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Kermit Ruffins: Kermit Ruffins
by Jim Santella
Featuring six tracks from Kermit Ruffins' out-of-print Justice releases, this compilation comes just in time for Mardi Gras. It's a celebration of trad jazz and everything else that has made New Orleans so special. All that's missing is the crawdads and gumbo. That, we'll have to find on our own.
Ruffins turned forty last year. His youthful voice and expressive trumpet remind you that the Crescent City isn't a place for stressing out. Forget the urban crawl and ...
Continue ReadingKermit Ruffins: 1533 St. Phillip Street
by AAJ Staff
Especially in these times of national anxiety and its stronger foil, patriotic pride, it is both comforting and encouraging to be able to hear the sound of great, upbeat All-American music such as this latest release from Kermit Ruffins. Named for the ReBirth Brass Band founder’s new jazz club in the heart of New Orleans, Ruffins’ album tips a wide-brimmed hat to a number of the Crescent City’s older favorite sons, both native and adopted.
Combining the gruff ...
Continue ReadingKermit Ruffins: Big Easy
by AAJ Staff
New Orleans is one of the greatest cultural conglomerations on the face of the earth. From the remains of past conquerors like Spain and France, to leftovers from the thousands of international expatriates who gather for the Crescent City’s festivals and endless parties, it remains a gumbo within the American melting pot.
On his latest CD, Nawlins horn man Kermit Ruffins dips in a big ladle and comes up with a tasty menu of multi-ethnic flavors that range from his ...
Continue ReadingKermit Ruffins: Big Easy
by C. Michael Bailey
In the Vernacular...
Big Easy offers a couple of surprises but for the most part is the status quo (and a fine one at that) of what we have come to expect from Kermit Ruffins. A homegrown product of New Orleans, Ruffins represents the local journeyman musician in a town full of journeyman musicians. Ruffins is neither a great trumpet player nor a great singer. In that, he does represent all that is good about traditional New Orleans Jazz. He ...
Continue ReadingKermit Ruffins: 1533 St. Philip Street
by Mike Perciaccante
The title of this wonderful CD is the address of Kermit's new club in the Tremé section of New Orleans, not his home address. For those heading for New Orleans, Ruffins' club is a don't miss--especially if he is on the bill. 1533 St. Phillip Street is also an outstanding CD; it may well even be Kermit's career defining recording. It's definitely the best album he has released to date.
Produced by Tracey Freeman (of Harry Connick, Jr. fame), hopefully ...
Continue ReadingKermit Ruffins: 1533 St. Philip Street
by Todd R. Brown
An essential ingredient for a great barbecue is to have your coals white-hot before you throw the meat on the grill. Veteran New Orleans trumpeter, singer and bandleader Kermit Ruffins is nothing if not a Barbecue Swinger, and for his latest album, 1533 St. Philip Street , the musicians he’s recruited are ready to burn through every track, from classic blues to vintage bebop to freshly penned second line stomps.
Ruffins’ record is named after the address of his new ...
Continue ReadingKermit Ruffins: The Barbecue Swingers Live / Swing This / 1533 St. Philip Street
by C. Michael Bailey
Channeling the free spirit of Satchmo.
New Orleans trumpeter Kermit Ruffins has kept his light under a basket. On the scene since his membership in the Rebirth Brass Band in the early 1990s, Ruffins struck out on his own with the first of three solo outings on Justice Records, World on a String (1992). Ruffins followed his debut with two additional Justice releases, Big Butter and Egg Man (1994) and Hold on Tight (1996). In 1997, Ruffins assembled The Barbecue ...
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