Music Review: The Musicians Of New Orleans City Of Dreams: A Collection Of New Orleans Music - Page 2

Recording studios lost master tapes with 40 years or more of musical history and their ability to produce new music; clubs and small performance venues lost sound systems, along with the rest of their facilities, and every musician lost if not their home, prized possessions and memorabilia.

The loss of recording and performing facilities though has to have been the worst blow to the musical community of New Orleans. Prior to Katrina there had been enough work performing in clubs spread all throughout the city for the city's musicians to make a living, but now with them closed, and most still ages away from re-opening, if they ever will again, those days appear gone forever.

Just over 25 years ago Rounder Records began recording the artists of New Orleans. In that time they have recorded and presented music to the rest of the world that previously could only have been experienced by going to the city. They became the first label to record the Brass Bands and the other street music live during the weekly performance/parades that wended their way through Ninth Ward and the other Black neighbourhoods.

Like so many other producers and companies have discovered when they've started recording an area's music, Rounder was astounded at the amount of amazing talent that had never been recorded or heard beyond the borders of their city. They took it upon themselves to do their best to record as many of these groups, individuals, bands, and street performers as possible.

Not surprisingly over the years, they have amassed miles of tape of four of the musical types we associate with New Orleans. As a retrospective of their over quarter century of recording, preserving, and creating memories they have put together a four disc CD set City Of Dreams: A Collection Of New Orleans Music.

Each disc represents one of the four genres they've recorded over the years: Blues ("Big Easy Blues"), Street Bands and Performers ("Street Beat)", Funk ("Funky New Orleans"), and the unique piano styles of the city come to life on "Ivory Emperors".

I'll have to believe them when they say this only skims the surface of the talent that the city represents, but if that's true I'd hate to think how many discs would constitute an exhaustive survey of New Orleans. On "Big Easy Blues" alone Irma Thomas, Marcia Bell, and Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown show up to pay their respects along with other creators of the Blues unique to the city. It's a sound with more of a funk groove to it, or maybe the swing of Dixieland, then the Blues from other parts of the country, reflecting its association with the other sounds of the city.

Article Author: Richard Marcus

Richard Marcus is the author of the recently published What Will Happen In Eragon IV? and has had his work published in print and on line all over the world. The not so long-haired Canadian iconoclast writes reviews and opines on the world as he sees …

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