New Orleans is Mardi Gras, but it’s also the uptown class of Allen Toussaint and hip style and language of Dr. John. It’s a spontaneous brass band throwdown on North Villere Street, but it’s also the cool, modern sounds of Donald Harrison Jr. at the Snug Harbor Jazz Bistro. Walter "Wolfman" Washington has always embodied both, but finally we have a set of songs that reflects the yin to Walter’s bring-the-party yang. This is the record that we all have known he has in him. This is the night after that party, or maybe just the after party. He’s been given free rein to express himself, and that’s special. Producer Ben Ellman has assembled a sympathetic group of musicians from keyboardists Jon Cleary and Ivan Neville to a versatile and sensitive rhythm section of bassist James Singleton and drummer Stanton Moore. Soul Queen of New Orleans Irma Thomas lends her voice to a cut and matches Wolfman note for note. Those two go back a long way. Walter played guitar in Irma’s band in the late 1960s. Can you picture how much fun that might have been? And this is their first recording together. His future is his past indeed.