john boutte

if you don't know this man and his voice, you should. we had the pleasure of seeing him in new orleans in a club during jazz fest. wonderful. this was his regular weekly residency, and a pack of local regulars jammed in early, grabbing the chairs around the edge of the room, and sitting on the floor down in front of john. kind of like a little library show. however, john and his group (bass, trumpet, guitar) threw down like no library show i know. sweet, deep, penetrating vocals and wonderful musicians to back him up.
anyway, i bring him up now cause my music library is on shuffle. i'd been hearing a bunch of great urban african music (hip hop, kwaito, dub, etc) and then . . . . john.
wow. woah. wonderful. so i had to write a quick post and shout him out. thanks john. for the music. for ya'll out there, you got to check him out.

from his website:
Who is New Orleans vocalist John Boutte?

Think of Nat Cole, and then of Jackie Wilson, and then of Marvin Gaye, and then of Sam Cooke, Joe Williams and Jimmy Scott. Not of them actually, but of the moods that surrounded them, and especially of their audiences. Think of the way they treated an audience, of the way they read the room. Think of how the audience felt about themselves on the way home. Then treat yourself to the music of John Boutte.

John has won Best Male Vocalist of the year at both the Best of the Beat Awards (including the most recent 2006 award) and the Big Easy Awards. His critically acclaimed collaboration with Cubanismo, Mardi Gras Mambo, won multiple awards including a Big Easy Award for Best Latin Album, and a Best of the Beat award for Best Latin Album by a Louisiana Artist