New Orleans '26

Charlie & the Tropicales bring a 1950's Caribbean hotel party to life with torrid horns, tropical rhythms and infectious grooves. With a nod to New Orleans' history as the northernmost port of the Caribbean, the Tropicales perform music from Trinidad and Venezuela, Martinique and Guadeloupe, Jamaica, Cuba, and other destinations along the archipelago. Scorching tropicalia, and classic New Orleans jams. Biguines and boleros, calypsos and cumbias, rocksteady and rumba - songs that get stuck in your head. It's music that's guaranteed to melt the ice in your drink. All of that to say, the Tropicales' new LP New Orleans '26 makes a defiant statement: New Orleans music is Caribbean music. And who better to say it? This is a band that's kept an incredibly busy schedule in New Orleans since 2024, establishing themselves as one of the city's most exciting young bands - performing regularly at Snug Harbor, Tipitina's, the Broadside, Saturn Bar, Vaughans, and BJs Lounge, not to mention the Jazz and Heritage Center, Jazz Fest, parties at the Four Seasons and hotels all over town. Their last tour included marquee stops in Key West, New York City, New Haven, Cape Cod, Asbury Park, the Exit Zero Jazz Festival and of course... New Orleans. New Orleans '26 expands the band, too, bringing in guests like Latin Grammy winner Mireya Ramos, Grammy winner Jon Cleary, Tiny Desk sensation Sally Baby Geloso and celebrated dub engineer Roger Rivas for a little treat to close out the record. It delivers the same musicality and vibe that's packed clubs since 2018. If you feel like taking a trip, join some of the most celebrated musicians in the Crescent City and daiquiri, turn up your soundsystem, hit the dance floor, and join this subtropical party. New Orleans '26 redefines the music of this essential global city by taking back to where it came from: the Caribbean.