Smart beautiful original piano compositions with wit and humor, paired with a who's who of New Orlean's greatest living performers and two magically resurrected from the spirit world.

21 MP3 Songs in this album (67:03) !
Related styles: JAZZ: New Orleans Jazz, JAZZ: Jazz Vocals

People who are interested in Louis Armstrong Jelly Roll Morton Fats Waller should consider this download.


Details:
Despite what you may have heard, New Orleans in 2009
still brims with musicians. Not many are getting rich, and
a large number have endured great hardship post-Katrina,
but the pool of talent remains deep. And itâs a scene
constantly restocked by up-and-coming local talent and
people immigrating to get some New Orleans flavor in
their diet.
âNew Orleans Duetsâ features 21 of the cityâs denizens,
from pretty well-known to rather obscure (Satchmo and
Jelly Roll no longer live here, and are thrown in the mix for
my amusement).
Iâve worked on this album off-and-on since 2003, and
looking at it now, I am surprised by how âjokeyâ much of
it is. I will defend my lack of gravitas by pointing out that
humor has always been a big part of New Orleans music:
Jelly Rollâs hokum, Satchmoâs mugging, Louis Primaâs
antics, the Boswell Sistersâ verbal and musical lunacy,
Huey Piano Smithâs nonsense lyrics, and so on. And
besides, post-K New Orleans can use more laughs.
If this mix of humor and music works at all, I have to thank
my collaborators. I am blessed that many of the talents
here are good friends; others here are just acquaintances
and one-time conspirators whom I thought would work in
this format. Given the right conditions I could easily put
out two more volumes, and I apologize now to friends
whom I vetted but whose duets didnât work out.
With the exception of âSome Satchmo Sampling,â these
are strict duets, with no third person involved in creating
âliveâ sounds. Thanks for listening.
-Tom McDermott, New Orleans 2009