Doctors, Professors, Kings & Queens: the Big Ol' Box of New Orleans is an incredible listen, even if the title's too long and all wrong. (The only people who rhyme New Orleans with queens have never been there.) Four discs, a rich riot of styles and time periods all jumbled together, from Sidney Bechet to Ernie K-Doe, Clifton Chenier to The Meters, Buckwheat Zydeco to Boozoo Chavis, Allen Toussaint to Ellis Marsalis. And it wraps up with Louis Armstrong and His Dixieland Seven: "Do You Know What it Means to Miss New Orleans?" (Windows Media) Well worth it at under $60. Highly, highly recommended.
(And yes, I know Armstrong, who was born in New Orleans, rhymes it with "means" on that cut. But he didn't write the lyric--Eddie de Lange did, and he was born in Long Island City. He also wrote the lyric for "Darn that Dream," so as far as I'm concerned he can rhyme any damn thing he pleases.)
