Davy Mooney: Perrier Street

If New Orleans has a modern jazz bias, it certainly doesn’t have anything against the soft soul sounds of cool jazz trying to shake off the hard bop memories of yesteryear. The Big Easy guitar slinger is not out to blow off any heads but to win over the ears of anyone willing to tune into his simmering mix of easygoing jazz and light showtune idiosyncrasies. Perrier Street boasts a strong list of names that have come aboard to help like John Ellis on saxophone, Jon Cowherd on piano, Matt Clohesy on bass, Gordon Au on trumpet and Brian Blade on drums. Mooney splits vocals duties with Johnaye Kendrick, though she seems to have more expressive control of her voice. Still, Mooney’s fingers are nice and nimble and Perrier Street becomes better with each go round, though the vaguely negative “First World Death March” may be a little too chilly to some listeners.