New Orleans piano wizard Allen Toussaint has worked as a producer, songwriter, arranger, session pianist and solo artist.  I mainly know him from his work with other artists like Irma Thomas and Lee Dorsey.  Last year he appeared on Down In New Orleans by The Blind Boys Of Alabama.

I had never really investigated his solo work but then I read that my favourite guitarist Marc Ribot plays on his new album The Bright Mississippi.  I'm glad I picked it up because it will probably be the album of the year for any lover of jazz and blues piano.

Produced by Joe Henry it features classic tracks originally recorded by greats like Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and Thelonious Monk.

 

Upon the first listen, The Bright Mississippi merely seems like a joyous good time, but subsequent spins focus attention on just how rich and multi-layered this wonderful music is.     - All Music Guide

Jazz albums don't come much better.     - Mojo

The inspiring combination lifts the album far beyond tribute material into sonic territory all its own.     - Billboard

The applause will only grow louder with the release of The Bright Mississippi. It’s quite simply one of the best albums we’ll hear in 2009.    
- Dusted Magazine

Allen Toussaint’s The Bright Mississippi offers a look backward at our music’s roots, but it does so with a keen consciousness of both modern jazz and rhythm-and-blues.     - PopMatters

 

Piano blues grew up in New Orleans and so did Champion Jack Dupree.  I live in England and have been adjusting to moving to Yorkshire last year.  But if I ever feel out of place I just think of Champion Jack Dupree as he lived in Halifax in the 1970’s and 1980’s.

Blues From The Gutter is probably my favourite blues album.  It is lowdown and dirty as hell yet recorded for Atlantic by Tom Dowd and Jerry Wexler.  This is a perfect balance.  It has dark subject matter (Can’t Kick The Habit, Junker’s Blues, T.B. Blues) but is so accessible because of the phenomenal playing throughout the session.

"The 1958 masterwork album of Champion Jack Dupree's long and prolific career."
Bill Dahl, All Music Guide

 
"Blues From The Gutter stands as one of the most grittiest blues-jazz-rock and roll albums of all time."
James Calemine, Swampland

“Well I can’t kick this habit
And this junk is killin’ me”