Sometimes, too much is just enough. That might be a Mardi Gras motto, but it applies to so many things New Orleans.
It’s been said that Tremé the TV series is a love letter to New Orleans, and to Tremé the neighborhood in particular. True, dat (as they say in the local vernacular). I've been a fan of New Orleans music for most of my adult life, and in love with New Orleans cuisine since I first began to cook. Even though I became a jazz fan at a tender age, it wasn't until I really got into the food that I began to piece together the bits I already knew about New Orleans music and connect it all. You might say the food led me to the music – and I was smitten by both.
As it happens, the culture, the food, and the music are all of a piece in New Orleans. Each aspect of the culture fertilizes the others in a kind of big feedback loop. Once you get hooked on this, it's a lifetime addiction, like beignets or po' boys. The new HBO series Tremé, which debuted this spring, reminded me pointedly of everything that I love about New Orleans. Watching each episode made me alternately hungry, thirsty, eager to listen, concerned (again) about all that has beleaguered that town, and desperate to get a taste of it all again. Fortunately, that is most easily remedied for the musical part: the music travels well even when I can't.
Tremé the series, which is set in and is about post-Katrina New Orleans, focuses on but is not limited to the New Orleans neighborhood known as Faubourg Tremé (FAW-boorg truh-MAY) or just Tremé for short. Tremé is where many of the earliest pioneers of jazz and blues, such as Louis Armstrong, Sidney Bechet, King Oliver, and Kid Ory, lived and worked. In fact, Tremé has produced the greatest number of New Orleans jazz and blues musicians as well as a rich musical legacy in several genres: jazz, blues, R&B, gospel, and rock ‘n’ roll. Which will probably be news to those HBO viewers outside Louisiana, but that's good: I'm all for more people learning more about jazz, which is still America's first and greatest art form. Good thing New Orleans's eclectic mix of music, which frequently crosses genres, is so infectious.
Seriously. Who doesn't love a second line? Especially when it's right there, live, in your face. Gotta be dead or a zombie. Musically, there's probably nothing more emblematic of New Orleans than a second line, which is probably why producers David Simon and Eric Overmyer began and ended the first season with second lines.
Simon and Overmyer get all the fame and the blame for this, tho I can't think of anything worth blaming them for whereas there's much to credit here. You may know them from their previous efforts, The Wire and Homicide: Life On The Street (which is still one of my all-time favorite TV shows). Their work here shines.
Tremé is filmed in New Orleans and uses both fictional characters and characters based on real people to tell the story of a neighborhood and a city trying to recover from the natural and man-made disasters that ensued following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and the subsequent failure of the levees. The cast includes many local actors as well as many local musicians playing themselves. You'll get a kick out of seeing Kermit Ruffins, Troy 'Trombone Shorty' Andrews, Dr. John, and Allen Toussaint pop up here and there, playing, drinking, barbecuing, and interacting with the fictional characters, which include a few musicians. I, for one, loved all the trademark Susan Spicer dishes that crept into the kitchen at Desautel's restaurant (Kim Dickens's character Janette Desautel is based on real-life chef Spicer, the owner of and head chef at Bayona). Another local, chef John Besh, makes a few appearances, too, as does a contingent of pros from Top Chef (too cool!). But I digress.
The series and its production have been a source of intense discussion, particularly in greater New Orleans itself, as has the playlist for each episode (see links to the left). And the consensus is: David Simon and crew got it right. Phew! Glad we're past that. Now we can mind the music and the storylines. But as Tremé won't be returning to HBO with new episodes until maybe next spring, that leaves us with just the music. And that's a-plenty.
The influence of New Orleans’s music pervades nearly every scene. Each episode title is taken from a famous song associated with the city or with New Orleans jazz and blues, and every episode features a wide range of musical styles and groups that represent the city. Thus, it’s no surprise that the HBO episode guide for each show includes a listing of all the music used for that episode, noting in which scene that track was used. Tremé’s musical director is the very capable sound designer and sound director Blake Leyh (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Frida, Across The Universe, Rachel Getting Married), who is another veteran of The Wire and who freely confesses to loving this music.
The HBO music pages for Tremé provide song titles and performers for the tracks used on each episode plus a link to the ones that download on iTunes – but nothing else. The HBO lists don’t tell you which albums those tracks came from, which is inconvenient if you want to find the tracks elsewhere ... say, at your public library. So: I’ve provided album citations wherever possible.
Unless otherwise indicated, the tracks are available for purchase at both Amazon.com MP3 downloads and iTunes. Although I favor Amazon because the prices are generally either the same or lower than iTunes and there can be some real deals on compilation albums at Amazon, every so often iTunes will have a special that proves me wrong, so it’s worth checking both sources before you download. Then again, if you prefer to own the CD or vinyl, ans I often do, that's Amazon, too. But really, try the library first: many libraries have fine collections of CDs and vinyl LPs that you can check out. Also, some recordings are only available through local sources (like Louisiana Music Factory, for example), so you'll have to do some digging, but I'll point you in the right direction whenever I can. A few tracks are simply out of print; but when/if the licensees of that music catch on that more people are interested due to the success of the series, we may yet see those tracks made available again.
Some music used in the episodes duplicates real performances or recording sessions of that time period. For example, there are scenes of Elvis Costello and Dr. John recording their respective post-Katrina albums. Other performances were created specifically for certain scenes and no recordings of them (other than the episodes themselves) exist to date. For the latter, I have indicated suggested alternative tracks by the same artists (or, if necessary, other similar artists) for listeners interested in those particular songs. Such a wealth of music is being used for this series – not just traditional jazz but also ‘modern’ jazz, big band, swing, blues, funk, hip-hop, rap, gospel, Cajun, zydeco, and R&B – that there is something in this marvelous cornucopia for nearly everyone to love.
BTW, one note: it's traditional jazz, silly, not Dixieland. Dixieland is a label that record companies slapped on to market the genre, and the term refers to highly commercialized (read: inauthentic in style and performance) versions of traditional jazz. What Sidney Bechet and Louis Armstrong played back in the 1930s and Pete Fountain still plays is traditional jazz, although Louis went on to play far more than just that. Honor the music by using the correct term.
If you want to get more into the background and references for each episode, including more info on the music, Dave Walker's Tremé blog on Nola.com is probably the best source for that. Dave is the TV reporter for the New Orleans Times-Picayune. His episode posts, Treme Explained, are most helpful. I found myself getting hooked on his blog and checking it daily while the series was on, and I still read it once a week to check for new developments, like when the Tremé soundtrack CD is due to be released (no word yet, at this writing). Other jazz blogs, such as NPR's A Blog Supreme, have also been following the episode playlists, whereas Alan Sepinwall's column "What's Alan Watching" on HitFix.com is second only to Walker's for episode reviews. You'll find the links for all of the above plus more Tremé-oriented music blogs in the Blogroll sidebar at the left.
A word of warning: once you start listening to this stuff, you may find yourself getting so involved as to be distracted. For days. And you might get hungry. Why, I myself had to interrupt writing this post to make myself a breakfast of two eggs sunny-side up over reheated jambalaya with sliced andouille sausage, and a cup of steaming café au lait (and a better breakfast you will rarely have, my friend). I felt the same way about seeing the show. Which meant I had to do my Creole cooking late Sunday afternoons so as not to interrupt the Sunday night broadcast, or else drool and starve while watching it. It's gotten to the point where every time I hear the first few notes of John Boutté's theme song, my mouth waters (it's from the album titled Jambalaya, no less; see what I mean?).
There's just no avoiding it. Once you become acquainted with Tremé and its music, you run the serious risk of becoming addicted to other things New Orleans. Well, if you do, consider this blog your bit of lagniappe (that's N'Awlins Creole for something extra, like a 13th praline or beignet when you buy a dozen). Hope you enjoy it – and if you do, please become a fan on my Facebook page. Encouragement is sure to bring on more goodies.
As always, your comments are most welcome.
Next: Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans, Season 1 - Episode 1
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