The late Jimmy Buffett deeply cherished New Orleans. After graduating from the College of Southern Mississippi, he moved to the Crescent Metropolis for a 12 months and his time there knowledgeable the remainder of his musical life.
He performed New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Pageant not less than a dozen occasions, adored New Orleans legendary composer/artist Allen Toussaint (who wrote a music referred to as “I’m Gonna Hold with Jimmy Buffett”), recorded and toured with native icons The Neville Brothers, and when requested by a journalist if he thought “there could be a Jimmy Buffett if there wasn’t a New Orleans,” Buffett replied, “I don’t assume there ever would have been.”
On his closing album, Equal Pressure on All Elements, which was launched Nov. 3 through Mailboat/Solar, two months after his Sept. 1 demise, Buffett once more professed his love for New Orleans and what town meant to him on the rollicking “The School of Bourbon Avenue.”
Within the video for the autobiographical anthem, which premieres above, Buffett, with a bit assist from the famend Preservation Corridor Jazz Band, chronicles his historical past with town. Anchored by footage of a grinning Buffett recording the music within the studio final 12 months, the video additionally consists of many years of images and clips of Buffett performing in New Orleans and simply having fun with the multitudes of delights town has to supply.
He’s proven main a second line, busking within the French Quarter with an indication in his guitar case that reads “will play for gumbo,” hanging out with followers at his Margaritaville restaurant, enjoying at Jazz Fest and excitedly on the point of pattern some gumbo. The video does all the things to bolster the notion that Buffett lived and cherished each second to the fullest in his 76 years on earth.
Buffett wrote the music with Will Kimbrough, who instructed Buffettnews.com that he “began writing ‘The College of Bourbon Avenue’ on my sofa Dec 19, 2022, after Jimmy Buffett and the Coral Reefers despatched me one in every of his ‘are you prepared for some homework? messages.” He then joined Buffett within the studio final January to file the music. “Some of the profound experiences of this time interval was rewriting the lyrics from starting to finish proper there within the studio with Jimmy” he instructed the web site. “No strain! However we did it. Regardless of his sickness, he was 100% on and energetics, lighting up the room with that smile. Making everybody really feel snug and snigger.”
