Bonnie Raitt - 1977-04-23 - New Orleans, LA (pre-FM/FLAC)

(pre-FM FLAC)

Bonnie Raitt
Jazz & Heritage Festival
Fair Grounds And Racetrack
New Orleans, LA
April 23, 1977
JEMS Archive

JEMS 2015 Transfer: Pre-FM 15 IPS Reel > Ampex 440B > 24/96 .wav capture > iZotope RX5 and Ozone 5 mastering > iZotope MBIT+ convert to 16/44 > Peak Pro XT (edit / index) > xACT 2.37 > FLAC

01 Walk Out The Front Door
02 Good Enough
03 Nothing Seems To Matter
04 Love Me Like A Man
05 Kokomo Blues
06 Give It Up Or Let Me Go
07 You Got To Know How
08 About To Make Me Leave Home
09 Sugar Mama
10 Three Time Loser
11 What Do You Want The Boy To Do

Known Faults:
-Missing first song “Under The Falling Sky”

Here’s a truly outstanding item from the JEMS archive: a nearly flawless 55-minute, unedited pre-FM stereo capture of Bonnie Raitt playing the venerable New Orleans Jazz Fest in 1977. It’s a spirited festival set featuring rare tracks, plenty of sassy Bonnie banter and a guest appearance by Allen Toussiant.

It was transferred from a vintage 10” reel that came from a radio station archive. I don’t know definitively this was ever broadcast as there seem to be no off-air recordings of the show in circulation (though my understanding is that the festival was broadcast in this era with much of it appearing on the exceptional, sadly missed, NPR series ‘Jazz Alive’). But the mix is clearly meant for broadcast, as, unlike a true soundboard, the audience is mixed in between tracks. Samples provided.

There is a circulating audience recording available of Bonnie’s set taped by legendary southeast taper ‘Freezer’ best known for his 1970’s Southeastern United States audience captures of many of the biggest bands of the era. The available audience tape indicates the Pre-FM capture is missing the first song, we assume the reel was not ready or was damaged at the start. We pick up the set before the second song begins.