COOKBOOK: As New Orleans commemorates the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina this month, the food writers and editors who did their part in the restoration by recovering and rebuilding the city’s lost recipes are reissuing a favorite tome. The 10th anniversary edition of Cooking up a Storm: Recipes Lost and Found from The Times-Picayune of New Orleans, edited by Marcelle Bienvenu and Judy Walker, is a 368-page, hardcover celebration of New Orleans, its food, chefs and people. From classic to contemporary and everything between, it begins – naturally – with cocktails, including the beloved Sazerac, and sizzles, bubbles, simmers, grills and fries its way through appetizers, soups, salads, entrées, casseroles and desserts. If your Big Easy kitchen isn’t already stocked with this book, now is the time to remedy the situation and get cookin’, New Orleans style.
PHOTOGRAPHY: In Homage to New Orleans, by award-winning photojournalist Leon Morris, 300 images trace the soulful impact of the city’s most influential musical legends over the past 20 years. Locals, including Wynton Marsalis, the Neville Brothers and Irma Thomas, are featured alongside internationally acclaimed icons, such as Miles Davis, Nina Simone and James Brown. It is scheduled for release on Aug. 18, a little more than a week before the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.
R&B/SOUL: The new funk filled album GoGo Juice, by pianist and former member of Bonnie Raitt’s band Jon Cleary, is scheduled for release on Aug. 14. It promises to offer up some of the best of the local music scene with horn arrangements by Allen Toussaint and accompaniments by some of New Orleans’ most sought after session men, such as vocalist Nigel Hall and guitarist Shane Theriot.
JAZZ: Three-time Grammy Award-winning Dee Dee Bridgewater releases her first album since 2010, Dee Dee’s Feathers, on OKeh Records Aug. 7. The soulful CD also is the singer-songwriter’s first collaboration with Irvin Mayfield and the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra. With standards, including “What a Wonderful World” and “Do Whatcha Wanna,” woven together with new songs, including the mambo-beat infused title track, “Dee Dee’s Feathers,” the album is a summer playlist in and of itself.
