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It defines vicinity so broadly that you'll also find Beiderbecke and Reinhardt, two Ellington tunes, songs by a jazz critic and Ed Sullivan's bandleader.
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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.
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The inspiring combination lifts the album far beyond tribute material into sonic territory all its own.
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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.
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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.
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Like New Orleans itself, the album understands how to strut. But it also knows its manners. For all his funky pedigree, Toussaint comes off as a picture of elegance.
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His piano versions of standards such as Winin' Boy Blues show that the funk was always in the Big Easy's blood.
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Toussaint gives each of the instruments room to explore, breaking free of the structure of the song and marking it with his own distinctive stamp. It's this loose, spirited mood that makes the album's interpretations so smooth and effective.
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It’s a producer’s record. And it works, possibly because Mr. Toussaint is no pushover.
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MojoJazz albums don't come much better. [May 2009, p.101]
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The results are coolly sophisticated, an unfussy, mostly instrumental set of slink-and-slide joints shot through with a harmonic imagination that turns even a traditional hymn into an after-hours swing.
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UncutThere is sleaze here and funeral swing, and sass to spare. [Jun 2009, p.105]
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The results are both pure Ellington ('Day Dream') and Monk ('Bright Mississippi'), as well as pure Toussaint, emotionally and structurally expansive, yet as keenly done as one of Toussaint's perfectly knotted ties.
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Piano patriarch evacuates the Big Easy for the Big Apple, where like-minded sessionistas young (Nicholas Payton) and old (Marc Ribot) mean Ellington standard 'Day Dream' almost doesn't miss Johnny Hodges and closer 'Solitude' compliments Dr. John's inspired Duke Elegant.
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Q MagazineHe's a terrific piano player, a gift put to exquisite use on this collection of old jazz standards. [Jun 2009, p.132]
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 5 out of 6
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Mixed: 0 out of 6
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Negative: 1 out of 6
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May 2, 2012
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MarkSJun 21, 2009My honey and I honeymooned in New Orleans, and we recently purchased this CD, and it sounded so good as we drove around in the rain.
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BradleyPMay 14, 2009