Since the 1960s, Dr. John has been amazing live audiences with his own brand of New Orleans funk, blues, soul and "voodoo" music, but he's suffered a curious inability to get his music recorded right. Few of his records live up to the live experience, and even his live albums have been marred by mediocre production and a disappointing mix of songs. With his latest release, "Creole Moon," at long last the studio voodoo curse has been broken.

As to why this record has succeeded where others have failed, Dr. John sums it up best himself: "In the past I made commercial records, cover records, tribute and histerical [sic] records, from the desperation of survival to art. But this record is a personal interpretation of New Orleans."

Dr. John wrote all of the tunes contained here, most of them recently, but some together with the legendary songwriter Doc Pomus, who died in 1991. Each conveys the wildness and energy of New Orleans life in hip, down-to-earth vignettes. The title cut sings the praises of the moon and all it shines upon -- lovers, partiers, bayou strollers and night people. "Bruha Bembe," an ode to a voodoo priestess, revisits the frightening atmospherics of his classic "Walk on Gilded Splinters," which became something of an anthem to voodoo believers. "One 2 A.M. Too Many" traces the slowdown of a heavy honky-tonking man: "He's drinking less and less/And feeling it more and more/And the distance is getting longer/From the barstool to the door/He's spending his last penny/One 2 a.m. too many."

Dr. John's piano playing sounds better than ever, working fast, tight riffs with the confident rolling power of his mentor, Professor Longhair. His singing is gritty, and the production quality is at last up to the best of his playing. Every part of the mix can be heard clearly, unlike the muddied results of some past recordings, and the arrangements have a worked-on looseness to them.

The "roux" (the fried flour base for many Southern dishes) is provided by the Lower 9-11 rhythm section, serious N.O. session players. Jazzy saxophone from longtime associate David "Fathead" Newman and slide blues guitar from Sonny Landreth are added to the well-considered mix. James Brown's trombonist and horn arranger Fred Wesley brings on the funk, but without overpowering the underlying rhythms. Michael Doucet adds Cajun fiddle, and, after that, the mix is upped even further by sexy background vocals and plenty of Latin percussion and horns. The whole session has the focused funkiness of a great night out in the City That Care Forgot.