Chubby Carrier and the Bayou Swamp Band, It’s Party Time! (Right Click Records)

You record for all of ’em before it’s over, a local bluesman once said, referring to the endless shuffle between record labels. That sentiment also applies to zydeco accordionist Chubby Carrier who’s rolled through a few labels like Flying Fish, Blind Pig, Gulf Coast Entertainment, Louisiana Red Hot and now, the yearling Right Click Records, the audio arm of a Lafayette multimedia software house. For a bunch of computer propeller heads, Carrier’s label debut may not be on the same plateau as his brilliantly engineered live album; on the other hand, it’s not a bad start either. If anything, the first several cuts live up to the disc’s title claim of party-time music with some of Carrier’s best songs ever (“Bernadette,” “What’s All the Zydeco Motion,” “They Wanna Party Now:”) that lock in totally satisfying dance grooves. So does “Funky BSB,” a festive cut, and “Zydeco All Night” that features great horn work from the band’s newest members, Houston jazzmen Nelson Mills III, trumpet, and Earnest Potts, saxophone. The two give the Bayou Swamp Band a fresh outlook by innovating with jazz and horn-soul influences. The delightful “Cruzin” is just one example, a relentless jazz-soul quasi-instrumental that’s infectiously danceable with Zydeco Mike’s all-over-it, crazy conga drumming. Mills’ arrangements peak consistently throughout, especially on “Where is My Woman” where the horn parts seemingly surf sonic waves. In the midst of all this is Carrier, the consummate party host who keeps things jovial with wise cracks and gut laugher while demonstrating there’s no problem fitting into any of these with his accordion playing. While the last two cuts go on a slow soul patrol with vocalist Charles LeMark, (who’s also the band’s drummer), Party Time needed to end with a bang like it began. A few more cuts like the first several wouldn’t hurt either. Regardless, Chubby fans will undoubtedly want this one; dancers will be pleasantly surprised.