Dr John: Tribal

Over a 50-year career, Dr John has grown from session man into the presiding spirit of New Orleans (he plays himself in the TV drama Treme ). Tribal celebrates his legend with relish. A clutch of spooky swamp blues evoke his early days as the Night Tripper, elsewhere a classy band help the doctor drawl through strutting funk and anguished blues. "Big Gap" and "Only In Amerika" are angry political broadsides from post-Katrina Louisiana, and "Music Came" soars with help from local sax king Donald Harrison. Omnipresent is John's rippling piano, a style that reaches deep into Crescent City history. A heartening return to form.