NEW ORLEANS, LA (October 10, 2026) - The Black Men of Labor (BMOL) are preparing a landmark weekend that celebrates the absolute bedrock of our city’s living traditions.

On Friday, October 23, 2026, BMOL will host its premier Noir Experience Jazz Legacy Gala at the Hilton New Orleans Riverside (8:00 PM). Under this year’s banner, "A Love Letter to Tremé,"the evening will honor seven monumental culture bearers who have dedicated their lives to preserving indigenous jazz, street parading, and neighborhood history.

The 2026 honorees represent an extraordinary lineup of local legends:

• NEA Jazz Master Big Chief Donald Harrison Jr.
• Renowned traditional jazz clarinetist & scholar Dr. Michael White
• Legendary trumpet master Leroy Jones
• Trumpet virtuoso William "Will" Smith
• Arts advocate Jacqueline "Jackie" Harris
• Vocalist and cultural standard-bearer Leah Chase Kamata
• Community preservationist Captain Eugenia Adams

Following the elegant Friday night gala, the celebration takes to the streets on Sunday, October 25, 2026, for the iconic, high-energy BMOL Annual Parade through the heart of the community.

NEA Jazz Master Big Chief Donald Harrison Jr.

Dr. Michael White

Leroy Jones

William "Will" Smith

Jacqueline "Jackie" Harris

Leah Chase Kamata

Eugenia Adams

The Black Men of Labor (BMOL) invites your corporation to align its brand with a 32-year legacy of grassroots power, economic revitalization, and authentic cultural preservation. 

Far more than a charitable contribution, a corporate partnership with BMOL during 

our Annual Jazz Legacy Gala positions your company directly alongside the foundational leaders driving New Orleans' social justice, workforce development, and cultural economy. 

OUR LEGACY: 32 YEARS OF SERVICE & COMMUNITY INFRASTRUCTURE

For over three decades, BMOL has served as the guardian of New Orleans Black culture, transforming cultural preservation into real-world civic and economic equity. When you partner with BMOL, you partner with an institution that builds communities: 

• The $175 Million lberville/Treme Redevelopment: BMOL proved its systemic impact by serving as the official Civic Engagement Partner for the $30 Million Choice Neighborhood Initiative Grant, unlocking an additional $145 Million investment to completely redevelop and revitalize the historic Iberville and Treme neighborhoods.
• Workforce Development Training: We don't just celebrate culture; we sustain livelihoods. BMOL actively funds and executes workforce programs that train local residents, keeping the working-class community securely anchored in the local economy.
• Annual Health Expo: Recognizing that our culture bearers lack institutional safety nets, BMOL hosts vital health expos providing free screenings, medical resources, and wellness education directly to musicians and neighborhood families.
• Social Justice & Cultural Guardianship: From fighting for the rights of street musicians to protecting historic West African traditions, BMOL stands on the frontlines of grassroots social justice and ancestral continuation.

THE TARGET: THE 2026 JAZZ LEGACY GALA 

The annual gala is our premier Q4 fundraising mechanism. This elegant evening features world-class traditional jazz, fine dining, and historic honors. Every dollar raised directly funds our year-round cultural preservation, mutual aid networks, and community programs. 

2026 Legacy Honorees: 

• Mrs. Jackie Harris - Executive Director, Louis Armstrong Jazz Camp
• Mr. William "Bill" Smith - Jazz Trumpet Player, Preservation Hall
• Mr. Leroy Jones - Jazz Trumpet Player
• Mrs. Leah Chase Kamata - Jazz Singer
• Mr. Donald Harrison, Jr. - Jazz Saxophonist & Big Chief of the Congo Square Nation
• Dr. Michael White - Jazz Clarinetist & Author
• Mrs. Eugenia "Gennie" Adams - Jazz Aficionado Volunteer

CORPORATE MARKETING & BRANDING BENEFITS 

The BMOL delivers high yield, omnichannel marketing returns that commercial tourism platforms cannot replicate: 

• Massive Regional Exposure: Direct marketing visibility to over 90,000 annual Noir Experience Festival participants, civic leaders, business executives, and global cultural tourists.
• Authentic Brand Alignment: True corporate social responsibility (CSR) that connects your brand directly to grassroots civil rights, equity, and historic preservation.
• Tax Optimization: Maximize your Q4 corporation giving goals through a verified, highly respected 501 (c)(3) cultural institution.

2026 SPONSORSHIP TIERS

CONGO SQUARE PRESENTING SPONSOR I $15,000

• Strictly limited to one marquee corporate partner.
• Premium Branding: "Presented by [Your Company Name]" integrated into all digital, print, press releases, and media interviews.
• Executive On-Stage Presence: Dedicated time for your company representative to
• deliver remarks during the opening ceremony and receive an official civic
• presentation plaque.
• VIP Access: Two premier VIP tables (20 tickets), champagne service, and exclusive backstage artist meet-and-greets.

TREME HERITAGE PARTNER I $7,500

• High-Impact Branding: Prominent logo placement on the BMOL website, official gala step-and-repeat banner, and main-stage digital screens.
• Podium Recognition: Verbal acknowledgement and corporate profiling by the master of ceremonies during the awards presentation.
• VIP Access: One VIP table (10 tickets) with complimentary wine service.

NEW ORLEANS TRADITIONAL JAZZ SUPPORTER I $3,500

• Community Branding: Shared logo placement on the physical event program and the digital sponsorship reel looped throughout the night.
• VIP Access: 4 VIP tickets to the Gala evening.
• Impact Alignment: Direct recognition across BMOL social channels as an official patron of local culture bearers.

• Table Purchase: 10 Seats $1,000.00
• Full Color Page Ad: $500.00
• ½ Page Color Ad: $250.00
• ¼ Page Color Ad: $125.00
• Business Card: $ 75.00
• In-Kind Donations
• DEADLINE TO BE INCLUDED IN PROGRAM IS OCTOBER 16, 2026

Contact Person:

Todd Higgins

CFO

Black Men of Labor, Inc.

650 Poydras St., Ste., 1010

New Orleans, LA 70130

Home - The Black Men of Labor

504-233-4351

by Vincent Sylvain, The New Orleans Agenda

NEW ORLEANS, LA (October 8, 2026) - Dawn Richard has never been interested in retracing old steps. For more than a decade, she has carved out a singular lane in contemporary music — one that refuses the boundaries of genre, geography, or expectation. With her latest project, Creole Culture, Richard returns home once again, but not to the New Orleans that outsiders imagine. She is building a new one, brick by brick, beat by beat, myth by myth. And she is inviting the world to witness a city reborn through her eyes.

In Richard’s universe, New Orleans is not a museum piece. It is not a sepia-toned postcard or a nostalgic echo of second lines past. It is a living, breathing organism — a place where ancestral memory and futuristic imagination collide. Creole Culture is her most ambitious attempt yet to articulate that vision, a sonic declaration that the culture of her hometown is expansive enough to hold both tradition and transformation.

A Daughter of the City, Rewriting Its Story

Richard’s relationship to New Orleans has always been intimate, layered, and fiercely protective. She is the child of musicians, educators, and culture bearers; the product of a lineage that understands the city not as a brand but as a birthright. Her father, Frank Richard of Chocolate Milk, is one of the album’s featured voices — a reminder that her artistry is not an isolated phenomenon but part of a generational continuum.

With Creole Culture, Richard leans into that inheritance while refusing to be constrained by it. She approaches New Orleans not as a fixed identity but as a fluid one, shaped by migration, memory, and the multiplicity of Black and Indigenous experience. The album’s title is not a nod to folklore; it is a statement of sovereignty. Richard is asserting her place within a lineage that predates the city itself — a Creole identity that is global, diasporic, and defiantly modern.

The Sound: A Kingdom Built on Bass, Brass, and Imagination

Musically, Creole Culture is a kaleidoscope. Richard blends R&B, soul, jazz, bounce, electronic futurism, and pop into a tapestry that feels both familiar and alien. Horns swell like cathedral ceilings. Percussion snaps with the urgency of a street parade. Synths shimmer like neon reflections on the Mississippi River at night.

This is not fusion for fusion’s sake. It is architecture. Richard is constructing a sonic kingdom — one where the rhythms of Congo Square coexist with the digital pulse of tomorrow. She has long been associated with Afrofuturism, but Creole Culture pushes beyond that label. It is not simply futuristic; it is Creole Futurism, rooted in the specific cultural DNA of New Orleans and the Gulf South.

“enough”: A Vulnerable Centerpiece

The album’s latest single, “enough,” is a study in emotional clarity. Built on a horn-driven sample of Sister Nancy’s “Bam Bam,” the track is both a love song and a reckoning. Richard sings about the quiet labor of self-worth — the lifelong process of unlearning scarcity and embracing sufficiency.

Her voice, textured and unguarded, carries the weight of someone who has fought to be seen on her own terms. In a career marked by reinvention, “enough” feels like a moment of stillness — a reminder that futurism is not only about technology and aesthetics, but about healing, reclamation, and the courage to believe one’s own value.

A Community of Collaborators

Richard’s vision is expansive, but it is not solitary. Creole Culture features a constellation of artists who represent the breadth of contemporary Black music:

• Big Freedia, whose voice opens the album like a ceremonial blessing
• Anjelika “Jelly” Joseph, a powerhouse vocalist rooted in the city’s musical soil
• Tarriona “Tank” Ball, whose poetic sensibilities sharpen the album’s narrative edges
• Durand Bernarr, whose vocal agility adds texture and playfulness
• Frank Richard, grounding the project in familial legacy

These collaborations are not cameos; they are conversations. Richard is building a world, and she is doing so with the people who shaped her — mentors, peers, elders, and innovators.

Completing the Triptych

Creole Culture follows New Breed (2019) and Second Line (2021), forming a three-part exploration of identity, place, and imagination. Where New Breed was a reclamation and Second Line a celebration, Creole Culture is a coronation. Richard stands at the center of her own mythology, declaring herself “King Creole” — not in arrogance, but in authorship.

Across the trilogy, she has crafted a narrative arc that mirrors the evolution of New Orleans itself: a city shaped by resistance, rebirth, and relentless creativity. Creole Culture is the final chapter, the moment where the past and future meet.

A New Orleans Story for a New Era

Dawn Richard’s work has always challenged the notion that New Orleans culture must remain tethered to the past to be authentic. With Creole Culture, she makes her boldest argument yet: that the city’s greatest strength is its ability to transform without losing itself.

In her hands, New Orleans becomes a prism — refracting history into possibility, memory into movement, tradition into transcendence. She is not simply representing the city; she is reimagining it. And in doing so, she is offering a blueprint for how Southern Black identity can evolve without erasure.

Creole Culture is more than an album. It is a cultural statement, a sonic monument, and a love letter to a city that has given the world more than it ever received. Dawn Richard is returning that gift — with vision, with courage, and with a sound that belongs to no one but her.

###

NOTE: Creole Culture is out on Friday, October 9th on Merge Records. Richard headlines Gentilly Fest on Saturday, Oct. 10, and she will perform an album release show on Oct. 23 at the Music Box Village.

NEW ORLEANS, LA (8/14/2026) — WNOZ 95.3 FM proudly announces the 2026 Smooth Jazz Jam Concert Series, headlined by internationally acclaimed guitarist Nils, and presented at the city’s newest waterfront destination — The Public Market at South Shore Harbor, located at 6901 Stars and Stripes Blvd., New Orleans. Doors open at 7:00 PM; show starts at 8:00 PM.

Widely regarded as one of the most influential guitar voices in contemporary jazz, Nils has spent more than two decades shaping the sound of modern smooth jazz. Born in Germany and based in Los Angeles, he blends European precision with West Coast soul — a signature style that has made him a fixture at the top of the Billboard Smooth Jazz charts.

His breakout hit “Pacific Coast Highway” became one of the most played songs in the genre’s history, cementing his reputation as a master of melody, groove, and radio‑friendly sophistication. Over the years, Nils has collaborated with some of the industry’s most respected artists and producers, earning multiple awards and consistent critical acclaim for both his studio work and electrifying live performances.

What sets Nils apart is his ability to make the guitar sing — warm, fluid, and expressive — creating music that feels both intimate and cinematic. His concerts are known for their energy, musicianship, and connection with audiences, making him an ideal headliner for a series built around artistry and atmosphere.

For the 2026 Smooth Jazz Jam Concert Series, Nils brings a career’s worth of hits, fan favorites, and new material to the lakefront stage at the Public Market at South Shore Harbor. His presence elevates the entire lineup and positions this year’s series as one of New Orleans’ premier smooth jazz events.

This concert will take place indoors.

Joining him for this year’s series are three standout artists whose artistry complements the headliner’s brilliance:

• Quintin Gerard W – New Orleans native and celebrated saxophonist with international reach. This 2022 Smooth Jazz Network® The Beats Year-End Edition “Break Out Artist of the Year Nominee” is a three-time back-to-back #1 Billboard Contemporary/Smooth Jazz Airplay charting artist...
• Lemek – Rising guitarist known for his fresh, soulful, contemporary sound. "LEMEK is urban smoothness with high-octane and higher impact modes of expression..."
• Tony Saunders – Renowned bassist delivering his signature West Coast groove. True to the title of his 2011 debut album, Romancing the Bass, Tony once said, “I romance the bass like I romance life.” Over a decade later, he keeps the love for his instrument flowing with funky, cool sensuality and embarks on a great adventure with his sixth collection... 

Set against the scenic backdrop of Lake Pontchartrain, The Public Market at South Shore Harbor offers a vibrant, comfortable venue designed to showcase live music at its finest. The Smooth Jazz Jam Concert Series continues WNOZ’s commitment to presenting premier cultural programming that uplifts the community and celebrates the artistry of jazz.

Tickets Now Available

$37.28 - $55.99 USD

Secure seats for this year’s performance at:

https://www.showpass.com/wnoz-smooth-jazz-jam-2/

More Information

For additional details, contact the WNOZ at 504‑483‑3007.

The event takes place at The Public Market at South Shore Harbor!

Stephanie Jordan 

"Lady Jazz!" 

"Every so often a new voice stands up and proclaims itself, but few do so

with such supreme depth and understated soul." 

- Ted Panken, Jazz at Lincoln Center Playbill

 Available for Bookings:

Vincent Sylvain

504-232-3499

Vincent@SylvainSolutions.com