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Featured New Releases October 2011 Hercules - The Minit and Sansu Sessions 1960-1977 – Aaron Neville - 2 CD Set - Over 40 classic cuts from one of New Orleans greatest vocalists featuring Over You, Tell Like It Is, Mojo Hanna, Hercules and many more. Deluxe 12 page booklet. Antebellum Postcards - Chris Thomas King - It’s his first new studio album in 5 (five) years and the 15th album of his award-winning career. Antebellum Postcards feature’s 10 new songs. For True – Troy Andrews - Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews follows his Grammy nominated ‘Backatown’ CD with ‘For True,’ to be released Sept 13 on Verve Forecast. ‘For True’ features Andrews' band, Orleans Avenue, as well as a string of legendary performers with whom he recently shared the stage, including Jeff Beck, Kid Rock, Lenny Kravitz, Ledisi, Warren Haynes, Ivan and Cyril Neville, The Rebirth Brass Band and more. Troy wrote or co-wrote all 14 tracks on the new album including co-writes with Ledisi, Kid Rock, the legendary Lamont Dozier and more. The CD was produced and engineered by Ben Ellman (except “The Craziest Thing” produced by George Drakoulias). West County Drifter – Eric Lindell - WCD marks the first release by the roots rocker for M.C. Records and his first national release in over two years. Special guests include Delbert McClinton, Peter Joseph Burtt and Ivan Neville. "West County Drifter" combines two self-released titles by Eric, "Cazadero" (2011) & "Between Motion and Rest" (2010). Old Bayou Blues - Camile Baudoin and The Living Rumors - For 33 years, Camile Baudoin (BOH-dwahn) has laid down the “law of the fish” as guitarist for the epic New Orleans rock band, The Radiators, thrilling audiences around the world with his funk-driven rhythms, scorching slide and incendiary solos that defined that lugubrious Crescent City groove known as Fishhead Music. In this first solo recording, Camile unplugs and explores his roots with acoustic performances of the songs he grew up singing with his family and in his uncles’ band, The Dufrene Brothers. The Old Bayou Blues takes it to a whole other level, stripped down and snug in a down-home atmosphere. This Is Jazz - Live At The Blue Note - Donald Harrison - Ron Carter - Billy Cobham - For their second Half Note issue, the power trio of Donald Harrison, Ron Carter, and Billy Cobham declare themselves spokesmen for a kind of exploratory improvisation and interplay known only to seasoned jazz professionals. Staunch individualists all, they come together with a unified voice of alto, bass and drums - at once steeped in jazz's richly variegated traditions yet forward-thinking in the cause of new creative expression. The group play here is all about a stylized call and response, featuring guys with excellent listening skills and the means to keep the conversation compelling. Recorded Live at the Blue Note. BOOKS Groove Interrupted - Loss, Renewal, and the Music of New Orleans – Keith Spera - The highs and lows of New Orleans' recent history are reflected in the city’s storied music community, a vibrant, idiosyncratic medley of rhythm & blues, jazz, rock and rap. Song Of Praise - Homage To John Coltrane – John Sinclair - Sinclair’s writing about “The Music” has always been well informed and inspiring, from his early Detroit-hip days. So it’s important to gather this writing to show where he and we have been, and the great period of American Classical Music we lived through and particularly the marvelous revelation that John Coltrane provided everybody who could hear. July 2011 The Lost Cause Minstrels – Grayson Capps - Grayson Capps' fifth studio album, The Lost Cause Minstrels, finds the Mobile, Alabama-based singer-songwriter coming of age. But that doesn't mean his often-unholy tales of the Southern Gothic have lost any of their sting. In 2010, he dissolved his band The Stumpknockers, re-assembling a new cast of musicians, fittingly dubbed The Lost Cause Minstrels. The line-up features a who's who of the finest players on the Gulf Coast music scene and their musical breadth makes an immediate impact. Capps also moved back to Alabama where he was born and raised in the midst of recording the album, having lived in Nashville since being driven from his home of a decade plus in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina. 504-799-8147 - Shamarr Allen and The Underdawgs - The CD reflects the band’s signature mix that Allen calls, “The new and original direction of New Orleans music.” The track, “Typical Rockstar,” uses a driving hip hop/rock beat with expressive vocals, and high energy trumpeting while “Whatever You Wanna Do” reflects a more upbeat alternative rock sound combining the memorable and singable chorus with a guitar-amped trumpet solo. “You would swear was a guitar,” says Allen.Shamarr Allen and the Underdawgs take music to unexpected places. Allen doesn’t like to be boxed in to one genre and indeed the Underdawgs are creating a genre all their own. “We call it Hip Rock,” says Allen. One thing that is consistent is their high energy sets and the way their music engages the audience. Before The Storm – Charmaine Neville Band - These performances were culled from live recordings made from May through August of 2005 at Snug Harbor Jazz Bistro where we have been holding down Monday nights for about 25 years. We were planning to record every Monday for six months but we were interrupted by some bad weather at the end of August (Hurricane Katrina). Snug Harbor gave us the freedom to evolve and grow over the years and gave us a home to come back to after the storm. This album represents a snapshot of another era. Hot Club - Live at the Vermont Jazz Center - Samirah Evans and Her Handsome Devils - She purrs, she roars, her voice subtle then huge, nuanced then powerful, her phrasing always exact. Her name's Samirah Evans and she is a huge talent. If my words could express how I feel about these songs they would leap off the page, into your heart and mind, into your innermost feelings about jazz and what it can do. Samirah and Her Handsome Devils capture the essence of these songs, whether they're covers you've heard before or new songs by Samirah and her husband, Chris Lenois. "Hot Club" may be my favorite track because it's an original that brings New Orleans jazz into the 21st century with flair, but with a fond look back at its heritage. the lord is waiting and the devil is too – Johnny Sansone - Check out the new Johnny Sansone release "THE LORD IS WAITING AND THE DEVIL IS TOO" produced by Anders Osborne at Dockside Studio in Maurice, LA. Johnny unleashes some of the deepest lyrics and playing of his career boldly over Osborne's untamed guitar along with drummer Galactic's Stanton Moore. Blackwater Music – Spencer Bohren – This CD lines out what has been on Spencer Bohren’s mind lately: a good friend caught in the past, environmental irresponsibility in Louisiana and his home state of Wyoming, the passage of time, deep love. The usual parade of guitars, particularly highlighting the lap steel singing both sweetly and raucously, define this emotion-filled collection of all original songs. Son André Bohren is featured on drums, percussion, and gospel piano, with further assistance from a variety of New Orleans notables. In The Pocket with Eddie Bo – Eddie Bo - One of the most important and least known of the great funksters of the 60's and 70's. Find here the complete picture of this New Orleans genious performer, composer, and producer. From his early and formative years to the present days, and including both of his own recordings and his productions for other artists. Massive line notes inside, by journalist/specialist Bryce White, to ensure you learn everything from the right source! Medicine – Tab Benoit - Medicine, Benoit's seventh solo release successfully joins two gifted guitarists/songwriters in a session that proves greater than the sum of its very talented parts. The 11-track recording features seven new Benoit originals co-written with ace songwriter Anders Osborne. Medicine showcases a lean, energetic young band, and vibe-wise it's hipper and groovier than anything Benoit has ever done before. Medicine is more than another strong entry in Benoit's increasingly impressive discography - it's one of his most defining albums. FEBRUARY 2011 NEW CD’s Grand Isle - Steve Riley & The Mamou Playboys - Absorb, conquer, and rock. Louisiana’s Francophone communities have faced down exile and persecution, natural and manmade disaster, by remaining resolutely creative. Steve Riley & the Mamou Playboys know this creativity intimately; what fiddler and co-leader David Greely eloquently calls “survivor joy.” It has echoed for centuries in everything from aching solo ballads to swamp pop blasts and funkified two-steps. Their latest album, Grand Isle calls on this joy and shows its defiant, resilient forms in all their glory, with help from producer, friend, and swamp-n-roll legend CC Adcock. They toss aside roots-music formulas to channel the energy of an entire community of multi-ethnic, hard-hitting eccentrics and activists, from a mad musical inventor of New Orleans to a pensive professor-lyricist, from a vintage recording guru to a bold local staging an oil spill photo exhibit in her dining room. Frenchmen Street - Various Artists - Mystery Street Records, an affiliate of Threadhead Records (winner of the 2010 Offbeat award for Best Record Label of the Year) announces the first in a series of compilation CDs that explores the phenomenally eclectic music of New Orleans. Frenchmen Street represents the myriad of musical styles heard pouring out of bar doors on any given night on one of the most unique and exciting streets in a most unique and exciting city. Traditional jazz, funk, blues and brass bands fill the air, mixing with the fragrance of jasmine and gumbo to set the scene for the numerous, magical only-in-New-Orleans moments that seem to happen on every corner. David Simon, the creator of HBO's "Treme," sums up the current music scene in New Orleans: "Detroit, they used to make cars, Pittsburgh, they used to make steel. Here in New Orleans, there's still a factory. It's manned by an underpaid, poorly represented workforce of skilled workers. And what they manufacture is moments. New Orleans is a factory that gives you moments." This CD represents some of those moments. Produced by Chris Joseph and Jonathan Platt. This CD includes the first official release of John Boutte singing "Louisiana 1927" from the 2006 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival (the first Jazzfest after Hurricane Katrina), as broadcast live by WWOZ in New Orleans. Return Of The Creole - Le Retour Du Creole - Jeffery Broussard & the Creole Cowboys - Jeffery Broussard is considered one of the most influential accordionists and vocalists in modern Zydeco music. He headlined the 2010 California WorldFest and leads one of the top Creole dance bands touring today. He's an innovator, beginning his career with traditional Creole Zydeco music, playing in his father's band, Delton Broussard & The Lawtell Playboys, moving on to develop the nouveau Zydeco sound in Zydeco Force. He has recently returned to the traditional Zydeco sound with his own band, Jeffrey Broussard & The Creole Cowboys. Le P'tit Chevrolet - Les Amies Louisianaises - This album shows the beauty, richness and variety of the Cajun music tradition and of the Cajun French language. Some of these songs are very old; some are brand new. Les Amies hope that their singing will help to pass these Cajun-French-language songs down to future generations. Four members of the Vanicor family play or sing on the album, Milton Vanicor, his daughter Jeanette Aguillard, his granddaughter Lisa Aguillard-LaBorde and his nephew Orsy Vanicor. Donna Suarez, Janet Aguillard, Jeanette Aguillard and Lisa Aguillard-LaBorde all grew up surrounded by Cajun music and Cajun traditions. Janet Aguillard was proud to have her eleven-year-old daughter Therese record a fiddle duet for the album with 91-year-old Milton Vanicor. This is passing on the Cajun music tradition the only way possible - one generation at a time. Sweet Thunder - Delfeayo Marsalis - Troubadour Jass Records is excited to announce the new Delfeayo Marsalis release: Sweet Thunder (Duke & Shak). This recording combines Delfeayo's performance, orchestration and production skills into a jazz masterpiece that would certainly make its contributing historical figures, Duke Ellington & William Shakespeare, proud. Sweet Thunder features a cast of today's finest jazz performers including Branford & Jason Marsalis, Mulgrew Miller, Victor Goines, Charnett Moffett, Reginald Veal and Winard Harper; all of whom combine modern musings with an 'old school' groove, blues and swing. Ellington's original suite, inspired by Shakespearean themes and characters, was composed for a 15-piece jazz orchestra that featured various solo instrumentalists performing musical sonnets and poems. Delfeayo Marsalis has orchestrated this dramatic work for octet, extended the melodic material and created new solo forms that highlight his group's individual and collective strengths. Tin Fish Tango – Plunge - Composer and trombonist Mark McGrain sits at the creative helm of Plunge, a prog-jazz ensemble with an ever-shifting lineup that put out its first record back in ’96. This time around, McGrain is accompanied by James Singleton on bass and Tim Green and Tom Fitzpatrick on saxophones. Dirty Dozen sousaphonist Kirk Joseph guests on two tracks, and the quartet/quintet bounces between styles, building powerful melodic lines in tight unison or spreading out into expansive collective improvisations. Dr. John & Lower Line 911 - Tribal - Iconic American musician Dr. John goes TRIBAL with the follow-up to his 2008 Grammy Award Winning release 'The City That Care Forgot' for 'Best Contemporary Blues Album.' TRIBAL, featuring a track with Grammy winner Derek Trucks, is a unique spicy mix of New Orleans funk and blues with a spiritual and Native flavor with songs written by Dr John and a few of his friends - Allen Toussaint and the late Bobby Charles and joined by his ultra funky Lower 911 band of musicians. Louisiana Swamp Stomp – Various Artists - The proceeds of the CD will go to benefit the newly established Northern Louisiana Brain and Spinal Cord Injury Foundation Louisiana Swamp Stomp is a fun romp through the sounds of the Bayou State. No Buts, No Maybes - The 1949-1957 Recordings - Professor Longhair - Best of collection gathers a variety of the great R&B recordings the Professor made for different labels such as Atlantic, Mercury, Federal & Ebb Records between 1949 & 1957. Tracks include Tipitina, Mardi Gras in New Orleans, Baby Let Me Hold ... Full Descriptionyour Hand, In the Night, Bald Head, Boogie Woogie. 16 page booklet, rare photos, vintage memorabilia and detailed liner notes. 28 total tracks MARDI GRAS TIME MUSIC Mardi Gras - Cowboy Mouth - Cowboy Mouth's brand new album - Mardi Gras! The EP to celebrate their 16th Annual Rock N' Roll Mardi Gras Tour features four classics from Carnival season, an acoustic version of The Avenue and brass from The Crescent City's Bonerama. Be sure to catch them on tour with Dash Rip Rock in 2011! Mardi Gras Parade Music From New Orleans Volume 2 - Mardi Gras Parade Music From New Orleans Volume 2 - Volume 1 was released in 1993 - this is also available on our website - Check it out - Happy Mardi Gras! On My Way - 1st Chief Juan Pardo – This is a CD-R – and a great CD for Mardi Gras Spirit! Let the Chief guide you there – It’s Mardi Gras time ya’ll.
SEPTEMBER, 2010 FEATURED NEW RELEASES ON CD NEW CDs Dash Rip Rock - Call Of The Wild - 2010 release from the veteran Indie Rockers. Call Of The Wild is a Southern party record--a tribute to all the insane theme bands that played the Deep South bar circuit back in the '70s. It mixes Stax-era dirty Soul and rootsy Garage Punk with funky Country Rock and low Country Shag. Every song is about partying, being at a party or the characters you might meet at a party. Inspiration for these rowdy tunes comes from the Mar-Keys, Huey Smith and the Clowns, Swingin' Medallions, Doug Clark And His Hot Nuts, Southern Culture On The Skids, Mojo Nixon, Cowboy Mouth, Otis Day And The Nights, Archie Bell And The Drells and any other Southern band that has "and the" in their name. Dr. John & Lower Line 911 - Tribal - Iconic American musician Dr. John goes TRIBAL with the follow-up to his 2008 Grammy Award Winning release 'The City That Care Forgot' for 'Best Contemporary Blues Album.' TRIBAL, featuring a track with Grammy winner Derek Trucks, is a unique spicy mix of New Orleans funk and blues with a spiritual and Native flavor with songs written by Dr John and a few of his friends - Allen Toussaint and the late Bobby Charles and joined by his ultra funky Lower 911 band of musicians. The Marsalis Family - Music Redeems - One of the most famous of New Orleans' multigenerational jazz families, it is extraordinarily rare for the Marsalis clan to assemble all together in one place. However, approaching Father's Day of last year, the family gathered at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., to honor its patriarch and the Duke Ellington Jazz Festival's Lifetime Achievement Award recipient, Ellis Marsalis. With sons Branford on saxophones, Wynton on trumpet, Delfeayo on trombone, Jason on drums, poet Ellis III reciting a piece written especially for his father for the occasion, and special guests Dr. Billy Taylor and family friend Harry Connick, Jr., Ellis inspired an evening of lively performances of repertoire with special meaning to the Marsalis Family, punctuated by family stories and anecdotes about growing up in New Orleans. All proceeds from the project will go straight to programming support for the Ellis Marsalis Center for Music, an education center and heart of the New Orleans Musicians' Village community, conceived in 2005 by Branford Marsalis and Harry Connick Jr. in partnership with New Orleans Habitat for Humanity following Hurricane Katrina. Meschiya Lake& The Little Big Horns - Lucky Devil- Having a passion for the old timey jazz and blues, Meschiya Lake started The Little Big Horns in the spring of 2009. The group works together creating their innovative yet traditional sound of both classics and originals. From Royal street to Frenchmen street, the band energetic approach and heart felt delivery has created an international following of dancers, vintage fans, music professors and underworld villains a like. Evan Christopher - The Remembering Song - This CD captures Christopher´s view of the most significant among the curves in his "Clarinet Road"-a bend near the Mississippi River where he found Sidney Bechet and where he continues to find himself. Christopher arrived in New Orleans in 1994... He soaked up tradition from New Orleans musical elders, helped extend it in new musical directions with contemporaries. But most of all, in New Orleans he found Clarinet Road´s starting point. The floodwaters of 2005 chased him away from his adopted hometown... When Christopher returned in late 2007... New Orleans was two cities then, one inching toward renewal, the other caught in what David Winkler-Schmidt of the local Gambit Weekly called "the horrible unending of not knowing." ... Christopher's The Remembering Song invokes the sorrow and waiting as well as the empowerment and deep joy Bechet brought forth, transmuted through real fears of something possibly taken away. "Essentially," Christopher says, "Delta Bound, with Dick Hyman (ARCD 19325), was about leaving New Orleans but staying tied to the city through the music even though I wasn't sure I'd ever live there again. This record is about being back." -from the liner notes by Larry Blumenfeld. NEW DVDs Christian Serpas and Ghost Town - Boot Stompin', Hip Shakin' DVD are a country band in a place not known for country music.Mandeville resident Serpas grew up in St. Bernard Parish, minutes from New Orleans, the city famous for jazz, rhythm-and-blues and funk. But it was classic country by Hank Williams, Johnny Cash and Buck Owens and classic rock from Led Zeppelin to the Ramones that mostly shaped Serpas and Ghost Town."We were exposed to everything," the singer, guitarist and songwriter said this week. "We were hearing rock and Hank Williams and a little bluegrass, a lot of pop music and the New Orleans stuff. We like to think that we pull elements from all of it."Ghost Town thinks of itself as a country band, but it makes its own kind of country.Includes interviews plus live performances . Wade In The Water Children - Life As A Kid In An American Crisis - A DEVASTATING, first-hand account of life in post-Katrina New Orleans, told from the mouths of babes who are surviving it under OUTRAGEOUS living conditions. SCALDING STUFF. --New York NewsdayThrough a passionate mixture of private videos, uncensored interviews and school-day adventures, the children of New Orleans notoriously violent Central City neighborhood have created a riveting portrait of childhood at the heart of an ongoing American crisis. No one set out to make a film: six months after Katrina, filmmakers Elizabeth Wood and Gabriel Nussbaum moved to New Orleans with a free art program, intended to help students creatively express their thoughts in response to the chaos of the storm. Their documentary-film class at Singleton Charter School at the local YMCA invited students to take video-cameras home and tell their stories on their own terms. The results quickly transcended the classroom. 300 hours of deeply personal video-tape later, Wade in the Water, Children took shape. Through their own remarkably honest and unusual footage, we enter the students' shuttered housing projects, fractured families, flooded homes and darkened streets. We discover a New Orleans that was a disaster long before Katrina, a place where role models are scarce and gun violence is normal. The children reveal a New Orleans that adults are afraid to discuss, and that a conventional film crew could never penetrate. Wade in the Water, Children offers a poetic and devastating look at life in the Crescent City through the eyes of its youngest citizens. NEW BOOKS Larry Gabriel - Daddy Plays Old-Time New Orleans Jazz - Few families in jazz provide such an unbroken evolution of the music as the Gabriels, and Larry Gabriel has done a magnificent job of framing their contributions within this context. There has always been a discussion about the vital musical connection between New Orleans and Detroit, and Gabriel, through his family, has marshaled living evidence of this continuing relationship. This study is another important addition to understanding the foundation of jazz. Blow, Gabriels! Tom Sanction - Song For My Fathers - A New Orleans Story in Black and White - Song for My Fathers is the story of a young white boy driven by a consuming passion to learn the music and ways of a group of aging black jazzmen in the twilight years of the segregation era. Contemporaries of Louis Armstrong, most of them had played in local obscurity until Preservation Hall launched a nationwide revival of interest in traditional jazz. They called themselves "the mens." And they welcomed the young apprentice into their ranks. Bruce Boyd Raeburn - New Orleans Style and the Writing of American Jazz History - New Orleans Style tells the tale of the recognition of New Orleans jazz as a discrete style and how that recognition affected the writing of American jazz history. MARCH, 2010 FEATURED NEW RELEASES ON CD Maurice Brown – The Cycle Of Love - With the mid-March release of his new album, THE CYCLE OF LOVE (Brown Records), trumpet virtuoso Maurice Brown takes another giant step forward as an internationally acclaimed musician, composer, bandleader, and performer. His improvisations are fresh, his chops dynamic and he's writing what could very well become a new generation of hard-bop-meets-new-grooves standards." Preservation Hall Jazz Band – Preservation - A landmark collaboration bringing together legendary and emerging artists including Pete Seeger, Tom Waits, Merle Haggard, Jim James, Andrew Bird and more for a celebration of New Orleans music. Over the last year, more than 20 of American music’s most exciting artists traveled to Preservation Hall in New Orleans to collaborate with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band on classic New Orleans repertoire. The end result is a timeless and joyous celebration of New Orleans music. Proceeds from the sale of the project will benefit Preservation Hall and The Preservation Hall Music Outreach Program. New Orleans Cotton Mouth Kings - The New Orleans Cottonmouth Kings are composed of six former members of the now defunct New Orleans Jazz Vipers. This group is often known for their unamplified simplicity covering obscure and popular tunes alike. Continuing to carry the torch, these fellas are performing regularly in New Orleans on Frenchmen Street playing unapologetic, no nonsense, traditional and not so New Orleans Jazz. We carry on the Viper tradition New Orleans Swing style music that made that former band famous. John Ellis & Double Wide - Puppet Mischief - Puppet Mischief, Brooklyn-based saxophonist John Ellis's second album with his New Orleans-based band Double-Wide, continues the former New Orleanian's love affair with the Big Easy, drawing inspiration from the rich vein of music the city has given the world, while also taking cues, in Ellis' own words, from "carnivals, state fairs, children laughing, clowns and dancing." Marking his debut on the ObliqSound label with the February 23rd release, the recording features Ellis with Brian Coogan on organ, Matt Perrine on sousaphone and Jason Marsalis on drums, plus special guests Gregoire Maret on harmonica and Alan Ferber on trombone. Galactic -ya-kay-may - New Orleans is a city defined by its unique and colorful history. It’s for that reason that most tend to view the place as something of a musical museum while ignoring the town’s vibrant and innovative new music. In New Orleans, the hip-hop at the heart of today’s culture emerged from an energetic, highly eroticized and occasionally gender-bending music called “bounce”. And the truth is, all the town’s seemingly disparate styles – jazz, brass bands and funk as well as the newer “bounce” influenced hip hop, are all intrinsically linked. There is a particular inclusiveness about the place which connects both its people and their music. And now, for the first time ever, all these sounds have been combined on one undeniably original record. With YA-KA-MAY, long time NOLA residents, GALACTIC have made an album that reflects the city as they see it - blending all the town’s distinctive sounds in a way no band has before. The album features established legends such as the Rebirth Brass Band, Irma Thomas, Big Chief Bo Dollis, Allen Toussaint and Walter “Wolfman” Washington with younger artists like Trombone Shorty and Corey Henry, John Boutté, Josh Cohen and Scully, and Glen David Andrews, as well as groundbreaking new “Bounce” artists like Cheeky Blakk, Big Freedia, Katey Red, and Sissy Nobby. Benjy Davis Project - Lost Souls Like Us – This new album takes its title from a text message, which makes sense when you consider that each track on the album serves the same purpose: each song tells a unique and direct story. The songs are meant to be enjoyed in and of themselves, and will stand the test of popular "shuffle" listening habits. "Lost Souls Like Us, is packed with moments, both lyrical and musical, that define the band: Davis' intensely-personal lyrics coupled with music that comfortably serves the needs of the story Davis is telling. Benjy Davis Project's Southern roots (they hail from Baton Rouge, LA) are on display in gorgeous down-home rhythms and slide guitar work. The album speaks of the balance between responsibility and irresponsibility everybody feels as an adult. "I like to use albums to keep a timeline of my life. For each new album, I have to have a few more things happen to me that are good before I'm ready to put another notch in." Davis's life is well chronicled in the 12 songs on this new album. Bobby Charles – Timeless – Bobby Charles, the singer-songwriter who penned such hits as Fats Domino's "Walking to New Orleans" and "See You Later Alligator" by Bill Haley and the Comets, died in January. He was 71. Charles, a Louisiana Cajun whose real name is Robert Charles Guidry, died at his home in Abbeville, La. Little Freddie King – Gotta Walk With The King - Riding his bike through Hurricance Katrina waters to safety, Freddie doesn't just play the blues; he is the BLUES you've heard about and thought had been washed away. With the same band that's backed him for over a decade, this is rough and raw music while being laid back and easy at the same time. Though he has lived in New Orleans since his teens, King's playing and singing are unmistakably rooted in his native Mississippi Delta soil. He is eclectic but gritty and his thumb is always his pick, giving his guitar playing a powerful, thick sound. Despite his fierce reputation as 'rough and tumble', back in the early days, he marvels at having become a blues elder. NEW BOOKS Stanton Moore - Groove Alchemy - Hudson Music and Stanton Moore are thrilled to announce the release of the Groove Alchemy Book/Audio CD package, a complete method for developing a massive vocabulary of grooves in various funk-based styles, along with a historical overview of some of the key grooves in the development of funk. The Groove Alchemy book/audio package covers the same topics in an even more comprehensive fashion, containing transcriptions of all of the historical grooves, plus all of Stanton's creative expansions and applications of them. The book contains over 600 examples, all of which are demonstrated on the included MP3 CD. The package also contains four play-along tracks taken directly from Stanton's new Groove Alchemy CD. These are some of the same songs performed on the DVD, so, using both products together, the student can watch and listen to Stanton perform, and then try the songs for themselves. Terry Teachout - Pops - A Life Of Louis Armstrong - Wall Street Journal arts columnist Terry Teachout has drawn on a cache of important new sources unavailable to previous Armstrong biographers, including hundreds of private recordings of backstage and after-hours conversations that Armstrong made throughout the second half of his life, to craft a sweeping new narrative biography of this towering figure that shares full, accurate versions of such storied events as Armstrong's decision to break up his big band and his quarrel with President Eisenhower for the first time. Certain to be the definitive word on Armstrong for our generation, Pops paints a gripping portrait of the man, his world and his music. Ryan Andre Brasseaux - Cajun Breakdown - The Emergence of an American-Made Music - The book examines the social and cultural roots of Cajun music's development through 1950 by raising broad questions about the ethnic experience in America and nature of indigenous American music. Since its inception, the Cajun community constantly refashioned influences from the American musical landscape despite the pressures of marginalization, denigration, and poverty. European and North American French songs, minstrel tunes, blues, jazz, hillbilly, Tin Pan Alley melodies, and western swing all became part of the Cajun musical equation. The idiom's synthetic nature suggests an extensive and intensive dialogue with popular culture, extinguishing the myth that Cajuns were an isolated folk group astray in the American South. Ryan Andre Brasseaux's work constitutes a bold and innovative exploration of a forgotten chapter in America's musical odyssey. 2009 Barry Jean Ancelet & Philip Gould – One Generation At A Time - Biography Of A Cajun and Creole Music Festival - This book tells the inside story of this experiment in cultural self-preservation, taking the reader onstage, backstage, and into the crowd with schedules, commentary, and photographs from each year, exposing the cultural mission of festival organizers. Barry Jean Ancelet and Philip Gould have been involved wit the event since its inception in 1974. NEW DVD Cowboy Mouth – The Name Of The Band Is Cowboy Mouth – Cowboy Mouth DVD recorded live at The Roxy in Los Angeles on July 27. 2007 - For more than 15 years, the members of Cowboy Mouth have embraced, embodied, preached and shouted at the top of their lungs the joys of their hometown, New Orleans, sharing a slice of Mardi Gras heaven with fans around the world on 11 recordings and at their legendary live shows, which to date have been witnessed by more than 8 million
JAZZ FEST 2007 NEW CDs Wynton Marsalis - From The Plantation To The Penitentiary - Wynton Marsalis is one of the most important artists of our moment because the quality and range of his talent has few peers and his integrity is exceed by no one. Like Bolden, this contemporary son of New Orleans made a name for himself by "calling the children home." Marsalis reestablished the power and elegance of jazz in his time and for his generation and for all generations that came before or after his. This has now been going on for over twenty years and it was no small achievement when it began, and the opposition to what Marsalis went after was met both with great acceptance and great rejection. None of that stopped him from going his own way and from carrying much of the jazz world with him. Fats Domino - Sentimental Journey - Live At the University of New Orleans - 2 CD Set Papa Grows Funk - Mr. Patterson's Hat - Mr. Patterson's Hat is a proclamation of post-Katrina New Orleans. The title is a celebrates those who have returned since Katrina sent the city into a mass exodus and commemorates those who have not yet come home. NEW DVDs Fats & Friends - Fats Domino - Jerry Lee Lewis - Ray Charles - It's the jam session of a lifetime as the three greatest rock 'n' roll piano players in the world share the stage for the first and only time. Filmed at the historic Storyville nightclub in New Orleans, Fats Domino and Friends features three performers who virtually defined rock 'n' roll piano in the '50's the immortal Fats Domino, Jerry Lee Lewis and Ray Charles - strutting their stuff, individually and collectively, and joined onstage by Rolling Stones guitarist Ron Wood, drummer extraordinaire Steve Jordan, and musical director and host Paul Shaffer NEW BOOKS Ragged But Right - Black Traveling Shows, "Coon Songs," & The Dark Pathway Of Blues And Jazz - Authors - Lynn Abbott & Doug Seroff - "The Latest From The Authors of Out Of Sight - In this major work, authors Lynn Abbott and Doug Seroff have documented the popular music forms of the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. With meticulous research, they have illuminated the careers of pioneer jazz musicians and blues singers, and the dissemination of their music by traveling circuses, minstrel and tent shows. An essential study, recommended without reservation." - Paul Oliver - JAZZ FEST 2006 Alive & Kickin’ – Fats Domino - Proceeds go to The Tipitina's Foundation - Artists Relief Initially, the Foundation addressed the immediate need of our exiled musicians and allowed them to carry on with their lives. Now the foundation is using the legendary music club, Tipitina's Uptown, as the center of its efforts. Brother To The Blues – Tab Benoit - I've always been a fan of early country music. I like the roots of American popular music, and the blues is a big part of that. But before there was blues and country there was country blues. That's the foundation for all of this music: it comes from the same place. I grew up listening to a lot of the country legends - Hank Williams, George Jones, and others - and I always had it in mind that someday I'd like to make a record that takes into account all of my early musical influences. New Orleans Social Club – Sing Me Back Home - We made a big ol' batch of gumbo and invited some of our favorite piano ticklers, street paraders, rhythm-and-blues singers, Mardi Gras Indians, troubadours and funkateers to celebrate the indomitable spirit of New Orleans. So grab a plate, fill it up and FEED YOUR SOUL Jazz Fest Live 2005 CDs - Live Performances By Some of Your Favorite Artists – Subdudes. The Nevilles, Tab Benoit, Cowboy Mouth, Allen Toussaint, Waylon Thibodeaux, Johnny Sketch & The Dirty Notes, The Radiators, Rockin’ Jake Band, Steve Riley & The Mamou Playboys, Swamp Pop Summit, Papa Grows Funk, John Mooney, Rebirth Brass Band, Ivan Neville. Galactic, Brian Stoltz, Astral Project…and more! FEATURED NEW RELEASES on DVD DVD - Documentary FEATURED NEW RELEASES in BOOKS Blue Monday – Fats Domino & The Lost Dawn Of Rock’n’Roll - The First-Ever Biography of Antoine "Fats" Domino - and a Vivid re-creation of the New Orleans Music Scene, The Rise of R&B, and The Birth of Rock'N'Roll with Exclusive Interviews and over 75 Rare and Unpublished Photos. January - February 2006 A Woman’s Viewpoint – Irma Thomas - The Absolute Cream Of The New Orleans Soul Queen's 1970's Recordings. Many Being Released on UK CD for the first time. Here are 19 sublime examples of southern soul music that stand comparison with the very best recordings from and of their era. NEW RELEASES DVDs DVD - Documentary
Guardians Of The Flame: A View Within - Big Chief Donald Harrison, Sr. January 27, 1933 - December 1, 1998 Donald Eldridge Harrison, Sr., Big Chief Of the Guardians of the Flame, will be remembered as one of the legends of the New Orleans Mardi Gras Indian tradition. He was a popular and respected Big Chief who was well-read in history, philosophy, and literature. He had a passion for jazz that was as strong as his passion for sharing the traditions of the Mardi Gras Indians. Mr. Harrison's love for the Mardi Gras Indians began when he was four years old, and as he grew, he attended practices and absorbed the stories from the older Indians. He started beading patches for Indian suits at the age of 12, and made his first appearance as an Indian on Carnival Day in 1949. Throughout his life he spoke with pride of having had the opportunity to mask with Big Chiefs such as Brother Cornelius Tillman and Lawrence Fletcher. Mr. Harrison was a former Big Chief of the Creole Wild West, the Cherokee Braves, and the White Eagles, before he organized the Guardians of the Flame in 1988. Big Chief Donald Harrison, Sr., was as comfortable at an Indian practice at Trombone Shorty's as he was lecturing at Yale University. He took the Mardi Gras Indian tradition around the world, but the place he wanted to be most was the corner of St. Philip and North Robertson, leading his gang on Mardi Gras Day January
- April 2005 You Don’t Know What I Know – Little Freddie King – If you like the blues raw then you are ready for Little Freddie King. He is “dead serious” about the title of this CD, ya’ll. God, Guns & Money – Brian Stoltz – This is a powerful effort in “tellin’ it like it is.” You want some truth mixed in with fantastic guitar playing. Here it is. Choro do Norte – Tom McDermott – After making seven trips to Brazil to study and play with choro musicians, McDermott has assembled a masterpiece. Live In Germany – Tim Laughlin – This is his first live CD as a solo artist. It is a compilation of performances from his Germany tour of 2002 & 2004. Fever For The Bayou – Tab Benoit – This CD is the perfect record for those who can’t get to see Tab LIVE. NEW RELEASES DVDs THE BEAT - VOLUMES 1 - 6 Yeah, U Rite ! – Coco Robicheaux – With his latest release - Coco still has something to say for all the Coco’s fans out there in the world. With 10 original songs, few living musicians do the swamp thing with so much passion. New Orleans’ Funkiest Delicacies – Various Artists – The release of this sampler, offers an excellent primer to the broad cross-section of New Orleans Funk embodied in Funky Delicacies’ program of reissues. Grant Street – Sonny Landreth – Recorded Live at Grant Street Dancehall, Lafayette, LA 2004 – David Ranson – bass & Kenneth Blevins on drums – Sonny wanted to capture the raw power of the trio by picking 11 of the best songs in a 2 night stint. Backyard Groove – Kirk Joseph – K irk Joseph is a native New Orleanean Sousaphonist. As a founding member, and long time anchor of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band he has defined modern New Orleans tuba playing to the world. After countless years of holding down the bottom end for numerous bands, Joseph is finally stepping to the forefront and releasing a solo effort. . When you've played with as many famous New Orleans musicians as Joseph has, a lot of people owe you favors, and Joseph seemingly collected all of his I.O.U.'s at once in assembling a dazzling array of Big Easy All-Star guests for this energetic and fun album. January
- July 2004 Preservation
Hall Hot 4 with Duke Dejan – Preservation Hall
Recordings Preservation Hall’s first recording
by a quartet. Featuring sweet and poignant vocals by legend
Harold “Duke” Dejan, founder of Olympia Brass
Band, captured here in his final recorded performance. Best
Of The Early Years – Preservation
Hall Recordings Some of New Orleans’s seminal
musicians who have come to define the New Orleans Jazz genre.
Includes performances From the albums of Sweet Emma, Billie
and DeDe, Here Come da Great Olympia Band, plus four previously
unreleased tracks. Shake
That Thing – Preservation Hall Recordings New Books Out
Of Sight - The Rise Of African American Popular Music 1889
-1895 - University Press Of Mississippi The Rise of
African American Popular Music, 1889-1895 - traces the history
of Late-Nineteenth African American Music and Performance with
a level of Detail heretofore unsurpassed, uncovering Facts which,
in many cases, rewrite commonly accepted notions of the Development
of Popular Culture in America, not least of which may be the
Authors' discoveries regarding The Origins Of Ragtime.Mandolin Clubs,
Barbershop Singing, Circus Sideshows and Countless other Subjects
are also Discussed, evident to any Reader who so chooses to inspect
the pages contained herein. The thorough Consumer's interest
may also be piqued by the following selected Testimonials:"Their
painstaking research opens the door to an entire era, yielding
abundant contemporary accounts of 1890's African American music
making, along with glimpses of the complex social factors surrounding
it. This is a groundbreaking work whose value can't be overestimated." April - December, 2003 504
Records Story 1978-2003 – Various
Artists January - March 2003 East Of Rampart Street - Brian Stoltz has been gathering fans and is known in circles around the world as New Orleans' premiere King of Funk Guitar. He has, in equal measure, based his career on virtuosity, raw emotion and a funky, yet blistering signature style. His current project, is showing himself to be an exceptionally talented singer and band leader. Dust My Blues - Warren Storm cut his teeth on Cajun' and Rockabilly in South Louisiana juke joints during the '50's. This session is a mix of all the music he loves…Blues, Cajun and Rock and Roll. 50's style, with minimal overdubs in a live recording situation.Snakey - Tony Joe White - This album has something for everyone: Some rock, some ballads, some blues, and a whole lot of swamp! Joseph Torregano…A Jazzman At 50!!! - is a me'lange of traditional New Orleans jazz, jazz, blues, sacred tunes and timeless standards. Why these songs? As Joe says: "Having turned 50, these songs were significant throughout my career and display the maturity of my tone and playing style over the last 38 years of playing the clarinet practically everyday of my life! December 2002 Smokin' Christmas - Smoky Greenwell - Smokin' Christmas is Smoky's fifth album. This CD has great spirit and will definitely put you in the holiday mood. Smoky plays his harmonica and even sings on "Homeless Christmas". Johnny Neel does a wonderful version of Coco Robicheaux's classic Christmas tune "Saturday Night Before Christmas". Jazz At Christmas In New Orleans - Ellis Marsalis - Season Greetings from ELM records. This is their first Christmas release. This CD has both sacred and secular selections. Cynthia Liggins Thomas has a beautiful voice and is well matched with the Ellis Marsalis sound. This would be a wonderful way to start any holiday gathering . Clarinet Road - Volume 1: The Road to New Orleans - Evan Christopher - is a dynamic clarinetist and saxophonist committed to preserving and continuing the spirit of classic jazz. On this CD you will find great musicians and great music. Give it a tryBad Situation - Lil' Buck Sinegal - On this CD, Lil' Buck used both his 1954 white Fender Stratocaster and his 1975 hollow body "f-holded" Gretch. Need I say more? Check this one out…Ya'll heard me... Betty Shirley with The Chuck Chaplin Trio - Betty Shirley - If you like women jazz vocalist - you will love B etty Shirley. On this CD she sings a mix of Cole Porter, Rodgers & Hart, and Gershwin - Chuck Chaplin Trio does a wonderful job all the way round. July - September 2002 Easy - Doug Kershaw - Kershaw selected nine new original compositions from his personal songbook for this CD. Cajun-infused honky tonk anchored by his expressive voice, Kershaw's signature fiddle playing is front and center throughout Easy, accompanied by mandolins and banjo. Bury The Hatchet - Anders Osborne & Monk Boudreaux - The unique rhythms and songs of the Mardi Gras Indians have made a profound impact on New Orleans music and culture. Anders Osborne and Chief Monk Boudreaux of The Golden Eagles collaborate on this funky, soulful collection of infectious New Orleans roots music via both new and traditional compositions.New Orleans Gospel Quartets 1947-1956 - Various Artists - The recordings collected on this CD recall the New Orleans gospel quartets of the decade following World War II, when quartet singers still dominated the field of religious entertainment with their glorious harmonies, blended in rhythm and soul…. This is great music!Steppin' Out - Banu Gibson - Supported by first-rate sidemen, including Jake Hanna and "newcomer" Bucky Pizzarelli, Banu puts her personal stamp on these songs as only she can. She continues to be original, fun, personal, entertaining and swinging. We know you'll enjoy this sensational CD. LIVE at the Louisiana Music Factory - Walter Payton's Gumbo Filè Band - Presented on this compact disc is Walter Payton's Gumbo Filè. Filè Gumbo or Walter's 'other' band, the other band being the probably better known Snap Bean Band (504 CDs 76). Gumbo Filè plays the more traditional jobs' in a smaller unit, featuring a single trumpet lead, usually Mark Braud or Dwayne Burns. This session was once again recorded LIVE at the Louisiana Music Factory, part of an ongoing series. I'm Not Like This - Malvina's - Gina Forsyth - Lisa Markley - Beth Cahill - This cd a feisty blend of jazz, traditional and folk-pop. With roots all over North America, the Malvinas pull together a broad palette of regional colors including: the Blues-tinged grooves of the deep South, the spicy Cajun flavors of Louisiana, the Celtic modes of Eastern Canada and the libertarian troubadour tradition of the Lone Star State. Alternating lead vocalists, tight harmonies and quirky instrumentation (dobro, guitar, tenor guitar, mandolins and violin) create a high energy sound that never forgets thatto make great music, you start with a great songForever My Love - Music From The Bayou - Award-winning Louisiana filmmaker Pat Mire explores the history of Cajun, Blues, Zydeco and Swamp Pop music of South Louisiana in this colorful documentary film. It features guitarist Gerry McGee, son of the late Dennis McGee who has been called the father of contemporary Cajun music. Gerry & Pat stop along the way to play with former students including Michael Doucet, Zachary Richard, Steve Riley, Sonny Landreth, D.L. Menard, Al Berrard, Warren Storm, Rod Bernard, Bois-sec Ardoin, Geno Delafose, Sam Broussard and other great musicians.Baby Dodds Drum Method Book - Instruction Manual & CD - Includes Compact Disk with Rare Recordings and Interviews! The Baby Dodds Drum Method - The Life and Art of Warren "Baby" Dodds - The Greatest Drummer of Jazz . The drummer for King Oliver, Louis Armstrong, Jelly Roll Morton, Johnny Dodds... The only surviving student of Baby Dodds and his only student in the Dodds Method reveal, for the first and only time, anywhere, the secrets of the Dodds Method! With instruction manual and CD that preserve and reveal the rhythmic/melodic drum style - he drum style for every era and every style of music.The Rough Guide To The Music Of Louisiana - Various Artists - Synonymous with music and known as the birthplace of jazz, Louisiana is also home to many other styles including Cajun, zydeco, blues and gospel. The Rough Guide To The Music Of Louisiana comprises all these genres, providing searing vocals and stirring lyrics that are accompanied by the violin, accordion, piano, guitar, jazz trumpet and two-step beats. This album will take you on a journey along the region's music trail, from its early roots in poor agricultural communities to today's thriving scene. Fran-Tastic - Carol Fran - For nearly 50 years, Lafayette's Carol Fran has been one of Louisiana's most precious - albeit obscure - musical resources. While none of her many singles reached the national charts, she has recorded an enviable body of work, one that R&B aficionados have raved about for years. The release of "Fran-Tastic" now adds to Fran's legacy. 30 Years…And Still Wild! - Bo Dollis & The Wild Magnolias - In 1970, The Wild Magnolias and their chief Bo Dollis made history, becoming the first Mardi Gras Indian tribe to take their music into the recording studio. Here is a 30 year musical history of rare & historical recordings plus 6 new tracks. This will be a collector's item for all Wild Magnolias and New Orleans fans.The Blues Of Henry Gray - Video - With a playing style which now encompasses both the tough, two-fisted, down-in-the-alley sound he helped define during the great postwar Chicago scene and the rollicking rhythm and blues exhuberance of his native Louisiana, pianist Henry Gray is finally emerging from beneath the enormous shadow cast by his former employer, Howlin' Wolf. On this video he shows himself to be a major performer in his own right. This piano pounding solo performance is proof positive of Henry Gray's impressive and enduring talentThe Great Olympia Band - BOOK & CD - "The Great Olympia Band" examines the band's evolution and the lives of its principal players through their own words. The book's strength lies in the fact that almost all the interviews on which it is based were carried out by the author himself.<br> Author Mick Burns is a British jazz musician, broadcaster and writer who has been researching the history of Dejan's Olympia Brass Band for many years. His close friendship with Harold, Milton Batiste, Tuba Fats and other band members, past and present, has enabled him to produce a unique record of the most traveled band ever to come out of New Orleans. HLE Records. February - June 2002 Teasin'
You - Willie Tee - Willie Tee/"Teasin' You" (1965-1971)compiles
the early work of this extraordinary New Orleans singer/keyboardist
/arranger/ producer who brought together jazz with R&B to create
a sound that was and still is distinctly his own. This collection
features Tee's recordings with Nola Records (arranged by the legendary
Wardell Quezerque) and the self-produced singles from Tee's own
lable Gatur Records. While Tee went on to lead the funk band the
Gaturs and was the force behind the Wild Magnolias, these recordings
(anchored by his biggest hit "Teasin' You") serve as
the richest bedrock to his electric career. Sixty
Smokin' Soul Senders (2 cd set) - Various Artists - This
CD is a snapshot of a particularly fertile time for New Orleans
music, as seen through the productions of one of the city's most
gifted producers and arrangers, Wardell Quezerque. December 2001 - January 2002 Gettin' Funky - Various Artists - The city of New Orleans has left its unmistakeable imprint on 20th century popular music. It's music has flourished in a highly cosmopolitan atmosphere. The sound of New Orleans Rhythm & Blues ruled the world of popular music during the 1950's and 60's. This box salutes the pioneers of this funky down home music. (4 cd's, 107 tracks & a 56 page booklet) Goin' Down To Louisiana: GoldBand Downhome Blues Anthology - Various Artists - The Seminal Louisiana Blues Recordings from Eddie Shuler's Goldband Label in a Collection inspired by The Classic 1965 Storyville LP, "The Louisiana Blues". Ace has painstakingly compiled and released for the first time ever on Compact Disc some of the best of Goldband recordings. Each CD has double the amount of songs as most CDs, ranging from 24 to 30 songs per CD. Complete liner notes and booklets containing historical info and photos are included with each CD. The Great Olympia Band - BOOK & CD - "The Great Olympia Band" examines the band's evolution and the lives of its principal players through their own words. The book's strength lies in the fact that almost all the interviews on which it is based were carried out by the author himself.<br> Author Mick Burns is a British jazz musician, broadcaster and writer who has been researching the history of Dejan's Olympia Brass Band for many years. His close friendship with Harold, Milton Batiste, Tuba Fats and other band members, past and present, has enabled him to produce a unique record of the most traveled band ever to come out of New Orleans. HLE Records. The Soul Of New Orleans: A Legacy of Rhythm and Blues - BOOK - Jeff Hannusch is a tireless investigator and chronicler of the ever-fascinating New Orleans R&B scene. He has lived in New Orleans since 1978, always remaining close to the city's vibrant musical heartbeat. The Soul Of New Orleans is a natural follow-up to his illuminating first book, I Hear You Knockin': The Sound Of New Orleans Rhythm and Blues which won a 1986 American Book Award. October - November 2001 Creole
Moon - Dr. John - Musta been a year ago I was over at Wayne
Fouquet's crib looking at this painting of Baron Samedi and it all
hit my nervous system. Suddenly I knew what Creole Moon was about.
I'd been thinking about this record for a long time. It's a collection
of tunes so close to my heart that I feel strongest about pre-forming
them. In the past I made commercial records, cover records, tribute
and histerical records, from the desperation of survival to art.
But this record is a personal interpretation of New Orleans, and
each song is a story or a vignette. It shows what I love about our
music: so many influences come together, the global connections
that make the South Louisiana grooves what it is. We take a little
of this and a little of that, mix it all up, and what you get is
musical gumbo. Name a place and somehow it's connived its way into
the sound of The City That Care Forgot. Dr. John September 2001 Portraits
of Wonder - Matt Lemmler - The Music Of Stevie Wonder
featuring: Leah Chase, George French, Brian Blade & John Ellis.
"Portraits of Wonder" has 10 Stevie Wonder classics and
one original, all reharmonized and arranged for an 9 piece jazz
ensemble, featuring 2 of New Orleans' top vocalists. August 2001 Back
To Bogalusa - Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown once again does not disappoint.
Back To Bogalusa, musically brings Gate back home to Louisiana featuring
mostly local musicians including Sonny Landreth, Zachary Richard
& Joe Krown. July 2001 Satchmo: A Musical Autobiography
3 cd set |
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