Events

Join us for a free show featuring Nola native Aurélien Barnes!

Trumpeter, vocalist, and bandleader Aurélien Barnes represents a new generation of New Orleans musicians carrying the city's brass and jazz traditions forward while expanding their reach. The son of Bruce "Sunpie" Barnes, he grew up immersed in blues, zydeco, and Afro-Caribbean music — an upbringing that shaped both his versatility and his instinct for cross-cultural musical conversation.

Mentored from an early age by some of the city's most respected voices — including Leroy Jones, Gregg Stafford, and the Tremé Brass Band — Barnes has performed as a featured artist with the Preservation Hall All Stars, and has gone on to work with Grammy-nominated ensembles Cha Wa and the Rumble, as well as the Palmetto Bug Stompers and Kings of Brass. His collaborations span a wide range of artists and genres, including Nicholas Payton, Solange, Dr. John, and Carlos Vives.

A Tulane graduate fluent in French, Spanish, and Portuguese, Barnes brings an international perspective to a distinctly New Orleans sound — rooted in tradition, open to the world.

Join us for a free show featuring Charlie & The Tropicales!

Charlie & the Tropicales bring the sound and spirit of a 1950s Caribbean hotel band to life with torrid horns, tropical rhythms, and infectious grooves. Drawing on New Orleans' deep connections as the northernmost port of the Caribbean, the group explores musical traditions from Trinidad, Venezuela, Martinique, Guadeloupe, and beyond.

As jazz pioneer Jelly Roll Morton famously said, New Orleans music carries a “Spanish tinge,” an essential seasoning in the city’s musical DNA. The Tropicales embrace this spirit, blending  traditional New Orleans jazz with 1950s R&B, beguine from the French Antilles, and Trinidadian calypso, the Tropicales create a sound that feels both timeless and transportive — equally suited for listening and for the dance floor.

Led by trombonist Charlie Halloran — a fixture of the city's traditional jazz scene — the band reflects a broader exploration of Caribbean and New Orleans musical exchange. Halloran has been twice named a "Rising Star" in DownBeat Magazine and is a multi-time honoree in OffBeat Magazine's "Best of the Beat" awards, with credits including Jon Cleary, Allen Toussaint, Rickie Lee Jones, and U2.