NOVEMBER 2006

III

CD OF THE MONTH   In business school,they say: location,location,location. For Moore’s third solo release, it’s not just aptly titled, it also couldn’t have been recorded in a more historic locale: Preservation Hall in New Orleans – the drummer’s hometown. “I wanted to do something in the hall because of the sound in the room and amazing vibe there,” Moore comments. “After Katrina, they weren’t having music and were waiting to reopen, so I saw that as an awesome and rare opportunity to spend a few days in there with a remote recording setup and make a record.” The love for the city still recovering from Hurricane Katrina is obvious, from the funky rock-steady groove of ‘Poison Pushy’ (which should be sampled by, well, everybody), to the second-line stomp of ‘Maple Plank’, to the choppy funk of ‘(Don ’t Be Comin ’ With No)Weak Sauce’, to the ghost-note heaven of ‘Big ‘Uns Get The Ball Rolling’. The latter (what titles, eh?) also features Moore stretching out through some stop time, throwing triplets around like they ’re going out of style, and at the same time showing you why they are definitively not. Complementing Moore on the disc are Hammond B3 king Robert Walter, guitarist Will Bernard, Skerik on tenor sax, and trombonist Mark Mullins. A poignant trio of tunes finishes the disc: Abdullah Ibrahim’s ‘Water From An Ancient Well’, an eloquent rendition of Zeppelin’s ‘When The Levee Breaks’, and the traditional ‘I Shall Not Be Moved’. -DZ

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