Photography by John Dixon
Charlie Halloran remembers playing his first shows at Frederick’s Music Lounge during a time when he was not only too young to drink, but also too young to drive. “I was 15,” he recalls. “I had to get a ride to the shows.”
The younger brother of St. Louis jazz favorite Tommy Halloran, Charlie was gigging with his older brother and friends as young as age 13, growing up in and around a variety of musical sounds but eventually finding his way to jazz. He attended Webster University and went on to the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York.
A trombone player, he flirted with the idea of moving to New Orleans more than once and traveled to the Crescent City semi-regularly, eyeing opportunities. After Hurricane Katrina, as musicians scattered across the country, bands in New Orleans formed with new and old members, and Halloran landed gigs with a host of different groups. “There were suddenly openings in bands,” he says. “I started playing with St. Louis Slim within the first week.”
He’s kept himself busy since, playing traditional jazz, which he says “is much more popular than it was even 10 years ago.” Skilled at many genres, he also plays with calypso and klezmer groups, and he’s toured as a member of the Squirrel Nut Zippers. Halloran (and his apartment) also made cameos in the HBO series Treme, which delved into New Orleans’ post-Katrina rebuild. Halloran even played some of the parts for star Wendell Pierce, who portrayed the show’s free-spirited trombone player, Antoine Batiste.
When it comes to Katrina’s stories, Halloran says, “I definitely try to listen, not to tell people how to feel or even to impart my take on it. Definitely, it weighs heavily on people still. There are large chunks of the city still not back.”
Halloran’s still learning about the town: “Every year or two, I think, ‘Ah, now I get it.’ By year three, I think, ‘I was so naive to think I knew anything about this city a year ago.’ That still happens.”
Halloran returns to St. Louis in July as part of the New Orleans Jazz Vipers, along with former Pokey LaFarge band member Chloe Feoranzo. They’ll play July 20 at Foam, July 21 at Joe’s Café, July 22 at Focal Point, and July 23 at Blues City Deli. Native-born contemporary players, such as pianist Tom McDermott and trumpeter Jeremy Davenport, have been in New Orleans so long that many won’t remember their youngest days in St. Louis.
Visit charliehalloran.com for more info.
Pick Three
For a century or more, there’s been a musical migration between St. Louis and New Orleans, with players of all genres heading south—including these gents.
Thelonius Kryptonite: The hip-hop vocalist also known as Corey Williams landed in NOLA recently, though he regularly returns to St. Louis, often performing with Brothers Lazaroff. In fact, that pairing recently recorded for the LoFi Cherokee project.
James Weber, Jr.: The founder of stellar St. Louis rock groups like The Julia Sets and The Museum Mutters, Weber’s been in Louisiana for the better part of a decade, running NOLA’s version of Euclid Records in the Bywater neighborhood.
Jeremy Joyce: Shuttling between New Orleans and St. Louis, the soulful folk balladeer frequently visits Cherokee while in town.
