Talkin’ Jazz with Fred Kasten: In Concert with Wendell Brunious
Schedule
Thu Apr 09 2026 at 03:00 pm to 04:00 pm
UTC-05:00Location
419 Decatur Street, New Orleans, LA, United States, Louisiana 70130 | New Orleans, LA
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This program takes place at our French Quarter Visitor Center - 419 Decatur St, New Orleans, LA 70130. Admission is free and open to the public, seating is limited and offered first come, first served basis.Talkin' Jazz with Fred Kasten: In Concert is a captivating blend of interesting talk and great music featuring top jazz artists in New Orleans, hosted monthly by award-winning radio producer and interviewer Fred Kasten. This event will be a mix of interview and live performance.
Fred Kasten is an independent contributing radio producer/host at WWNO. After working at WWNO for over 20 years as an on-air talent, producer, and program director, Fred retired from full-time work in October of 2007. Fred is a native of Mobile, Alabama, a graduate of the University of Alabama, and a long-time resident of New Orleans. In addition to his work at WWNO, Fred develops independent audio projects from a home studio, producing radio features, commercials, and podcasts. Fred also does marketing and media consulting for the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra.
Wendell Brunious embodies the spirit and history of everything that is New Orleans jazz: intensely qualified musicianship, deeply woven family ties, the sense that music is a conversation, and an unquestioned passion for the craft and the art. Brunious, who has been playing jazz-based trumpet since he was a youngster, was in 2023 named the first-ever musical director for the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, arguably the most enduring and well-known symbol of a cultural force and art form.
Like so many New Orleans musicians, Brunious was born into a musical family; his father, John “Pickett” Brunious, was a Julliard-trained trumpeter who played with well-known local bands like the Onward Brass Band, Paul Barbarin, and the Young Tuxedo Brass Band, and arranged for world-famous stars like Billy Eckstine and Cab Calloway.
Wendell Brunious began playing trumpet at age 11, and he credits his musical growth to his tutelage under sax master and bandleader Harold Dejan of the Olympia Brass Band. Brunious also studied under Danny Barker at Southern University, and in the 1970s he continued to cut his chops playing with the old line brass bands and in clubs on Bourbon Street. He hustled his way into gigging at Preservation Hall in the late 70s, and was named bandleader just a few years later.
Over the years, Brunious has performed with a top-shelf artist roster, from the Dirty Dozen and Tuxedo brass bands to Harry Connick Jr., Wynton Marsalis, Lionel Hampton, Clark Terry and many others. He and guitarist Justin Adams initiated the jazz brunch at Commander’s Palace in the 1970s, and toured worldwide. He has recorded several of his own albums, guested on many more, and, most recently, received acclaim for his work on the soundtrack to the hit Netflix movie, “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” starring Viola Davis and Chadwick Boseman.
Photo of Fred Kasten courtesy of Fred Kasten.
See our full calendar of events at https://www.nps.gov/jazz/planyourvisit/calendar.htm
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Where is it happening?
419 Decatur Street, New Orleans, LA, United States, Louisiana 70130Event Location & Nearby Stays:
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