Sometimes disparate flavors taste just right when thrown into a pot and let to simmer, especially in New Orleans. Naughty Professor, the celebrated Jazz ensemble whose slick riffs and sultry solos have been serenading the city since 2010, certainly understands the kismet of collaboration, of meeting, recombining, molding, and marrying disparate instrumentations into something wholly new and delicious, as it’s been that way from their very first jam session.
Merely a week after arriving in town, a group of young Loyola University freshmen found themselves transfigured from strangers into bandmates, from individuals into a musical hydra playing, Tower of Babel-like, in different languages that proclaimed the same message. That first meeting even minted their first song, “Chef’s Special,” so named for the Camellia Grill dish of chili dumped atop a hot and ready omelet; an appropriate marriage of savory and the sublime that seems incongruous but goes down better than smooth in a city where meals and music are closer than kin.
“Part of the energy that formed Naughty Professor was the importance of the city of New Orleans and prioritizing lessons from the master musicians of the city,” said drummer Sam Shahin, who joined the band in 2012. “So much of what Naughty Professor does is based around structured improvisation and encouraging the individual players to express their personal voice, so inviting new collaborators is a real thrill for us.”
For the band, whose line-up includes Ian Bowman (tenor sax), John Culbreth (trumpet), Bill Daniel (guitar), Nick Ellman (alto/bari sax) and Noah Young (bass) along with Shahin, being a New Orleans-based band, if not a “traditional” one, is an inextricable source code for their sound; a bedrock of influence and an unspoken lust for life that seeps into the pores and the gaps between the notes only to explode out as an exultation of unbridled feeling and intimate connection.
“I think playing music is the most uniquely human thing I do. We are social creatures, and I believe a profound musical interaction can change the chemistry of someone’s brain,” Ellman said. “On a good day, it feels like flying.”
And fly they have, with five albums in 15 years; each more experimental than the last, stretching every individual’s capabilities further, challenging their musicianship to find something deeper, wilder, more pure. Their latest release, “VOICES,” finds the fully instrumental unit cross-pollinating with a murderer’s row of celebrated vocalists; from the bouncy Tarriona “Tank” Ball collaboration “Scrollin’” to Marcus King and Jelly Joseph’s crooning on the sensual and saintly “Saturday Sinner.” While jamming is like breathing for the core eight, every new spice thrown into the mix- soul, R&B, and everything in between, only further enriches the truth that Naughty Professor has heralded from their early days: a joy in the recombination of artistry to create something far grander than the sum of its parts.
“With our latest album ‘VOICES’, we chose to bring in our friend and drummer of The Revivalists, Andrew Campanelli, to produce and co-write the album with us,” Ellman said. “He really helped bridge the gap between what we do as an instrumental unit and what each song wanted to turn into with a unique featured vocalist.”
While getting Naughty Professor together for a live show feels like a special occasion of late, there’s a certain cosmic spontaneity to their reunions that seems apropos, even ideal, for a group whose identity was solidified in the happenstance meeting of young musicians who didn’t realize they were finding a multi-year groove that they would ride for the next 15 years. New Orleans is always hungry for a sound that is fresh and worth sharing; and thankfully, Naughty Professor seems to know just the right ingredient to make any dish sing.
Must-see performances this month
August 1 – 2 | Satchmo SummerFest at the New Orleans Jazz Museum in the French Quarter. frenchquarterfest.org/satchmo
August 8 | An Evening with Patty Griffin,8 p.m. at Chickie Wah Wah. chickiewahwah.com/tm-event/patty-griffin
August 22 | Gimme Gimme Disco, A Disco Dance Party Inspired by ABBA, 8 p.m. at Tipitina’s. tipitinas.com
August 23 | Benson Boone “Wanted Man Tour,” 8 p.m. at the Smoothie King Center. smoothiekingcenter.com
August 25 | DEVO: Mutate Don’t Stagnate, 7 p.m. at The Fillmore – New Orleans. thefillmorenola.com
