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[tag]Darrel ?Sugar Bear? Francis[/tag]. Not Wynton Marsalis. Not Branford Marsalis. Not the Marsalis patriarch Ellis. Darrel ?Sugar Bear? Francis. Jazz bass player. Native of New Orleans. ?First call? sideman (from Fats Domino to Hank Crawford). Leader (contractor for countless numbers of New Orleans musicians for over a quarter of a century). A face to put on what used to be and what now is, on the post Katrina New Orleans jazz scene.

Darrel?s maternal grandparents were born in the late 1800?s and his grandfather was his initial musical influence: he was an accomplished musician (banjo, guitar and bass) who played ?old jazz? with Louis Armstrong, but chose to stay in New Orleans and help raise his family versus going on the road with his music.

Another influence was his older brother (age 62) who also was a bass player and played some guitar ?all around New Orleans.? He suffered a stroke last year and as a result is unable to play anymore.

In 1968 at the age of 15 Darrel began working professionally on both electric and acoustic bass playing New Orleans style rhythm and blues at various venues. After graduating from New Orleans University (then known as Louisiana State University New Orleans) with a degree in fine arts, Darrel was in and out of the music scene until the early 1980s when he started playing full time in the quarter (French Quarter). He would play 2-3 or more gigs a day, 7 days a week (he was that much in demand).

In regards to the current jazz scene, many of the musicians who were indigenous to New Orleans jazz who were forced to leave their homes due to the well documented Katrina events, were not only of ?first call? quality, but were educators as well. ?There are no teaching positions to come back to, so they cannot afford to come back home.?

New Orleans and Dillard Universities now have half the student population they once had, so as is usually the case, the arts departments are the first to be shut down. Not only that, but some of the restaurants with outdoor patios (especially on Decatur St.) that use to hire musicians to entertain their patrons now allow out of town musicians to play for tips, and as a result no longer hire musicians.

?Some new musicians have come to town and play for a share of the bar receipts. This is something I?ve never heard of in New Orleans.?

I interviewed Darrel while he was driving me through the various parishes that have become ?ghost? towns. The fact that we were able to traverse the neighborhood streets was an improvement (?there were houses smashed up against one another blocking all of the streets and cars on top of them?). Amongst the homes shown to me were his own (which has to be demolished and completely rebuilt); his daughter?s, which is next door (she and her family are living in a FEMA trailer in front of her house while the house is being reconstructed); his mother?s home where he and his brother grew up, which was vacant and will have to be demolished (this was a particularly emotional moment where Darryl sighed heavily and things got quiet for a while); a building which at one time was a popular nightclub on the ?chitlin? circuit? (just around the corner from his mother?s house); Darrel?s elementary school (Johnson Lockett Public School, also vacant and uninhabitable); and Fats Domino?s home; ?Fats owns most of the block.?

While driving around the back of Fat?s house, we saw two men sitting and for a moment Darrel thought that one of the men was Fats (?he comes here sometimes and sits out back?), but it was not him. ?If we went to his home, he would have you come in and cook for you. He loves to cook.?

I know this is somewhat removed from a profile in jazz and there is much, much more I can share with you in what I saw and experienced, but if New Orleans is the birthplace of jazz and its? jazz musicians are either displaced, hundreds and thousands of mile away from their birthplace with little hope of returning, or are being paid less than what they were being paid pre-Katrina for providing the same service, I feel strongly that people should be made aware of the circumstances effecting the lives of these Americans.

It is encouraging to see that the main ?straight ahead? jazz venue Snug Harbor (snugjazz.com) is alive and well (Ellis Marsalis holds down Friday nights and the estimable Mark Murphy recently was in town for two nights).

It has been said that New Orleans is the soul of the United States of America. If so, then Darrel ?Sugar Bear? Francis and every [tag]New Orleans jazz musician[/tag] of his ilk are the ?ministers of soul.?