With Mardi Gras looming only a few weeks away, we celebrate with an extensive look at New Orleans R&B. As Allmusic.com puts it: Primarily a piano- and horn-driven style, New Orleans R&B is the next step over from its more bluesier practitioners. There's a cheerful good-naturedness to the style that infuses the music with a good-time feel, no matter how somber the lyrical text. The music itself uses a distinctively "lazy" feel, with all of its somewhat complex rhythms falling just a hair behind the beat, making for what is known as "the sway." The vocals can run the full emotional gamut, from laid-back crooning to full-throated gospel shouting, while the horn lines provide a perfect droning backdrop. Enlivened by Caribbean rhythms, an unrelenting party atmosphere, and the distinctive "second-line" strut of the Dixieland music so indigenous to the area, there's nothing quite as intoxicating as the sound of Crescent City r&b.
Track Listing:
What Is New Orleans
Kermit Ruffins & the Barbeque Swingers · Treme: Soundtrack
It's All Over Now
Dirty Dozen Brass Band with Doctor John · New Orleans Brass
Iko Iko
The Dixie Cups · The Soul of New Orleans
Mardi Gras Mambo
Cubanisimo! · Mardi Gras Mambo
Plas Johnson
Hot Spot · The King of Sax
Fais Deaux Deaux
Blue Northern · Blue Northern
Yes We Can Can
Allan Toussaint · Our New Orleans 2005
Go to The Mardi Gras
Professor Longhair · Meet Me at the Mardi Gras
Where Has My Easy Gone
Ray Bonneville · Easy Gone
Jump and Shout
Erline Harris & the Johnson Brothers · Jump and Shout
Mama Roux
Henry Butler · Treme: Soundtrack
When I See You
Fats Domino · Walking to New Orleans
Walking to New Orleans
Fats Domino · Walking to New Orleans
At The Foot of Canal Street
John Boutte · At The Foot of Canal Street
Check Mr. Popeye
Eddie Bo · Collector's Choice
Such a Night
Dr. John · Gumbo
Don't Mess With My Man
Irma Thomas · Collector's Choice
Treme Second Line
Kermit Ruffins · New Orleans Brass
Home of the Mardi Gras
Cannery Row · Cannery Row
Sea Cruise
Frankie Ford · Kings of New Orleans Rock and Roll
Rockin' Pneumonia
Huey Smith · Kings of New Orleans Rock and Roll
Let The Good Times Roll
Alvin Robinson · The Soul of New Orleans
Ooh-Poo-Pah-Doo
Jessie Hill · The Soul of New Orleans
Over You
Aaron Neville · The Soul of New Orleans
Ernie K-Doe
Mother In Law · The Soul of New Orleans
Working in a Coal Mine
Lee Dorsey · The Soul of New Orleans
Robert Parker
Barefootin' · The Soul of New Orleans
Cajun Moon
JJ Cale · Special Edition
La Danse de Mardi Gras
Steve Riley · Treme: Soundtrack
Walk On Gilded Splinters
Dr. John · Gris-Gris