NICKEL-A-DANCE: Wendell Brunious & The New Orleans Jazz All-Stars

Famous for "knowing more than 2,000 songs," trumpeter and vocalist Wendell Brunious boasts a towering musical family tree primarily flowered with trumpets. He is the son of trumpet master John “Picket” (or “Picky”) Brunious Sr. and Nazimova “Chinee” Santiago, the niece of guitarist/banjoist Willie Santiago. The talented and dedicated Wendell credits some of his early development to having worked with the Olympia Brass Band under the direction of his cousin, bandleader and saxophonist Harold Dejan. Extremely knowledgeable in the music’s tradition and history, Brunious enjoys sprinkling his conversation with advisory quotes from his father and other artists who have crossed his musical path through his decades-long career. This evening, he presents The New Orleans Jazz All-Stars, who have toured the world several times over as a pillar of the artform. 

NICKEL-A-DANCE is a free series of Sunday afternoon traditional jazz concerts started in 1994 that now take place each spring and fall season, and is a hit with children, families, seniors, and the general dancing public that don’t tend to go to night clubs.  It attracts a diverse group of fans that meet on Frenchmen Street to celebrate jazz as America’s original dance music while listening to the best of today’s classic jazz bands.