Mitch Woods: A Night in New Orleans

One of the most charmingly energetic pianists working on the blues side of the aisle, Mitch Woods' playing seamlessly takes in everything from boogie woogie to jump blues to New Orleans R&B, with broad streaks of jazz stride thrown in.

On his latest release, Woods eschews his usual backing band, The Rocket 88s, for a solo show at Snug Harbor in New Orleans. His spirited performance harkens back to the great pianists who could hold a room all by themselves. It's a rollicking, fun show, with spoken asides calling out some of his influences.

As he mentions in the introduction to "Mojo Mambo" (his tribute to Professor Longhair), Woods has been playing gigs in New Orleans since 1981. On no other album has it been so clear just how much music the Brooklyn-raised, San Francisco-based Woods has absorbed during his subsequent trips to the Crescent City.

Covers of New Orleans standards such as "Blue Monday," "Jambalaya (On the Bayou)" and "Rockin' Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu" are deeply imbued with the unique Caribbean-inflected Afro-rhythms of New Orleans' R&B and blues. Woods' left hand lays out the lilting backbeat while his right hand is taking the melodic lead—firmly in the school of Longhair, Allen Toussaint, Tuts Washington, and more.

While Woods' voice is a bit frayed at the edges here, he never lets that diminish his enthusiastic, joyous singing.

It is interesting to hear some of these songs in a solo environment after hearing them on earlier albums with his full band. For example, this is at least the fourth version of "Mojo Mambo" Woods has recorded. He apparently debuted it on his 2005 live outing, Big Easy Boogie (Club 88 Records), with Maria Muldaur joining him on a vocal duet. They were backed there by members of Fats Domino's band, at a crazy tempo. Woods and Muldaur revisited the song on the 2017 studio outing, Friends Along the Way (eOne Records), with only Woods' piano backing them, in a slowed reading. Happy Hour (MoMojo Records, 2024), finds the song again performed with a full band—this time Woods' Rocket 88s, at about the same pace as the 2017 version.

Here, the song is played faster than on the two previous outings, but not quite as fast as on Big Easy Boogie. (And anything faster than that would be reduced to parody.) It is fascinating hearing how well Woods can fill out the sound on just piano, with that rolling bass rhythm from his left hand while his right hand creates all kinds of fills and figures. It sounds just as full as the versions played with a band and somehow swings even harder.

And a cover of Champion Jack Dupree's "Nasty Boogie Woogie" swings just as hard, and Woods does a fine job of pulling the crowd into a sing-along without ever slowing the vibe.

Woods' warm stage presence, his smooth transitions from speaking to playing, and the deep catalog of blues, jazz, and New Orleans R&B that consistently illuminate his improvisational solos make this a wonderful listen.