Crescent City jump blues pianist Mitch Woods does it all by himself on his latest release, A Night in New Orleans, recorded live at the Snug Harbor club during the 2026 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. He sings, tells stories, and, most importantly, plays boogie-woogie piano to entertain the crowd. You can hear their enthusiastic response as he hits the keys, but they never throw him off his stride. Indeed, the opposite is true. They inspire him to play faster and harder. As he notes during his rendition of Louis Jordan’s “Choo Choo Ch’boogie”, he doesn’t have a drummer. His audience must supply the rhythm for his energetic melodies.
Singing and playing solo allows Woods the flexibility to cover a wide swath of the Big Easy’s most famous artists. He does energetic versions of classics by Fats Domino (“Blue Monday”), Hank Williams (“Jambalaya”), Huey Smith (“Rockin’ Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu”) and Champion Jack Dupree (“Nasty Boogie”) as well as NOLA songs made famous by other artists such as “Rocket 88” (Jackie Brenston) and “Shake Rattle & Roll” (Big Joe Turner / Bill Haley). In addition, his piano style deliberately evokes Professor Longhair, James Booker, Dr John, and Allen Toussaint. Woods often breaks into vocal silence and lets the piano do the talking, with a jaunty emphasis that suggests having a party is the best way to live.
One can hear this record as an aural postcard from the City That Care Forgot. Woods sends his greetings with a smile and a “wish you were here” sensibility. The five-time Blues Music Award nominee throws some original tunes into his musical gumbo to show his heart, whether the song is about his baby girl or a truck stop waitress—in this case, it’s both (“Amber Lee”). Mixing it up has always been what New Orleans is about. Paradoxically, that’s what makes it pure and distinctive.
Musicologists have long celebrated the Louisiana city as the birthplace of the true American sound. One can hear the origins of rock in the way Woods fingers the keys and lets the notes roll and tumble. Something sexy and sleazy is at work, even when he’s singing the blues, like the heat of a good Creole sauce can make even a crawfish feel like an epicurean pleasure. Other countries may have national cuisines, but what makes New Orleans food and music truly American is their blend of styles.
There was an outpouring of affection for the Crescent City after Hurricane Katrina and the floods that followed back in 2005. Since then, the town’s contributions to the larger culture seem to have been forgotten. Woods’ performance, presumably to an audience of tourists attending a jazz fest, shows there is still a hunger for the real thing. His performance offers them a taste of NOLA, and they eagerly eat it right up. Doing things live is the best way to showcase the city’s style.