Allen Toussaint
The Bright Mississippi
Album · Jazz · 2009
Tart New Orleans jazz meets affable Americana on Allen Toussaint's 2009 reimagining of his hometown sound. Joined by accompanists guaranteed to bring out the best in anyone, Toussaint's elegant piano provides the through line to music by Sidney Bechet, Duke Ellington and Thelonious Monk, among others. Trumpeter Nicholas Payton swings authoritatively through "Singin' the Blues", clarinetist Don Byron shines in Bechet's "Egyptian Fantasy" and guitarist Marc Ribot applies dapper slide guitar to "Long, Long Journey".