By David Kunian | Published January 2018
Basin Street Records, in honor of its 20th year, has paired their two most recorded artists, trumpeters Kermit Ruffins and Irvin Mayfield, and invited a riverboat full of guest artists from George Porter Jr. to Glen David Andrews to John Boutte to ll out the band. The songs vary from traditional New Orleans jazz to swing to brass band to more modern rhythm and blues. All of them have that New Orleans easy lilt and dance feel to them.
Ruffins gets to revisit some of his favorite tunes of the past with di erent arrangements and add “Don’t Worry Be Happy” to his recorded repertoire, a song perfect for his persona. Mayfield battles with Ruffins on several tunes while they harmonize well on others.
This album has the feel of a great New Orleans party record with its celebratory and soulful moods. At certain points, it sounds like they are concentrating more on the fun vibe and trying to fit too much into one album, causing the music to lose focus and seem repetitive.
The producers also have interspaced spoken interludes between some of the songs. These have their humorous moments, with DJ Soul Sister asking to be let in the studio and actor Wendell Pierce exhorting the players to turn it up or down and o ering wild recipes to cure one’s ills. However, at other points they feel forced and disrupt the overall flow of the record. Even with that, it’s a party record that doesn’t stop.
A Beautiful World: Well, Alright; Mystic; Be My Lady; Drop Me Off In New Orleans; Allen Toussaint; Move On Ahead; Sister Soul; Trumpet Bounce; Good Life; Beautiful World (For Imani).
Personnel: Kermit Ruffins, trumpet, vocals; Irvin Mayfield, trumpet, flugelhorn, vocals, piano, keyboards, vocoder, talkbox, tambourine; Dr. Michael White, clarinet; Bill Summers, percussion; Jason Marsalis, mallets, percussion, voice; Rebirth Brass Band; plus more than 50 guest musicians.
