Reviewed by Paul S Ganney

"Jazz - Delicious Hot, Disgusting Cold" said the Bonzos. This CD fortunately veers strongly to the former. Recorded live as part of Birmingham's 27th International Jazz & Blues festival the five-piece band (aided well in backing vocals by some of the One Voice Community Choir) stick well to their brief: it's far more Jools Holland than Dizzy Gillespie and is very well executed. The band get their name from an old Professor Longhair hit so it's hardly surprising that there is a lot of Crescent City vintage R&B in their sound while their infectious, having-a-good-time sound works well on CD though probably would have been even better if you'd been blessed to see them live. The CD consists mostly of covers of songs by the likes of Randy Newman, Huey Smith and Amy Winehouse. I particularly enjoyed the up-tempo introduction to "You Know I'm No Good". There are a couple of original tracks here, amongst the covers. Written by lead singer Debbie Jones, "You Are A Blessing" is far more gospel-tinged and does benefit from the backing I mentioned earlier. The musicianship is very accomplished and the overall sound very good.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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This, the second Tipitina album, was recorded live at the Hotel Du Vin at the heart of Birmingham's bustling Colmore Business District as part of the City's International Jazz & Blues Festival.

On a steamy summer's evening, in a courtyard straight out of Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire, a capacity crowd were ready to be rocked. At 8pm the band went to work with their own distinctive take on the New Orleans styles of Dr John, Professor Longhair, The Meters and Allan Toussaint, delivering near non-stop sets of romping boogie, blues, honky-tonk and gospel with the occasional heart-wrencher thrown in for good measure.

Come the witching hour, with almost three hours of uplifting music safely in the can, the audience long gone, band members hanging loose around the deserted courtyard, Justin Randall was moved to return to the piano. Cutting a solitary, barely visible figure in the midnight gloom, Justin's reflective, stately version of Sweet Louisiana was the perfect wind-down to a night of wonderful New Orleans music.

This is a record of that night in Birmingham.