The New Orleans Smooth Jazz Jam lands this Saturday at the Public Market at South Shore Harbor, with guitarist Nils, bassist Tony Saunders and the father-son duo Quintin Gerard W and Lemek sharing the bill starting at 8 p.m. It marks the first blues-jazz show at the newly renovated lakefront venue, and it reunites a pair of LaPlace-based musicians who have spent years climbing smooth jazz charts together.
According to WGNO, the show is set for the Public Market South Shore Harbor this Saturday starting at 8 p.m., with tickets still available as of the station's report. An event listing on Showpass places the concert at 6901 Stars and Stripes Boulevard in New Orleans and confirms the lineup of Nils, Quintin Gerard W, Lemek and Tony Saunders.
A separate preview from New Orleans Magazine lists doors opening at 7 p.m. ahead of the 8 p.m. show, and notes the concert will take place indoors. The station's report describes Quintin Gerard W and Lemek as a father-and-son duo who perform internationally as smooth jazz recording artists.
A Venue With a Past Life
The Public Market at South Shore Harbor occupies a building Quintin Gerard W described as the former site of an old lakefront casino that has since gone through a full renovation. The station's report frames the booking as the venue's first blues-jazz show, a notable milestone for a space still establishing its live-music identity.
For Quintin Gerard W, the show carries personal weight. “This is like what I've been working for for 30 years. To bring Smooth Jazz home to New Orleans,” he told the outlet. Lemek echoed that sense of homecoming, telling WGNO it had been nearly a decade since he last performed in the area: “it's literally been nearly a decade since I came here, right here in this, in this wonderful area and did that show.”
A Father-Son Chart Run
The pairing of Quintin Gerard W and Lemek isn't new to the smooth jazz world. A 2022 profile in L'Observateur described the two as father and son living in LaPlace, both climbing Billboard and Smooth Jazz Top 20 charts around the same time. That week, Quintin's “Broken Promises” sat at No. 21 on Billboard's Smooth Jazz National Airplay chart and No. 18 on Allen Kepler's Smooth Jazz Top 20, while Lemek's debut single “Co-motion” was No. 19 on the Billboard list and projected to leap to No. 7 the following week.
The duo kept building momentum. A Smooth Jazz Network interview reported that Quintin took over Lemek's former No. 17 spot on its Smooth Jazz Top 20 countdown while Lemek leapt to No. 6. By June 2023, per the same L'Observateur outlet, Lemek's “Groove Central,” featuring Ryan La Valette, had reached No. 1 on Billboard's Smooth Jazz Airplay chart, with his father's “On a Roll” close behind at No. 2.
Part of a Recurring Series
Saturday's show follows a 2024 edition of the New Orleans Smooth Jazz Jam, when a Smooth Jazz Network announcement listed Nils, Nathan Mitchell, Claudia Hayden, Lemek, Quintin Gerard W and Tony Saunders performing at the Jefferson Performing Arts Center in Metairie on November 16 that year. The recurring concert series has given the father-son act a steady platform in the New Orleans area over the past several years.
This weekend's edition brings the series to a new indoor venue on the lakefront, with the same core of touring smooth jazz names returning to the stage. For Lemek, the return to the area after nearly a decade away adds a personal milestone to a show already billed as the Public Market South Shore Harbor's first foray into blues-jazz programming.
