Various Artists
New Orleans Funk

The "Soul Jazz Records" has been doing a great job for some years now, almost like a "historical reconstruction" effort, I would say, in order to introduce or simply bring back and rediscover musical genres and artists too often overlooked, with particular attention to "black" music in all its countless branches: soul, funk, but also jazz, reggae, and more purely ethnic music (the monographic compilations of the "Ethiopiques" series or the music of the Aboriginals are memorable).

This particular compilation, masterfully assembled, focuses its attention on the New Orleans funk, the "unfortunate" city that has always been a crossroads of a myriad of races, influences, smells, colors and above all sounds... New Orleans funk, sunny, carefree and sophisticated at the same time, indebted and indissolubly linked to jazz, rhythm and blues, gospel and swing, different in attitude from the acid funk of Sly and The Family Stone, from the wildly visceral funk of James Brown and from the metropolitan funk of Detroit or Philadelphia. The compilation draws from the best New Orleans artists of the '60s and '70s... and undoubtedly it's a good catch.

We find the legendary Meters with the killer groove of "Handclapping Song" that opens the dances, then the archetype of the soul/funk vocalist, the godfather, the official voice of New Orleans funk, Lee Dorsey along with the equally seminal and monumental Allen Toussaint, the unmistakable Caribbean and Latin influenced piano of Professor Longhair and that of Huey Smith, another piano monster, but also the legendary Dr. John, an immense character, present with the sensual and psychedelic "Mama Roux", and it's as if Captain Beefheart had moved to the banks of the Mississippi (listen to the album "Gris Gris" from which the track is taken). It continues with the overwhelming and irresistible "Natural Soul Brother" by Danny White and more groups of the caliber of Gaturs and Explosions.

In short, a compilation, assembled with great intelligence and taste, that captivates from the very first listen, striking with its fiery and incandescent grooves and on which it is impossible to stay still. Truly an essential listen for anyone who considers themselves a lover of funk music, also impressive is the packaging with a brief historical introduction to the origins of the city of New Orleans and biographical information on the artists featured in the compilation.