A Orleans Christmas

Songwriter, producer, pianist, and singer Allen Toussaint stands as one of the master architects of New Orleans R&B. Here he enlists various Crescent City singers and players, among them the rhythmic New Birth Brass Band, swinging blues singer Wallace Johnson (an all-but-forgotten stylist), and Tricia Boutte and Larry Hamilton (who team up for the slow-burning "New Year's Resolution"). Toussaint on the piano sprinkles Mardi Gras dust on "Silent Night" and "Winter Wonderland." A New Orleans Christmas is catchier than the flu bug. --Martin Keller