REVIEWS of the musicians get to stretch and showcase their impressive chops without the performances feeling perfunctory. “Elysian Fields,” an original composition of Markway’s, is a personal favorite for the emphasis its stop-time feel places on the bass and drums. There isn’t much about Volume Two (beyond the Tulane Fight Song second-line) that will put listeners in mind of traditional New Orleans jazz. It’s inflected enough by modern jazz and fusion-funk idioms, and bebop vocabulary in particular, to avoid that easy categorization. Its obvious intent, both in conception and in execution, is to widen the category of New Orleans jazz to include what Tulane jazz performance students learn and modern jazz aficionados everywhere listen to. —Jacob Leland
Leroy Thomas Jewel of the Bayou (Maison de Soul) Though Leroy Thomas’ CDs have been consistently good over the years, they’ve also had a run-and-gun sound that left them rough around the edges. His Maison de Soul debut stands out from previous offerings in that 1) more time was spent in the studio and 2) it’s his first disc recorded in Louisiana (the rest were waxed in Houston) where studio engineers know what authentic zydeco sounds like. The result is something that sounds more natural, with proper levels set for vocals and instrumentation. Thomas’ latest batch of songs has an unrushed, slow-cooked feeling, having been road-tested considerably. While it scores well in the groove, boogie and shuffle categories, it also reveals what a comic Thomas can be. There’s the dreaded morning after woman who’s a cross between a bear and a gorilla (“Bearilla Woman”) and the self-explanatory “(Everybody Wanna Go to Heaven) Nobody Wants to Go Down” that’s a joke in itself. Thomas’ greatest punch line comes on “I Think I Need a Boosta” where he sings, “The girl gave me viagra / abracadabra!” Though humor is one of the many cards Thomas plays here, his rendition www.OFFBEAT.com
of the south Louisiana jukebox fave “I Don’t Want to Be Wanted” trumps all. With an unusual blending of zydeco and country, Thomas emotes his heart out, begging a potential paramour not to get involved with such a feckless spirit. It’s an uncharacteristic selection but given his stirring performance, there’s obviously a deeper side to the party time Creole cowboy than previously thought. —Dan Willging
Flow Tribe Now Ya Know: Live at Tipitina’s (Independent) Perhaps the dominant trend in recent New Orleans party-rock music has been to lean heavily on wahwah guitars and drum kits. Flow Tribe is an interesting case in point, as their groove pushes funk hard towards its rock ’n’ roll edge. The cover of Flow Tribe’s Now Ya Know updates the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ 1991 Blood Sugar Sex Magik. The image also invokes some 1970s funk iconography, and the band’s addition of saxophone and brass gives them a distinct New Orleans flair, but Flow Tribe’s fusion of rock, funk and hiphop recalls the Chili Peppers before they started singing ballads more than it does Galactic, Greyboy, or, reaching further back, the Meters. Recorded live at Tipitina’s uptown on April 4, 2010, Now Ya Know showcases Flow Tribe’s ability to move a crowd—the shouts and responses come from an audience squarely in the palm of the band’s collective hand. Flow Tribe hits the stage with frenetic energy and contagious enthusiasm. Attending their live performance, though, is different from listening to it recorded, where the steady pace of their jams can get monotonous. Although the band sequenced its set that night— which featured a three-song guest appearance from a Real World cast member—for variety and arranged its individual songs tightly, that gets lost between the dance floor and the stereo speakers. Pushing the guitar up front in the mix enhances the groove for the crowd, but it buries the horns and takes some of the color out of the band’s sound. The DECEMBER 2 010
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