David Bode - Live At The 2026 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival [MunckMix]

Going in for something sitting at the very fringes of our expertise today with David Bode's "Live At The 2026 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival" - an actual 22 piece bigband live album scheduled for release on the MunckMix label on September 25th, 2k26. The Illinois-based label, seemingly specializing in live recordings since 2003, caters a roughly 55 minutes spanning recording of David Bode and his musical companions' performance at the WWOZ Jazz Tent of named festival which sees the New Orleans-born and based saxophone player and composer following a rather interesting approach as an ensemble leader. With only one of his own original works in the tracklist - "Cold Train Funk" - the rest of the performance focuses on his personal history in music and presents a set of specifically arranged favorites of his, both in Jazz and Rock - and also Alternative if one doesn't want to put Radiohead in a drawer called Rock for a reason or two. The result is astounding, energetic, swinging and captivating with the preserved stage banter intentionally adding to the live recording vibe. And pieces like the positive large scale arrangement of Kenny Garett's "Happy People", the emotionally touching slow jam that is Jeff Buckley's "Lover, You Should've Come Over" as well as the beautiful Jenna Winston-led iteration of Billy Strayhorn's "Lush Life", his own joyous and celebratory "Cold Train Funk" and the high vibing interpretation of Radiohead's "Airbag" make this one a highly enjoyable album for sure - and probably even a gateway piece for the uninitiated but curious currently deterred by the formalities and knowledge requested of and from what most people consider to be classic Jazz from a purist standpoint.