After funking up a packed late-night at New Orleans’ Toulouse Theatre Saturday night along with Wil Blades, Skerik, and Nels Cline at the Funk Sessions, Jazz Fest veteran Stanton Moore returned to the home base of Live For Live Music‘s Fest by Nite series for the annual meeting of Frequinauts.

Featuring saxophonist and NOLA jazz ambassador Big Chief Donald Harrison Jr., Galactic bassist Rob Mercurio, globetrotting Roger Waters/Mike Gordon organist Robert Walter, and frequent Moore collaborator Will Bernard on guitar in addition to Stanton on drums, Frequinauts hosted their yearly Jazz Fest gig at d.b.a. for many years (and under various permutations of the band’s moniker) before moving the party to Toulouse Theatre in 2023.

The band’s triumphant return to Toulouse drew a sizable crowd of jazz and funk aficionados eager to keep grooving after the first Saturday of Jazz Fest. Not surprisingly, the all-star funk collaboration also attracted a number of musicians in town for the festivities, including Wil Blades and Cochemea, who both sat in with the band.

Big Chief Donald Harrison Jr. led the ensemble with dignified poise, playing the main melodies on his alto sax and soloing over the fat grooves laid down by the rhythm section. He often left the stage for part of a song to let Bernard, Moore, Mercurio, and Walter jam and would return at the end of the song to remind everyone what this week’s all about—jazz.

Will Bernard worked up the audience during several standout guitar solos, stepping out to the edge of the stage to engage the crowd. He also played off Walter and Moore, who each had their time to solo in the spotlight. Mercurio, meanwhile, held it down on bass along with his percussive Galactic counterpart on drums.

After running through a set of funk-jazz instrumentals and closing with the Meters classic “Hey Pocky Way”, Stanton Moore thanked the crowd, venue, and promoters for making the night special even for a Jazz Fest Saturday. “We wanna do this here every year, and judging by this, they’ll let us,” he told the appreciative audience before launching into the encore—Funk, Inc.’s “Sister Janie”.

Click below to check out photos from Frequinauts at Toulouse Theatre courtesy of photographer Nick Langlois and full-show video thanks to FunkItBlog.

Frequinauts — Toulouse Theatre — New Orleans, LA — 4/29/24 — Full Video

Frequinauts will perform again at The Broadside on May 5th, the closing day of Jazz Fest 2024, along with Stanton Moore’s SM3 trio featuring Will Bernard and Robert Walter.

Live For Live Music and GMP Live’s 2024 Fest by Nite series continues with a packed schedule of late-night jams and special performances during Jazz Fest. Programming includes: