Higher Ground: Remembering Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Katrina Benefit 20 Years Later
I sat down with my father Andre Kimo Stone Guess to discuss how the Higher Ground concert came together in the wake of Katrina.
On September 17, 2005, just two weeks after Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans, Jazz at Lincoln Center staged the Higher Ground Hurricane Relief Benefit Concert in Rose Hall, the new home the organization had opened only a year earlier. The idea was pushed forward by my father, Vice President and Producer, Andre Kimo Stone Guess working with Michael Cuscuna of Blue Note Records, John Goberman of Live from Lincoln Center, and Wynton Marsalis. What followed was a five-hour marathon that brought together an extraordinary lineup: Herbie Hancock, Cassandra Wilson, James Taylor, Norah Jones, Abbey Lincoln. Toni Morrison, Robin Williams, and many more. Broadcast nationwide on PBS and radio, the concert ultimately raised over $3 million for New Orleans jazz musicians who had lost homes, instruments, and livelihoods in the storm.
Wynton later reflected on that moment in In the Spirit of Swing: The First 25 Years of Jazz at Lincoln Center:
“When New Orleans was devastated by Hurricane Katrina in August of 2005, JALC was in no position to help. Every dollar we raised had to go to our unnerving bottom line. Fortunately, no one informed André Guess. At the time he was our vice president and producer of programming and concert operations. A man of profound ideas, he left us no choice.”
I was twelve years old that night and had one of the best seats in the house, on the wing backstage watching the concert where one would occasionally find my father dancing if he wasn’t busy helping keep the show running.
Twenty years later, Higher Ground still stands as a powerful example of how art can rise to meet tragedy. In the following conversation, Andre Kimo Stone Guess reflects on how the concert came together, what it meant then, and what it continues to mean today.
Q: Can you talk about your relationship with the city of New Orleans. When did you first get to know the city?
Andre:
Indirectly my relationship with the city is through the music and of course through Wynton Marsalis. Being a jazz fan over a number of years, you can't avoid New Orleans. But my relationship to it in terms of visiting it over the years is more directly related to [my wife] Cheryl’s cousin Dana when he moved down there a few years before Katrina.
Q: When the images and stories of the devastation of the hurricane first started to come out, what do you remember thinking and feeling?
Andre:
Susan John [Director of Touring], David Gibson [Director of Production], and I went down there for almost a week, maybe four or five days that week before the hurricane. We left on Saturday morning, right as there was a call for people to evacuate.
There wasn't a big panic, but some people were considering whether they wanted to leave or not. Most people in the city had been through something like that before. But of course, no one knew it was going to be what it was.
After I got back, I remember on Sunday seeing all the news coverage on the storm but it really wasn't until Monday when all hell broke loose. I just remember thinking, “Man this is absolutely ridiculous. I was just there”.
When we started seeing all the devastation it was difficult knowing that it affected everyone in the city. Knowing that people who we knew had probably lost everything in the blink of an eye.
Usually when you see flooding or a tornado hit a city, you always call to ask the person, “Hey man, were you affected by that?” People call here all the time when they hear about flooding in Louisville or Kentucky. But in this instance, there wasn't any need to call. Everyone was affected.
I just remember sitting on the couch thinking, “We gotta do something”. I think that sense was heightened by the fact that I had just been there to plan a residency for Wynton’s piece Congo Square.
Q: So Congo Square was already in the works then?
Andre:
Yeah that's why we went down there. We were going to do this big residency. It was going to be like a coming home party for Wynton. He had really never spent that much time in the city doing a major production.
Q: How did the storm affect the preparation for that?
Andre:
In that moment, we didn't even think about it anymore. We had to pivot.
I remember going to work on Tuesday or Wednesday of that week and I called Wynton. I was like, “Hey, man, we got to do something now.” He was not in a good place. It really messed his head up. So, he wasn't really thinking about what he could do. He was just responding to what people wanted him to do, like interviews and stuff like that.
So I told him, “Look, man, I'm just going to do something. Unless you tell me not to, I'm doing it.” After that, I went to my boss, Derek Gordon, who's since passed away, and I told him that we have to do this concert. I didn't really ask for permission.
I then called Michael Cuscuna from Blue Note Records and then John Goberman who was the executive producer for Live from Lincoln Center. I said, “What do you think about you guys broadcasting a benefit concert on PBS?” And they were all in.
We started planning on the 1st of September. We had like a little over two weeks to plan this concert. And it went up on the 17th.
Q: And how were you able to put that together so quickly?
Andre:
Because everybody was willing to help. It was just a matter of us knowing who we wanted to get. Cuscuna and I got together. I mean, he knew way more people and had better relationships than I did. Herbie Hancock and people like that. I got all the cats in Jazz at Lincoln Center orchestra and all the folks that I knew.
It really just came down to coordination. We had these big meetings. We sat at these big, long tables backstage. It was like military precision with the planning of the concert - it was planned down to the minute because it was a live television show.
We just got it done. It wasn't a matter of us trying to figure out how to do it. It just had to be done. We picked a date, the 17th which was when they could get it on, and from the 1st or the 2nd, we did everything we needed to do to march up to that date.
Q: And what were some of the difficulties you had in organizing or that you encountered?
Andre:
I had no difficulties whatsoever. None that I remember. Nobody said no.
Q: It was just the spirit of the moment.
Andre:
Yeah. And all the people backstage were in that moment. You were there. I don't know if you remember or not, but everybody was just totally cool. Everybody was there. You had Tony Morrison, Glenn Close, Bill Cosby. Everybody was there and everybody was super cool.
It was just one of those times and moments in history. It's kind of like after 9/11. The humanity showed up. The humanity was there. So nobody said no. And everyone was on their best behavior. No one needed to be catered to.
A lot of New Orleans musicians came into town. The great Jackie Harris and I helped get some of these musicians on other television shows. Folks were calling up and saying, “We need some New Orleans musicians.” They wanted to do some trad jazz or some second line stuff for the benefits and specials that were on TV at the time.
We took some musicians down to Paul Simon for a rehearsal for a show that he was going to do on CBS.
Q: Looking back, what impact do you feel the concert had on New Orleans and the musicians from there?
We raised over three million dollars for that. For the cats that I know, Herlin and Shannon and all of them, it meant the world to them. Not only the money, but just that the institution of Jazz at Lincoln Center and Wynton came through.
I told Wynton, “Man, we can't have this brand new hall. You raised all this money for the music. And then your hometown is going to hell in a hand basket. We got to be a part of this.” I think more than anything, symbolically, spiritually, materially, I think it meant something on all of those levels to the musicians.
Q: On the 20th anniversary of this concert, what memories stand out to you the most?
Just how everybody was cool and it was like a five-hour concert. I mean we had zero problems. No egos!
I remember there was an after party at Dizzy's and it was only for the musicians, the celebrities and the staff who were there. It wasn't open to the public. I remember the Ellis Marsalis trio was up on stage. They were the house band rhythm section at the beginning.
I was sitting next to Michael Cuscuna. They were playing “Sweet Georgia Brown” on stage and I think Diane Reeves had just taken a chorus. Then Cassandra Wilson jumped up there and started to get her some. Michael Cuscuna looked over to me said, “Man she ain't sang that fast in 30 years!” The tempo was up there. Cassandra, usually likes to take her time.
And then later on in the evening, I remember while Wynton was on stage, if I remember correctly, Terrence Blanchard, was at the back at the bar and he pulled his horn out and he started playing towards the stage from the bar. They started going back and forth for a while. I think Wynton was up there, but I'm not 100% sure.
And then Robin Williams, God rest his soul, got up on stage and improvised on a blues. He got up there and did a song called “Red Beans and Condoleezza Rice.” And of course, because of the political moment at the time, that would be like getting up and talking about Trump and his folks today. Of course, we weren’t as polarized as we are today. Everybody loved it.
It was genius. He wasn't singing. He was more talking in the blues form. And, the refrain, the chorus was “Red Beans and Condoleezza Rice.” He gave this sort of recitation of what the political climate of the time was, but made it really funny. He just improvised the whole thing up there.
Q: And one of the things from that night I remember is you leading the second line at the end of the concert. Like, can you talk me through that moment?
Andre:
I just remember at the end, Skain [Wynton], Mitch Landrieu, the Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana, and a lot of musicians from New Orleans were there. And they started a second line. I wasn't leading the second line, but I was definitely with them. I was in the cut with my suit all sweaty! There’s a picture of me dancing on stage, getting to my thing. I was just being lost in that moment, loving being in the middle of all of that at that time.
It's like one of those things you'll never forget. To have an opportunity to be in the middle of that much emotion. The spirit and feeling of what was going at that moment in time ran the gamut. To me, it was like a jazz funeral for all of those people who had died that didn't have an opportunity for people to mourn them properly and celebrate them accordingly. It was like a big second line for all the devastation.
We found a way to celebrate even in the midst of all of that destruction. It was a celebration. That’s what we do. That’s who we are.
Q: And then after the after the concert, what was the like reception from media, from all the people involved, from Wynton?
I think it took us a while to figure out how much money we raised. But the fact that in the middle of having finished our new concert hall less than a year prior, while also trying to raise money for ourselves, to be able to raise three million dollars for the musicians and their families, everybody was happy about that.
It wasn't the only thing that was going on, but the difference between what we were doing and what everybody else was doing is that ours went specifically to jazz musicians.
Q: And it was for like the purchasing of instruments and people's homes?
Andre:
Yeah, instruments, homes, whatever they needed. Jazz musicians could apply for the money.
Q: And in terms of like the legacy that you left at Jazz at Lincoln Center, where does this concert rank up there?
Andre:
It's number one. It's the proudest professional moment that I have.
To just be able to use the opportunities that I had to do something, it's a blessing to just not sit back. A lot of times when you see something happen like that, part of your misery is when you feel powerless, like you can't do anything. All you can do is pray. All you can do is just sit back and watch.
But I remember when I watched that and after having a moment of mourning, I remember just saying to myself, “Well, I can do something about this”.
I can't bring people back. I can’t get you back that instrument you played since you were a kid or an heirloom that you lost. But we can shine a spotlight on what this community means to New Orleans and what New Orleans means to what it is that we do at Jazz at Lincoln Center. I wouldn't have a job. I wouldn't be able to do what I was doing if it weren't for that city and the musicians who came out of it. So yeah, nothing I’ve done professionally comes close to being a part of this benefit concert.
Wynton and Andre — the power of you two coming together in this way is undeniable. Father and son, mind and spirit — such an intellectual and cultural force. On the anniversary of Katrina, this conversation is more than memory, it’s testimony. Higher ground, always! ~D@H2O