Parents' Choice Awards : Audio : Music
New Orleans Playground
Spring 2007 MusicReview:
Drawing from the cream of the crop of New Orleans' Cajun and Zydeco musicians, and aided by some very tuneful kids, this album is thirty minutes of pure pleasure. Highlights include Clifton Chenier's jazzy “Choo Choo Boogie,” The Meter's rocking boogiloo; “They All Ask'd For You,” and Kermit Ruffin (and some great kids) doing the yummy, horns infused “Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner.” Charmaine Neville presents the classic Mardi Gras standard “Second Line,” while Buckwheat Zydeco adds a solid blues motif to a classic rope skipping song with wonderful results. Likewise, Lee Dorsey employs a New Orleans playground rhyme (“Ya Ya”) and gives it a nice, little 50s style swing, while the legendary Fats Domino takes the classic “Whole Lotta Lovin'” and effectively substitutes sounds for the words kissing and clapping. Clarence “Frogman” Henry performs his “Ain't Got No Home” with appropriately amphibian humor, and you have never heard “Row, Row Your Boat,” until you have heard Dr. John tickle it on the ivories. Hack Bartholomew concludes the party with a joyful rendition of “When The Saints Go Marching In,” which will have the whole family up and dancing. Though lyrics are woefully not included, the extensive liner notes provide background information about all the musicians and songs in four languages.
Lahri Bond ©2007 Parents' Choice
Lahri Bond is a father, a writer and the art director for Dirty Linen: The Magazine of Folk and World Music. His published books include Spinning Tales Weaving Hope (with the Stories For World Change Network) for New Society Press and People of the Earth (coauthored with Ellen Evert Hopman) for Destiny Books.
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