GOOD music often has a sense of place and swamp jazz pianist Dr John is more attached to his roots than most.
He has never got round to cutting the umbilical link with his home city, here represented by the slurred abbreviation in the title. N'Awlinz equals New Orleans and the best Dr John album in years. This fantastic new outing is a many-tuned hymn to New Orleans, an 18-song party piece to the city and its pressure-cooker music.
The mix is old-style rhythm'n'blues, played with the temperature up and sweat running down the walls. First up is Quatre Parishe, a beautiful, swelling tune, which makes way for a rousting When The Saints Go Marching In, featuring guest vocals from Mavis Staples.
Mavis also appears on another reworked traditional song, Lay My Burden Down. Other highlights are too many to mention, but please make time for the splendidly batty Hen Layin' Rooster featuring BB King, Randy Newman on his own song, I Ate Up The Apple Tree, and Dis Dat Or D'Udda.
Updated: 08:48 Thursday, July 15, 2004
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