The New Mastersounds, like many bands and artists throughout the scene, were supposed to be in New Orleans this past week to participate in the 2020 edition of the annual New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, which was canceled outright earlier this year due to COVID-19. Instead, the band has since cooked up some groovy lemonade out of these virus-riddled lemons by sharing a virtual Jazz Fest webcast on Saturday evening which included commentary from members Eddie Roberts and Simon Allen.
The virtual “Variety Show” featured archive video clips from previous shows, sneak peeks of new material, special guests, and footage from the feature-length Coals to Newcastle documentary about the British funk-rock band’s first-ever trip to New Orleans in 2007.
The full webcast, which ran for 90 minutes in length and broadcasted via the band’s Facebook, was just what many fans needed as the loss of this year’s Jazz Fest was felt around the music community. In addition to delivering plenty of archive concert footage and commentary from a well-dressed Roberts and Allen, the band also shared at-home performance footage of a song entitled, “Four Walls”, which was recorded at the start of the COVID-19 global breakout earlier this spring. Members Pete Shand, Joe Tatton, and Lamar Williams Jr. also made cameos from their respective home quarantines throughout the video.
Watch the entire webcast from Saturday below.
The New Mastersounds – Virtual Jazz Fest
The band released their latest full-length studio effort late last year with Shake It, which featured vocals from Lamar Williams Jr., the son of late Allman Brothers Band bassist Lamar Williams.