On Sunday, June 26, 2011, Freihofer’s Saratoga Jazz Festival at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC) in Saratoga Springs, New York, will present “A Night In Treme ,” music inspired by the HBO series “Treme,” featuring Mardi Gras Indian Chief and alto saxophonist Donald Harrison Jr. with the Mardi Gras Indians and special guest vocalist Cyril Neville.
Festival producer Absolutely Live Entertainment in association with actor Wendell Pierce (who plays the smooth-talking trombonist Antoine Batiste on “Treme”) have an exclusive agreement with HBO to present “A Night In Treme” (The Musical Majesty Of New Orleans). From David Simon and Eric Overmyer (“The Wire”®), the HBO Series “Treme” follows musicians, chefs, Mardi Gras Indians and ordinary New Orleanians as they try to rebuild their lives, their homes and their unique culture in the aftermath of the 2005 hurricane and levee failure that caused the near-death of an American city.
The Treme neighborhood of New Orleans has been a source of African-American music and culture for as long as cooks in the Crescent City have been serving red beans and rice on Monday nights. Birthplace of the great New Orleans brass band tradition and one of the first black neighborhoods in America, “Treme” (pronounced truh-MAY) is the heartbeat of New Orleans and the home to Congo Square. Continue reading