Name: NOLATET - Mike Dillon, Brian Haas, James Singleton, Johnny Vidacovich
Start: 2026-04-29T20:00:00-05:00
Location: Café Istanbul New Orleans

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NOLATET
Mike Dillon | Brian Haas | James Singleton | Johnny Vidacovich
Acclaimed New Orleans–based ensemble NOLATET returns with their third album, Somethin’ To Relax With, arriving via RPF Records/Royal Potato Family. The group reunites the legendary Crescent City rhythm section of bassist James Singleton and drummer Johnny Vidacovich alongside two of the city’s most highly regarded and fearless improvisers: vibraphonist/percussionist Mike Dillon and pianist Brian Haas.
NOLATET’s first new music since 2018’s No Revenge Necessary, the quartet recorded Somethin’ To Relax With live at Low Down in Tulsa over two sold-out shows in 2025. Previously praised by Jazz Times for their “mix of quirky melodies, classically informed harmonies, gentle grooves, and punk-rock moxie” and hailed by DownBeat as “innovative in its improvisations and graceful in its execution,” Nolatet once again rises to such accolades across six new compositions, including highlights “Switchback,” “Doc Richter To You” and “Black Pencil,” that balance an earthy jazz finesse with swaggering syncopation and harmonic irreverence.
The four men who comprise NOLATET were in each other's lives, either in close proximity or as distant heroes for many years. Johnny Vidacovich and James Singleton have been New Orleans' best rhythm section since 1977 having been the backbone of their own ensemble Astral Project, as well as supporting artists ranging from James Booker to Professor Longhair to Dizzy Gillespie and Jon Cleary. Mike Dillon and Brian Haas — who initially looked to Singleton and Vidacovich as heroes before sharing stages with them — have been playing co-bills and sitting in with each other's bands on the same touring circuit for over 20 years, ranging from Punkadelick to Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey and numerous points in between. All four musicians are fiercely independent iconoclasts and bandleaders who compose, play and navigate their musical lives in their own unique way.
As like vibration always attracts like vibration, it is no surprise that after years of loose collaboration with each other the four would form a band in 2016. Their debut album Dogs and its predecessor No Revenge Necessary, as well as the their most recent recording Somethin’ To Relax With features all original material influenced by the diverse lives and perceptions of these four jazz avatars. While traditional jazz is the backbone and starting point for NOLATET's language, each member's piercing individuality allows innovation to be a constant. Sketches for compositions are the starting point, but ultimately this is improvised music made in the moment alternating between meditative focus and wild abandon.
“Musically speaking, the NOLATET is limitless. The music ebbs and flows effortlessly, like rebirthing an amoeba,” says Dillon. “We have one of the all-time great New Orleans rhythm sections in Johnny V. and James. Like any great rhythm section, they make you find parts of yourself that you never knew existed. With that as our foundation, there’s no telling how far the music can expand with each performance.”
You won't want to miss this ONE NIGHT ONLY show with NOLATET in the great-sounding and wonderfully intimate 400-seat Café Istanbul!
NOLATET
Brian Haas – Piano
Mike Dillon - Vibraphone
James Singleton – Bass
Johnny Vidacovich - Drums
Wednesday, April 29, 2026
Doors: 7:30PM
Show: 8:00PM
Café Istanbul
2372 St. Claude Avenue
New Orleans, LA
ADMISSION IS VIA HARD TICKET OR WILL CALL ONLY; IF ANYONE TRIES TO SELL YOU A PRINT-AT-HOME TICKET, IT IS A SCAM, AND SUCH TICKETS WILL NOT BE HONORED.