Dr. John

Recorded at New Orleans’s fabled Tipitina’s, this is volume two of “The Rebennack Chronicles,” a series drawn from a collection of over 600 cassette recordings of his gigs that were given to him at concerts over the past 20 years. The mood, as might be expected, is jubilant and the good Doctor (aka Mac Rebennack) and his band of locals (especially saxman Amadee Castenell) really get down. The 10 songs here include such classic Crescent City favorites as “Junco Partner” and Earl King’s “Let the Good Times Roll.” Dr. John’s own voodoo-laden “I Walk on Guilded [sic] Splinters,” from his 1968 Gris Gris LP, is set to a mesmerizing pulse and features a fervent solo by Castenell; as does “Wang Dang Doodle,” a song Willie Dixon wrote for Howlin’ Wolf (which Wolf dismissed as being “too old-timey, sound like some old levee camp number”). A rollicking piano intro by Dr. John sets the tone for “Kinfolks,” which he describes as a “song for all your inlaws that made an outlaw outta you.” The 56-minute set closes with a dreamy rendition of his own “Such a Night.” For a “home-made” tape this sounds great.