Dragon Smoke

Formed 2003 (per WWOZ), New Orleans — Eric Lindell · Ivan Neville · Robert Mercurio · Stanton Moore

Dragon Smoke is New Orleans' favorite superjam-turned-supergroup: singer-guitarist Eric Lindell and keyboardist Ivan Neville up front, powered by Galactic's rhythm section — bassist Robert Mercurio and drummer Stanton Moore. Born from a Jazz Fest “superjam” at the Dragon's Den in 2003, the band reconvenes for a handful of shows a year, and every one feels like a party that can't be repeated.

Never heard Dragon Smoke before?

🎸 Members

Lindell · Neville · Mercurio · Moore

🎪 Born At

Dragon's Den, Jazz Fest 2003

🎶 Sound

Blue-eyed soul · funk · R&B

Material focuses on Lindell's bluesy, blue-eyed soul and Neville's R&B and funk, with some classic Galactic grooving on the bottom. — WWOZ

Why We Love Dragon Smoke

Dragon Smoke is what happens when a one-night jam refuses to end. Four bandleaders with four full-time gigs, one shared night a year — and somehow it never sounds like a side project. Lindell's sweet blue-eyed soul against Neville's church-deep funk, with the tightest rhythm section in the city underneath: it's the sound of four friends showing off for each other, grinning the whole time. Catch them at Jazz Fest and you'll understand why New Orleans treats this band like a holiday.

Biography

The Superjam That Wouldn't Quit

One Jazz Fest week in the early 2000s, San Francisco promoter Alex Andreas of the Boom Boom Room — a fan of throwing together musicians who don't normally play together — booked a nighttime “superjam” at the Dragon's Den, a tiny club in New Orleans. He called the band Dragon Smoke, after the room. The chemistry was instant, the crowd knew it, and the one-off became a Jazz Fest tradition.

The lineup: singer-guitarist Eric Lindell, whose blue-eyed soul anchors the set; keyboardist and vocalist Ivan Neville of Dumpstaphunk and the Neville family, bringing the funk and R&B; and Galactic's rhythm section — bassist Robert Mercurio and drummer Stanton Moore — locking in the groove underneath. Setlists roam from Lindell originals to the Dyke & the Blazers classic “Let a Woman Be a Woman.”

Regrettably we only get about maybe seven or eight shows when we're all available... Everybody has so many other projects and commitments.

— Robert Mercurio

Outside of Jazz Fest the band surfaces for the occasional West Coast run and one-off nights at rooms like Tipitina's. Two live albums capture the mayhem — Live in New Orleans (2011) and Live at Wanee 2015 (2015) — and a studio record has been talked about for years. Until then, the legend stays where it started: live, loud, and only once in a while.