We are inexpresibly grateful.

Grateful to all who made the music on the albums--players and engineers. Grateful to Progammers at Stations. Grateful to our teams at Kate Smith Promotions and to Jim Eigo of Jazz Promo Services. Grateful most, of course, to listeners.

Something is happening out there!

Today we celebrate by offering an advance listen of the Fine Tooth Comber remastering of the version-with-voices of "Bobee (What A Spirit Walks That Way".

This track originated from Roger Lewis' tune,  "Song for Bobe", about his first-born son, recorded by the Dirty Dozen Brass Band for their The New Orleans album of 1990.

January of 2020, just before "the COVID", Roger and I were talking about prospects for his début album as a leader, and Roger told me how his son, nicknamed "Bobee", had passed away from osteosarcoma at age 22, while in his prime as a young college-student and Marine reservist. Two stanzas of lyrics came to me with Roger's story and his tune. Magic happened in rehearsal at the New Orleans' Musicians' Union for the recording of ALRIGHT!. Herlin said: "Maybe I can come up with something." And he did--the superlative opening of polyrhythms from a mere two hands and two feet that begin the track. "How do you do that? You got someone else there with you? " Roger asked.

Further magic happened in Rick G. Nelson's Marigny Studio the next day, August 3, 2021.
We cut the track twice and were listening to playback. Herlin sat next to me on a chair next to the couch. He began to sing--a kind of ululating, sympathetic accompaniment. "That's good. You should put that in. It's great!" I said. "Aww," Herlin said. "No. Really. It's great. Could you give it a go?" Herlin went into the Iso-Booth and responded with shifting pitches of empathy and brilliant syncopation and a kind of "talking-in-tongues" that must owe (like Kirks's playing on this track) to these peers knowing Bobee in their adolescence and their feelings for Roger ...  and that must owe to gifts from Ancestors deep and far back as Africa and Spirit such as informs New Orleans' streets and Churches ... and must owe, I'll say, to the love that kept perking up in that session.  

Below is a photo that Maryse took after Herlin's vocal and before we (the Rivers Answer Moons band) did our tribute to Kidd Jordan, 'Maybe You See Horses'.