Starting off as a street musician in New Orleans, Howard Fishman cut his teeth playing his eccentric Dixieland jazz. Fishman has led the eclectic career of a vagabond musician, popping up in some of the most musically significant areas of the world. His resume includes composing a jazz-opera about the Donner Party, a slew of albums stretching across vast musical terrains, and travels through New York, Romania, Ukraine, and Hungary in order to learn the traditional styles of these areas. The unorthodox release of three entirely different albums at the same time highlights Fishman’s hard-work and knack for paying homage to customs while simultaneously shattering them. Better Get Right is Fishman’s homage to New Orleans, overflowing with brass instruments and the good times spirit of the city.

“Yeah Yer Right” is the standout track, a tuba lead-in accompanied by a sultry Spanish guitar line and vivacious horns evoke a late-night seduction during a festival — Mardi Gras, perhaps? What would any homage to the Big Easy be without a New Orleans classic? In this case it’s a perfect version of “Down By the Riverside.” The other covers come from way out of left-field: a jazzed-up take on Wall of Voodoo’s “Mexican Radio” and a powerfully soft recording of the protest song “We Shall Not Be Moved” may seem strange on a tribute to New Orleans, but the inclusion of these songs is more of a recognition to the city’s diversity –not to mention fantastic!

Howard Fishman’s style isn’t a fly-by-night adherence to trends. It’s more of a classic cool in the same league of the jazz and blues greats.

(Monkey Farm Records, no address provided)