If there were a Truth in Advertising Award for CD titles, Bourbon Street Swing would be this year’s clear winner. The new release from the Jerry Embree Swing Band is pure Bourbon Street. A cast of seasoned players turning out the hits of eras gone by is a familiar sight in the tourist joints along this historic strip. While locals may feel varying degrees of disdain for the street, people from all over the world still flock there, and with good reason. Sure, if you live in New Orleans, and particularly if you’ve ever worked in the service industry in places geared towards tourists, you can hear most of the staple tunes of Bourbon Street repertoires in your sleep. But if you are one of billions of people in the world that doesn’t have “What A Wonderful World”, “House of the Rising Sun”, and “Down By the Riverside” permanently tattooed on your brain, there is still a lot of great entertainment on Bourbon St.. This disc is a fine example of the fun to be had there.

The selections, with the exception of four originals, are all as familiar to any New Orleanian as heat in August. The arrangements are all pretty stock, but they are executed with lots of drive. Embree plays a swinging tenor with a rich, gutsy tone reminiscent of Earl Bostic and the great jump players of the 1940s and 50s. The band is brimming with top-shelf New Orleans players. Erving Charles Jr., of Fats Domino’s band, provides the drop dead, in the pocket bass that he is so well known for. His vocals add nice local flavor to “Kansas City” and “What a Wonderful World”. Other stalwarts on this disc include Johnny Vidacovich on drums, Jerry Jumonville on his ever-burning tenor sax, and Gary Hullete on guitar and keys. Chip Wilson adds a beautiful guitar part to “Fly Me to the Moon”, replete with tastefully placed harmonics. Cherie Mannino, along with Embree, provides most of the vocal action on this set, and it’s all executed nicely.

While I could see you passing on this one if you have already had enough of Bourbon St. and its associated sounds, this CD is an honest representation of a place that provides many of our visitors with the time of their lives. Bourbon Street Swing lives up to its name in every way.