Carnival of Soul

BackTalk

• Jimmy “Duck” Holmes talks back
  Mississippi’s Jimmy “Duck” Holmes is the keeper of the Bentonia blues tradition flame. He follows such earlier practitioners of the country-blues… – John Wirt

Cover Story

Features

Letters

• Letters to the Editor, OffBeat Magazine December 2019
  Overwhelmed? This letter is in response to Jan Ramsey’s blog “Not Dead Yet—Distribution Snafu Affects Retailers and Bands.”—ED Major labels have… – OffBeat Readers

Mojo Mouth

OffBeat Eats

• The Elysian Bar
  After a four-year, $20 million rehabilitation project, ASH NYC and New Orleans resident Nathalie Jordi transformed the 19th century St. Peter… – Michael Dominici
• Food and Lagniappe: Midnight Noodle is much more than just a meal
  Melvin Rogers Stovall III wants to dish out a new kind of dining experience in New Orleans, one bao at a… – Amanda “Bonita” Mester

Dining Out

• The Elysian Bar
  After a four-year, $20 million rehabilitation project, ASH NYC and New Orleans resident Nathalie Jordi transformed the 19th century St. Peter… – Michael Dominici

Reviews

• Bruce Sunpie Barnes and Rachel Breunlin, Le Kèr Creole: Creole Composition & Stories from Louisiana (University of New Orleans Press)
  The Louisiana Creole language, referred to by many as Creole French, surrounds those living in Louisiana even more than most people… – Geraldine Wyckoff
• Charlie and the Tropicales, Presents for Everyone (Independent)
  Do you know what goes great with kitsch? More kitsch! By early December, some of us are about to gag on… – Stacey Leigh Bridewell
• Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis, Big Band Holidays II (Blue Engine Records)
  Playing live on its home turf in New York City, the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis celebrates the season… – Geraldine Wyckoff
• Lost Bayou Ramblers, On Va Continuer! (DVD) / Asteur (CD) (Lost Bayou Records)
  This combined DVD-CD offering of the documentary On Va Continuer! and the live album Asteur celebrates the Lost Bayou Ramblers’ 20th… – Dan Willging
• Dr. John & the WDR Big Band, Big Band Voodoo (Orange Music)
  Dr. John is an essential piece of New Orleans for his R&B and rock ’n’ roll sessions at Cosimo Matassa’s studio,… – OffBeat Magazine
• Billy Vera, Rip It Up—The Specialty Records Story (BMG)
  Part of the RPM series of recent books documenting the history of U.S. independent record labels from the mid- 1940s to… – Jeff Hannusch
• Dave Jordan, Burning Sage (Independent)
  Let’s get this out of the way from the get-go. Dave Jordan has crafted a great album; perhaps the best of… – Jay Mazza
• Jon Batiste, Chronology of a Dream – Live at the Village Vanguard (Verve)
  Chronology of a Dream represents the second installment of pianist/vocalist/composer Jon Batiste captured live in the fall of 2018 during his… – Geraldine Wyckoff
• Samantha Fish, Kill or Be Kind (Rounder)
  Following five albums with Germany’s Ruf Records, blues, rock and more singer—guitarist Samantha Fish—moves to the great American roots-music label, Rounder… – John Wirt
• The Tangiers Combo, Tangerine (Independent)
  In fine print on the back cover of The Tangiers Combo’s new album, Tangerine, it says “this album is dedicated to… – Stacey Leigh Bridewell
• Leyla McCalla, The Capitalist Blues (Jazz Village)
  Leyla McCalla’s third solo release The Capitalist Blues is remarkable in terms of ambition, scale, and realization. Whereas her first efforts… – Michael Dominici
• Warren Storm, Taking the World By Storm (APO Records)
  At some point when Yvette Landry was writing her book Taking the World, by Storm—A Conversation with Warren Storm Schexnider, The… – Dan Willging
• Charlie Dennard, Melodias (Independent)
  Dennard, a New Orleans pianist who nevertheless makes most of his living on the road with Cirque du Soleil, has put… – Tom McDermott
• Hanna Mignano Quartet, Hanna Mignano Quartet (Independent)
  If you are in the mood for jazz manouche, you can set Peabody’s wayback machine to 1930’s Paris or just pop… – Christopher Weddle
• In Business, Space Story (Independent)
  If any cultural capital in the world could possibly reboot the adventures of the P-Funk mothership, the Crescent City would be… – Robert Fontenot
• Frog and Henry, England 2019 / 2019 II (Independent)
  Similar to the methods of Tuba Skinny, string and brass band Frog and Henry draw inspiration from the dawn of early… – Stacey Leigh Bridewell
• The New Orleans Swinging Gypsies, Hot Boudin (Independent)
  The swing music scene in New Orleans is in full swing, if you’ll pardon the play on words. As new bands… – Robert Fontenot
• Roadside Glorious, Brawn and Bone (Independent)
  Roadside Glorious styles itself as a blues-rock group, but there’s a surprisingly strong soul element that lands them more on the… – Robert Fontenot
• Georgi Petrov, Alien of Extraordinary Abilities (Breakfast for Dinner Records)
  An “Alien of Extraordinary Abilities” is not a Grey with telekinesis or something like that, as jazz guitarist Georgi Petrov playfully… – Robert Fontenot
• Feufollet, Prends Courage (Feufollet Records)
  Christened after the boisterous garage rocker from Feufollet’s 2008 Cow Island Hop, Prends Courage marks the group’s 20th anniversary with 17… – Dan Willging
• Brad Walker Quartet, Live at Snug Harbor (Independent)
  As pointed out in the liner notes, this recording, Live at Snug Harbor, was initially captured purely to be used as… – Geraldine Wyckoff
• Eyope, Elevation (Independent)
  Eyope is an acronym for “elevate your own personal expression” and this new band’s debut EP, Elevation, is a statement of… – Jay Mazza
• Byron Asher, Byron Asher’s Skrontch Music (Sinking City Records)
  Reed player and composer Byron Asher, a Maryland native based in New Orleans for the past decade, has been exploring the… – Ken Franckling
• Dukes of Dixieland, New Orleans Voodoo (Leisure Music Group)
  With its release year printed as 2015 on the CD’s slipcase packing, Dukes of Dixieland’s voodoo-themed three- song EP is a… – Dan Willging
• Max and the Martians, Curtains (Independent)
  With only four tracks on Curtains, the latest release from Max and the Martians leaves no room for a false step.… – Christopher Weddle
• HeavyDrunk, Holywater (Independent)
  Raised in Monroe, Louisiana, and Jackson, Mississippi, Rob Robinson leads the Nashville-based soul-blues- Southern rock band HeavyDrunk. On record, the group… – John Wirt
• The Rakers, Five (Independent)
  Forget Area 51 and Roswell—those hotbeds of paranormal activity ain’t got nothin’ on the psychedelic swamp- gas hoodoo of “Gonzales Lights,”… – Cree McCree
• Smithfield Fair, Gospelesque (Stevenson Productions)
  With its existence inching towards the half-century mark—46 years to be exact—Smithfield Fair is believed to be the longest running folk/singer-songwriter… – Dan Willging