Music
Cary Baker: Down On The Corner: Adventures In Busking & Street Music (Jawbone Press)
Veteran journalist Cary Baker takes an overdue look at the phenomenon in this book and in doing so, he creates a workable alternative history of popular music—where the street players are the heartbeat that powers it all.
Joy Clark: Tell It to the Wind (Righteous Babe)
Thanks to her touring and visibility in the last few years, Joy Clark’s stands to be the highest-profile debut to come out of New Orleans in quite some time and suffice to say she hasn’t blown it. Working with producer and collaborator Margaret Becker, and a few nods from label owner Ani DiFranco, she’s made an impressively accomplished album that draws two streams of music—the introspective singer/songwriter realm and locally-rooted funk and soul—into something quite her own.
Mia Borders: Firewalker (Blaxican Records)
Since bursting on the scene with a sound that was both invigoratingly fresh and pleasingly retro, Mia Borders has carved out a space for herself in a New Orleans scene that isn’t always open to both.
Jon Batiste: Beethoven Blues (Batiste Piano Series, Vol. 1) (Verve)
It doesn’t take long for Batiste to yank Ludwig Van from the Romantic-era parlors of Vienna to the red-light dens of Storyville. Just six seconds, to be exact, into this album centering on Batiste’s solo piano interpretations/interpolations of Beethoven pieces. That’s when he slides from the familiar lilt of Für Elise into a frisky, blue-notes-laced run with such elegance and grace that even the maestro himself would be delighted.
David Shaw: Take a Look Inside (Yokoko Records)
It sounds like David Shaw has just been through a bad breakup, a heavy round of therapy, or both. In terms of emotional intensity, his second solo album outdoes anything he’s done with the Revivalists, which for those who know the band’s work, is saying something. This is not the most radio-friendly record he’s ever made (and it’s on his own label so there’s nobody to complain), but an album for fans who will appreciate that he’s opened up this much.
James Evans/Lawrence Sieberth: Standardized (Independent)
In this duo setting, saxophonist and clarinetist James Evans and pianist Lawrence Sieberth celebrate material from the American songbook on the aptly named Standardized with shared musical temperaments. Though the two come from varied backgrounds and geographies, they thoughtfully come together with mutual respect, gentle touches and intuitive improvisations on ten timeless standards.
Minos the Saint: Atchafalaya Child (Independent)
There’s likely no better example of chamber-pop music in Louisiana than Baton Rouge’s Minos the Saint. For the band’s second album, Atchafalaya Child, Peter Simon’s earnest yet playful songs are dressed in elaborate arrangements crafted by the band’s multi-instrumentalist polymath, Ben Herrington.
The Secret Six Jazz Band: Fireworks (Independent)
Well, another year has gone by, and we have another Secret Six album to enjoy. Featuring many of the same players that have appeared on the last two recordings as well as regulars like leader and bassist John Joyce and banjoist Hunter Bergamy, the album explores similar traditional jazz territory and includes familiar tunes as well as some obscurities. As with all of the band’s releases, the liner notes include the musicians’ favorite versions of the songs.
Grayson Capps: Heartbreak, Misery & Death (Royal Potato Family)
Nothing but the truth in this album title, since every track on the album is about one or all of the above. Though he’s recorded some upbeat rock ’n’ roll in his time, Grayson Capps here turns his attention to the darker corners of the American songbook—murder ballads, downcast country songs, foreboding gospel numbers, and Leonard Cohen’s greatest hit are all accounted for. If you’re one of those depressives who became a Johnny Cash fan because of the haunting American Recordings albums, you’ll be right at home.
Karma & the Killjoys: Synthetic (Pal Productions)
Make immediate room on your Halloween playlist for “Stay My Fangs,” the closing track from Karma & the Killjoys’ six-track EP. Propelled by a gothy blues groove and Rain Scott-Catoire’s dramatic vocal, the song uses werewolf imagery to explore the nature of sensuality and strength. Somewhere Anne Rice is smiling.
