Southern Jazz Music

I loved the variety of selections on this CD. All the uplifting songs are very well done, and I highly recommend this collection.

This twofer provides listeners with a chance to hear Jeri accompany herself on piano during a live set with applause at the Crescendo Club in Hollywood in 1959. Her piano like her vocals are wonderfully understated. Good numbers are I Get a Kick out of You, Remind Me and Nice Work if You Can Get It. The first disc also from 1959 includes some of Cole Porter's best Get out of Town, delivered in somber fashion; Let's Fly Away; Why Shouldn't I; and Which. Southern's vocal style is simplistic and many of her tunes sound the same, which is more of a problem with her Live disc. He most upbeat tune in this selection is her first track, Don't Look at Me That Way.

I got this album in England, and it seems that Jeri is more popular here than in America. Maybe because her singing is understated, which we like. Jeri is cool. I especially like her piano playing - her breaks on 'Nice work if you can get it' and 'When I fall in love' are just fabulous. This is a reissue of two LPs, a format I favour because you get the continuity of the original concept. The Cole Porter LP has wonderful arrangements by Billy May and a most unusual choice of songs; my favourites are 'Get out of town' and 'After you, who?'. The Crescendo LP is a live performance and Jeri plays piano on 4 tracks, with a small group backing her on the others. She performs her great hit 'You better go now' most beautifully. The only flaw is that she takes some songs very slowly indeed, which doesn't always suit them - on 'It's all right with me' she seems to be going at half the tempo of May's arrangement! Even so, this is one of my favourite CDs. The live performance has a special magic.

Jeri Southern's two albums for Capitol were the best work of her career. The Cole Porter album is unusually imaginative. She and Billy May toiled thoughtfully over each arrangement with remarkable results. All your preconceptions about these songs are reordered as you hear their approaches to them. As a whole the album achieves a distinctive pulse and flavor that has made it a worldwide favorite. The Crescendo album likely was recorded at the Capitol Tower. Why? First, the sound of about five people providing the applause is a tipoff. Second, the Crescendo was a noisy place with chatter and clanking dishes which made live recording a difficult proposition. And the sound of a dance band from the floor above the cabaret was forever seeping through. Likewise, the cover almost certainly was shot at the Capitol Tower--it has the look. Finally, the program is one I can't imagine actually taking place in a supper club--it's almost classical in sound and quite somber in nature. In reality if she'd done this in a night club some drunk would have poured a Manhattan on her head for not doing "Melancholy Baby." It is a lovely album, even if it's fiction, and reprises many of Jeri's hits on Decca nicely. You will play this terrific C.D. over and over.

I have said elsewhere that Jeri Southern is my favorite torch singer and while these two albums are not my favorites of hers (I prefer her earlier, more sparsely backed, music recorded for Decca), they are of an incredibly high standard. Jeri's performance cannot be faulted - she knows her limitations and stays within them. The first album is a set of Cole Porter compositions, mostly avoiding the obvious songs. Indeed, the most famous Cole Porter to be found on this twofer is on the second album, a live set recorded at the Crescendo in Hollywood.

On the first album, Jeri sticks faithfully to the original lyrics, the arrangements are sometimes different to the way Cole Porter intended. The song I am most familiar with is It's all right with me, a song that I first came across via Crystal Gayle's 1977 cover. Jeri's version is much slower but equally brilliant. Other highlights include Don't look at me that way, Looking at you, I concentrate on you and It's bad for me - but every track here is wonderful. Billy May arranged and conducted the orchestra, which sometimes gets a little busy (mostly when Jeri is not actually singing) but is generally restrained and supports Jeri superbly.

The second album, although it features some clapping, does not feature any narrative. Jeri let her music speak for her. Here, you will find some familiar songs including I get a kick out of you (the only Cole Porter song on this set), When I fall in love, Nice work if you can get it, Dancing on the ceiling and You better go now. The music marks a return to the sparser backing of her Decca years, with just piano (played by Jeri), bass, drums and cello supporting Jeri's lovely singing. On some tracks, Jeri is left alone with her piano - now that's how I like Jeri best.

If you are a fan of Jeri's music, you will love this twofer.

Out of all the really great female "saloon singers", no other can even approach the way Jeri puts over a song! Her interpretation grabs you in the gut -- especially one that seems to have been written and performed exclusively for you. I have added this to my shopping cart. My original album of Jeri Southern at the Crescendo at 33 1/3 was not only worn out, but stolen. This is a Mother's Day gift from myself to me. Thanks. Pat Sims

This vocal group from the "Big Easy" is quite unique and have a great sound a la the Boswell Sisters. Their rendition of "What Are They Doing in Heaven Today" ,an old gospel song, is worth the price of the recording. If you can't get to New Orleans right now, buy this CD. You won't be disappointed.

This is the first review I've ever written...most of the time the majority has it right, and this is no exception. This is the best New Orleans compilation I've heard, if not one of the best funk compilations I've heard. I've been delving into New Orleans funk, soul, zydeco and r&b for months now and the people who made this cd nailed it...The Meters, Dr. John, Allen Toussaint, Prof. Longhair...these people ARE New Orleans R & B!! Get this album now as a great starting point into the NO sound or as a great mix disc!!!! (As a superfluous sidenote, I recognized a lot of hip hop samples in here...)

This is the best funk comp out there (believe me, I've had my share). I bought it on a hunch and I haven't been the same since. Absolutely essential.

"Whoo Lord I feel good! Whoo, it make feel so... uneccessary!" - Eddie Bo

i am gonna tell you this. i knew this would be good when i first bought it. when you have the meters, eddie bo, ernie k. doe (although he has done better than what is on here), and lee dorsey, it is sure to please. from the jump, i was moving. you do not get that often in a compilation of funky songs. one bomps here, one bomps there, and then you fall asleep because near the end, it wanes. this does not do that by any means, and i love it!!!!!

This is one of the best funk compilations you can get. Trust me, I was born with the funk, I got the afro to prove it, goddamnit, and this is one funky mother! Standout tracks like Big Chief, Can I Be Your Squeeze, Hercules and Just Kissed My Baby are worth the CD alone. Get your wallet out, get juiced up and get down!

The UK label Soul Jazz has issued some eye- and ear-catching packages in recent years, and among their most treasured compilations is this mouth-watering collection "New Orleans Funk". Subtitled 'The Original Sound Of Funk 1960 - 75', the compilers bite off fifteen years - and these fifteen were a period of constant musical growth in popular music. New Oleans was teeming with talent, and a vast amount of great music got made by the city's stars, well known eccentrics, and local legends as well. There's an astonishing amount of terrific work - some of it still being (re) discovered and issued by grey-area labels - by more obscure names, those who had the opportunity to make a single or three; lest we forget, the beloved and influential masters who made their livings outside the limelight except for the rare 45, yet helped shape the soul of the Crescent City, as prolific session players. This album's scope really expands to twenty years when you realize that the compilers have wisely included one sublime example of Huey 'Piano' Smith & The Clowns' output for Ace, 1957's 'Free, Single and Disengaged'. This is one ambitious single CD, and though I am very happy to have it, the 24 tracks (also available in a luxurious 3 LP set) can't help but fall a bit short of its ambitions. For contrast check out a few more narrowly focused yet completely successful projects: the three volume "Gumbo Stew" series (issued on Ace/UK in the mid-90s), which examines in depth the legendary artist-run A.F.O. label (Harold Battiste, Roy Montrell, Red Tyler, Melvin Lastie, John Boudreaux, and Pete Badie were the artists-as-executives), an amazing accomplishment considering the high quality of the material (the Ace retrospective has over 65 tracks) A.F.O. recorded, and that the label was in operation for less than two (!) years (1961 - 63).
A similar example, and one still happily in print, is Sundazed's 2-CD "Get Low Down! The Soul Of New Orleans 1965 - 67" a 50-track survey of the Sansu/Amy sides written and produced by the impossibly prolific Allen Toussaint for one of the great N.O. auteur's imprints. After the terrific body of work he produced at Minit (1959 - 63) the consistancy should not be surprising, but the amount and sheer scope of fine work still amazes me. Again, "Get Low Down!" is packed with rarely heard gems (and the occasional hit) by the likes of Lee Dorsey, Eldridge Holmes, Earl King, Betty Harris Benny Spellman, Art Neville (two 1967 singles issued under Art's name represent the first recordings by The Meters outside their capacity as session players for Toussaint).
But with fewer constraints in terms of labels or eras, "New Orleans Funk" uncovers obscure funk bombs rarely heard outside the city limits, and overall it's a pleasure. Even though there has been no attempt to program the set chronologically, and one soon puts aside any reservations about the over-ambitious concept. The lavish booklet, however, is an effective and concise survey of the city's musical history: mini-chapters are devoted to 'The Birth Of New Orleans', 'Jazz Funerals', 'Parades', 'New Orleans and the West Indies', 'N. O. and the music industry' etc, and of course the expected artist profiles. The booklet (and the inner sleeves of the LP edition) features scores of rare single labels reproduced, and it's frustrating that many of the impossible-to-find 45s pictured are NOT on this set..
So, at 24 tracks that still leaves a lot of great you probably don't have AND a nifty book. I was, however, surprised to find I already own at least a third of the material (Lee Dorsey, The Meters, Huey Smith, Dr. John among others). But the suff I didn't know included two bursts of irresistable funk by The Explosions, produced by Eddie Bo - who is himself represented by 'Hook 'n' Sling (Part 2)' and 'Check Your Bucket' (which grooved in my head for days after a mere two plays), a classic jazz/funk groover by June Gardner, Aaron Neville's 1973 'Hercules' (one of several Meters-backed tracks), Professor Longhair's proto-funk (1964) 'Big Chief', and a hot entry by Bo Dollis & The Wild Magnolia Mardi Gras Indian Band, not to mention titles or artists new to me: Sonny Jones, Mary Jane Hooper, and Chuck Carbo. And if you don't already have The Meters, Dr. John, or Lee Dorsey on CD, you will certainly be seeking them out after hearing the tracks included on this highly enjoyable party platter. The packaging is nifty too. There's plenty of terific New Orleans funk and soul and r&b (and jazz!) out there to explore, though researching and collecting can seem dauntin. If you get this I guarantee a good time. So order it now, then prepare the libations of your choice....

This is the first review I've ever written...most of the time the majority has it right, and this is no exception. This is the best New Orleans compilation I've heard, if not one of the best funk compilations I've heard. I've been delving into New Orleans funk, soul, zydeco and r&b for months now and the people who made this cd nailed it...The Meters, Dr. John, Allen Toussaint, Prof. Longhair...these people ARE New Orleans R & B!! Get this album now as a great starting point into the NO sound or as a great mix disc!!!! (As a superfluous sidenote, I recognized a lot of hip hop samples in here...)

This is the best funk comp out there (believe me, I've had my share). I bought it on a hunch and I haven't been the same since. Absolutely essential.

"Whoo Lord I feel good! Whoo, it make feel so... uneccessary!" - Eddie Bo

i am gonna tell you this. i knew this would be good when i first bought it. when you have the meters, eddie bo, ernie k. doe (although he has done better than what is on here), and lee dorsey, it is sure to please. from the jump, i was moving. you do not get that often in a compilation of funky songs. one bomps here, one bomps there, and then you fall asleep because near the end, it wanes. this does not do that by any means, and i love it!!!!!

This is one of the best funk compilations you can get. Trust me, I was born with the funk, I got the afro to prove it, goddamnit, and this is one funky mother! Standout tracks like Big Chief, Can I Be Your Squeeze, Hercules and Just Kissed My Baby are worth the CD alone. Get your wallet out, get juiced up and get down!

The UK label Soul Jazz has issued some eye- and ear-catching packages in recent years, and among their most treasured compilations is this mouth-watering collection "New Orleans Funk". Subtitled 'The Original Sound Of Funk 1960 - 75', the compilers bite off fifteen years - and these fifteen were a period of constant musical growth in popular music. New Oleans was teeming with talent, and a vast amount of great music got made by the city's stars, well known eccentrics, and local legends as well. There's an astonishing amount of terrific work - some of it still being (re) discovered and issued by grey-area labels - by more obscure names, those who had the opportunity to make a single or three; lest we forget, the beloved and influential masters who made their livings outside the limelight except for the rare 45, yet helped shape the soul of the Crescent City, as prolific session players. This album's scope really expands to twenty years when you realize that the compilers have wisely included one sublime example of Huey 'Piano' Smith & The Clowns' output for Ace, 1957's 'Free, Single and Disengaged'. This is one ambitious single CD, and though I am very happy to have it, the 24 tracks (also available in a luxurious 3 LP set) can't help but fall a bit short of its ambitions. For contrast check out a few more narrowly focused yet completely successful projects: the three volume "Gumbo Stew" series (issued on Ace/UK in the mid-90s), which examines in depth the legendary artist-run A.F.O. label (Harold Battiste, Roy Montrell, Red Tyler, Melvin Lastie, John Boudreaux, and Pete Badie were the artists-as-executives), an amazing accomplishment considering the high quality of the material (the Ace retrospective has over 65 tracks) A.F.O. recorded, and that the label was in operation for less than two (!) years (1961 - 63).
A similar example, and one still happily in print, is Sundazed's 2-CD "Get Low Down! The Soul Of New Orleans 1965 - 67" a 50-track survey of the Sansu/Amy sides written and produced by the impossibly prolific Allen Toussaint for one of the great N.O. auteur's imprints. After the terrific body of work he produced at Minit (1959 - 63) the consistancy should not be surprising, but the amount and sheer scope of fine work still amazes me. Again, "Get Low Down!" is packed with rarely heard gems (and the occasional hit) by the likes of Lee Dorsey, Eldridge Holmes, Earl King, Betty Harris Benny Spellman, Art Neville (two 1967 singles issued under Art's name represent the first recordings by The Meters outside their capacity as session players for Toussaint).
But with fewer constraints in terms of labels or eras, "New Orleans Funk" uncovers obscure funk bombs rarely heard outside the city limits, and overall it's a pleasure. Even though there has been no attempt to program the set chronologically, and one soon puts aside any reservations about the over-ambitious concept. The lavish booklet, however, is an effective and concise survey of the city's musical history: mini-chapters are devoted to 'The Birth Of New Orleans', 'Jazz Funerals', 'Parades', 'New Orleans and the West Indies', 'N. O. and the music industry' etc, and of course the expected artist profiles. The booklet (and the inner sleeves of the LP edition) features scores of rare single labels reproduced, and it's frustrating that many of the impossible-to-find 45s pictured are NOT on this set..
So, at 24 tracks that still leaves a lot of great you probably don't have AND a nifty book. I was, however, surprised to find I already own at least a third of the material (Lee Dorsey, The Meters, Huey Smith, Dr. John among others). But the suff I didn't know included two bursts of irresistable funk by The Explosions, produced by Eddie Bo - who is himself represented by 'Hook 'n' Sling (Part 2)' and 'Check Your Bucket' (which grooved in my head for days after a mere two plays), a classic jazz/funk groover by June Gardner, Aaron Neville's 1973 'Hercules' (one of several Meters-backed tracks), Professor Longhair's proto-funk (1964) 'Big Chief', and a hot entry by Bo Dollis & The Wild Magnolia Mardi Gras Indian Band, not to mention titles or artists new to me: Sonny Jones, Mary Jane Hooper, and Chuck Carbo. And if you don't already have The Meters, Dr. John, or Lee Dorsey on CD, you will certainly be seeking them out after hearing the tracks included on this highly enjoyable party platter. The packaging is nifty too. There's plenty of terific New Orleans funk and soul and r&b (and jazz!) out there to explore, though researching and collecting can seem dauntin. If you get this I guarantee a good time. So order it now, then prepare the libations of your choice....