Sometimes things come together in the most curious of ways. As a photographer, I am always seeking out interesting things to shoot. I love capturing musicians live in concert. But coming up with an original idea and controlling the situation as you make images is so much more satisfying.

Whether you are the infamous Mick Rock (who can be seen in his new documentary), the legendary Annie Liebovitz, or her former assistant, the in-demand Danny Clinch, a specific project can be so satisfying. My friend Michael Weintrob came up with a project called Instrumenthead that’s a wonderfully fun concept. I highly recommend checking it out. Michael is one of the people who over the years has consistently told me the importance of having a “passion project.” In fact, another old friend of mine, Jordan Matter, came up with a fantastic one known as Dancers Among Us that has brought him wide acclaim. Jordan & I were waiters together back in the mid-90s in New York City, and it’s amazing to see where he’s gotten to.

My brain is usually working about four steps ahead of my body. This means lots of ideas come and go as quickly as projects started by my five-year-old daughter and me. (This drives my wife crazy as she cleans up in our wake). I’ve been looking for one idea worthy of becoming its own entity for quite some time.

Around the beginning of 2017, I was walking home from the gym in Midtown. As I walked up First Avenue, I passed the Crunch gym just before the Roosevelt Island Tramway. In the floor to ceiling front window was a black and white poster of women in an exercise class jumping in the air spread eagle, with something in their hands. They were all wearing plain shirts except for one in the back. I thought hers said “Different Drummer.” And as I kept walking, I thought to myself, “How clever, dance to the beat of a different drummer.” And clearly, they had drumsticks in their hands for some sort of crazy cardio drumming class or something like that. I walked less than another half block when I said, “I need to get all the drummers in New Orleans together during Jazz Fest and make an image like A Great Day in Harlem. I can’t tell you exactly how one image led to me thinking of the other. But somehow that’s what my brain came up with.

Color version of the advertisement for Pound workout taught at Crunch Fitness

Like with most ideas, I did nothing. I mentioned it to my wife Robyn in passing. She thought it sounded cool, and I moved on. But a few weeks later it was still on my mind. I decided that nothing ventured, nothing gained. I sent an email during the second week of February to four of my favorite drummers: Zigaboo Modeliste, Stanton Moore, Johnny Vidacovich & Nikki Glaspie. I figured the best thing I could do to legitimize my project and show how much I care for the musicians in New Orleans was to try to raise money for an organization like The Roots of Music or The New Orleans Musicians Clinic.

Joseph “Zigaboo” Modeliste is the “King of the Funky Drummers.” The man is a founding member of the Big Easy’s most famous (and original) Funk band, The Meters. Over the years, Zig and his wife Kathy have become good friends of mine. I couldn’t imagine doing something like this in his hometown without him. In fact, nearly every drummer I could think of inviting to the potential shoot was directly influenced by Zig’s incorporation of the second-line grooves into Funk.

Zigaboo Modeliste- Rhythm of Valence Street @ Chickie Wah Wah (New Orleans- Thur 5/1/14)

Stanton Moore is the drummer for Galactic. Besides playing for this jam band with a funky edge, this New Orleanian plays Jazz in his own trio, has worked with Tom Morello and Corrosion of Conformity, The Midnite Disturbers (local brass-based all-star band) and two of my favorite “super groups” to come out of the Crescent City: Dragon Smoke and Frequinox. Through my friendship with Eric Lindell a fellow member of Dragon Smoke, Stanton & I became friendly. Over the years, I have worked with Galactic many nights.

Stanton Moore- Dragon Smoke @ The Mint (Los Angeles- Wed 12/7/11)

Johnny Vidacovich, a/k/a “Johnny V”, is a true New Orleans jewel and legend. A jazz drummer by training, he played with local legends Professor Longhair, James Booker (check out the great new documentary), Mose Allison, and  Alvin “Red” Tyler. Stanton is a direct disciple of this master. And for years, Johnny has led the Thursday night show Uptown at the Maple Leaf Bar, in the Carrollton neighborhood, where a revolving cast of players including George Porter Jr. of The Meters join him. Most importantly, the man has a heart of gold and is one of the ultimate characters you can meet while down there.

Johnny Vidacovich- George Porter Jr, Henry Butler & Johnny Vidacovich @ Schimanski (Brooklyn- Sun 9/24/17)

Nikki Glaspie is not a New Orleans drummer. And she is the only female drummer I am friendly with [something I find a little sad]. She is also probably the most badass drummer I know. When Nikki pounds those skins everyone in the room is mesmerized. This Berklee College of Music alumni has toured the world with Beyoncé, been a member of Ivan Neville’s Dumpstaphunk and leads her own band The Nth Power (Earth, Wind & Fire for the new millennium). She is tough as nails and sweet as sugar. And I really wanted her to be part of this gathering.

Nikki Glaspie- The Nth Power @ Oak Street Block Party (Wed 4/29/15)

Within hours of hitting send on my email, Stanton was the first to respond enthusiastically. “Marc, very cool. I love that idea! I sit on the Board for Roots of Music so donating funds to them would be great…” He went on to say he would start to put together a list of names. The following day Nikki replied, “Marc!!!!! This sounds so amazing. I can reach out to all the drummers I know, no problem. Let’s make this happen!” However, Zigaboo and Johnny were another story. Both of them have their lovely wives handle all their business affairs. Kathy Modeliste and Deborah Vidcovich have been very good to me throughout the years (it doesn’t hurt that both are big fans of my little redhead daughter Julia). It took about a month to hear back from Kathy, at which point she told me that Zig had committed to a handful of events for the festival period and wouldn’t be able to attend. This significantly deflated my balloon. To me, Zig was “The Man.” But I didn’t let this get me down. I made a mental note to keep them in the loop and see what happened if I actually got this crazy idea off the ground. Johnny remained MIA. I knew I needed to work on Deb. And a week before I headed down for the festival, she replied to let me know she would have him wherever I needed him to be.

In the meantime, I had the blessings of Stanton and Nikki. And thanks to Stanton’s introduction, I had the backing of Anne Messer, the Executive Director for The Roots of Music. Anne told me that we could do the shoot at their facility in Tremé (the former McDonogh 35 High School). This crazy idea was becoming a reality…IF I could get a list of drummers and percussionists together…and IF those musicians would agree to join me…and then show up at the exact time necessary to pull this off!

On April 3^rd, with a list of thirty-one names including my “Original Four” (minus Zigaboo who I left out for the moment), I sent an email with the subject line “A Different Drummer: a Project to Benefit The Roots of Music” with my fingers crossed. It started as follows:

Who: all the drummers & percussionists we can get together

What: an epic photo to help benefit The Roots of Music

Where: 1331 Kerlerec Street (The former McDonogh 35 High School in the Treme)  Enter from Columbus Street

When: Tuesday May 2nd at 3pm (this should take less than an hour if everyone can get there on time)

Why: to honor those of you who make the world bob their heads & shake their rumps

If you don’t personally know me, then hopefully you are aware of my photography. Regardless, you have been included on the list for this email because of conversations between me, Stanton Moore, Nikki Glaspie & the staff over at The Roots of Music.

Every year when I head down to New Orleans for Jazz Fest, I try to think of something new to capture. But this is the first time I had a “grand vision.” Walking down the street in New York City a little more than a month ago, I was struck by the idea of gathering those that are literally the backbeat of the Big Easy. I thought that in the tradition of the famous A Great Day in Harlem photograph (attached for anyone who doesn’t know of it), we could gather as many of the drummers and percussionists from the City’s brass bands, Rock players, Funkateers, Jazz players. And then I thought that since it is Jazz Fest and there are many musicians who make the annual journey and are now very attached to the local community, we could invite them as well.

I wanted to give this project a little more importance. I first learned of The Roots of Music about eight years ago. I think it’s goals of keeping the children of New Orleans off the streets while teaching about the city’s rich musical heritage is truly inspiring. And I thought that we could make an image of everyone gathered together (and maybe some smaller groupings) to help raise awareness of the organization as well as to hopefully sell the image to raise some money.

Thanks to Stanton’s introduction, I have spoken with Anne Messner & Trey Monaghan at the organization. We have agreed to try & gather everyone on Tuesday, May 2^nd at 3pm at the Roots’ practice field in the Treme. If people are willing to commit, we can do this in under an hour. I wanted to do it Tuesday to leave a day for “recovery” after the first weekend of the Festival (and possibly leave us Wednesday as a “rain date” just in case). I thought that 3pm is late enough to give people time to sleep in if they need the extra rest but to also make sure people can get to sound checks. And I have offered to donate 30% of all monies raised to the organization.

All I need from each of you is:

1. Can join us for sure
2. T-shirt size (something I am considering)
3. An agreement not to spread the word to the general public. I would love suggestions for any drummers or percussionists. But in the interest of time, I don’t want to have too many extra people hanging around. And we don’t want the photo taken by lots of others as that will dilute the value of the project.

Thanks so much for your time. I hope you can be part of what may one day be considered a historic gathering. I look forward to hearing back from each of you. And If we have never actually met face to face, it will be a privilege an honor to shake hands for the first time in May.

As my good friend George always says “Is it Jazz Fest yet?!”

Warmest Regards-

Marc Millman
Photographer/Visionary

And then I waited… only a little while before the replies started to come in. My man Eddie Christmas was first. And as I would with several others over the next month, I shared a list of two dozen more names I had with no contact information. Derrick “Smoker” Freeman was right behind Eddie. Then Eric Bolivar. Sure enough, it was the guys I knew best from NOLA who got right back to me. The percussionists Michael Skinkus was next saying he had a conflict. The next morning the great Doug Belote, who I didn’t even know other than by his impressive resume, told me he was in.  On the 5^th Russ Broussard wrote to say he had a conflict (but he thought it was in April). Ultimately, Russ would get MVP status for helping with several of the names I had no luck tracking down on my own. He also helped out rounding up a whole bunch of drummers I had no connection to. Later that day, the great Shannon Powell said he was in (Ultimately, he was a “no show”). With a name like Shannon’s I really started to feel like I was onto something. The following afternoon, Terence Higgins, or “Big T” as I call him, wrote to say he had a rehearsal scheduled (this was for the Little Feat “Waiting for Columbus” tribute show at The Saenger Theatre.); however, he was going to try and be there. I was grinning ear to ear.

Over the next five weeks I sent a weekly reminder. I added and subtracted names as I heard back from people. This all started to seem crazy. I was texting with older guys like the legendary Herlin Riley and Benny Jones Sr. from Treme Brass Band (either they didn’t have email or at least I never got one for them). I was calling others. And of course, I was still out shooting Bar & Bat Mitzvahs on weekends and concerts all week long while spending as much time as I could with my five-year-old daughter and my wife, since the annual Jazz Fest trip takes me away from them for two full weeks. By the time I landed at Louis Armstrong Airport on April 28^th, I was five days away and really questioning myself.

The first weekend of Jazz Fest flew by. Bands all day at the fairgrounds and shows all night all over the city. Monday came and it was day one of the NOLA Crawfish Festival thrown by my friend Chris “Shaggy” Davis a/k/a “NOLA Crawfish King.” I was fielding calls, texting on the run, and checking my email as quickly as it would refresh. I was tracking guys down at gigs, grabbing one of the first New Orleans drummers I fell in love with, “Mean” Willie Green, at Tipitina’s. I cornered him backstage after his set with the New Orleans Suspects at the annual Tipitina’s Foundation’s Instruments-A-Comin’ benefit (I convinced him to come, but only if I got him a ride since he doesn’t drive…almost every young player volunteered to be Willie’s Uber for the day).  Herlin told me he probably couldn’t be there because he was taking care of his sick elderly mother. I still hadn’t heard back from Zigaboo, but had started emailing Kathy to keep them in the loop since this was no longer a “pipe dream.” And I still had Deb guaranteeing she would have Johnny V there.

I won’t lie – by the time I woke up on Tuesday morning it was hot, sunny, and humid, and I was scared. I was positive the day would be a bust. I spent an hour on the phone with Apple since my brand-new MacBook Pro was failing (this is a big part of why it has taken six months for you to finally see these images). I was a man on the edge. I actually told myself that if this failed I was going to change my flight and fly home the next day. At 2:25pm I drove over to The Roots facility in the Treme. I pulled into the rear parking lot and saw a few guys sitting on the hood of a car. From this moment forward, my memories become a little fuzzy. Eddie Christmas and Jermal Watson were there. Possibly “Smoker” as well. I remember thinking that it was nice to see some familiar faces. But I also wondered if I was going to get more than four guys!

I jumped out of my car, grabbed my Think Tank roller bag and said hi to the guys in the lot. They told me there was someone else inside. Since I hadn’t been able to come and scout the property [never a bad idea], I quickly made my way inside, as the high afternoon sun was cooking on the open lot and brick exterior of the old school. A passageway led me to an interior courtyard with ample shade and beautiful plants. Besides a few of the kids from the program, the first person I saw was Frank Bua, Jr. from The Radiators. I was going to need a lot more bodies to call the day a success. But to see a member of one of the city’s longest standing and most famous Rock bands gave me hope. Frank and I started talking. He was telling me about his restaurant outside the city and how he almost brought me some gumbo. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see bodies starting to amble in. One way or the other, this was happening.

By just before 3pm, there were around a dozen guys there. It still felt a bit “light” to me on a headcount. But I had some great drummers there. Higgins had shown up with a day-glo orange & blue practice drum pad in hand. Jeffery “Jellybean” Alexander from Papa Grows Funk had materialized, after never responding to my attempts to reach him. Stanton showed up on time. And Andrew Campanelli of the rising stars The Revivalists was in the house. There was Allyn Robinson, who played with Jaco Pastorius,  Brian Brignac from Sonny Landreth’s band, and Doug Belote.

All of a sudden, a well-dressed older gentleman walked in and approached me. My jaw dropped. “Hello, Herlin Riley.” I told him I knew who he was. I told him I thought he couldn’t make it. He said he only had a few minutes because his mother was home ill. I started to feel like this whole thing might get out of hand. It wasn’t even 3pm yet. If this many guys were already there, at least a few more had to show up, right?! And most musicians are never on time! How could I take a photo of everyone and not have Herlin in it? But obviously I wasn’t going to have him for long. He walked over to talk to Jermal, Eddie & Floyd Gray III, who plays with locals like Shamarr Allen and Mykia Jovan. Then Johnny & Deb Vidacovich rolled in with that je ne sais quoi which allows everyone in their presence to immediately smile. I knew I had to pounce. I got whoever was there together and took what I’ll forever refer to as version one of the Different Drummer project.

The Different Drummer Project: version one

A few more faces started wandering in. Joe Lastie from Preservation Hall Jazz Band and Russ Broussard were now in the mix. All the guys were socializing. Everyone was smiling ear to ear. Herlin couldn’t leave right away. Not only were the young guys coming over to talk to him, but he wanted to speak with young players like Joseph Dyson. And there was no way Johnny V and Stanton were letting him leave without a photo! And I wasn’t passing up the chance to get a pair of local Jazz greats like Lastie & Riley together. I clicked a few more frames of these little gatherings. Then I gathered everyone for version two of the Different Drummer project.

The Different Drummer Project: version two

It was barely past 3pm. My adrenaline was kicking into overdrive. I knew things still had to build into something bigger – and within a few minutes they did. Joey Peebles from Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue, Willie Green, percussionist Mike Dillon, Carlo Nuccio, the brilliant Raymond Weber, who played with Harry Connick Jr. among others arrived. Garland Paul of Honey Island Swamp Band brought along Chicago percussionist, Rick King who regularly sits in with his band at Jazz Fest time. “Little T,” Terrence Houston who plays with George Porter Jr. in the Runnin’ Parnders and Funky Meters joined “Big T” for a drum off on the drum pad. Kevin O’Day, who formed The Midnite Disturbers with Stanton Moore, showed up (I had met and mentioned this to him as the Disturbers set ended at Festival over the weekend).

I was losing control. My one regret was not having a way to put the guys on different levels, like the steps used in the “Great Day in Harlem” photo. With all the chaos and the limited window of time (not to mention no assistant), there are a few obscured faces in almost all the groups. But I felt like I had to keep pushing forward. I called for another large group photo. To be completely honest I wanted to yell for everyone to “Shut the fuck up” because I felt like things were going to derail. The guys were all having too much fun just talking to each other. And it felt amazing to have made that happen. But I was on a mission.

I’m not a religious person. I may pray for good luck from time to time or to catch a break in the middle of a bad week, but that’s as far as my faith goes. Sometimes though, things happen and you have to question them. The guys were gathering for version three of the Different Drummer project. But the noise level made arranging people difficult. All of a sudden, everyone went silent. I don’t know how to describe it without sounding like someone obsessed with Science Fiction. But I swear that the air over my shoulder seemed to change. I moved my Nikon D4 away from my eye and turned around. And what I saw brought me to my knees. Zigaboo and Kathy Modeliste were walking towards me. The look on my face was one of confusion. They told me even on my final follow-up email that they couldn’t make it. But here was Kathy smiling and Zig pointing at me and laughing as he said, “Gotcha!” I started to cry. This was the man that I consider to be my “gateway drug” for New Orleans’ drummers and music. Zig’s playing on Robert Palmer’s “Sneaking Sally Through the Alley” alongside his bandmates from The Meters and Lowell George was what originally led me to seeking out The Meters and then The Neville Brothers. Most importantly, he was the first person I thought of for this project. Kathy told me that they wanted to pull a joke on me. I got “punked” by Zig! But best of all, Herlin hadn’t left yet! It was still before 3:30 so there was a strong chance a few more guys would show up. I got everyone back into a large group and clicked a few more frames on the D4 and my Fujifilm X-Pro2. This became the third version.

The Different Drummer Project: version three

Herlin left after that third group image. I told everyone this wouldn’t take more than an hour and we were halfway there. The important thing was that everyone was having a good time. Not knowing what was going to happen next, I started breaking the guys down into smaller groups (or more accurately, they mainly did it on their own). I got a group that called themselves “The Cajuns” that included Allyn Robinson, Wayne Maureau, Doug Belote, Brian Brignac, Carlo Nuccio, Russ Broussard & Kevin Aucoin (I’m pretty sure that almost nobody in that group actually was Cajun). A bunch of the brass band players couldn’t wait to get together with Benny, who showed up as promised via our texts. He was joined by the Dirty Dozen Brass Band’s Julian Addison, Aron Lambert from Treme Brass, Soul Brass Band (along with Derrick Freeman) & Big Chief Monk Boudreaux and the Golden Eagles, Derrick Moss of The Soul Rebels and Ajay Mallery.

I won’t tell you that I was enjoying things. In the moment, I was too overwhelmed to even really comprehend what was happening. I had no idea how large the group had become. But I was acutely aware that I was responsible for something pretty special, if the city of New Orleans and its musical heritage, especially as it pertains to Jazz Fest, matters to you. The always-fun-to-be- around Brady Blade showed up in his “Sunday Best,” as he was on his way to Eric McFadden’s wedding (the two play together in Anders Osborne‘s band). Zig was talking to Joe Lastie. “Jellybean,” “Big T,” Ray Weber and “Mean” Willie had to jump into a photo with them! Unfortunately, I didn’t have Nikki there. However, I did get Stanton, Johnny. and Zigaboo. In fact, one of my favorite images of the day was those three joined by Willie. That’s four of the funkiest guys I know and love.

Mike D got crazy for me. My two ladies, Kathy Modeliste and Deborah Vidacovich, graced my lens. Zigaboo worked the courtyard like a politician at a fundraiser. Everyone loves Zig. I captured him and Willie alone, representing the two drummers that taught me what the second line beat was about. I also got Zig with “Little T.” That image gave me two thirds of one of my dream shots for the day. I wanted the drummers from the three iterations of The Meters, but Russell Batiste Jr. was MIA. And I caught a few candid moments: “Big T” and “Little T” had their drum off, the star pupil in The Roots of Music, Lawrence Honore a/k/a “Tudda,” matching drum patterns with Terence as some of the biggest names in the game watched the ten-year-old.

Derrick Tabb from Rebirth Brass Band is the co-founder of The Roots program. Derrick and Anne showed up and joined the fun. Things really were moving very fast. And time felt like it was running out. I needed to make one last attempt to get version four of the Different Drummer project since clearly the ranks had swelled yet again. The problem was it was mayhem. If you don’t believe me, you can watch the Livestream video that Stanton made

.https://www.facebook.com/stantonmooremusic/videos/10154779891651185/

Forty-one. That’s the number in the final image, but I didn’t know this until I went home and opened up the files. I could have used steps or a riser (we considered going into the practice room, but the lighting was terrible). I could have used an assistant (a football coach would have been best). It wasn’t like anyone was paying attention to me anymore. They were just having too much fun. But they all came together because I had this crazy idea after seeing a photo in the window of a gym in New York City in the middle of the winter. Before I lost my chance, I captured that final version of the Different Drummer project.

The Different Drummer Project: version four

Back row: Rick King, Brian Brignac, Andrew Campanelli, Jeffery “Jellybean” Alexander, Karl Boudreaux, A.J. Hall, Mike Dillon, Stanton Moore, Terence Higgins, Joey Peebles

Third row [mainly obscured]: Carlo Nuccio, Derrick Tabb, Raymond Weber, Kevin O’Day, Garland Paul

Second row: Ajay J.Mallery Sr., Allyn Robinson, Johnny Vidacovich, Wayne Maureau, Derrick Moss, Derrick Freeman, Andre Bohren, Joe Gelini, Chad Gilmore, Alfred Jordan, Jermal Watson, Joseph C. Dyson Jr., Floyd Gray III,

Front Row: Zigaboo Modeliste, Russ Broussard, “Mean” Willie Green, Julian Addison, Eddie Christmas, Lawrence “Tudda” Honore, Terrence Houston, Doug Belote, Brady Blade, Benny Jones Sr., Kevin Aucoin, Joe Lastie

My mind let my body release. This was when I was able to get some of those candid images and smaller groups. And this is when almost every one of the guys in attendance came over to individually thank me. It felt amazing. More than one of the guys told me how they didn’t think this was possible to do with anyone but the drummers. That was interesting. They thought they had more of a sense of camaraderie than say the guitar slingers or keyboard players. They believe those other disciplines are more about the competition. Perhaps we shall see. If people are interested, then maybe this will be the first in an annual series. Either way though, this stands as possibly the coolest thing I have done from behind the lens.

I think it needs to be noted that there were people who didn’t make it who I wish did. Nikki Glaspie of course was absent. She was the only woman I was able to come up with even after speaking to more than a dozen drummers while pulling this together. She’s also one of the baddest and one of my favorites. But she had a rehearsal for her band’s Bob Marley tribute show. The Marley show also cost me Weedie Braimah who’s not only one of the most colorful characters you could know, but a master Djemebe player. He also would have made only the second true percussionist since Skinkus didn’t make it either. Shannon Powell never showed. He was another of the “old guard” along with Herlin, Joe Lastie, Benny and Zig that I was hoping to have. Representing every generation shows that music is something that gets passed down to the youth in order to keep that perpetual groove going. Locals like Simon Lott didn’t make it after saying they would try to reschedule other things. Eric Bolivar, who played with Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe and Anders, got caught with a medical emergency with his daughter. My friend Will McMains who plays with Lindell made it… just after most of the “festivities” were over. And unfortunately, Russ Batiste didn’t show even after I talked to him about it twice.

There are several “out of town” drummers who I thought should be included because they and their bands are part of the fabric that is Jazz Fest every year. None of them got there even if they were in town. Schedules can’t always align. Because of that, I didn’t get to include Alan Evans from Soulive (and now The Tiny Universe), John Staten from Pimps of Joytime, Simon Allen from The New Mastersounds, Robert “Sput” Searight II & Nate Werth from Snarky Puppy, and Adam Deitch from Lettuce & Break Science.

I also wanted a Big Chief there. My thought process was that nothing speaks to the colorful, spiritual feel of this funky city more than the Mardi Gras Indians. And for me, this meant one man: Monk Boudreaux. I spoke to his nephew Spy Boy J’Wan Boudreaux after the Midnight Disturbers set where I also approached his bandmate from Cha Wa, Joe Gelini. I tried to get J’Wan to be part of it and bring his Dad. Unfortunately, they were “no shows.”

Ultimately, I was happy to pull off anything at all. And this turned out to be much bigger than “a little something.” I don’t pretend to believe that anyone will ever match the power and importance of the “Great Day in Harlem” image. That was the gathering of 57 of Jazz’s biggest names. I don’t think what I did is anywhere near that level of importance. To me, the Different Drummer project is about showing the love of music that thrives in the craziness that is life in New Orleans. It’s about the sense of brotherhood between these players. It re-enforced my faith in the effort I put into my music imagery. This has led to many friendships with the musicians themselves. And for a kid from New Jersey who has always been obsessed by music, what could mean more?

And finally, it is about trying to raise the awareness for The Roots of Music. Our children are the future. Raising my own daughter has made this clear to me. Keeping kids off the streets, putting instruments in their hands, teaching them to be part of something and helping them carry on the culture and music of New Orleans is a worthwhile cause. I’m hoping that people will be moved by reading about this day and interested in purchasing some of the images to raise money for The Roots. And at the very least, please look into making a donation to help them out. A little bit goes a long way.

If you are interested in purchasing prints of any of these images, you can find them here.

50% of all profits will be donated to The Roots of Music

Limited edition numbered fine art prints of these five images are available by contacting me directly at marc@marcmillmanphotos.com

The Different Drummer Project: version four

Willie, Zigaboo, Stanton & Johnny 

Herlin Riley & Joe Lastie 

Zig, Joe, “Jellybean,” “Big T,” Ray & “Mean” Willie

Zigaboo & Willie $375

There are a few people worthy of being thanked:

The Meters were my intro into the world of New Orleans music, and George Porter Jr. was the first musician from the Big Easy to befriend me. Eric Lindell, Anders Osborne, and Billy Iuso are three guys from the Big Easy who have been good friends to me for years now. Through them I have met countless other musicians. The Modelistes & Vidacovichs have been wonderful with me and my family. Stanton Moore was gung ho from the get go! And with Stanton’s enthusiasm and introduction to Anne Messner at The Roots of Music, this whole day was able to come together. The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival for allowing me to cover their amazing event. It’s why I go down to the Big Easy every year. And without the weekends on the fairgrounds, I wouldn’t have come up with a project to do while in town. Peter Shapiro for being my biggest supporter; from working for him as a House photographer at Brooklyn Bowl & The Capitol Theatre to shooting for Relix Magazine, my name and reputation have gained momentum due to his backing. Live For Live Music has backed me in getting my Press credentials at Fest for several years and has also helped to expand my name recognition. Howie Schnee from CEG Presents who has promoted shows for years supporting the musicians of New Orleans. It was at many of his New York City shows (especially back in the Sullivan Hall days) that I met so much of the great talent to come out of the Crescent City. And, of course, I can’t leave out all the drummers who took the time out of a very hectic week to participate. There was no money paid to anyone. This was a labor of love. And of course, there is my family. My mother gave me her artistic instincts. My father gave me his love for photography. My in-laws have helped out in too many ways to name. And my wife, Robyn and daughter, Julia Summer are there cheering me on and never complaining when I head out the door at 7pm and go to bed at 4am.

My cheerleaders