Tips | |
 Tipitina's Uptown | |
 | |
| Location | 501 Napoleon Ave., New Orleans, Louisiana |
|---|---|
| Owner | Galactic |
| Type | Concert Hall |
| Genre(s) | R&B, Rock, Jazz |
| Capacity | 800 |
| Construction | |
| Built | 1912 |
| Opened | January 14, 1977 |
| Website | |
| Tipitinas.com | |
Tipitina's is a music venue located at the corner of Napoleon Avenue and Tchoupitoulas Street in Uptown New Orleans, Louisiana, United States.
Local music enthusiasts opened the venue on January 14, 1977. [1] The name was inspired by a well-known song, "Tipitina", by Professor Longhair who also performed there until his death in 1980. Before adopting use of "Tipitina's" as its name, the facility was known as "The 501 Club," in reference to its street address (501 Napoleon Avenue). Tipitina's stands as one of the best-known clubs in New Orleans. The building itself was constructed in 1912, and prior to becoming Tipitina's, it served as a gambling house, gymnasium, and brothel. [2]
In the early years, it had a juice bar, restaurant, and a bar. The only remnant of the juice bar is the banana in Tipitina's logo. [1] In the early 1980s, the studios of radio station WWOZ were located in one of the apartments upstairs from the club. During that time, WWOZ would occasionally carry a Tipitina's show live by literally lowering a microphone into the club through a hole in the floor. [3] Tipitina's closed for a time during the 1984 World's Fair, when much of the local music scene was drawn to venues in and around the Fair. The building was then remodeled to remove the upstairs apartments in favor of a higher ceiling in the downstairs music venue and reopened.
In 1998, Tipitina's opened a second location on North Peters Street in the French Quarter, [4] which for a time was also a regular live music venue as well as open for private events and parties but is currently[ when? ] closed. Apart from running these venues, Tipitina's established the Tipitina's Foundation, a non-profit organization to support local music and musicians. The main focus of the Tipitina's Foundation was to provide musical instruments and uniforms to New Orleans public high school marching bands. The Foundation was especially active in supporting the musicians victimized by Hurricane Katrina. [5] The Tipitina's Foundation closed shortly after Tipitina's was sold in late 2018.
During the annual New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival period, Tipitina's hosts a concert series titled "Fess Jazztival", which is a play on "Jazz Festival" and Professor Longhair's nickname, "Fess".
In December 2018, Tipitina's was purchased by the members of the New Orleans-based jam band Galactic from Mary and Ronald von Kurnatowski, who had owned the venue since 1997. [6] Galactic formed the Tip-It Foundation, a donor advised fund supported by the Greater New Orleans Foundation, after purchasing the club. The Tip-It Foundation's mission is to support and promote the future of the Gulf South's music, culture and heritage via the Tipitina's venue and brand.
Numerous live albums have been recorded at Tipitina's, including:
Henry Roeland "Roy" Byrd, better known as Professor Longhair or "Fess" for short, was an American singer and pianist who performed New Orleans blues. He was active in two distinct periods, first in the heyday of early rhythm and blues and later in the resurgence of interest in traditional jazz after the founding of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival in 1970. His piano style has been described as "instantly recognizable, combining rumba, mambo, and calypso".
New Orleans rhythm and blues is a style of rhythm and blues that originated in New Orleans. It was a direct precursor to rock and roll and strongly influenced ska. Instrumentation typically includes drums, bass, piano, horns, electric guitar, and vocals. The style is characterized by syncopated "second line" rhythms, a strong backbeat, and soulful vocals. Artists such as Roy Brown, Dave Bartholomew, and Fats Domino are representative of the New Orleans R&B sound.
The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival is an annual celebration of local music and culture held at the Fair Grounds Race Course in New Orleans, Louisiana. Jazz Fest attracts thousands of visitors to New Orleans each year. The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and Foundation Inc., as it is officially named, was established in 1970 as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization (NPO). The Foundation is the original organizer of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival presented by Shell Oil Company, a corporate financial sponsor. The Foundation was established primarily to redistribute the funds generated by Jazz Fest into the local community. As an NPO, their mission further states that the Foundation "promotes, preserves, perpetuates and encourages the music, culture and heritage of communities in Louisiana through festivals, programs and other cultural, educational, civic and economic activities". The founders of the organization included pianist and promoter George Wein, producer Quint Davis and the late Allison Miner.
Galactic is an American jam band from New Orleans, Louisiana.
Kermit Ruffins is an American jazz trumpeter, singer, composer, and actor from New Orleans. He has been influenced by Louis Armstrong and Louis Jordan and says that the highest note he can hit on trumpet is a high C. He often accompanies his songs with his own vocals. Most of his bands perform New Orleans jazz standards though he also composes many of his own pieces. Jon Pareles of The New York Times wrote, "Mr. Ruffins is an unabashed entertainer who plays trumpet with a bright, silvery tone, sings with off-the-cuff charm and never gets too abstruse in his material."
WWOZ is a non-profit community-supported radio station in New Orleans. It is owned by the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation. The station specializes in music from or relating to the cultural heritage of New Orleans and the surrounding region of Louisiana. The playlist includes Jazz, Blues and other world music.
Thaddeus Bunol "Tad" Jones was an American music historian and researcher. His extensive research is credited with definitively establishing and documenting Louis Armstrong's correct birth date, August 4, 1901.
The Dirty Dozen Brass Band is a brass band based in New Orleans, Louisiana. The ensemble was established in 1977, by Benny Jones and members of the Tornado Brass Band. The Dirty Dozen revolutionized the New Orleans brass band style by incorporating funk and bebop into the traditional New Orleans jazz style, and since has been a major influence on local music.
Stanton Moore is an American funk, jazz, and rock drummer from New Orleans. Most widely known as a founding member of Galactic, Moore has also pursued a solo recording career and recorded with bands as diverse as jazz-funk keyboardist Robert Walter and heavy metal act Corrosion of Conformity.
The Radiators, also known as The New Orleans Radiators, are an American swamp rock band from New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. The band's musical style, which draws from blues, rock, rhythm and blues, funk and soul music, has attracted a dedicated fanbase who the band calls "fish heads". Described by OffBeat magazine as "New Orleans' longest-running and most successful rock band", The Radiators had only limited commercial success, with only a handful of chart appearances, but, as a party band from a party town, their enthusiastic live performances, danceable beats and relentless touring earned the band a dedicated following and the admiration of many of their peers.
New Orleans blues is a subgenre of blues that developed in and around the city of New Orleans, influenced by jazz and Caribbean music. It is dominated by piano and saxophone, but also produced guitar bluesmen.
"Tipitina" is a song written and made famous by Professor Longhair. The song has been widely covered, and the Professor Longhair version was recorded in 1953 for Atlantic Records. "Tipitina" was first released in 1953. A previously unreleased alternate take was released on the album New Orleans Piano in 1972. Although the nature of his contributions are unknown, recording engineer Cosimo Matassa is listed as the song's co-writer along with Roy Byrd, Professor Longhair's legal name.
Tipitina's Foundation is a not-for-profit charity organization that grew out of the New Orleans music venue, Tipitina's. Based in New Orleans, Louisiana, the foundation's mission is to protect and preserve the musical culture of New Orleans and Louisiana. Following Hurricane Katrina, Tipitina's Foundation was particularly active. Part of the foundation's stated purpose is to empower the youth of the city to learn music. In order to encourage this, the foundation donates quality instruments to schools in the city and surrounding areas. The foundation also runs workshops teaching music performance at the club of the same name, Tipitina's, and operates a statewide network of technology access centers to assist Louisiana's adult musicians and digital media professionals.
Isidore "Tuts" Washington was an American blues pianist from New Orleans, Louisiana, United States.
June Yamagishi is a Japanese guitarist based in New Orleans, Louisiana. He is the guitarist for bands Papa Grows Funk and the Wild Magnolias.
Jon Cleary is a British-born American funk and R&B musician based in New Orleans, Louisiana, where he has studied the "musical culture and life of New Orleans" according to his website. Cleary is an accomplished pianist as well as being a multi-instrumentalist, vocalist and songwriter.
Joe Krown is an American keyboardist, based in New Orleans, Louisiana. He is currently touring all over the U.S. and the world as the organ/piano player for the multi award winning, chart topping Kenny Wayne Shepherd band. He is a New Orleans styled piano and Hammond B3 player. He is a Hammond endorsed artist and is part of the Hammond artist family. Joe's played at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival as a feature artist every year since 2001 and the French Quarter Festival every year since 1998. He has been nominated twice and won a 2000 New Orleans Big Easy Award in the Blues category. His trio with Johnny Sansone & John Fohl has also won a 2004 New Orleans Big Easy Award in the Blues category. His Hammond organ trio featuring Louisiana guitarist Walter “Wolfman” Washington won a 2009 New Orleans Big Easy Award in the Blues Category and a 2009 OffBeat Award for Best R&B/Funk Album. In April 2014, he was honored with a Piano Legacy Award, presented by the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra and for being a "Master of Piano".
Elizabeth Allison Miner was a music promoter and manager who was instrumental in the early production of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and the later career of pianist Professor Longhair.
Ben Ellman is an American saxophonist, harmonica player, and producer most widely known as a member the New Orleans-based funk band Galactic, with whom he has made eight studio albums. He joined the group in 1994, when they were known as Galactic Prophylactic. Ben also works as a DJ under the name Gypsyphonic Disko, where he mixes New Orleans style funk with klezmer, Eastern European and other exotic music.
