Photo Credit: Dino Perrucci

The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival closed its 2024 season on Sunday, May 5, but not before one final day of programming, which continued to hone in on players and acts that exemplify the spirit and musical prestige of The Big Easy. Day eight contributors George Porter Jr. & Runnin’ Pardners, Dragon Smoke, Erica Falls and Vintage Souls, Irma Thomas, The Radiators, Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue, and others carried an aforementioned hometown pride to the festival location, Fair Grounds Race Course, feeding into the heart of the celebration with lively performances. 

Outside of local favorites, the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival’s last day of music also percolated acts beyond the hometown ether, producing memorable live moments, like Bonnie Raitt’s take on classics “Something to Talk About” and John Prine’s original turned revered Streetlights cover of “Angel From Montgomery.” Sparking collaboration, Raitt welcomed Jon Cleary and a take on his own “Unnecessary Mercenary. 

Celebrating the music of Jimmy Buffett, the late artist’s touring troupe, the Coral Reefer Band worked through fan favorites while also migrating guests on and off the stage. Thomas contributed to “I Will Play for Gumbo.” “Volcano” and “Come Monday” separated the arrival of their next guest, Sonny Landreth, who contributed to his own “U.S.S. Zydecoldsmobile.” Preservation Hall Jazz Band turned up for “University of Bourbon Street” before Will Kimbrough filled the role on follow-up, his self-scribed “Piece of Work.” The final visitor, Trombone Shorty, added his signature sound over Living and Dying in ¾ Time cut, “Pencil Thin Mustache.”

Notably, during Thomas’ solo frame, “The Soul Queen of New Orleans” paid tribute to the select songbook this year’s headliners, The Rolling Stones, on “Under My Thumb,” a group she contributed to in her early days with the heightened success of one of the British rockers earliest hits/ covers, “Time is On My Side.” As previously reported, during The Stone’s festival frame, they performed the aforementioned song with Thomas, which represented a bust out, last played on March 20, 1998. 

As is tradition, the pride of the city, Trombone Shorty, carried the festival tradition by closing out the annual event with a heightened frame featuring his Orleans Avenue ensemble, welcoming Cyril Neville on The Meters’ “Fire on The Bayou.” Representing the final song, Shorty and company conquered an epic “Hurricane Season.”

Scroll down to view photos shared by photographer Dino Perrucci.