to be used in film and television.  And we’re doing something about it.  About two years ago, we created the Jazz & Heritage Talent Exchange as a free service for Louisiana musicians as a part of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation’s community outreach mission.  Today, we’ve got an ever-growing database with hundreds of Louisiana artists already taking advantage of the service. 

Here’s how it works:  sign up for an account at www.talent.jazzandheritage.org.  Then provide us with some basic contact information, add your upcoming performance dates, and upload at least one song for stream only listening.  We take care of the rest.  How?  By using the international brand recognition of the Foundation, we can attract professional talent buyers and music supervisors from around the globe and expose them to your music.  If they hear something they like, they can contact you directly from the site.  They don’t have to spend hours trying to find out who books your shows and when you’re available, or who licenses your music.  The Jazz & Heritage Talent Exchange streamlines the whole process. 

Again, it’s a free service to Louisiana musicians and it only takes a few minutes to sign up.  There’s no reason not to create your account today!  If you have any trouble with the sign up process, or you just have questions in general, don’t hesitate to contact us: talent@jazzandheritage.org

Follow us on Twitter:  @nojhf_talentex

Find us on Facebook:  http://tinyurl.com/talentexchange

New Record of the Week: Shane Theriot's "Dirty Power"

What do you get when you take a good-ol’ Cajun boy steeped in blues-rock riffage and send him out on the road with the Neville Brothers for a years-long tutelage in soul-funk?

As you’d hope, you get a set of incredibly accomplished, tuneful variations on inside-out swamp grease – such as what you find on guitarist Shane Theriot’s new disc “Dirty Power.”

The title may be a political dig at the forces that have destroyed Louisiana’s flood-protecting barrier swamps, but to us this record is dirty indeed – in all the best senses of the word.

This could have been a bloodless shredder (think Robben Ford). But Shane’s innate sense of gut-bucket rhythm and witty restraint (think Lowell George) make this a most worthy successor to all that Louisiana means in the world of funk.

Like the best of the early Meters, Shane serves up a set of 10 all-instrumental tracks that keep you interested with their Sophisticated Cissy grooves. That there’s no vocals just so happens to make these tracks all the more attractive for potential film usage.

Sidemen include Richie Hayward of Little Feat, Zigaboo Modeliste of the Meters, New Orleans maestros Johnny Vidacovich and David Torkanowsky and L.A. session masters Jim Keltner and James “Hutch” Hutchinson (Nevilles, Longhair, Bonnie Raitt, etc.). Masters-of-the-groove coincidence? We think not.

Chalk it up to Shane’s funkified Rolodex and insider’s respect.

Our favorite here is “Mr. Ed,” which slows down the tempo and dials up the heat. With a cowboy melody that conjures Sergio Leone on crunk, a cameo from Sonny Landreth kicks it into high-plains swamp heaven. Not that we’re saying this compares to Eric Clapton and Duane Allman egging each other into ever-higher flights on the “Layla” sessions or anything, but…