One of my favorite things about New Orleans is its diamond-in-the-ruff persona. I find this description to holds true particularly when it comes to its musical landscape. On any given day, you’d be hard pressed not to find a number of shows that would absolutely blow you away. What’s even better is that once you immerse yourself in the scene, you’ll develop a knack for spotting a gem. One of my favorite talents on the local scene is saxophone player Jimmy Carpenter, a native of Greensboro, NC who for the last five has led the horn section in Walter “Wolfman” Washington’s Roadmasters. He can also be seen backing bluesman Eric Lindell. Over the last year, Carpenter has also shown a flair for arranging, scoring the horn parts for both the Wolfman and Lindell’s latest albums. Recently, he released his first solo album, Toiling in Obsecurity, a funky, R&B flavored disc that has become one of my favorite albums of this year. His busy touring schedule limits his solo gigs, but a few weeks ago – I believe if was a random Wednesday – I noticed that Jimmy was billed at d.b.a., so I headed out to Frenchman St to see what the saxman had cooking.