Download - Downbeat

lues | By fRAnK-John hADLEy
Louisiana
Rebound
Mitch Woods: Gumbo Blues (Club
88 Records 8808; 32:31 ★★★½)
Though a native New Yorker and
long based in San Francisco,
Woods exhibits the knowing spirit of
someone who’d grown up listening
to New Orleans r&b greats on the
radio while living smack dab in the
middle of the bayous and canals of
the Atchafalaya Basin. Supported
by first-call young New Orleans
sidemen and Herb Hardesty, who’s
proven his expertise on r&b saxophone
time and time again over the
course of six decades with Fats
Domino, the singing pianist upholds
the musical values of his heroes; revivals
of “Big Mamou” and 11 more
true classics yank listeners into the
rollicking fun.
ordering info: mitchwoods.com
Jeffery Broussard: Keeping
the tradition alive! (Maison De
Soul 1087; 61:27 ★★★½) The
impurities around the edges of
the cayenne-hot zydeco stomped
out by singer-fiddler-accordionist
Broussard and his Creole Cowboys are
an essential part of the music’s appeal to
dance floor revelers. Always mindful of
zydeco king Clifton Chenier, the Cowboys
wring conviction out of everything they
touch, whether it’s the bluesy complaint “I
Lost My Woman” or Boozoo Chavis’ braying
“Johnny Billy Goat.” Rallying cry: “Oh
yeah, baby!”
ordering info: floydsrecordshop.com
Buckwheat Zydeco: Buckwheat Zydeco’s
Bayou Boogie (Music for Little People
524468; 57:19 ★★★½) Singer and accordionist
“Buckwheat” Dural, behind a Grammy and
many years of touring, has brought zydeco to
mainstream America, and it’s a safe bet his
new party album for kids and young-at-heart
adults will get noticed in a big way. His joyous
sounds offset—to some degree, anyway—the
bad news out of south Louisiana. Lil’ Buck
Sinegal’s a darn good blues guitarist. Guests
include Maria Muldaur.
ordering info: musicforlittlepeople.com
Ann Savoy: Black Coffee (Memphis
International 0025; 43:55 ★★★½) Cajun
music may be dearest to Savoy’s heart,
but close are Hot Club swing jazz, Bessie
Smith, Peggy Lee and 1930s jazz singers
Lee Wiley and Mildred Bailey. With excellent,
unruffled support from Balfa Toujours
fiddler Kevin Wimmer, jazz guitarist Tom
Mitchell and a rhythm section, she’s right at
home singing in English or French old favorites
like “My Funny Valentine,” “If It Ain’t
Jeffery Broussard:
Creole triple threat
Love” and Smith’s “You’ve Been A Good
Ole Wagon.” Too pretty and tender: “Embraceable
You,” a vocal duet with Mitchell.
ordering info: memphisinternational.com
Anders osborne: american Patchwork
(Alligator 4936; 44:11 ★★★) Osborne was
among those displaced from their homes
when the levees failed. The highlight of
his first studio album since the disaster is
“Darkness At The Bottom,” a molten-hot
blues-rock catharsis throbbing mercilessly
under the weight of the pain he loads into
his voice and guitar. A few of the other original
songs, but not ultra-tuneful “Meet Me
In New Mexico,” seem exaggerated in style
and feeling.
ordering info: alligator.com
tony Joe White: the shine (Swamp
8572202; 52:47 ★★) that on the road
Look “Live” (Rhino 524698; 66:44 ★★★)
On the freshly recorded shine, White’s baritone
creeps like spilt molasses over words
to original songs that scrimp on melody and
generally lack musical interest. Try to stay
awake and locate patches of pathos in his
vocals. The formerly unreleased “Live” LP,
recorded who knows where in 1971, is livelier
than shine with the country boy and his
band parlaying a brand of swampy blues plus
country and rock. Ray Charles swiped his
ballad “Rainy Night In Georgia” and made it
his own, but “Polk Salad Annie” and 10 more
bear White’s informal imprint. DB
ordering info: tonyjoewhite.com; rhinohandmade.com
CoURtesy jeFFeRy bRoUssaRd
NOVEMBER 2010 DOWNBEAT 55