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Valentine's Day with Helen Gillet + Skerik + Jason Marsalis

  • Zony Mash Beer Project 3940 Thalia Street New Orleans, LA, 70125 United States (map)

Presale $10 // Door $15

Doors 7pm // Show 8pm

Helen Gillet is a singer-songwriter and surrealist-archeologist exploring synthesized sounds, texture, and rhythm using an acoustic cello. For someone with her varied background, New Orleans, with its mix of cultures and musics, seemed like a natural place to call home. She was born in Belgium, raised in Singapore from the ages of 2 to 11, and routinely shuttled between the homelands of her Belgian father and American mother. Over the years — working in New Orleans with musicians of all stripes, from avant-garde jazz and classical to pop and funk — Gillet has developed a singular polyglot style. The core of her work is solo performance with live looping, layering cello parts and vocal lines. Rhythmic figures emerge with bowed or plucked ostinatos or a variety of rubbing and slapping on the body of the cello, then enhanced with melodies played or sung in her haunting alto. Her mixed musical vocabulary is commensurate with her disparate travels — French chanson of the 1940s, Belgian folk tunes sung in Walloon, a mix of rock and punk from the likes of PJ Harvey and X-Ray Spex, and her own affecting originals, like audience favorite “Julien,” sung in a mix of French and English. Gillet’s solo performance is known for its enigmatic quality as she fabricates each song with innovative use of the cello and true mastery of live looping technology.

SKERIK has toured, performed and recorded with over a hundred of artists and musicians! He has also recorded on over 200 records as a saxophonist, horn section, keyboardist, etc. He and his bands have been placed in feature films, independent films, TV, theatre, and more. SKERIK has performed in major festivals all over the world mostly as a band member. He now owns a studio in Seattle and records regularly as a session musician, horn arranger and soloist and continues to tour all over the world.

From a tender young age it was clear that Jason Marsalis had what it took to be great. Jason is the son of pianist and music educator Ellis Marsalis and his wife Dolores, and the youngest sibling of Wynton, Branford and Delfeayo. Together, the four brothers and their patriarch Ellis, comprise New Orleans venerable first family of jazz. With each passing year Jason Marsalis continues to grow and develop as both a composer and performer. With a fire in his heart and a passion for the music, his will to swing has never been more resolute. The maturity and the command he possesses over his music is clearly evident to those who have heard or seen him.

Earlier Event: February 14
King Cake Hub
Later Event: February 15
King Cake Hub