Mardi Gras is a state of mind for the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, the New Orleans street-bred octet celebrating 25 years’ worth of earthy, horn-heavy celebrations of the hometown sound. Their Crescent City groove thang, no matter how familiar, remains infectious and viable, as demonstrated on the Craig Street-produced “Medicated Magic,” a sticky salute to Big Easy musical traditions.

“Ain’t Nothin’ But a Party,” built on Julius McKee’s rubbery tuba incantation and a boys-in-the-band chorus, is a funky, syncopated showcase for in-house talent, particularly tenor saxophonist Kevin Harris and trumpeter Efram Towns, and two relative newcomers, keyboardist Frederick Sanders and trombonist Sammie Williams. That track makes an apropos opener, as the party proper begins next, beginning with Widespread Panic singer John Bell’s raw-throated take on Dr. John’s classic hoodoo-rock riff, “Walk On Gilded Splinters.”

Olu Dara’s irresistibly tangy down-home vocals liven John’s “Junko Partner,” while the Good Doctor himself slips into the festivities with a rambling, chunky version of his “Everything I Do Gon’ Be Funky,” and the feelgood rhumba boogie of Professor Longhair’s “Big Chief.” The Meters are toasted, too: Robert Randolph’s taffy-pulling pedal steel lines top a hyper work-out on “Cissy Strut,” and DJ Logic tricks up “Africa.”

Call it the New Orleans music sampler of the year, the perfect appetizer or chaser for Jazz Fest revelry.
- PHILIP BOOTH

(This review originally appeared in CMJ New Music Monthly)