Timely Tunes ~ New Orleans

This week on Timely Tunes we turn our attention to the music of New Orleans.

 

Few cities in the world have a musical history as rich or diverse as New Orleans, Louisiana. New Orleans’ most famous and far-reaching contribution to music is jazz, which gestated in its various neighborhoods and reached many out-of-towners in the brothels and bars of the red-light district of Storyville; but the city was also instrumental in the evolution of rhythm and blues, rock and roll, hip-hop, funk, and a distinctive strain of extreme music known as sludge metal.

Every time I visit New Orleans, the beauty of its people and the richness of its culture amaze me. To be in New Orleans is to witness the power of music in all of its life-affirming glory. New Orleans has been through traumas that could have easily destroyed its heart and soul, but the music keeps playing and its people keep dancing.

In the playlist below, I have attempted to give a small taste of what New Orleans music means to me. It is by no means a complete picture, but should be a good jumping-off point for anyone who wants to dig deeper.

SPOTIFY PLAYLIST: TIMELY TUNES, VOL. 19

TRACKLIST:

1. Louis Moreau Gottschalk “La Nuit Des Tropiques”
2. Jelly Roll Morton & His Red Hot Peppers “New Orleans Bump”
3. Henry “Red” Allen “Get Rhythm in Your Feet”
4. King Oliver “Speakeasy Blues”
5. Sidney Bechet and His New Orleans Feetwarmers “Lay Your Racket”
6. Louis Armstrong & His Hot Five “West End Blues”
7. Dave Bartholomew “Shrimp and Gumbo”
8. Champion Jack Dupree “Stack-O-Lee”
9. The Spiders “Witchcraft”
10. Irma Thomas “I Done Got Over It”
11. Dr. John “Gris-Gris Gumbo Ya Ya”
12. The Meters “Hey Pocky A-Way”
13. The Wild Tchoupitoulas “Hey Hey (Indian Comin)”
14. The Dirty Dozen Brass Band “Do It Fluid”
15. Professor Longhair “Red Beans”
16. Allen Toussaint “Southern Nights”
17. The Neville Brothers “Yellow Moon”
18. Bobby Charles “I Must Be In A Good Place Now”
19. James Booker “Lawdy Miss Clawdy”
20. Kermit Ruffins “Drop Me Off In New Orleans”
21. Rebirth Brass Band “Cassanova”
22. Mystikal “Bouncin’ Back (Bumpin’ Me Against The Wall”
23. Lil Wayne “Bring It Back”
24. Curren$y “Still”
25. Big Freedia “N.O. Bounce”
26. Down “Stone The Crow”
27. Crowbar “Existense Is Punishment”
28. Eyehategod “Blank”