Name: Smoker’s World
Start: 2026-07-25T21:00:00+00:00
End: 2026-07-26T00:00:00+00:00
Location: Good Measure

July 2026
Vibe with Ayanna & Zahria

July 2 @ 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm

Good Measure 600 Carondelet St, New Orleans, LA, United States

Vibe with Ayanna & Zahria brings together sound curator and DJ Ayanna Cooper Vasquez and saxophonist and bandleader Zahria Sims for a live collaboration that sits at the intersection of house music and jazz. Ayanna's sets draw from house, disco, Afro-Latin rhythms, and globally inspired sounds, built around deep grooves and soulful, unhurried programming. Zahria Sims is a Baton Rouge native now rooted in New Orleans, founder of the Zahria Sims Collective, and a Loyola University jazz graduate whose credits include opening slots for Kenny Garrett and Arturo Sandoval, a recording with Nicholas Payton, and a 2025 debut EP. Together they layer live saxophone melodies and looped textures over Ayanna's DJ sets, a format the two have developed through regular performances at 3oneone6, a creative collective and art space on St. Claude Avenue.

Entry is free, join us in Good Measure.
Alfred Banks with special guest Kaye the Beast

July 3 @ 9:00 pm - July 4 @ 12:00 am

Good Measure 600 Carondelet St, New Orleans, LA, United States

Alfred Banks is a New Orleans rapper and singer whose music has earned him recognition as one of the city's most distinctive voices in hip-hop. Named one of Complex's top upcoming New Orleans MCs and winner of OffBeat Magazine's Best Hip-Hop Artist, Banks draws from the city's deep musical roots while pushing past the expectations of what a New Orleans rap record sounds like. He has toured with Tank and the Bangas, performed at Voodoo Fest, Buku, and SXSW, and has placements on Netflix and Disney+ soundtracks. His collaboration with the Soul Rebels, "Greatness," served as the televised NCAA tournament anthem.

Joining Banks is Kaye the Beast, Khiry Armstead, a New Orleans rapper, producer, and educator whose six albums have established him as one of the city's most prolific independent voices. His work blends deliberate lyricism with an electronic hip-hop palette that sits outside the mainstream without losing its footing.

Entry is free, join us in Good Measure.
Juice

July 4 @ 9:00 pm - July 5 @ 12:00 am

Good Measure 600 Carondelet St, New Orleans, LA, United States

Julian "Juice" Gosin is a 7th Ward-born artist, producer, trumpeter, MC, and educator best known as a longtime member of the globally renowned Soul Rebels. Through that platform he has performed and recorded alongside Metallica, Nas, Lenny Kravitz, Wu-Tang Clan, Katy Perry, Maroon 5, and Maceo Parker, and has appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, and GZA's NPR Tiny Desk performance. His debut solo album, Be Intentional, self-produced and self-written with features from Trombone Shorty, Nicholas Payton, and Nigel Hall, spans hip-hop, pop, R&B, and dance music. Off the stage, Gosin taught music for five years at Warren Easton Charter School and serves as Musical Director for Trombone Shorty Foundation's Trombone Shorty Academy.

Entry is free, join us in Good Measure.
Justin Donovan and Shawan Rice

July 9 @ 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm

Good Measure 600 Carondelet St, New Orleans, LA, United States

Justin Donovan is a New Orleans hybrid guitarist and vocalist in the tradition of his mentor, guitarist Charlie Hunter, playing guitar and bass parts simultaneously while handling lead vocals, a technique that makes a two-person conversation sound like a full band. His sound draws from blues, soul, and jazz rooted in the great American music cities: New Orleans, Memphis, Muscle Shoals, Detroit, and Chicago.

Joining Donovan is Shawan Rice, a guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter whose rootsy neo-soul has taken her from busking the streets of New Orleans to the Congo Square stage at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival and the Jazz Ascona Festival in Switzerland. Her 2023 album Fever Dreams showcases the funky guitar work and soulful vocals that have made her one of the city's most compelling live performers. The two bring complementary strengths to a shared stage, guitar-driven, vocally rich, and rooted in the American tradition.

Entry is free, join us in Good Measure.
CLOUDSAVE Presents Mario Kart Live

July 10 @ 9:00 pm - July 11 @ 12:00 am

Good Measure 600 Carondelet St, New Orleans, LA, United States

CLOUDSAVE is a New Orleans ensemble fusing jazz, funk, and soul with the iconic melodies of video game music, and Mario Kart Live is their signature event. The show pairs CLOUDSAVE's live brass and groove arrangements of beloved video game soundtracks with a fully playable Mario Kart race happening in real time, making the audience part of the experience. It's the kind of only-in-New-Orleans collision of musical credibility and pure fun that has turned CLOUDSAVE into one of the city's most talked-about live acts.

Entry is free, join us in Good Measure.
Pocket Chocolate

July 11 @ 9:00 pm - July 12 @ 12:00 am

Good Measure 600 Carondelet St, New Orleans, LA, United States

Pocket Chocolate is a seven-piece funk, blues, and soul collective of born-and-raised New Orleans musicians who have spent the years since their 2019 formation playing their way across the Gulf Coast and back. Their debut EP Live From New Orleans was recorded at multiple venues across the city, and their debut LP, produced with Jake Eckert of the New Orleans Suspects, arrived in October 2025. The band builds on original songwriting and a deep familiarity with the styles of music that founded New Orleans' musical culture, updated for a contemporary audience without losing the feel of the original.

Entry is free, join us in Good Measure.
Arséne DeLay

July 16 @ 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm

Good Measure 600 Carondelet St, New Orleans, LA, United States

Arséne DeLay is a New Orleans vocalist, guitarist, songwriter, and bandleader from the Boutté family, one of the city's most storied musical dynasties, whose roots include aunt and uncle musicians Lillian and John Boutté. Her repertoire draws from the New Orleans canon, gospel, jazz, and rock and roll, performed with the confidence of someone who grew up surrounded by the real thing. She has performed at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and the Ascona Jazz and Heritage Festival in Switzerland, and her debut album Comin' Home drew praise for its powerful vocals, sharp songwriting, and authentic New Orleans spirit.
Charlie & the Tropicales

July 17 @ 9:00 pm - July 18 @ 12:00 am

Good Measure 600 Carondelet St, New Orleans, LA, United States

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.
Steve Lands

July 18 @ 9:00 pm - July 19 @ 12:00 am

Good Measure 600 Carondelet St, New Orleans, LA, United States

Steve Lands is a New Orleans trumpeter, composer, and bandleader whose nearly twenty-year career has taken him from the stages of the Preservation Hall Jazz Band to tours with Maroon 5 and PJ Morton. His 2025 album Rearranging the Planets — an Afrofuturist reimagining of Gustav Holst’s seven-movement orchestral suite, performed by a thirteen-piece all-star New Orleans ensemble — premiered at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival and has been described by audiences as an otherworldly experience. At Good Measure, Lands brings that same ambition to an intimate room.

Entry is free, join us at Good Measure!
Yusa

July 23 @ 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm

Good Measure 600 Carondelet St, New Orleans, LA, United States

Yusa is a Havana-born guitarist, vocalist, tres player, and composer who relocated to New Orleans in 2020 and has since become one of the city's most distinctive musical voices. She was a founding bandleader of Cuban ensembles Interactivo and Quasi Jazz, and is regarded internationally as an ambassador of 21st-century Cuban music, a description earned through nominations at the BBC Radio 3 World Music Awards and collaborations with artists including Omara Portuondo and Deacon John. Her sound blends trova, son, jazz, pop, and Brazilian rhythms into something that resists easy categorization. She holds a residency at Snug Harbor Jazz Bistro and has performed on the Acura Stage at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival.

Entry is free, join us in Good Measure.
Very Cherry

July 24 @ 9:00 pm - July 25 @ 12:00 am

Good Measure 600 Carondelet St, New Orleans, LA, United States

Very Cherry is a New Orleans duo described as a "genre-melting rave jazz symphony," saxophonist, guitarist, and multi-instrumentalist David Polk alongside drummer Simon Lott, two musicians who have been collaborating for over twenty years. Their sets layer live saxophone, classical piano, and electric guitar over fully original EDM compositions, drawing from jazz, classical, hip-hop, Latin music, and whatever else serves the moment. The result is a live experience built on the tension between composition and improvisation, and one that consistently ends with people dancing.

Entry is free, join us in Good Measure.
Smoker’s World

July 25 @ 9:00 pm - July 26 @ 12:00 am

Good Measure 600 Carondelet St, New Orleans, LA, United States

Smoker's World is the most personal and experimental project of Derrick "Smoker" Freeman, the New Orleans drummer, songwriter, and DJ who also leads the Soul Brass Band. Where that group operates within the brass band tradition, Smoker's World is Freeman's creative laboratory: hip-hop grooves, funk, pop, and the deep New Orleans jazz foundation, filtered through social commentary, cheeky lyricism, and the energy of a full horn line that can shift gears without warning. Freeman describes it as the anchor of all his musical pursuits, built around a rotating cast of the city's most versatile jazz musicians. Their 2022 album WhiteSplain, which transforms pandemic-era political chaos into danceable tracks, earned wide attention for its balance of consciousness and fun.

Entry is free, join us in Good Measure.

July 2026

Vibe with Ayanna & Zahria

Alfred Banks with special guest Kaye the Beast

Juice

Justin Donovan and Shawan Rice

CLOUDSAVE Presents Mario Kart Live

Pocket Chocolate

Arséne DeLay

Charlie & the Tropicales

Steve Lands

Yusa

Very Cherry

Smoker’s World

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