Thanksgiving is more than sitting down with family and friends, it is a time of reflection on blessings in our lives. At times, it takes a second chance at life to bring the greatest appreciation for so many things in life. Men like Irvin Mayfield know the feeling. After serving an 18-month federal prison sentence for fraud in 2022 he doubled down on his community efforts to be an example of what is possible when a second chance comes around.
When Mayfield first performed at what was then the Orleans Parish Prison in 2004, Hurricane Katrina was soon to be on its way a few months later. As the cultural ambassador of both the city and the state at the time, Mayfield responded resiliently by doing the first public concert in New Orleans, only a few months after the storm hit (this being at a time where neither Mayfield nor any of the accompanying musicians had physical homes to come “home” to.)
But Mayfield is no stranger to presenting creative solutions to life’s problems. It would be easy to refute his strategy by suggesting that musical performance is a distraction from rebuilding the city. Mayfield’s philosophy is that art is in the DNA of resilience, and that the culture of New Orleans is what propelled the city to rebuild. Mayfield often quotes Audrey Lorde, “poetry is not a luxury.” Mayfield told me in an interview, “When there’s a void and absence of art, we notice; there’s nothing more damaging to the human soul than a lack of self expression.”
Mayfield began his Thanksgiving morning at the Orleans Justice Center (OJC, formerly known as the Orleans Parish Prison) performing for those incarcerated during this holiday season. The OJC facility is noted as one of the largest mental health care providers for the city of New Orleans, an effort spearheaded by Sheriff Susan Hutson, Louisiana’s only female Sheriff.
“Thanksgiving should be about restoration, restoring the human spirit,” says Hutson. “And almost nothing in this world can do that more than art. My sincere belief is that offering our residents an experience like this [Thanksgiving performance by Mayfield] will help remind us all that we’re building a place where human lives have value.”
Mayfield was joined by his seven-piece Music Church ensemble that brings an unparalleled high-energy-jazz experience into the realm of hip-hop, pop, and rock’n’roll. Often described by audience members as “the greatest show of my life,” Music Church demands participation, and that’s what Mayfield counted on this past Thanksgiving morning. It was a great warmup for the the Sheriff Department’s 50th Annual Thanksgiving Dinner — an event that projects to serve over 2,500 individuals, many of whom are residing in assisted living facilities and homeless shelters. Mayfield has played that event for over ten years.
“This performance at OJC is going to change these men’s lives; I know he saved mine,” says a former resident of Federal Prison Camp (FPC) Pensacola who experienced Mayfield’s performance while incarcerated in 2022. “In prison, H-O-P-E is a four letter word, but not when Mayfield played. It was the only time I felt human in eight years. His music gave me strength to continue on.”
Mayfield’s mandate from Sheriff Hutson was to implement all of the disciplines of the arts for the OJC residents, and this Thanksgiving performance represented one of Sheriff Hutson’s first musical initiatives under Mayfield’s Chairmanship. This appointment represents the most recent of Mayfield’s many appointments he has held over the course of his career, such as his board seat at The National Endowment for the Art — the nation’s highest board for the arts, for which he was the only appointment in history to ever be re-nominated across party and term lines); as Jazz Conductor for the Minnesota Orchestra, and as Artistic Director for Jazz for the Apollo Theater.
Every Thursday, Mayfield also plays at Kermit’s Treme Mother-in-law Lounge owned by jazz musician Kermit Ruffin. Thanksgiving Thursday would not be his usual show however as Mayfield would be joined by one of his oldest friends, Troy “Trombone Shorty Andrews.
Mayfield grew up playing in second lines and churches; Andrews, at the age of four, commanded audiences on the street while holding a trombone bigger than he was, thus the name. Mayfield is a two-time Grammy Award and Billboard Music Award Winning artist who has transitioned from trumpet-heavy performances to turntables and distorted guitars; Andrews, an Album of the Year Grammy Award Winner who has come into his own as the lead vocalist of his band.
The two have resumes that put them at the top of their field. Mayfield has served as the cultural attaché for both Presidents Bush and Obama; Andrews has toured the world times over, with a powerful music education organization for children back home in New Orleans. He has toured with the Grateful Dead’s Bob Weir and recorded with Frank Ocean; Andrews has toured with Lenny Kravitz and recorded with Gary Clark Jr.
The two New Orleans jazz icons share more than world-renowned accolades; they are born of the same musical neighborhood that few outside of the truly authentic New Orleans “know” are privileged enough to hear. But on Thursday, Mayfield opened the doors of that musical friendship to the public with an all star line-up that also included long-term collaborators Kermit Ruffins, Rockin’ Doopsie, and Ashlin Parker’s Trumpet Mafia.
“The performance on Thursday was a cultural offering to visitors and locals alike,” says Mayfield. “Too often, our own city’s residents miss out on these moments that somehow feel ‘reserved’ for visitors. But this will feel like a true homecoming, even for those making New Orleans their temporary home.”
A homecoming is especially fitting since Mayfield’s high school classmate, Anthony Mackie, hosted the evening, one of Hollywood’s most successful actors who has won over 40 awards in his career and is now the leading star of the Marvel franchise Captain America. The three hometown stars have never shared a stage together. Mayfield and Andrews haven’t been on stage together since their whirlwind of a live performance seven years ago with Stevie Wonder at Mayfield’s former club.
This experience would be more than enough to satisfy the working day for any musician, but for Mayfield, the performance is the bookend of very long day of equally meaningful performances.
Hospitality is a hotbed topic at every power table in town, as hospitality and tourism is New Orleans’ number one industry. When Mayfield announced the Trombone Shorty show in his recent WWOZ interview, a community-owned radio station in New Orleans, he talked about how his Blue Nile residency was itself a creative response to a particularly dismal summer of slow tourism for local clubs and local talent.
“Soon after we announced Irvin Mayfield’s residency [September 2024], our teams began working closely to discover a more innovative ticketing platform that could really help artists,” says Jesse Paige, owner of Blue Nile, one of New Orleans’ premier intimate music venues located on the city’s historic Frenchmen St. “For decades, I have witnessed firsthand how much the summer season hurts musicians, so I’m grateful to be collaborating with an artist like Irvin [Mayfield] who was dedicated to finding the solution.”
One of the creative solutions presented by Mayfield’s team was Showpass, North America’s fastest-growing ticketing platform.
“We’re thrilled to be working with Mr. Mayfield,” says Lucas McCarthy, CEO of Showpass. “Irvin Mayfield is an artist who represents one of the most musically innovative cities in the world, so it was a natural fit for us to join forces with his team in helping bridge an important gap for artists.”
“I’m more grateful today than I was before,” says Mayfield. “I used to view all of these landscapes as divergent marketplaces — technology and ticketing, for example. And I used to think of social justice issues as being disconnected from beautiful music experiences. But I see much more connectivity now than I see differences, and that’s the message I convey with the mission of my music — that gratitude gives us a change in perspective, allowing for us to see more connection than differences. It is truly the battery power for our resilient tomorrow.”
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