If you ever needed proof that New Orleans is less a city and more a living, breathing rhythm section, Doctors, Professors, Kings & Queens makes the case in four discs flat. Released in 2004 by Shout! Factory, this 85-track box set doesn’t just trace the city’s musical history, it throws you right into the second line and dares you not to dance.
This isn’t a dry museum piece. It’s sweaty, brassy, and gloriously alive. You get the big names, Fats Domino, Dr. John, The Meters, Irma Thomas, Professor Longhair, but the real magic is in the deep cuts and overlooked gems. Dave Bartholomew’s “Shrimp and Gumbo” is a spicy little number that rarely shows up on comps, and Eddie Bo’s “Check Your Bucket” is pure syncopated swagger. Balfa Toujours’ “Marshall’s Club” brings the Cajun heat, while The Wild Magnolias’ “New Suit” is a funked-up Mardi Gras Indian chant that still sounds ahead of its time.
The sequencing jumps eras and styles, but it works, zydeco rubs shoulders with bounce, brass band funk crashes into swamp pop, and somehow it all feels like one long, sweaty block party. Rebirth Brass Band’s “Feel Like Funkin’ It Up” and Kermit Ruffins’ “Drop Me Off in New Orleans” are modern classics that hold their own next to vintage sides from Smiley Lewis or Shirley & Lee.
What makes this box essential isn’t just the hits, it’s the way it stitches together the city’s musical DNA. You hear the continuum: from Congo Square to Tipitina’s, from second line to sound system. It’s a love letter to the groove that built a city. It captures the soul of New Orleans in all its brass-blasted, gumbo-thick glory. (Butterboy)
CD1
01 Galactic Featuring Theryl deClouet - Welcome to New Orleans 0:15
02 Kermit Ruffins - Drop Me Off in New Orleans 4:28
03 Fats Domino - I'm Walkin' 2:07
04 Dr. John - Iko Iko 4:08
05 Louis Armstrong & His Hot Seven - Potato Head Blues 2:55
06 Lil' Queenie & The Percolators - My Darlin' New Orleans 4:01
07 Iguanas - Para Donde Vas (Where Are You Going) 3:17
08 Anders Osborne & "Big Chief" Monk Boudreaux - Meet The Boyz on The Battlefront 4:37
09 Clarence "Frogman" Henry - Ain't Got No Home 2:19
10 Rebirth Brass Band - Feel Like Funkin' it Up 5:05
11 BeauSoleil - Zydeco Gris-Gris 3:38
12 Ernie K-Doe - Mother-In-Law 2:32
13 Marcia Ball - That's Enough of That Stuff 4:30
14 Radiators - Confidential 4:11
15 Meters - Hey Pocky A-Way 4:03
16 Jelly Roll Morton & His New Orleans Jazzmen - I Thought I Heard Buddy Bolden Say 3:13
17 Paul Sanchez - Foot of Canal Street 3:48
18 Vernet Bagneris & The Cast of One Mo' Time - Down in Honky Tonk Town 3:01
19 Huey (Piano) Smith & The Clowns - Rocking Pneumonia and The Boogie Woogie Flu 2:17
20 Jon Cleary & The Absolute Monster Gentlemen - More Hipper 5:28
21 Johnny Adams - Release Me 2:51
22 Sidney Bechet & His New Orleans Feet Warmers - Preachin' Blues 3:13
23 Clifton Chenier - Jambalaya 3:35
CD2
01 Leigh Harris - Dog Days 5:49
02 Earl King - No City Like New Orleans 4:33
03 Don Vappie & The Creole Jazz Serenaders - Salée Dames, Bon Jour 2:48
04 Balfa Toujours - Marshall's Club 3:42
05 Irma Thomas - You Can Have My Husband 3:13
06 Galactic - Go Go 3:04
07 New Orleans Klezmer All Stars - Not Too Eggy 2:11
08 Preservation Hall Jazz Band - St. James Infirmary 5:37
09 Deacon John Moore - Going Back to New Orleans 2:45
10 Buckwheat Zydeco - Hot Tamale Baby 4:08
11 Neville Brothers - Fear, Hate, Envy, Jealousy 4:25
12 James Andrews - Poop Ain't Gotta Scuffle No More 5:37
13 Hawketts - Mardi Gras Mambo 2:16
14 George Lewis' Ragtime Band - Ice Cream 5:48
15 J. Monque'D - No Doubt About It 4:08
16 Dirty Dozen Brass Band With Danny Barker & Eddie Bo - Don't You Feel My Leg 4:17
17 Boozoo Chavis - Dog Hill 2:38
18 Zachary Richard - Au Bord De Lac Bijou 4:41
19 Tuba Fats' Chosen Few Brass Band - Mardi Gras in New Orleans 6:12
CD3
01 Dave Bartholomew - Shrimp and Gumbo 2:05
02 Dr. Michael White - St. Phillip Street Breakdown 5:01
03 Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown - Going Back to Louisiana 4:40
04 Aaron Neville - Tell it Like it Is 2:41
05 Coolbone - The Saints 3:15
06 Geno Delafose & French Rockin' Boogie - Canaille 3:06
07 Al Johnson - Carnival Time 2:41
08 Fredy Omar Con Su Banda - La Negra Tomasa 5:04
09 Shirley & Lee - Let The Good Times Roll 2:24
10 Tom McDermott & Evan Christopher - The Broken Windmill 3:53
11 Champion Jack Dupree - Way Down 3:49
12 Raymond Myles - Hallelujah 3:58
13 Smiley Lewis - I Hear You Knocking 2:45
14 Steve Riley and The Mamou Playboys - La Crève De Faim (Starvation 2-Step) 3:07
15 Red Stick Ramblers - Main Street Blues 4:37
16 Frankie Ford - Sea Cruise 2:44
17 Henry Butler - Tee-Nah-Nah 3:49
18 New Birth Brass Band - Smoke That Fire 3:06
19 Beau Jocque & The Zydeco Hi-Rollers - Give Him Cornbread 1:18
20 Chris Kenner - I Like it Like That 1:57
21 James Booker - Classified (Version Two) 3:08
22 Allen Toussaint - Southern Nights 3:35
CD4
01 Professor Longhair - Tipitina 2:39
02 Wild Magnolias - Party 4:43
03 Ellis Marsalis - Dr.Jazz 4:29
04 Troy Andrews - Ooh Poo Pah Doo 3:15
05 Sonny Landreth - South of I-10 3:40
06 Benny Spellman - Lipstick Traces (On A Cigarette) 2:25
07 Charmaine Neville Band With Reggie Houston & Amasa Miller - The Right Key But The Wrong Keyhole 5:46
08 Little Richard - Rip it Up 2:23
09 Kid Ory's Creole Jazz Band - Royal Garden Blues 3:31
10 Anders Osborne - Stoned, Drunk & Naked 4:52
11 Bruce Daigrepont - Laissez Faire (Let it Be) 2:28
12 New Orleans Jazz Vipers - Digga-Digga-Do 5:25
13 Walter "Wolfman" Washington - Tailspin 3:03
14 Lloyd Price - Lawdy Miss Clawdy 2:32
15 Eddie Bo - Havin' Fun in New Orleans 5:01
16 Tim Laughlin - King of The Mardi Gras 4:03
17 Snooks Eaglin - Red Beans 3:53
18 Mem Shannon & The Membership - S.U.V. 3:43
19 Savoy-Doucet Cajun Band - 'Tits Yeux Noirs (Little Black Eyes) 3:49
20 Pete Fountain & His Band - Lazy River 3:39
21 Louis Armstrong & His Dixieland Seven - Do You Know What it Means to Miss New Orleans? 2:58
