New Orleans Jazz Orchestra: Book One

New Orleans Jazz Orchestra / Irvin Mayfield, Artistic Director

7th Ward Blues / Sweet Bread on the Levee / In Love All Over Again / Creole Thang / Somebody Forgot to Turn the Faucet Off (Probably Steve) / The Mistress (Madam) / Richie Can Count (U.S. Financial Crisis) / Beat / Move on Ahead

Grammy Winner 2010: Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album
As their beloved city gradually rebounds from Hurricane Katrina, the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra’s World Village début, Book One, reflects upon and champions the Big Easy’s indomitable spirit.
Bandleader Irvin Mayfield draws upon centuries of intermingled French, African, and Latin influences, plus Southern blues, Count Basie’s big-band swing, and modern grooves as fresh as today’s breakfast of chicory-laced café au lait, calas (a deep-fried fritter) and golden-brown, sweet beignets. The set commences with the sultry, strutting, tenor-sax-and-trombone-infused 7th Ward Blues.
This historically heavily Creole neighborhood (Jelly Roll Morton lived here) was almost totally inundated but the residents are gradually reclaiming their homes.
Creole Thang is inspired by water in its many guises, both life giving and destructive, while The Mistress (Madam) depicts captures the romance of a moonlit, flower-scented summer night.
Beat recalls colonial-era dances from the Caribbean before careening off into breathlessly frenetic and intricate yet tautly disciplined flute, trumpet, alto, sax and drum solos.
Move on Ahead, with smoky, falsetto-voiced local R&B figurehead John Boutté on vocals, expresses both the composer’s impatience with the endless bureaucratic delays that have marred the Crescent City’s full recovery, along with his unshakable confidence that right will prevail and the good times will continue to roll, just as they always have.

Price: $23.98