I attended the fantastic, if hot (as in 108 degrees Sunday), Austin City Limits music festival over the weekend with my friends Carl Abernathy, Kathy Willhoite and Rodd Zolkos. One of the best sets I caught came from New Orleans retro-trumpeter and -singer Kermit Ruffins, who opened with "Sleepy Time Down South," Louis Armstrong's traditional closer, as if to say, "I'm taking up where Pops left off."
OK, Kermit Ruffins can't play the trumpet like Louis Armstrong (Who can?) and he probably doesn't sing as well either. But he's close on both counts, there is the same joy to his playing as there was to Armstrong's and he's got a modern funky element to his music on top of that.
I really like the CD "Kermit Ruffins," an 11-song sampler, some of the material out of print otherwise, from the folks at Putumayo World Music. The disk gives you an excellent picture of what Ruffins does, and just try not moving to "Kermit's Second Line."
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