Bobby Love, lead vocalist and keyboard player for The Market
Café Jazz Band, started out in one of New Orleans’ hottest 1970s
bands: Deacon John & The
Electric Soul Train, a widely recognized major influence on The
Meters.
While serving as bandleader in the 1980s for soul singer Johnnie
Taylor (“Who’s Makin’ Love?” and “Disco Lady”), Love relocated
to L.A., where he also
became a much-sought-after studio musician.
Returning to New Orleans in the mid-1990s, he released nearly a
dozen well-received CDs on his own record label, among them a
classic pair by Willie West, a close friend and legendary New
Orleans soul man.
After Hurricane Katrina, Love sought refuge in Houston. In 2008,
he was recruited to join the Market Café Jazz Band back in New
Orleans where the band was a staple on the famed French Quarter
scene. He subsequently reworked the traditional New Orleans jazz
repertoire to modernize the band’s sound.
“Back when I used to play on Bourbon Street,” Love explains,
“they called this music Dixieland. But to me, it always was, and
still is, just New Orleans-style music.” So call it funkified
Dixieland or call it New Orleans-style music:
either way, you’re guaranteed sweet sounds that put a smile on
your face.
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