Music
Duke Heitger and Bernd Lhotzky, Doin’ the Voom Voom (Arbors)
With his daytime gig on the Steamboat Natchez ended by Katrina, trumpeter Duke Heitger has been hard to hear in New Orleans. His latest CD, Doin’ the Voom Voom, shows […]
Various Artists, The Solo Art Story, Volume 1 (Piano Blues and Boogie 1938-39) (Solo Art)
Among the more interesting items in George Buck’s massive catalogue of classic jazz are a good number of recordings of the founders of boogie-woogie. Local pianist Lars Edegran has combed […]
Willie “The Lion” Smith and Don Ewell, Stride Piano Duets (Delmark)
“The Lion” was one of the founders of the stride piano idiom along with Fats Waller and James P. Johnson,, and Don Ewell was the greatest pianist of the New […]
Randy Newman, Harps and Angels (Nonesuch)
Bad news first: Randy Newman’s latest has only 30 minutes of new material. Perhaps Nonesuch, his record label, applied pressure to produce something new three years after signing him (his […]
Clive Wilson’s New Orleans Serenaders, Heart Full of Rhythm (GHB)
Most of the musicians on this latest Serenaders disc have been practicing and playing New Orleans jazz for 45 years. Pianist Butch Thompson talks in the liner notes about meeting […]
Michael Pellera, Playin’ Piano (PawMaw Music)
Were it not for his innate modesty, pianist Michael Pellera would be much more acclaimed on the New Orleans music scene. Not that he’s doing badly. He has had a […]
Ned Sublette, The World That Made New Orleans (Lawrence Hill Books)
Four years ago the writer and musician Ned Sublette published his first book, the magnificent Cuba and Its Music. This work single-handedly changed my view, for instance, to the Cuban […]
Obituary: George Brumat
George Brumat, a long-time owner of both Snug Harbor Jazz Club and the Port of Call Restaurant, died in his sleep in New Orleans on July 7. Brumat, a bearlike […]
Matt Lemmler, Music of New Orleans (Independent)
Except for 2001’s much-acclaimed Portraits of Wonder, New Orleans pianist Matt Lemmler was known mostly in pre-storm days as one of the city’s upper echelon sidemen. After Katrina, Lemmler landed […]
Harry Connick, Jr., Oh, My Nola (Columbia)
Harry Connick, Jr. has been making records for 20 years now, but there are still many New Orleanians who don’t know what to make of him. In the process of […]
