NOLA Jazz Fest: Gambit’s picks for music to see May 2 | Jazz Fest

With hundreds of performances out at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, it’s hard to know where to start. So Gambit has some suggestion for bands and musicians to see the second Saturday at the fest.

Mia Borders

11:20 a.m.-12:20 p.m., Gentilly Stage

New Orleans native Mia Borders has become a staple of her hometown’s live music scene, where she performs a roots and blues-driven brand of soulful rock and funk. The singer, songwriter and guitarist’s latest album, “Firewalker” features a title track collaboration with George Porter Jr. Later on Saturday, Borders also will play an acoustic trio set at 2:25 p.m. in the Rhythmpourium tent. — JENNIFER ODELL

Dee-1

11:20 a.m.-12:25 p.m., Congo Square Stage

New Orleans-born rapper Dee-1 has been hustling as an independent artist for more than 15 years, steadily reaching a bigger and bigger audience across more than 20 albums and EPs and features on tracks with Juvenile, Mac Phipps and Lupe Fiasco. The former educator keeps a positive, often religious message in his music, and his most recent album, “Hipocritical Hop,” focuses in on his critiques of the “glorification,” he says, of violence and drugs in rap — criticism that has brought some pushback from rappers like Rick Ross and Joe Budden. — JAKE CLAPP

C.J. Chenier & The Red Hot Louisiana Band

12:40-1:40 p.m., Blues Tent

C.J. Chenier was part of the team that earned a 2026 Grammy Award for “A Tribute to the King of Zydeco,” which honored his late father Clifton Chenier at the 100th anniversary of the zydeco pioneer’s birth. On the album, C.J. Chenier is credited alongside artists like Taj Mahal and The Rolling Stones, but those fancy names bow down in homage to the Creole dance genre. With The Red Hot Louisiana Band, Chenier plays his own originals along with many of his father’s classics. — LIAM PIERCE

Mark Braud’s New Orleans Jazz Giants

1:45-2:45 p.m., Economy Hall Tent

Trumpeter Mark Braud may be best known for his roles with Preservation Hall, where he now leads Preservation Brass, and for the generations of musicians on both sides of his family. But he’s also a charismatic performer whose onstage demeanor feels more lighthearted than his c.v. might suggest. Sometimes that translates to revisiting the bawdier side of early jazz and blues tunes or almost visibly changing an audience member’s mind about traditional jazz. Other times, it means lobbing Steven Wright-style one-liners to the crowd: “My new album is about to go copper,” he deadpanned at the Jazz Museum in March. — JENNIFER ODELL

Jemere Morgan

1:45-2:45 p.m., Jazz & Heritage Stage

5-6 p.m., Cultural Exchange Pavillion

Reggae singer Jemere Morgan hails from a massive musical family best known for the Morgan Heritage family band, which Jemere now fronts. His reggae-meets-R&B solo work often features positive messages about love and peace and includes the sunny, conscious pop tune “Try Jah Love” and the Damian Marley-produced “Higher We Go.” Morgan also performs Sunday at 11:20 a.m. on the Festival stage and at 3:25 p.m. back in the Cultural Exchange Pavilion. — JENNIFER ODELL

Leo Nocentelli

2:10-3:10 p.m., Gentilly Stage

Guitarist and founding member of the Meters, Leo Nocentelli is funk royalty in New Orleans. His solo sets embrace the legacy he’s known for and feature hits like “Hey Pocky A-Way,” but they also give the talented player an opportunity to indulge his jazz influences and the softer songwriter side revealed on Nocentelli’s 1971 country music-inspired album “Another Side,” a nearly forgotten gem that was unearthed and finally released in 2021. — BRAD RHINES

Dianne Reeves

4:15-5:30 p.m., WWOZ Jazz Tent

Five-time Grammy winner and National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master Dianne Reeves remains one of the golden voices of jazz, but she also handles R&B, blues, gospel, Latin or pop with ease. Reeves last year recorded a John Coltrane centenary tribute with the Branford Marsalis Quartet, and the album will be released by Blue Note in September. — LIAM PIERCE

Sierra Hull

4:20-5:35 p.m. Saturday, Fais Do-Do Stage

Crossing over from the bluegrass scene to the mainstream, mandolin virtuoso Sierra Hull has shared the stage with fellow travelers like Bela Fleck and Billy Strings, shining a light on traditional string band music. Last year’s self-released record “Tip Toe High Wire” earned Hull four Grammy nods and appearances on NPR’s Tiny Desk and Austin City Limits. This year, the songwriter and multi-instrumentalist breaks more new ground with “The Movements,” a three-part bluegrass concerto released last month. Hull also will be interviewed by Mollie Farr at 1:30 p.m. Saturday on the Allison Miner Music Heritage Stage. — BRAD RHINES

Midnite Disturbers

4:25-5:15 p.m., Jazz & Heritage Stage

The Midnite Disturbers is one of the annual “miss it and you’ll regret it,” only at Jazz Fest shows. The New Orleans supergroup — started by Stanton Moore and the late Kevin O’Day — includes a dozen or so of the city’s best brass and funk musicians jamming on songs like “Gimme My Money Back” and “Buck It Like a Horse.” The lineup is always fluid, but some regulars include Galactic’s Moore and saxophonist Ben Ellman, Big Sam Williams and the Dirty Dozen’s Roger Lewis, and past years have featured Glen David Andrews and Mike Dillon. Also take note of the band members’ shirts, which give shout-outs to influential musicians and gone-too-soon peers. — JAKE CLAPP

Eagles

4:45-7 p.m., Festival Stage

After playing together in Linda Ronstadt’s backup band, the members of the Eagles left the nest in 1971 and immediately took off. Their debut release launched three smash singles — “Take It Easy,” “Witchy Woman” and “Peaceful Easy Feeling” — and the hits kept coming. After disbanding in 1980, the group later reunited and underwent a few lineup changes before embarking on a farewell tour that started back in 2023. But this really might be it, as founding member Don Henley told “CBS This Morning” earlier this year, as the band sets out on a short spring tour called “The Long Goodbye, Act III.” — BRAD RHINES

Little Feat

5:30-7 p.m., Blues Tent

Co-founder Bill Payne and the core members of Southern rock stalwarts Little Feat have kept moving forward since the death of Lowell George in 1979. The newest lineup is fronted by Scott Sharrard of the Greg Allman Band on guitar and also includes the addition of drummer Tony Leone from the Chris Robinson Brotherhood. Their latest release, last year’s “Strike Up the Band,” is a vitalized effort of blues- and gospel-tinged jams with bright horns and syncopated grooves. The new batch of tunes follows nicely in the Feat-steps of classics like “Dixie Chicken” and “Fat Man in the Bathtub.” — BRAD RHINES

T-Pain

5:55-6:55 p.m., Congo Square Stage

If you’re expecting T-Pain’s set to rely on auto-tune, you’re stuck in 2005. While those signature digital harmonies will likely anchor club classics like “Buy U a Drank,” the Tallahassee, Florida, native appears at Jazz Fest as a newly minted BMI President’s Award winner. He won over metalheads with a viral cover of “War Pigs” on his soulful 2023 album “On Top of the Covers” and celebrated two decades of hits last year. — LIAM PIERCE