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Indulging one niche may be the modern festival formula, but it doesn't apply to the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, which expects huge crowds this year with a bill that accommodates Simon & Garfunkel, Drake, My Morning Jacket, Ledisi, Terence Blanchard, Smokie Norful, Better Than Ezra, Grandpa Elliott and Rockin' Dopsie Jr. & the Zydeco Twisters. That's just a slice of Saturday.
Jazz Fest knows its audience: everyone. The 41st edition, Friday-Sunday and April 29-May 2, will fling its gates open to what producer/director Quint Davis calls a "wheels-to-wheels" demographic — from strollers to wheelchairs. Ticket sales are outpacing 2009, which exceeded 400,000, a jump over 2008's 375,000.
Regional acts account for 80% of the bill and continue to deliver the festival's hidden surprises, which this year include young soul strutter Mia Borders, indie rock band My Name Is John Michael and Bounce Extravaganza, specialists in rap subgenre sissy bounce.