Joe Krown, New Orleans’ premier authority on the Hammond B-3 organ, has worn any number of musical hats in his career: stride pianist, lounge lizard, boogie-woogie fiend, jazz organist, bringer of the funk. The Joe Krown Organ Combo, which mainly requires the services of the latter two Krowns, has already put out one CD (2002’s aptly-titled Funk Yard), but the release of Livin’ Large finds him adding a second tenor saxman to the mix-Brian “Breeze” Cayolle, who also handles baritone. This means that Joe now has a real horn section, not just a horn. And a very Crescent City one at that-what other jazz-funk organ combo would employ two tenors?

The other big news is that Joe has taken over production duties entirely, but there’s no significant deviation from his other solo and group albums, as far as the sound goes-it’s all balanced perfectly, but it lacks the kind of oomph that money used to bring, and while that might be asking too much for an act like this, there must be someone in the city who can really make these grooves punch your lights out. Lord knows they do it in concert.

That said, the 11 originals here pretty much follow the template set down by Funk Yard, except with horn charts-all instrumentals, funky on the bottom, jazzy on the top. A band like this only gets better with constant gigging, and there’s no impressive interpretive workout like the debut CD’s take on “Ode To Billy Joe,” unless you count Joe Sample’s “My Mama Told Me” being given the Jimmy Smith treatment and laden with doubled guitar and horns. But there’s still plenty to love about Livin’ Large, especially if you’re dying to hear the sweet and nasty sounds of an A-100 with two Leslies in a purely New Orleans semi-big-band context. Livin’ large? Indeed.