Bay Area On The Bayou

San Francisco-based musician and promoter Mitch Stein feels at home in New Orleans.

- Frank Etheridge

Mitch Stein scored his first success as a live-music promoter decades ago by booking New Orleans’ first family of funk, the Neville Brothers.

While attending Syracuse University in the early 1980s, Stein booked concerts for the student body. Charged with the task of bringing in a band to fuel a dance-athon raising funds to fight muscular dystrophy, he knew of the Neville Brothers from their place in the Grateful Dead’s extended musical family and he knew they were perfect for the gig. “I needed to book a band that would keep people dancing for hours and I said we should hire the Neville Brothers,” Stein says. “Nobody knew who they were in Syracuse—they hadn’t made it that far yet. It took a bit of fighting on my part but they acquiesced, telling me, ‘Okay, but if it’s a failure, it’s on you.’ Of course, the Nevilles killed it and everyone danced for hours.”

Fast forward a decade to the early 1990s and Stein comes to New Orleans for the first time, arriving not just as a fan but also an accomplished keyboardist and music industry veteran as both producer and promoter. “I went to see Charles Neville play with his straight-ahead jazz trio at Storyville,” Stein recalls. “I reintroduced myself to Charles at set break and he invited me to sit in on keys with him and bassist Mark Brooks. That night began my journey of Jazz Fest as an annual event for me.”