There's no Allen Toussaint Appreciation thread

i've never liked that song either.

ah, man. when i started working in music clubs, one of the first artists i got to spend time with and got to know as a person and an artist and as an industry for all the people he helped support and all that he did was Touss. we were where he went after katrina, where he started playing with elvis and where he made the transition to being a regular touring artist. he would do a regular brunch set that i probably saw three dozen times. his repertoire would vary but the casual excellence of his performance did not. i'll always remember the light purple halo of his hair, his socks and sandals, his gentle ease, his soft and friendly southern drawl, his genuine cool. he wouldn't have been able to pick me out of lineup but i loved this guy and he left a hell of a legacy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbOD2PdaBGE

didn't toussaint write the horn starts for the "rock of ages" live album? or am i misremembering?

yeah he did the charts for both rock of ages and last waltz

There's a story that he wrote the charts from a cassette someone in the Band had given him. At the first rehearsal, everyone suddenly realized that the horns were a half-step off -- the cassette Toussaint used to write the charts ran fast. Everyone in the Band was like, "oh, no problem, we'll adjust." Allen was amazed at how easily they played everything in a different key without thinking about it.

George Porter Jr. of the Meters:

https://www.facebook.com/GeorgePorterJr/posts/10153050491802471

Today’s news of Allen Toussaint’s passing while he was on tour in another place other then home shakes me to the core and saddens me very much. We have chosen to live a life we love and for some reason want to do it for more than the money. We do it really for the love we get from the world and the smiles on the faces of people when we play our songs. Musicians that live on the road do have some fears, that we may not get back home safe, being away from home when our family needs us or being on the road alone when sad things happen. The two people I have loved longest in my life passed away while I was not home almost a year apart. Losing my Brother and my mother when I was not home was terribly hard. Now I have once again lost someone I care about while I am sitting alone in a hotel room. I still need to get through the flights home before I can comfort my wife and grieve my friend.

Still I am going to keep doing what I do, maybe that is crazy but it is what I love. Allen would expect no less, he lived and loved this life too for the same reason, the happiness music can bring. Todays News broke my heart, it is a real shock. When I played with AT at this years Blues & BBQ I told him I needed him to help me with some music that I have run into a brick wall with, he smiled and said send it to me. I got busy and did not send it, I always thought there was time, Allen seemed so happy and healthy. So sudden it is hard to believe. Thank You Allen Toussaint for the music that you gave me a chance to play with you, as well as the music that I have come to play because of what I learned from seeing up front and close how you could get the best out of an artist. You could get them to find stuff in themselves that they didn't know was there. You inspired me in so many ways. Your talent as a musician and a producer has been a major role model in how I approach my own music and how I interact with other musicians on stage and in the studio. Allen, Your music will live on and your teaching will continue to inspire. You are a true legend and have left a legacy like no other. gpjr

Questlove:

https://instagram.com/p/96H1V7Qa_p/

Man this hit home. Of all the cats that I never had a 1 on 1 convo w/ to pick their brain about their music experiences: this is numero uno. I don't want y'all thinkin' "this is just some old legend that passed away" naw. This dude wrote some of your favorite music & you just didn't know it. He effected SO many genres. That's how you know how potent and effective your art is: when you quietly change the scene w/o proper acknowledgement. If someone had the right to have KWest brag swag it was this man. But his humble quiet disposition wouldn't allow such a thing. His work will now speak for itself. Just take time to peep his work w #LeeDorsey (#GetOutMyLifeWoman #RideYourPony) some of the greatest clever pop tunes crafted. Hip hop heads still salivate over all #TheMeters tunes he produced & shot new energy into the culture once sampling #JamesBrown was becoming stale (#CissyStrut #LookKaPyPy #JustKissedMyBaby #OhCalcutta) then came a slew of artists in the 70s & 80s that took his work & breathed new life into his songs: #YesWeCanCan #LadyMarmalade #WorkingInACoalmine) ---name em! His work was so powerful everyone from #PaulMccartney to #DrJohn to #EricClapton to #TheRollingStones to even #JayZ ("....dear god I wonder can you save me?"....that piano loop? #Toussaint all day) #Amerie's most banging joint? (A Toussaint production sample) at least 12 "Get Out My Life Woman" snares were like starch in hip hop's daily nutritional chart--meaning so there you barely notice it.---I can go on and on. Because his work goes on and on. You'll read better op-eds by professional journalists. Kinda hard to cram all of this hiding from trainer in the gym on iPhone. But i felt the need to write something. When I tag #LegacyGoals I mean it. Humble cat whose work spoke louder than he did. That's what we all need to learn from. Rest In Beats to the powerful #AllenToussaint

Great great great testimonials, incl. forks, thanks. Just now remembered that he also produced and played on LaBelle's Nightbirds, with mostly if not all NOLA musicians, incl. Meters, though not Ziggy Modeliste. AT did get around!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7rAs9EkwOc

man, he was supposed to be playing new york in a bit more than two weeks.
too soon, too soon.

marcowermanFinal note, and the chord slowly decays: Allen Toussaint in 2013 entertaining me at his house in #NOLA. Tune in later today @pritheworld to hear him muse on scraps, wishbones and feathers from around the globe, and how he had spent his life turning them into chickens. Glorious chickens

Fats Domino and maybe Dave Barthomew aside, Toussaint was almost certainly the city's greatest living musician - and unlike those two, he was still performing and recording. Not just that, but he was all over New Orleans up to the day he left for the European tour - like, physically present (and always brightly attired) at numerous local concerts and cultural events, often just as a spectator. I introduced myself somewhat awkwardly to him once, about a year and a half ago, thanking him for all the wonderful music he put out into the world. I hoped I'd eventually get an opportunity to interview him about his life and work but didn't make a priority of it, especially since even at 77 it looked like he'd be around for awhile longer. He had the gravity of his accumulated years but the spring in his step of someone at least 10 years younger, so it was a shock to wake up to this. You never fucking know. RIP.

Also, Questlove OTM as always

you're right: for the past ten years or so following katrina he was a ubiquitous presence at fundraisers, concerts, group performances, festivals, anywhere that new orleans was on people's minds. such a powerful standard bearer for the past half century plus of louisiana's cultural heritage.

someone over on twitter posted this pic which i thought was great
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CTdDh0cUAAAt3cg.jpg:large
Ken Daley ‏@Ken_Daley 8h8 hours ago
Favorite memory of @AllenToussaint: American icon dispensing musical advice to my 10yo drummer son at Jazz Fest 2014

Man, thanks, guys for recommending The Complete Warner Bros Recordings. It's solid.

his first album, from 1958, signed when I met him:
http://i.imgur.com/oFoMUDs.jpg

xp yeah, so good! listening to it today, i was struck by how much, even though toussaint was drawing from earlier traditions, none of it feels like a throwback. very modern sounds.

& wow that is awesome, forks. such a great album cover (and of course great album)

great mix from funky16 corners here: http://funky16corners.com/?p=6072

Fats Domino and maybe Dave Barthomew aside

whoa, this inspired me to check to see how old dave bartholomew is, and dude is 94 going on 95!

dug up and have been listening all day to an old board tape of one of touss' '05 matinees with Elvis jumping on stage at the end for a duet on "yes we can can", really good memories

i honestly don't remember how listenable that "Tousan" album is! I should spin it. Just enjoying wandering around dude's songbook at the moment.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sC8is1HUfrg

that funky 16 corners mix is A+

yeah, a fair amount of things i've never heard (or heard of)

just insane how far his reach as a musician and composer was; dude was one of the secret giants.

Anybody who's curious to get a taste of what those live Joe's Pub shows were like should give a listen to Songbook, which is up on spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/album/1Guq40b6f9roftUAH8AYa1

just insane how far his reach as a musician and composer was; dude was one of the secret giants.

― a llove spat over a llama-keeper (forksclovetofu), Tuesday, November 10, 2015 3:22 PM (20 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah... it seems like once a month i realize that some song i love was written and/or produced by allen toussaint. "oh, that one, too?"

http://davidsimon.com/allen-toussaint-1938-2015/

I love Allen Toussaint

Jon Batiste on encounters w AT, initially via his father's old VHS of Piano Players Rarely Ever Play Together---Toots Washington, Professor Longhair, and Toussaint---I still gotta see that! Also: "bubbly ferocity," perfect.
http://time.com/4108586/allen-toussaint-dead-jon-batiste/

that funky 16 corners mix is A+

^^^ indeed!

yeah digging through various playlists, mixes, etc this week ... toussaint had a golden touch! just endless invention and fun.

I love that that mix starts with "Java" and "Whipped Cream." My dad's Al Hirt and Tijuana Brass records are my earliest musical memories, way before I knew anything about New Orleans R&B.

https://www.facebook.com/AllenToussaintCircle/

This page is dedicated to a simple proposition: rechristen Lee Circle as Allen Toussaint Circle, with an appropriate memorial. I can't think of a more fitting individual or a less divisive solution to the "monument issue." Few Orleanians have contributed so much to the city, the nation and the world. Only Louis Armstrong could approach his stature, and of course he has a park named in his honor.

Excellent! And I want a postage stamp; I'll use it along with my Jimis, for true friends only.
Spotify's got a good Toussaint stash, incl. The Allen Toussaint Orchestra, with albums organized by theme, such as outer space.
Today's Fresh Air will be "highlights of past interviews with Allen Toussaint," incl. playing and singing in the studio.

never heard the DeRogatis radio show before; this is a p good interview. he's so damn mellow.

http://www.soundopinions.org/show/432/

Just noticed (too late) in my Instagram feed that the Allen Toussaint memorial service this morning (Friday) at the Orpheum Theatre was being broadcast on WWOZ out of New Orleans

No announcements have been made regarding a second line.

Toussaint's family asked that donations in his memory be made to New Orleans Artists against Hunger and Homelessness, a charity co-founded by the maestro. Donations may be sent c/o Loyola University, Campus Box 12, New Orleans, LA 70118.

Second line might not have been announced, but it looks like it happened after the memorial service

Yo La Tengo did a beautiful version of "Ruler Of My Heart" when I saw them on Tuesday

great music recommendations here, thanks everyone

http://www.nola.com/music/index.ssf/2015/11/allen_toussaint_second_line.html

That's the description of it, and here's the video of some of it

http://videos.nola.com/times-picayune/2015/11/allen_toussaint_tribute_in_new_2.html

Second line was very, very short - maybe 5 minutes longer than what you see in that video, which ends right before they cut the body loose - that's what the sirens at the end are signaling. It moved about 15 feet in total. I was surprised, but I can only assume it was in accordance with the family's wishes. There was a repast later in the afternoon with more music.

Also it's late and I'm drunk and it happened a week and a half ago but how is this guy gone, he seemed so healthy and happy and with it and he was a giant and a genuinely humble guy, WTF

Probably the family's wishes. Not a long second line through many neighborhoods with one or more of the city's funkiest brass bands, but a shorter and still nice one with Preservation Hall Jazz band plus I think that's Trombone Shorty sitting in. The mayor and Quint Davis (jazz fest concert organizer) are seen throughout.

samples here sound great: www.nonesuch.com/journal/nonesuch-releases-american-tunes-final-recording-late-new-orleans-legend-allen-toussaint-2016

Yeah, very charming follow-up to The Bright Mississippi, his jazz venture: No Monk (or Ribot) here, but plenty Ellington, Waller, Earl Hines, Bill Evans, w NOLA sidewalk cafe ballads (flirtations as hell, but relaxed), Mardi Gras anthems (also relaxed, but mobile), and damn why don't I have any whole albums ofmusic by Louis Moreau Gottschalk?? And didn't AT do any? Maybe he did, and they'll come out eventually, but didn't need to, I guess.
Mainly piano, solo or w bass and drums, but Frisell gets in there when he should, especially the first verse of "American Tune," which AT sings like he should, if sing it he must---chirpy melancholia is basically not my thing, but they groove it without getting too (obtrusively) happy. Other unlikely feats incl. "Come Sunday," the only Ellington I don't like (too flowery and imposing), but Rhiannon Giddens pulls out the stops in her conservatory chops (usually applied with more subtlety, on her solo album and Carolina Chocolate Drops sets), actually making it bluesy, and Charles LLoyd and I guess Frisell get in there too, and it works.
And! "Southern Nights," usually "languid" live, as this intro mentions, actually kinda rocks, or anyway sways, in this case.
And these three are far from the best songs here as written.
Whole thing streaming here 'til Friday:
http://www.npr.org/2016/06/02/479630086/first-listen-allen-toussaint-american-tunes

More than "charming"--bracing, even exhilarating at times.

Need to check this out, but am curious whether I will find the "swaying" music "exhilarating." Hope so...

thanks for sharing !

Terrible formatting but amazing story, thanks for posting!

Wow, that’s wild. Hope some of that can be released someday

just adding that The Bright Mississippi is a bloody great album.

I wanna hear from that stuff in LA (x-post) well lots of it :

Among the stacks was a demo recorded by Meters guitarist Leo Nocentelli, dated 7/1/75. Ten songs, just voice and guitar. It sounds like Jimi Hendrix doing “(Sittin’ on) The Dock of the Bay” alone in a hotel room. The world doesn’t know it exists, let alone that it’s residing in a garage in southwestern Los Angeles.

This is “Black Samson,” Toussaint’s unreleased 1974 soundtrack to the blaxploitation film of the same name. The music is in a class with Curtis Mayfield’s “Superfly” and Marvin Gaye’s “Trouble Man.” Reginald Toussaint confirmed that the only existing copy is currently in Nishita’s garage.

Heck yeah.

The New Orleans City Council voted unanimously Thursday evening to rename Robert E. Lee Boulevard for Allen Toussaint.

https://www.nola.com/gambit/news/the_latest/article_62ba3370-6f37-11ec-9817-c3bfd02cbdb5.html

Wow that’s awesome.

I recently discovered how many cover versions there are of one of my all-time favorite songs (by any artist) — “What Do You Want the Girl To Do?” I listened to most of them; they’re all good, but nothing beats the original (IMO).

I have to listen to Toussaint's again. I probably hear Boz Scaggs and Bonnie Raitt's version of that song more than anyone else's.

xp And very happy about that news. Back in 2010, Toussaint played a FREE show at Prospect Park and I'm very glad I went - I even snagged a seat very close to the stage. Good crowd, but it didn't fill up completely - I remember having brunch with some friends including one music major and inviting them along, but they all passed. Guy's a f-ing legend but he still felt underappreciated in his lifetime.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynsFnSzS87w

I had missed Bonnie's version! That's a really nice one (though the gender switch is hard to mentally adjust to)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbOD2PdaBGE

nearly a half century old and this shit still slaps

Amazing songwriter, pianist etc., so glad the Boulevard is renamed after him