Singing with a hound-dog salaciousness, and playing sax with a squalling soulfulness, Advice from a Father to a Son has a funky-cool Carnival-time vibe anyway. Then Scott Ramminger goes and adds some of New Orleans’ best sidemen

Papa Grows Funk returns with its most collaborative effort yet, as Needle in the Groove boasts a whopping three producers — including Louisiana legend Allen Toussaint — and a set of songs composed together as a group.

Ruthie Foster, slowly but surely, has made a name for herself as a singer-songwriter. This album, more than any before it, focuses on the first part — as she brilliantly reinterprets a series of other people’s songs, both contemporary and age-old.

George Porter Jr., original bassist with the Meters, will be this year’s recipient of OffBeat magazine’s Lifetime Achievement Award in Music, during ceremonies to be held January 27 at Generations Hall in New Orleans.

On this special edition of Something Else! Reviews’ One Track Mind, we hand the reins over to legendary drummer Joseph “Zigaboo” Modeliste

Joseph “Zigaboo” Modeliste, a funky furnace that once powered the Meters, has just released a tour-de-force project aptly titled New Life.

New Life arrived amidst much anticipation of something in keeping with drummer Zigaboo Modeliste’s mythically groovetastic tenure with the Meters. And, bless him, I got it. But that wasn’t all.

Putting together a luxe coffee-table book honoring the city of his birth clearly got Irvin Mayfield in a nostalgic mood.

Photo from my poster collection by Nick DeRiso Dr. John further defines an ass-shaking new synthesis on Desitively Bonnaroo. Even today, there’s really no roadmap for the crazy-eyed co-mingling of R&B, jazz, island beats, blues, boogie funk and hoodoo whackadoo splashed across this LP, recorded alongside fellow New Orleans legends Allen Toussaint and the Meters more than 35 years ago. [...]

by Nick DeRiso For me, the traditional year-ending Top 10 list has a more utilitarian standard: Which albums did I add to my permanent rotation? See, it’s the rarest of rare items that actually becomes a member of the collection. That’s the kind of standout recording we’ll be talking about today for my calendar-turning retrospective. I don’t know if they [...]