It would be difficult to imagine a more fitting epitaph than Allen Toussaint's American Tunes. Presenting a delightful conspectus of American music – from jazz and gospel to blues and folk – the stellar New Orleans producer, songwriter, pianist and singer had just completed recording the album when he passed away in November last year during a European tour. Like its predecessor, 2009's The Bright Mississippi, American Tunes features Toussaint in both solo and group settings. The latter includes Van Dyke Parks's sumptuously beautiful arrangement of Louis Moreau Gottschalk's ‘Danza’, plus a gorgeous Parks-Toussaint piano duet on ‘Southern Nights’. Toussaint's solo readings include his own harmonically searching blues ‘Delores’ Boyfriend’ as well as highly personal reworkings of the Professor Longhair anthem ‘Mardi Gras in New Orleans’ and Earl King's ‘Big Chief’. Fats Waller's sparkling ‘Viper's Drag’ and a grooving 4/4 reworking of Bill Evans's ‘Waltz For Debby’ sees Toussaint joined by drummer Jay Bellerose and bassist David Piltch, while guitarist Bill Frisell and tenor saxophonist Charles Lloyd add even greater textural interest to Billy Strayhorn's mellifluous ‘Lotus Blossom’. The North Carolina-born singer and instrumentalist, Rhiannon Giddens, the first American to be honoured as Folk Singer of the Year at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, contributes her powerful vocals on Duke Ellington's ‘Rocks In My Bed’ and ‘Come Sunday’. Toussaint's sole vocal outing, Paul Simon's ‘American Tune’, brings the album to a touching conclusion.