Memphis had Stax, Detroit had Motown, and New Orleans had, well, a bunch of fucked-up, in-fighting local labels that never really managed to push the Crescent City’s funk and soul tunes to the sort of superstardom that they should have been sharing. Soul Jazz doesn’t even dig too far in the deep cuts here; instead, The Original Sound of Funk Volume 2 offers a flawless set from Louisiana’s songwriting royalty: Allen Toussaint, Betty Harris, Eddie Bo, Lee Dorsey, and The Meters included. If you’ve spent any time trying to figure out why classics like “Chicken Strut” never made it to household-name success, this compilation just makes the question even harder answer.