Heads up folks with free time and/or night schedules. One of the most exciting new bands to emerge on the scene is playing a 2 PM set in the aurally pristine performance space on the third floor of the Old U.S. Mint in the French Quarter.
Live Animals is the latest project from drummer Kevin O’Day. The band also features Smoky Brown on guitar, Josh Paxton on piano and Dr. Jimbo Walsh on bass.
The group plays eclectic original songs inspired by a wide range of performers from classic New Orleans funk to the avant-garde jazz of Sun Ra. The connection between the four musicians is their membership in Michael Ray’s Cosmic Krewe, the beautifully deranged band led by the former Sun Ra trumpeter and current member of Kool and the Gang.
O’Day also had a loose collective, the original Live Animals in the 1990s, which featured up to fifteen musicians. Their live performances were fully improvised in the spirit of Sun Ra.
This new band has the same energy, but is more streamlined and features actual compositions from the pen of each of the members. O’Day told OffBeat magazine, “…we’re collaborating together. Everyone is bringing their original music, but we’ve also created half of it right there in the room together. We’re stretching out. The music has structure, but with spots to open it up. We can open it up all the way and then bring it back.”
