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Our Review

New Orleans is a bona fide American treasure, a rare gem with genuine pizzazz and style. After Katrina blew through in 2005, New Orleans is on the rebound and has a long way to go. Putumayo's New Orleans Christmas does a fine job of capturing the quintessential Big Easy in all its glory. The album rocks with the blues, jazz, and swing flavors that make New Orleans music extra-special.

Compilations benefit from the diversity of musical style and presentation, and that is true here. The players show all sides of New Orleans, from popular R&B singer Big Al Carson (with pianist/arranger Lars Edegran on the outstanding opening Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town) to classic jazzman Ellis Marsalis (daddy of jazz musicians Wynton, Branford, Delfeayo, and Jason) to Topsy Chapman, a former singing waitress on Bourbon Street. Trumpeter/singer James Andrew does an impressive hommage to Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong on the swingin' Christmas in New Orleans. Cabaret singer Ingrid Lucia gives a smokin' interpretation of 'Zat You, Santa Claus?, and a rowdy street party breaks out when the New Birth Brass Band presents Santa's Second Line. The beefy liner notes (in English, Spanish, and French!) are very helpful, giving great background information about each artist and song. From stem to stern, New Orleans Christmas is a saucy Southern delight.

Come party this holiday season in New Orleans! Putumayo's New Orleans Christmas will take you there for a song (please say "hello" to my son, a Tulane student, while you're there!).

--Carol Swanson
(Reviewed in 2007)

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From the liner notes:

New Orleans residents celebrate Christmas with customs that are both old and new, borrowed and invented. The faithful still attend Christmas Eve mass at St. Louis Cathedral in the Vieux Carre, or French Quarter. In olden days, this would be followed by a long, elaborate dinner known as reveillon, a meal that is still served in parts of France and Canada. Today, many of New Orleans' finest restaurants offer reveillon throughout December.

Twinkling electric lights and flickering holiday candles can be found everywhere in the city, recalling the French custom of fete des lumieres, when candles are placed in the windows of every house in a village. In downtown New Orleans, the block-long lobby of the Fairmont Hotel is dressed every year in a cloud-like canopy of angel hair and holiday lights, while in New Orleans' City Park, strings of more than two million lights decorate the limbs of the majestic old oak trees.

All along the bayous of the countryside outside New Orleans, bonfires known as feux de joie are lit on Christmas Eve--reminding residents of their European ancestors and providing Pere Noel with enough light to find every child's home.

The music of New Orleans at Christmas time also reflects this love for making holiday traditions new again. Well-known songs are sung with a different feeling, while newly composed songs fondly recall favorite holiday memories. The warmth of the holiday flavors, the unique character of the music; why, is the Christmas season so special to the people of New Orleans? Because it combines three basic elements--celebration, family gatherings, and generosity--all of which can be found in great abundance in New Orleans and throughout Louisiana.

Executive Producer & Song Selection: Dan Storper
Liner Notes: Roger Hahn
Project Coordination: Lisa Lee, Michael D. Kurtz and John McQueeney

Charity:
A portion of Putumayo's proceeds from the sale of this CD will be donated to the New Orleans Area Habitat for Humanity in support of the Musicians' Village project. Habitat for Humanity builds new houses in partnership with sponsors, volunteers, communities, and homeowner families to eliminate poverty housing in greater New Orleans. The Musicians' Village project will focus on building up to 300 new homes and a music center for low-income New Orleans musicians and other displaced residents.

Various Artists

Putumayo Presents New Orleans Christmas

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Track List