Jon Cleary’s love and affinity for New Orleans music goes back to the rural British village of Cranbrook, Kent, where he was raised in a musical family.  Cleary’s maternal grandparents performed in London in the 1940s, under the respective stage names Sweet Dolly Daydream and Frank Neville, The Little Fellow With The Educated Feet  – she as a singer, and he as a crooner and tap dancer.   As a teen Cleary grew increasingly interested in funk-infused music and discovered that three such songs that he particularly admired – LaBelle’s “Lady Marmalade,” Robert Palmer’s version of “Sneakin’ Sally Through the Alley,” and Frankie Miller’s rendition of “Brickyard Blues”  – were attributed to Allen Toussaint as either the songwriter, the producer, or both. Cleary’s knowledge of Toussaint’s work expanded significantly when his uncle returned home to the U.K., after a two-year sojourn in New Orleans, with a copy of a Toussaint LP and two suitcases full of New Orleans R&B 45s. In 1981 Cleary flew to New Orleans for an initial pilgrimage and took a cab straight from the airport to the Maple Leaf Bar, a storied venue which then featured such great blues-rooted eclectic pianists as Roosevelt Sykes and James Booker.  Cleary first worked at the Maple Leaf as a painter, but soon graduated to playing piano there – even though his first instrument was the guitar, which he still plays and has recently reintroduced into his live performances.  As word of Cleary’s burgeoning talent began to spread around town, he was hired by such New Orleans R&B legends as Snooks Eaglin, Earl “Trick Bag” King, Johnny Adams, and Jessie “Ooh Poo Pah Doo” Hill, while also gaining the respect of the great Crescent City pianists Dr. John and the late Allen Toussaint. Years later, in 2012, Cleary recorded a critically acclaimed album of all-Toussaint songs entitled Occapella. Today, Cleary’s work pays obvious homage to the classic Crescent City keyboard repertoire created by such icons as Jelly Roll Morton, Fats Domino, Professor Longhair, Art Neville, Dr. John, and James Booker – while also using it as a launching pad for a style that incorporates such other diverse influences as ’70s soul and R&B, gospel music, funk, Afro-Caribbean and Afro-Cuban rhythms, and much more. Deciding to stay in New Orleans, Cleary recorded his first album of nine, to date, in 1989.  His ever-elevating profile led to global touring work in the bands of Taj Mahal, John Scofield, Dr. John, and Bonnie Raitt.  Cleary has led his own group, the Absolute Monster Gentlemen, for over two decades now, but he still collaborates frequently with these old friends.  At the 2018 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, for instance, Cleary performed alongside Raitt in a heartfelt tribute to Fats Domino.

Stanton Moore is a GRAMMY award-winning drummer, educator and performer born and raised in New Orleans. He is especially connected to his hometown city, its culture and collaborative spirit. In the early ‘90s, Moore helped found the New Orleans-based essential funk band Galactic who continue to amass a worldwide audience via recording and touring globally. The band has averaged 100 shows a year for the last 25 years. In 2018, Moore and his bandmates in Galactic pooled their resources to purchase the internationally renowned music venue Tipitina’s. Moore launched his solo career in 1998. He has 8 records under his own name with the most current being "With You In Mind: The Songs of Allen Toussaint". Throughout his 25 year career, Moore has played and or recorded with a diverse group of artists including Maceo Parker, Joss Stone, Irma Thomas, Leo Nocentelli and George Porter (of the Meters),Tom Morello (of Rage Against the Machine), Corrosion of Conformity, Donald Harrison Jr., Nicholas Payton, Trombone Shorty, Skerik, Charlie Hunter, Robert Walter, Will Bernard, Ivan Neville, Anders Osborne and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. He has also appeared numerous times on the Jimmy Kimmel, Conan O'brien and Seth Meyers late night TV night shows. With a bachelor’s degree in music and business from Loyola University, Moore stays involved in education by constantly presenting clinics and teaching master classes and private lessons all over the world. He has released two books and three video projects. His book Groove Alchemy was picked by Modern Drummer as one of the top 25 instructional drum books of all time. To continue with his passion for teaching and to become more closely connected with his students, he recently launched his own online drum academy, StantonMooreDrumAcademy.com.

Tony Hall is an American bassist, guitarist and vocalist from New Orleans. He is a founding member of Dumpstaphunk. His work includes affiliation with New Orleans artists Harry Connick Jr., Dr. John, the Neville Brothers, Aaron Neville, Jean Knight, June Yamagishi, Shannon McNally and the Meters.

Soul singer and songwriter Erica Falls credits her unique vintage sound to her childhood growing up in New Orleans’ 9th Ward, where her parents introduced her to Roberta Flack, Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, Sarah Vaughn, and Whitney Houston.  Whether on stage or in the studio, she channels a sassy, soulful tone that recalls an earlier era. But Erica cautions her fans: “Vintage soul is not about bringing the listener back to a time of authentic music, it’s about reminding them that it never went anywhere,” she says.    Erica’s latest project re-released album 2018, HomeGrown, that she co-produced showcased her vocals, arranging, songwriting talent, and introduced her to a wider audience in the world of neo-soul.  Throughout her career, Erica has recorded and performed with icons including Grammy®-winner Allen Toussaint, Sting, No Doubt, Joe Sample, Dr. John, Jennifer Hudson, and John Fogerty, among others. In 2013, she was hand-picked by Lee Daniels to star in the lead singing role of the award-winning film Lee Daniels The Butler. ​Her show-stopping performances did not go unnoticed; Offbeat Magazine nominated Erica twice for Best Female Vocalist in which she won in 2017 and 2019.  She was also nominated for Best R&B Artist and Best R&B Album.  Erica has toured nationally with renowned New Orleans funk band Galactic as their lead vocalist for the last 5 years, but she made the decision to leave that position and nurture her solo career. Currently, Erica is working on new highly anticipated music and she's excited to get it out to the world. Stay tuned because the best is yet to come from this Nola Hummingbird!

River Eckert (b. Oct. 9, 2009) is a 14 year old piano player born and raised in New Orleans, LA. From a very young age, River has been surrounded by music. Immersed in the styles of Professor Longhair, James Booker, Dr. John, Allen Toussaint, Fats Domino, Art Neville among others, River is passionate and dedicated to “carrying the torch” of the New Orleans Piano tradition. Coming from a musical family, River started playing piano at the age of 3 years old. He began studying classical music and his teachers urged him to start playing blues and jazz based on his natural ability to quickly grasp those styles. Now at the young age of 14, he sings and plays both in a solo piano and full band setting. He is quickly gaining local and national popularity. River recently began recording his first studio album, he is joined by George Porter Jr.,Terence Higgins and John Fohl in the rhythm section and it is expected to be released in early 2025. Recently, he was also a featured artist on three upcoming “Playing for Change” video recordings.  River has been fortunate enough to have performed with George Porter Jr., Stanton Moore, Luther Dickinson, Terence Higgins, Roger Lewis, Fred Wesley, Kirk Joseph, Donald Harrison Jr., David Torkanowsky, Brad Walker, and many others. He has had the honor of performing at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, Tipitina’s, Maple Leaf Bar, Chickie Wah Wah, French Quarter Festival, NOLA Funk Fest, Oak St. PoBoy Festival, WWL Morning Show, WWOZ Radio, and Fox 8 News…

Ari Teitel is a multiple GRAMMY-nominated musician, producer, singer and songwriter based in New Orleans. The former member of Mardi Gras Indian Funk band Cha Wa earned two nominations for Best Regional Roots Music Album during his tenure with the group, for which he served as musical director, songwriter, producer, and guitarist. Celebrated for his fluency in funk, jazz, blues, soul, r&b, gospel, rock, and more, Teitel has performed at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, the Montreal International Jazz Festival, JazzAscona in Switzerland, Ottawa Jazz Festival and Cupa Dupa in New Zealand. He has worked with Iggy Pop, PJ Morton, George Porter Jr.,Ivan Neville, Nigel Hall, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Mononeon, and many more. In early 2022, Teitel and six other members of Cha Wa left the band and formed The Rumble featuring Chief Joseph Boudreaux Jr., a Mardi Gras Indian funk group who performed at the New Orleans Jazz Fest that Spring. The group is working on a debut album. In late 2022, Teitel will release his first solo project in five years, I Got My Thing, featuring Nigel Hall, Jamison Ross, Erica Falls, and Paul Randolph.

New Orleans native Raymond Weber is an independent drummer and founding member of Ivan Neville’s Dumstaphunk, Harry Connick Jr., and Charmaine Neville. He first began drumming at age ten and has traveled nationallly and internationally for decades drumming for some of the biggest names in the industry. Raymond has played and toured with the late Joe Sample, Ray Parker Jr., N’Dea Davenport and the late Dr. John.

He goes by many names. a-waz. waz. my dawg. ya boy. the forever hang. Egyptian born, American raised, all soul, and all hang. alex was born in alexandria, egypt and raised in savannah, georgia. performing music is alex's way of taking you out of what may have been a depressing day and into what might be the wildest night of your life. alex regularly performs and tours the world with Dumpstaphunk. he also leads a few different ensembles of his own, the very good™ brass; a 15 piece fully improvised brass band with rotating drummers, and Dusk Dept., his own band. alex also throws the funkiest party in Los Angeles and New Orleans every monday at his series called Very Good™ Mondays. besides performing live music and studio recording, a-waz is also a skilled composer and arranger and is also known for his professional grade written music and charts. for more information, click the contact tab above to reach out to him for his services. alex has a thing for throwing parties too. google 'alex wasily’s funk party 15.' go ahead, he'll wait for you here to check it out. alex is currently based in Los Angeles and splits his time between Chicago and New Orleans…but really he likes to consider his home(s) as either LAX/Burbank Airport, the delta sky lounge in concourse A at hartsfield-jackson airport in Atlanta or a bar called lincoln station (#foreverhang) in chicago. a-waz (alex) is a slave to the hang and the hang is real - catch him sometime soon, he’s active on social media. (@alexwasily) he studied at DePaul University and has his bachelor’s degree in jazz studies where he studied with Tim Coffman, Charlie Vernon, Mark Fisher, Kelly Sill, Bob Lark, Tom Matta, Bob Palmieri, Ron Perillo, Mark Colby, Kirk Garrison, Cliff Colnot, Michael Lewanski, and Erica Neidlinger. alex is an endorsed King Trombones Artist (Conn-Selmer), AMT (Applied Microphone Technology) artist, an AR Resonance Mouthpiece artist, an AVID Sibelius™ Arranger, and currently rocks a vintage King2B Liberty trombone.

It’s been said that the musicians of New Orleans are all members of one gigantic band that breaks up into smaller groups on a nightly basis. If this were really the case, The New Orleans Suspects would be in a class all their own. The group is comprised of musicians with experience and versatility that rival any other band that the city has ever produced. “Mean” Willie Green has been the drummer for the Neville Brothers band since the 1980s. His unique attack has defined funk drumming for a quarter of a century. Yet, he is not a one-dimensional player. His taste in music spans the gamut of modern rock styles and he is as comfortable driving the beat as he is holding down the groove. Reggie Scanlan’s career has been defined by his thirty-three years playing bass in the Radiators, the longest running rock act in the history of New Orleans. But his resume is far deeper. As a young musician he played with blues musicians on the west coast chitlin circuit before returning to his hometown to back up legends like James Booker and Professor Longhair. Jake Eckert is the sterling-toned lead guitarist in the Dirty Dozen Brass Band. Before joining the quintessential New Orleans funk/brass band, he honed his chops as part of the thriving southern rock scene in Atlanta, cutting his teeth with the likes of Derek Trucks and Col. Bruce Hampton. While living in Los Angeles, he played in the band New Soul Underground along with jazz great Larry Carlton. He has had a chance to perform with Warren Haynes, Dr. John, Allen Toussaint, & Dave Matthews to name a few. CR Gruver is a classically trained pianist who was bitten by the bug known as New Orleans music after stints touring with nationally known bands such as Outformation and the Atlanta-based singer/songwriter Angie Aparo. Since moving to New Orleans he has immersed himself into the scene and has become a well-regarded sideman adept at James Booker-style piano machinations and the swelling B-3 stylings of Art Neville. Besides playing with many of the city’s local luminaries he also leads his own local band, Funkifry’d. Jeff Watkins is the latest addition to the New Orleans Suspects, lending his mastery of jazz, funk, and soul saxophone tempered through a career featuring spending 12 years as the leader of James Brown’s band, playing as a core member of funk-rockers Groove Thangs, and a more recent tenure as producer, engineer, and performer with Joss Stone. Jeff has shared honors such as induction into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame and festival appearances from Montreaux to Woodstock to Bonaroo. He’s played all over the world, from South America to Europe to Asia and has been seen on Good Morning America, David Letterman, and other nationally televised TV shows.  Together these five musicians create music that is firmly rooted in the modern New Orleans sound with compelling originals and tasteful covers. The rhythm section of Scanlan and Green are as comfortable together as red beans and rice. Gruver tickles the ivories or soars into the stratosphere on the organ. Watkins provides stellar saxophone fills and solos with great aplomb. Eckert’s rhythm guitar work neatly complements his razor sharp solos. Though the band can clearly jam, with Eckert and Gruver trading off on lead vocals they are no simple jam band.

The Grammy award winning Lost Bayou Ramblers’ evolution as a perversely progressive band rooted in Cajun traditions continues to excite, challenge, and redefine both genre expectations as well as cultural preconceptions. Founded in 1999 by brothers Andre and Louis Michot, the last 5 years have brought LBR a feature on Jack White’s American Epic, score contributions to the Oscar nominated film Beasts of the Southern Wild, a Grammy award for their latest album "Kalenda" and tours with both Arcade Fire and the Violent Femmes. Lost Bayou Ramblers stands at the crosscurrents of Louisiana culture by inhabiting the gray area between Cajun and Creole, convention and innovation, mystery and a revelation, experimenting and growing the show to what it's become today: an eclectic mix of modern sounds and rhythms with ancient Cajun melodies and lyrics.  World Café says “The Grammy-winning group plays a revved-up version of Cajun music, shot through with punk energy and psychedelic fuzz.”