Creativity, gratitude, and fellowship were in abundance in New Orleans, LA this Thanksgiving. With a commitment to social and criminal justice reform, one of our world’s most creative individuals reached across one of the world’s most creative cultures to bridge two wildly disparate landscapes — a prison and a music club.
On one of the most highly-visited music thoroughfares in New Orleans, in one of the only remaining listening rooms in town, you’ll find a reunion of two men — musicians, friends, born-raised-and-residing New Orleanians:
Irvin Mayfield | Trumpet, Guitar, Banjo, and Piano Player; age 46.
Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews | Trombone, Trumpet and Tuba Player; age 38.
Mayfield grew up playing in second lines and churches; Andrews, at the age of four, commanded audiences on the street (while holding a trombone bigger than he was, hence the name).
Mayfield is a two-time Grammy Award and Billboard Music Award Winning artist who has transitioned from trumpet-heavy performances to turntables and distorted guitars; Andrews, an Album of the Year Grammy Award Winner who has come into his own as the lead vocalist of his band.
Mayfield has served as the cultural attaché for both Presidents Bush and Obama and also toured with the Grateful Dead’s Bob Weir and recorded with Frank Ocean. Andrews has toured the world with a powerful music education organization for children back home in New Orleans. Andrews has toured with Lenny Kravitz and recorded with Gary Clark Jr.
The two New Orleans jazz icons are born of the same musical neighborhood that few outside of the authentic New Orleans “know” are clued in on. But on Thanksgiving night, Mayfield opened the doors of that musical friendship to the public with an all-star line-up that also included long-term collaborators Kermit Ruffins, Rockin' Doopsie, and Ashlin Parker’s Trumpet Mafia.
“The performance on Thursday was a cultural offering to visitors and locals alike,” says Mayfield. “Too often, our own city’s residents miss out on these moments that somehow feel ‘reserved’ for visitors. But this will feel like a true homecoming, even for those making New Orleans their temporary home.”
This experience would be more than enough to satisfy the working day for any musician, but for Mayfield, this performance was the bookend of a very long day with several meaningful performances.
Mayfield began his Thanksgiving morning at the Orleans Justice Center (OJC, formerly known as the Orleans Parish Prison). He spoke and performed for residents of OJC, incarcerated individuals who he will soon be engaging on a regular basis as the prison’s newly appointed Chair for the Arts Council. The OJC facility is argued to be the largest mental health care provider for the city of New Orleans, an effort spearheaded by Sheriff Susan Hutson, Louisiana’s only female Sheriff.
“Thanksgiving should be about restoration, restoring the human spirit,” says Hutson. “And almost nothing in this world can do that more than art. My sincere belief is that offering our residents an experience like this [Thanksgiving performance] will help remind us all that we’re building a place where human lives have value.”
Often described by audience members as “the greatest show of my life,” Mayfield’s productions demand participation, and that’s what Mayfield is counting on this morning at both the OJC and at the Sheriff Department’s 50th Annual Thanksgiving Dinner – an event that Mayfield has performed for over a decade, serving over 2,500 individuals, many of whom are residing in assisted living facilities and homeless shelters.)
“This performance [at OJC] is going to change these men’s lives; I know he [Mayfield] saved mine,” says a former resident of Federal Prison Camp (FPC) Pensacola who experienced Mayfield’s performance while incarcerated in 2022. “In prison, H-O-P-E is a four letter word, but not when Mayfield played. It was the only time I felt human in eight years. His music gave me strength to continue on."
Mayfield’s mandate from Sheriff Hutson is to implement each of the art disciplines for the OJC residents. HisThanksgiving performance represented one of Sheriff Hutson’s first musical initiatives through Mayfield’s Chairmanship. This appointment represents only the most recent of Mayfield’s many appointments he has held over the course of his career, such as his board seat at The National Endowment for the Art, as Jazz Conductor for the Minnesota Orchestra, and as Artistic Director for Jazz for the Apollo Theater.
The challenge of a multi-disciplinary arts program is one that Mayfield looks forward to taking on, for the greatest impact on Mayfield’s creative philosophy came from his mentorship and first major commission by Gordon Parks – a true renaissance artist who embodied all art forms.
“I look to design a program for the OJC Arts Council that is exemplified by the life and works of Gordon Parks, who constantly reinvented himself, as a writer, photographer, filmmaker,” says Mayfield. “When all art is made available for everyone, we’re all more fully human for it.”
Mayfield’s philosophy also holds that art is in the DNA of resilience, and that the culture of New Orleans, itself, is what propelled the city to rebuild after Hurricane Katrina. Mayfield often quotes Audrey Lorde, stating that “poetry is not a luxury” – that the absence of art is glaring, even though its presence is often overlooked.
There’s nothing more damaging to the human soul than a lack of self expression, and nothing stifles the expression of a city like New Orleans more than a painfully slow tourism summer, where music clubs struggle to keep their doors open and musicians struggle to keep their jobs. Mayfield’s weekly residency at one of New Orleans' premier intimate music venues located on the city's historic Frenchmen St was a direct creative response to a particularly dismal summer for local clubs and local talent.
"Soon after we announced Irvin Mayfield's residency [September 2024], our teams began working closely to discover a more innovative ticketing platform that could really help artists,” says Paige, owner of the renowned Blue Nile. “For decades, I have witnessed firsthand how much the summer season hurts musicians, so I’m grateful to be collaborating with an artist like Irvin [Mayfield] who was dedicated to finding the solution.”
One of the creative solutions presented by Mayfield’s team was Showpass, North America’s fastest-growing ticketing platform.
"We're thrilled to be working with Mr. Mayfield," says Lucas McCarthy, CEO of Showpass. "Irvin Mayfield is an artist who represents one of the most musically innovative cities in the world, so it was a natural fit for us to join forces with his team in helping bridge an important gap for artists."
And there seems to be a lot more of those creative solutions coming for the future. Mayfield’s residency includes an upcoming performance with Five-Time Grammy Award Winner PJ Morton on December 19, and other All Star lineups slated for the new year, such as American Idol’s Haley Reinhart and celebrity DJ, Diplo.
“I am eager to do what I can to support those who are on the frontlines of innovation and creativity.” says Walt Leger, CEO of New Orleans & Company, the official organization for New Orleans’ tourism industry. “Creativity is what drives our visitors to New Orleans, and we are proven innovators, whether its in our culinary arts, in the architectural relics that have withstood the test of time and natural disasters, or in our musical ingenuity from artists like Irvin Mayfield.”
Mayfield is currently working on his third book, whose subject matter explores resilience through creativity and the arts, and his collaboration with social justice organization, For Freedoms, was recently published in their latest book “Where Do We Go From Here”.
“I’m more grateful today than I was before,” says Mayfield. “I used to view all of these landscapes as divergent marketplaces — technology and ticketing, for example. And I used to think of social justice issues as being disconnected from beautiful music experiences. But I see much more connectivity now than I see differences, and that’s the message I convey with the mission of my music — that gratitude gives us a change in perspective, allowing for us to see more connection than differences. It is truly the battery power for our resilient tomorrow.”
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