Our New Orleans: A Benefit Album for the Gulf Coast

Various Artists (Artist)

Product Details

• Audio CD (December 6, 2005)
• Original Release Date: November 22, 2005
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Nonesuch
• ASIN: B000BNTM0U
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (40 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #18,854 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Hurricane Katrina may have devastated New Orleans and surrounding Gulf communities in 2005, but it was also a forceful reminder of the Crescent City's world renowned status as the epicenter of much American musical heritage. This benefit album (all net proceeds will be donated to the local relief efforts of Habitat for Humanity, with a portion specifically set aside to provide housing for local musicians left homeless by the disaster) picks up that latter thread, a sometimes bittersweet reminder of how deepy ingrained, yet all-too-fragile, that cultural legacy really is. Allen Toussaint's succulent reworking of his "Yes We Can Can" sets a rhythmic, optimistic tone that parallels his city's own historical resilience, while Dr. John turns in a bluesy, laid-back "World I Never Made" that's a sharp contrast to the flashes of anger he showed on Tab Benoit's earlier benefit collection, Voice of the Wetlands. Irma Thomas gives a swampy, timely edge to Bessie Smith's "Back Water Blues" while others pay tribute to the region's history of gospel (Davell Crawford, Eddie Bo), indigenous cajun folk (Buckwheat Zydeco, Beausolei, Carol Fran) and legacy as the Birthplace of Jazz (vibrantly disparate contributions from Dr. Michael White, Dirty Dozen Brass Band and the venerable Preservation Hall Jazz Band). The Wild Magnolias' medley "Brother John Is Gone/Herc-Jolly-John" is a joyous, African-rooted gumbo of musical possibilities, while Donald Harrison's sax work with The Wardell Querzergue's Orchestra's on "What a Wonderful World" is a fine preamble for Toussaint's elegiac solo piano rendition of "Tipitina and Me." Randy Newman's closer, a melancholic new version of Good Old Boys' "Louisiana 1927," is a tribute to his own N.O. roots whose refrain--"Louisiana, they're trying to wash us away"--is also a forceful, tragic reminder that history does indeed repeat. --Jerry McCulley

Product Description

Nonesuch Records is releasing a benefit album of newly recorded songs featuring artists from the New Orleans music community – across a wide variety of styles – to document the depth, richness and profound musicality of that unique city. Funds from the sale of the record, titled Our New Orleans, will be donated to Habitat For Humanity to aid those affected by the recent Hurricane Katrina disaster. A number of New Orleans’ best known musicians have been asked to record songs that are integral to their lives and that express their feelings about the city and the recent events there. Sessions began in New York on September 20, with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band and the Wild Magnolias recording at Clinton Studios. Later the same day and on September 21, Allen Toussaint, Irma Thomas and the Dirty Dozen Brass Band recorded at New York’s Avatar Studios. Further sessions in October included Dr. John, Buckwheat Zydeco, and Randy Newman, among others. Nonesuch’s parent company – Warner Bros. Records – is donating all of the production costs for this record, as part of the Warner Music Group’s larger efforts on behalf of the hurricane victims. Many others involved in the project are also generously donating their time and services.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

65 of 66 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Down But Never Out , December 8, 2005

By	James Morris (Jackson Heights, NY United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

A wonderful mix of NOLA soul, R & B, Jazz and almost everything New Orleans, the Nonesuch release Our New Orleans just goes to show you that down does not necessarily mean out. The artists here are telling us that they and their music are still around, thanks, a fact most of us suspected would come to pass even through our shock and our grief at the horrible losses.

The problem with many "benefit" albums that offer play lists of "various" numerous artists is that the bands usually cover a broad range of styles, and sometimes such divergent sounds crash headlong into each other. Worse, such efforts sometimes come off as trite, patronizing to their cause or even indifferent.

Happily, this is not the case with Our New Orleans. The material, whether Jazz, Cajun, Creole, Rhythm & Blues, Gospel, Second Line or whatever, all have one common current running through their collective wires - the spirit of New Orleans. And the love if it.

As others have pointed out, picking out a favorite from so many first-class tracks is next to impossible. Just because Irma Thomas happens to be one my favorite vocalists of all time, doesn't mean there aren't plenty of other first-rate performers here to make us jump around the room and celebrate. Celebrate what? I don't know - celebrate those who made it, I guess, and give those who didn't a real New Orleans tribute. From the familiar to the revelations (and there were a few revelations for me hiding in this album) all the participants give 1,000%. It wouldn't be fair to single out any unless I mention that every performance is as heartfelt as it is hearty.

One of the revelations for me (for I was not heretofore familiar with the singer or the song) was TOU' LES JOURS Ç'EST PAS LE MÌME, a burning Creole bouncer by Carol Fran.

And any album that proffers the song Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans is a winner in my book. Originally warbled by the great Billie Holiday to Louis Armstrong in the motion picture New Orleans (1947) I got chills when I noticed it was being performed here by the venerable Preservation Hall Jazz Band. Since the day Katrina hit, I have been singing snatches to myself in a kind of macabre search for the perfect New Orleans swan song. But of course, we always knew the survivors would bounce back...

Do you know what it means
To miss New Orleans
And miss it each night and day
Well I know I'm not wrong
The feeling's getting stronger
The longer I stay away
Miss those moss-covered vines
The tall sugar-pines
Where mockingbirds used to sing
And I'd like to see the lazy Mississippi
A hurrying about to spring
The moonlight on the Bayous*
Those Creole tunes that fill the air
You know I dream about magnolias in bloom
And soon I'm wishing that I were there
Do you know what it means
To miss those Red Beans
When that's where you left your heart
And there's one thing more
I miss the one I care for
More than I miss New Orleans


*Billie Holiday sings this line as:
"The Mardi Gras, the memories
Of Creole tunes that fill the air"

Our New Orleans is highly recommended!

46 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful, moving set and a great cause, December 7, 2005

By	Travis Dubya McGee Bickle "elitist duffer" (Texas Quail Hunting Camp) - See all my reviews

Somehow, despite being an extremely fervent admirer of Randy Newman, I'd become slightly jaded about "Louisiana 1927"...I'd heard it too many times, in too many crummy versions, to the point where it had become almost corny, a trope. With Katrina and its aftermath though, it lives again, and I am reminded what a brilliant and beautifully crafted piece of work it is. There's a lovely, grief-laden take on it here...

Although I've only listened to this once, the highlights that stood out are too numerous to neatly encapsulate here. But, having said that, listen for: the Donald Harrison sax solo on "Wonderful World", the forlorn Buckwheat Zydeco track, "Crying in the Streets", with great, wailing, sorrowful guitar work from Ry Cooder, and Irma Thomas's take on Bessie Smith's "Backwater Blues" (where's Irma been lately?)...And oh, Dr. John's weary, resigned "World I Never Made" and Allen Toussaint's "Yes We Can Can", a perfect opening salvo - if you ask me, there can never be enough versions of that song in the world.

Great music and a chance to do a good deed (all proceeds go to Katrina-related causes)? Sign me up, Coach!

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Five stars isn't enough, give it a universe of stars, January 5, 2006

By	O. J. Dean (Texas, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I am rendered speechless by this album. I put this CD on for backround music while I was reading because it would remind me of home. When the song "Tou' les jours ?'est pas la m?me" came on I could no longer concentrate on my book, it aroused so much emotion in me. It is definitely rare for a song (actually, the entire album) to be able to do that and now I can't stop listening to it. This is a most powerful experience. Do not miss out on this album.