Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Allen Toussaint - Album: Bright Mississippi

Album: Bright Mississippi  /  Song: Bright Mississippi

Let us return to a time when jazz was truly the music of the "streets," where the rhythms moved in time to the times, where emotion and a visceral feel were the benchmarks of appreciation, and where New Orleans was the center of this musical universe. If there was anyone who could appropriate this sound today through the combination of experience and local oral transmission, it would be Allen Toussaint, the longtime NOLA pianist, songwriter, arranger and record producer.

Producer Joe Henry says that Toussaint's musical approach was "reaching back to look forward." Sitting down for a few days in the studio with a stellar band -- featuring musicians like Don Byron, Nicholas Payton and Marc Ribot -- Toussaint channels the 21st century back into the early 20th, with inspiring takes on the works of Sidney Bechet, Louis Armstrong and Jelly Roll Morton and their heirs. It's a superb recording, with soulful performances all around. --Nick Francis, Jazz24

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