When you think of legendary New Orleans musicians, the first names that come to mind are Fats Domino, Professor Longhair, The Meters, Lee Dorsey and my personal favorite Allen Toussaint. Toussaint was a master of composing great Soul songs for others in the 70's, very rarely keeping anything for himself, but when he did, his albums in that decade were damn near untouchable. It's a real shame that he's only done a handful of albums for himself throughout his career because they're always a treat and The Bright Mississippi is no different.

The Bright Mississippi is Toussaint's first since his 2006 album The River in Reverse with Elvis Costello and his first major foray into the world of Jazz. Though Toussaint's notoriety is strictly R&B and Soul music, it isn't really a shock that Toussaint would try his hand at Jazz since the man is a master of the piano. Here he is surrounded by legends in their own right; Don Byron on clarinet, Nicholas Payton on trumpet and Marc Ribot who's one of my favorite guitar players. The sessions were produced by Joe Henry who seems to have decided to just produce legendary musician albums from now on since his last two were productions for Solomon Burke and Loudon Wainwright III respectively.

On The Bright Mississippi, Toussaint and company pay their respects to classics such as Jelly Roll Mortons' "Winin' Boy Blues" and Django Reinhardt's "Blue Drag" that Ribot just owns here. The four piece shine brightest on their interpretation of Thelonious Monk's title track and Toussaint can't help but sing on one tune, which just so happens to be a brilliant take on Louis Armstrong's "Long, Long Journey." With The Bright Mississippi, you would never guess that Toussaint wasn't a master of the Jazz medium, because just about every note here is masterful and noteworthy.