Review: Blue Moon Marquee ‘New Orleans Sessions’
By Hal Horowitz
Who said “they don’t make music like they used to”?
Not only is it natural for Canadian duo Jasmine Colette and A.W. Cardinal (aka Blue Moon Marquee) to head away from their chilly northern environs of British Columbia to record in humid New Orleans, many would ask what took so long?
The swing, raw blues, jazz and boogie-woogie infusing their dusky sound was unmistakably influenced by the distinctive sonic vibe of the Big Easy. So a few trips down South to that mecca of American music to capture those sounds in their natural habitat for the appropriately titled New Orleans Sessions, is a logical, even essential, career destination.
Like other feted Canadian blues-based acts such as Colin James, Blue Moon Marquee’s multiple awards have made them familiar names in their home country. The duo’s previous release– the Duke Robillard produced Scream, Holler & Howl— notably nabbed them the prestigious JUNO Album of the Year honor, along with multiple Maple Blues Awards.
But those accolades have not translated to success south of their border where they remain generally an unknown quantity. Perhaps the dazzling music captured with no overdubs here, will change that.
It surely deserves to.
These 10 tracks were captured in just two extended afternoon sessions (albeit one year apart), both helmed by engineer and harp player, Big Jon Atkinson. The supporting musicians, consisting of a handful of veteran New Orleans session pros, recorded live to tape on vintage analog gear. That immediacy bursts out of the speakers with barely contained exuberance. Unless you check the credits, it’s impossible to tell this isn’t some rare vintage recording from the early 60s.
Check out the thunderous honking baritone sax on “Red Dust Rising,” a stomping rocker that wouldn’t be out of place on a Fats Domino disc, or the rooty-toot-tootin’ version of Charlie Patton’s “Shake It and Break It” with the suggestive lyrics of “Ain’t no jelly roll like mine…you can snatch it, you can grab it,” to get your motor revved up for these 38 sizzling minutes.
The jaunty cover of Leadbelly’s “Ain’t Going Down” is a showcase for Colette and Cardinal to spar with each other, exchanging lead vocals on “Ain’t goin down, mama to the well no more” as the band chugs behind, urging them on. Even when they crank out a blues/jazz chestnut like “St. James Infirmary,” the authenticity of Cardinal’s gruff vocal, not far from Tom Waits’ grisly growl, and the sheer joyful backing, makes this as powerful and vital as any previously recorded.
The pounding barroom piano of original “Same Ol Day” along with its thumping drums and lowdown standup bass (Colette handles the acoustic doghouse duties) makes it sound like a smoke and booze fueled jam at some dingy, after-hours joint known only to locals. Ditto for Bo Carter’s “Let’s Get Drunk Again” where the duo combines sultry vocals about booze keeping their love alive, singing “Well it don’t make no difference/How drunk you may be/Long as you don’t hold/Honey from loving me” like they’ve lived it.
If roots music lovers complain “they don’t make it like they used to,” push play on any of Blue Moon Marquee’s New Orleans Sessions selections to prove them wrong.
“Black Rat Swing”
Excellent review and a delicious treat of an album!