CHELLE! and Friends
 
   
CHELLE! and Friends commemorates the music of Mardi Gras, New Orleans, and celebrates it’s Creole people and their remarkable music. Michelle Jacques was born in New Orleans and raised in Oakland, CA.. She began this journey to find out what it means to be Creole, to understand her culture, her language and her history...and after the devastation of Katrina in 2005, her mission has evolved into her determination to keep the history and the music of New Orleans alive through concerts, children's performances, workshops and residencies.

Ask 20 people how to define the music of New Orleans and you’ll get 30 answers. It could be jazz, funk, soul, Creole, Cajun, or gospel, Caribbean, African, Zydeco, rock or the chants and stirring rhythms of Mardi Gras Indians.

New Orleans native, MICHELLE JACQUES along some "very special friends" take all of these influences and a few more, and stir it into this stewpot of musical gumbo that is sweet, spicy, aromatic and definitely intoxicating.

CHELLE! and Friends is made up of some of the most distinguished and accomplished musicians in the San Francisco Bay Area. CHELLE! And Friends perform music that is vibrant and alive with the driving voices of artistic director and founder MCHELLE JACQUES, RHONDA CRANE, JAY LAMONT AND BRYAN DYER, DONNA VISCUSO on woodwinds, ERIC SWINDERMAN on guitar, KEVIN SCOTT on bass and BOB SCOTT on drums. 

 

 

 

 
"Chelle deals and delivers top drawer entertainment.  She can sing with the best"
Roy Jeans
Armando's Martinez
  chelle & friends