NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) – As a child, Shannon Powell started playing at the St. Philip Church of God In Christ, but his first professional gig was as a 12-year-old with the great Danny Barker at the Fitzgerald Offices.
Powell recalls, “And he and I went on the gig and made the gig, and it was a beautiful thing. I learned a whole lot that night, and the people were looking at me like ‘who is this little kid?’ and he explained to them that’s my little protege’, Shannon Powell, and he’s gonna be a great drummer.”
Truer words have hardly been spoken and to this day, Shannon Powell is just that, one of our best drummers. He’s just finished a week with Kermit Ruffins at the Blue Note in New York, he’s on the road with Dr. John’s band, and played 9 years with the Harry Connick Jr. band, including a run on Broadway.
“I was able to bring my mother up to New York. it was so cold my mother didn’t want to come out. She said, ‘I can’t take this,’ and I said, ‘Come on, Ma. You didn’t come all the way to New York to stay in the hotel,’ and me and Harry took the limo and took her around the city, and it was so nice,” says Powell.
Shannon’s definitely in demand, and over the years he’s been influenced by all the drummers our city has produced from Smokey Johnson and James Black to John Boudreaux, but he remains philosophical about why our sound is so unique.
According to Powell, “You know the funny thing about New Orleans-style music, we all play New Orleans-style music, but we all play it different, just like we cook. We all eat gumbo and cook gumbo, but not all of it’s the same. Everywhere you go the gumbo is different. We the same with the drumming. Uptown they had a thing goin’ on up there, downtown we had a thing going on, know what I’m saying? It’s like a groove everywhere you go in New Orleans. If you go to Metairie, or any part of New Orleans they got a certain kinda groove there but the same music.”
“We’re the same with the drumming. Uptown they had a thing goin’ on up there, downtown we had a thing going on, know what I’m saying? It’s like a groove everywhere you go in New Orleans. If you go to Metairie, or any part of New Orleans they got a certain kinda groove there but the same music.”
Shannon Powell and his band are playing Tuesday, February 24, 2015 at Preservation Hall, showtime is 8-11p.m.They’re also playing
They’re also playing Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse Friday, February 27, 2015 fom 8-12 midnight.