s&d Lee Dorsey

I've had his 60s comps for years, and finally got the Yes We Can/Night People two-fer from Raven, at Dusty Groove. Awesome! Zigaboo Modeliste's drumming puts me in a trance.

ditto upthread re: never having heard a bad Lee Dorsey record. I have some weird comp with liner notes written by Joe Strummer and it is awesome

dang, just heard Yes We Can for the first time last night! so great! love Toussaint's backing vocals, too.

have to say, i like the pointer sisters' version better

My Old Short broke down.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v894vHM5L4M

oh nice, i knew i'd heard that song somewhere before ...

I think Christgau was plugging Yes We Can Can and Night People for years and I always meant to get them but never did(I heard Night People at my college radio station I think).

i'm not sure if a thread exists on ILM already, but if not there should be one dedicated to like, slightly eccentric country/funk/soul/memphis/new orleans kinda stuff ... I dunno, like Toussaint, Dr. John, Meters, Dixie Fried, Jim Ford ...

there's this: Early New Orleans Rock N Roll/R&B

and this blog is pretty crucial: http://www.secondlinesocial.com/

oh sweet, that blog looks great, thanks. I guess as opposed to what that thread is covering, I'm thinking more late 60s/70s stuff -- people in Toussaint's orbit/influence, I guess. Maybe I should just dig up Toussaint's threads ...

I really love Toussaint's Southern Nights.

yeah it is amazing ... anyone gotten this? http://www.amazon.com/Finger-Poppin-Stompin-Feet-Productions/dp/B000062T8X even though it was released last summer, the CD seems to out of print! can get the mp3 cheap though ...

I love Southern Nights but it's the only Toussaint i've heard. Any of his other albums worth checking out?

the one just called Toussaint is great ... and the What Is Success Comp is killer as well ...

Hers is a thread about one of the artists you mentioned, such as it is: I Can't Find The Recent Thread On Recently Rediscovered Singers That Mentioned Jim Ford So I'll Start A New One For Him

homeofthegroove.blogspot.com

Here's a great blog

http://homeofthegroove.blogspot.com/

Oops

cool! thx!

(glad i revived this thread -- suddenly a ton of stuff to listen to ...)

I've never heard a bad Lee Dorsey record, and have derived a lotta pleasure from lesser-known stuff like "Go Go Girl" about a stripper Lee is interested in enough to hang around after his set and get her to have some drinks and everything ("You're not just working, you're having fun") and "My Old Car." "Night People" is very nice indeed. There's a comp of these Constellation label singles with a bunch of people like Al & Bunky, Bobby Miller, Gene Chandler and Lee Dorsey, and "Organ Grinder Swing" is quite amazing. Pre- Meters recordings apparently. As for Toussaint, the only solo stuff of his I really like is "Life, Love and Faith" reissued a couple years ago on Water, I believe, and last year's "Bright Mississippi" is very good too--a jazz record more or less. Christgau maintains in his review that Toussaint is the least percussive New Orleans piano great and I suppose he's right, but Toussaint seems like a modest sort, and he's a great player anyway. There's also a comp of his instrumental work under "Tousan" that I like, cf. "Whirlaway." If I recall correctly there are some good Toussaint songs done by people I don't know much about on one of those Silver Fox or SSS/Shelby Singleton comps like "My Goodness Yes!" or whatever--Allen Orange, maybe?

hey Dan Phillips! "New Orleans: Under the Influence" on WEVL = great, great show. I miss that dude.

glad i revived this thread
glad that ebbjunior has reappeared with new screenname

tyler have you heard that soul jazz comp Saturday Night Fish Fry, it has a decent sampling of new orleans shit that sounds like what you're looking for

no, haven't heard it, but yeah, looks like what I'm looking for ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Stku9PiXUA

saturday night fish fry is great, and that betty harris track is one of my favorites

But you won't go wrong. I've never heard a bad Lee Dorsey record.

Same here. Not that I've heard all of them, by any means.

I keep hearing a lot of The Band in Lee Dorsey or, more likely, the other way round.

Don’t they do at least one Lee Dorsey cover, “Holy Cow” on Moondog Matinee, iirc.

Ah, right, I don't know that album but indeed they do! I definitely hear a lot of Lee Dorsey in Levon Helm's vocals; Robertson's guitar playing; the Band, in general, when they get a little funky.

Iirc, part of why The Band hired Toussaint for "Life Is A Carnival" (and then Rock of Ages) was his work on Yes, We Can.

There is a Levon drum instruction video which I recommend even if, like me, you are not a drummer, in which he talks about being influenced by the New Orleans drummers. One version of the story I think heard somewhere, maybe not there, is that Earl Palmer and others started playing 4/4 instead of a shuffle, only it wasn’t quite a straight 4/4, which is one of the reasons for that particular strain of funkiness.

I hear you.

Another thing I noticed, long acknowledged, is the influence of New Orleans R&B on ska and, thereafter, reggae.

Yes. Your powers of observation are strong, if we needed anymore evidence of that, as this is pretty well documented, I believe.

I haven't read much about the nuts and bolts of why that happened. Did New Orleans radio signals reach Jamaica?

Yes. And think sailors or other travelers brought vinyl back and forth.

I think more radio than sailors tbh.

Listening to a comp of Dorsey's early Amy Records singles this morning (thanks, thread!) Allen Toussaint's songwriting style is all over them, but it's Dorsey's laconic vocal that really puts them over; he's a super affecting singer imo. And I never made the connection between his voice and Levon Helm's, but it's totally there.

I hadn't heard "Mexico" before; great, quirky Meters arrangement.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9f4mlx85gE

I think more radio than sailors tbh.

the radio got people interested in New Orleans' sounds, which prompted JA merchants/importers to focus on those records to bring back.

I mean Tom the Great Sebastian was not downloading stuff off of Napster.

At least as far as I know

Christgau's writing got me in Lee Dorsey a bit plus then I also saw Dorsey open for the Clash in Philadelphia @ the Tower Theatre in 79

Well, that's something to write home about.

Christgau's writing got me in Lee Dorsey a bit plus then I also saw Dorsey open for the Clash in Philadelphia @ the Tower Theatre in 79

Just heard about the apparently huge influence Fats Domino had on ska.

Oh yeah! "Be My Guest" basically <is> Ska.

RIP

Well, 34 years ago, but the thought is still a good one.

Ha, sorry

Just three years to the centenary of his birth!

Lord, I’m so tired.

How long can this POLL on?