‘Bluesiana II’ arrived 30 years ago missing a key figure from the band’s all-star lineup in the recently deceased Art Blakey. I didn’t have high hopes.

‘The City That Care Forgot’ arrived in June 2008, just as some might questioned yet another Katrina-themed album. But Dr. John’s was different.

Dr. John’s funky Nola street dance anthem has rarely been covered with as much festive spirit as it has from New Orleans’ own Mardis Gras Indian funk collective Cha Wa.

Allen Toussaint, who has died at 77, was always content to work behind the scenes – until a devastating storm swept him from New Orleans.

In the period immediately after New Orleans’ levees failed under Hurricane Katrina’s onslaught beginning on Aug. 29, 2005, musicians began trying to make sense of things.

The eminent Dr. John plays Ramsey Lewis’ “Jungle Strut,” a deep groove that originally graced Lewis’ classic 1974 funk-jazz album ‘Sun Goddess.’

D’Angelo, Paul Rodgers, Roger Daltrey and Branford Marsalis are included on Nick DeRiso’s Best of 2014 list for blues, R&B and jazz records.

One part revelry and one part reverie, Dr. John’s update of Paul McCartney’s “Let ‘Em In” is a highlight on the forthcoming ‘Art of McCartney.’

He never stops experimenting, never stops surprising, and never stops entertaining.

A years-long labor of love helps save a key piece of musical, not political, history.