Coinciding with the evenings & weekends of New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, the inaugural Nolafunk Jazzfest Series 2012 lineup is now complete with the addition of Daptone Records’ Budos Band who, along with Hairy Apes BMX and special guests, will be a part of the Oddity Faire After-Party at Republic. (The Oddity Faire features headliner Primus at the nearby Sugarmill.)

Other series headliners include Los Lobos, Rebirth Brass Band, Leftover Salmon, the New Orleans debut of Allen Stone, EOTO, 7 Walkers, and the co-bill with Anders Osborne’s CD Release Party w/ Karl Denson & Luther Dickinson and Tab Benoit’s “Swampland Jam” featuring Mardi Gras Indians & more.

The Nolafunk Jazzfest Series Inaugural Event will launch at Republic on Friday, April 27 with a lineup that pulls out all the stops. During the second weekend of last year's Jazz Fest, Anders Osborne and his band, the Grateful Dead's Bill Kreutzmann, Little Feat's Paul Barrere and Fred Tackett, and Billy Iuso took the stage at The Temple for the first time ever together with not even one note of rehearsal. What ensued was the stuff of legend-- three hours of Grateful Dead, Little Feat, and Anders Osborne tunes alongside a bevy of thrilling covers. Many in the sold-out crowd hailed it as the best show of Jazz Fest in 2011. Nolafunk will revive this band for one night only, inviting long-time Nolafunk friend Marco Benevento and his band to open the festivities and newer Nolafunk friends ALO to close out the evening.

Produced by Creative Entertainment Group (CEG), the Nolafunk Jazzfest Series will take place April 27 – May 5, 2012, during the evenings of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. Veterans of the frenzied, no-holds-barred music scene that descends upon New Orleans after dark, New York City-based event promoters CEG co-produced the Backbeat Jazzfest Series from 2008 - 2011, booking such luminaries as Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue, Medeski Martin & Wood, Aaron Neville, Punch Brothers, Booker T, Ghostland Observatory, The Radiators, Gene Ween, and many more.

Under the Nolafunk moniker, CEG honors the musical heroes and spirit of New Orleans in New York City all year round, producing concerts in the Big Apple featuring many of the Big Easy's finest musicians, such as Dr. John, Kermit Ruffins, Big Sam’s Funky Nation, Bonerama, Eric Lindell, George Porter Jr., Jon Cleary, Soul Rebels, and many more. In addition, CEG amasses all-star Nola-centric lineups for both the annual Nolafunk Mardi Gras Ball and the annual Nolafunk Summer Jazzfest.

All shows are at Republic, apart from two shows: Leftover Salmon, 7 Walkers, and Anders Osborne at the Howlin’ Wolf on 4/28 and Allen Stone at One Eyed Jack’s on 5/3.

All Republic shows will be non-smoking.

All shows are now on sale now at Ticketweb.com, and (866) 468-7619. Show information and tickets can be found at the series’ website, www.nolafunk.com/nola.

New Orleans Jazz Festival already expects a stampede of pilgrims for this seven-day party, which unfolds over successive weekends in April and May. The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival presented by Shell has music on numerous stages. Parades and animation for the children. Food, crafts and demonstrations.

More than 425,000 fans attended the 2016 New Orleans Jazz Festival. Over the course of seven days of programming—from Steely Dan’s opening day magic to Neil Young’s impossible-to-resist command on the final day to “Keep on Rockin’ in the Free World”. Above was followed by Trombone Shorty’s only-in-New Orleans funk fest that closed out the event on the Acura Stage—the Festival rolled on through sunshine and rain.

New Orleans Jazz Festival was the culmination of years of discussions and efforts by city leaders who wanted to create an event worthy of the city’s legacy as the birthplace of jazz. A couple of other festivals were held in the years leading up to the first New Orleans Jazz Festival, but those events, different in format, did not take hold as the Jazz & Heritage Festival would.

The Festival is a major tourist destination, with economic importance for New Orleans rivaled only by Mardi Gras which takes place in February 2017.

New Orleans Jazz Festival brings to the city $300 million annually which is welcomed with open arms after Hurricane Katrina.

Jazz Fest usually secures preferred rates for visitors at a number of New Orleans hotels.

City buses will drop you three blocks from to the gates on the Esplanade Avenue side of the Fair Grounds. Streetcars also provides decent service, dropping passengers at Beauregard Circle near City Park.

Jazz Fest 2017 lineup:

Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers – Lorde – Pitbull George Benson – Dr. John – Elle King Gente de Zona Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes Chocolate Milk – Chris Owens – Boyfriend The Mavericks – Little Freddie King Blues Band Magnificent 7 – Mia Borders Glen David Andrews and the Treme Choir Dwayne Dopsie and the Zydeco Hellraisers Big Chief Monk Boudreaux and the Golden Eagles Mardi Gras Indians Lakou Mizik of Haiti The New Orleans Hip Hop Experience ft. Sqad Up, Denisia, Roca B and T – Ray The Violinist and Dreams 2 Reality The Clark Sisters – John Boutté – Joe Louis Walker Lil’ Buck Sinegal Blues Band with special guest Barbara Lynn Flow Tribe

CC Adcock + The Lafayette Marquis Lil’ Nathan and the Zydeco Big Timers James Rivers Movement – Pine Leaf Boys Midnite Disturbers The Bucktown Allstars 25thAnniversary The New Orleans Groove Masters featuring Herlin Riley, Shannon Powell, and Jason Marsalis Ed Volker’s Quintet Narcosis Luther Kent and Trickbag Telmary y Habana Sana of Cuba Septeto Nacional Ignacio Piñeiro of Cuba Conga Los Hoyos of Cuba – Grupo Caury of Cuba Higher Heights Reggae – Tin Men The PresHall Brass – A Tribute to Jo “Cool” Davis Wessell “Warmdaddy” Anderson Quartet Big Chief Kevin Goodman and the Flaming Arrows Mardi Gras Indians New Orleans Spiritualettes New Orleans Jazz Vipers – Stoop Kids Julio y Cesar Band

Naydja CoJoe New Leviathan Oriental Fox-Trot Orchestra Mark Braud’s New Orleans Jazz Giants Young Pinstripe Brass Band Val and Love Alive Mass Choir Lyle Henderson and Emmanu-EL Walter Mouton and the Scott Playboys Keith Frank and the Soileau Zydeco Band Big Steppers Social Aid and Pleasure Club Untouchables Social Aid and Pleasure Club Furious Five Social Aid and Pleasure Club Young Men Olympia Aid Social Aid and Pleasure Club New Look Social Aid and Pleasure Club First Division Social Aid and Pleasure Club Palm Court Jazz Allstars with Sammy Rimington Audrey Ferguson and Voices of Distinction Craig Adams and Higher Dimensions of Praise Black Lodge Singers Square Dance with Lost in the Holler Curtis Pierre and the Samba Kids NOCCA Jazz Ensemble

Tornado Brass Band Monogram Hunters Mardi Gras Indians Ninth Ward Hunters Mardi Gras Indians Shining Star Hunters Mardi Gras Indians Young Seminole Hunters Mardi Gras Indians Black Feathers Mardi Gras Indians Da Knockaz Brass Band – Javier’s Dance Company Omosede Children’s Dance Theatre Versailles Lion Dance Team Di Filippo Marionettes

Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots, 1751 Gentilly Boulevard, New Orleans, LA 70119