The New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park presents Talkin' Jazz with Fred Kasten and special guest Don Vappie Trio with Richard Moten on Bass and Tom Fischer on Clarinet, October 5th at 2:00 PM CST.
This program takes place inside our third floor Performance Center, listening room. Admission is free and open to the public, seating is limited and offered first come, first serve.
Enjoy Jazz Music from home with the New Orleans Jazz Museum! Join the Jazz Museum online for our daily Live-Stream Concert Series, in which dynamic musicians perform live from the Jazz Museum! Tune in at 2pm on https://www.facebook.com/nolajazzmuseum/live to watch for free.
Fred Kasten
Fred Kasten is an independent contributing radio producer/host at WWNO. After working at WWNO for over 20 years as an on-air talent, producer, and program director, Fred retired from full-time work in May of 2007. Fred is a native of Mobile, Alabama, a graduate of the University of Alabama, and a long-time resident of New Orleans. In addition to his work at WWNO, Fred develops independent audio projects from a home studio, producing radio features, commercials, and podcasts. Fred also does marketing and media consulting for the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra.
Don Vappie
To say that Don Vappie has had a busy musical career would be an understatement.
Don Vappie, musician / composer / educator, is the 2021 Steve Martin Banjo Prize Winner and will be inducted into the Banjo Hall of Fame in September 2022. In addition, he has received awards for his contributions to the preservation of New Orleans Creole Culture through music and film. He has produced 7 of his own albums, co-produced and starred in a PBS documentary, performed as a featured artist with orchestras on movie and television soundtracks, and at concerts and festivals around the world. Vappie's highly regarded unique and original tenor banjo style is equal only to his love of his Creole heritage and tradition.
Choosing to remain in his hometown, New Orleans, was the choice Don Vappie made in 1974. Immediately after filling in on a gig with the great Peggy Lee, she offered him the guitar chair. He politely declined. So, she wrote and gave him an open invitation signed on the hotel stationary, "if you ever want to play …”
“Looking back, I think that was a defining moment in my life,” says Vappie. Though at the time, as he played in cover bands performing the popular music of that period, he evolved an interest in the rich history of music and tradition in Southeast Louisiana, particularly New Orleans.
Vappie was born into an extended family of musicians, some of whom are quite prominent. He began piano lessons at 6 years of age and played trumpet in school bands starting in fifth grade. By high school his desire was to play bass. It was 1 year later when the band they'd formed lost the guitar player that Don started guitar. “I'd watched those guys play and remembered some of the shapes. So, I sat down at the piano and figured out the notes in the chords and then looked at how I could play those notes within the reach of the fingers of my left hand on the fret board of the guitar.” That's how Vappie explained it to the great Dr, John during a recording session for Disney's remake of their classic movie, Jungle Book.
Click here to learn more about Don Vappie!