Uptown Jazz and Variety was formed in 1999 and is an offspring of the award winning Harmon Drew Super Group and has performed for over 20 years at many venues around Louisiana and throughout the south and parts of the north, as far as Annapolis, Maryland and Cincinnati, Ohio.
Mike Morris and Zelma Broussard’s induction into the Louisiana Hall of Fame Entertainment division was on the 21st day of April 2002. Dave Duplissey’s induction was on the 16th day of April 2000 and again on the 21st day of April 2002, along with Mike And “Z” and all of the Harmon Drew Super Group.
This was a milestone in their careers and they also made Honorary Citizens of New Orleans by Mayor Marc Moriel in 2001, although Mike, “Z” and Dave don’t talk about it much.
Dave, the saxophone player and founder of the group, released his CD Wine & Roses on May 7th, 2013, along with Salt & Pepper on Sept. 26th, 2014 and Full of Soul on May 26th, 2017. Dave has been blessed to have his music streamed through many online outlets such as Itunes, Apple Music, Google music store, Amazon U S Premium service, Spotify and IHeart since 2013 just to mention a few. Dave’s mesmerizing music will always have ardent followers.
There is a certain flare that comes across to the crowd when these three musicians step on to the stage. Zelma uses her classically trained voice to sing some of the classic jazz tunes from over the years into today, while Mike steps in with his soulful dark rich rhythm and blues voice to capture the audience to the core. If Smooth Jazz is your bag Dave is your man covering artists like Candy Dulfer, Dave Kox, Dave Sanborn, Bonny James and more. As a added attraction, the Jazzettes join in to round out the group with their beauty, charm and melodic voices.
This band interacts with the crowd and gets them involved right away with witty cliches and exaggerated stories about friends in the audience all in good fun. If you have not had a chance to catch this group, you are missing out. They are a classy and tasteful band and alway have a great time with all the crowd. Uptown Jazz and Variety … you don’t want to miss it!!!
