RIP Allen Toussaint

[Ray]

The great Allen Toussaint died last night, after playing a show in Madrid. From the early days playing Professor Longhair stuff on the piano through the early days of New Orleans funk (the Meters, work with the Neville Bros, etc) to more recent work with all sorts of folks, including a great album with Elvis Costello in the wake of hurricane Katrina, the guy was the very essence of New Orleans music. If you ever heard any New Orleans music you liked this side of Dixieland, he probably wrote it, produced it, played on it, or at least heavily influenced it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bUgKgudR0o

-Ray

[Bradford]

I'm listening to WWOZ today in his memory.

I was lucky enough to see him at the Denver Botanical Gardens a few years ago...what a great show. 77 years old and he never lost a step.

[malcolm]

Oh wow as a Louisiana native I've seen him multiple times. Hard to beat the funky meters live.

[Ray]

Yeah, hard to beat a LOT of stuff he had his fingers in. I only saw him a couple of times. He was sort of the house guy who played a LOT at Joe's Pub in NYC during his exile from New Orleans after his place was ruined in Katrina. I've seen other musicians there and would have loved to have seen him there. His last album, "Songbook" is a live recording of him playing and singing solo to the relatively small crowd that would fit into Joes. Not particularly breathtaking performances, but the warmth of the guy and his easily musicality just drips from every track. I've been wearing it out today, to the extent you can wear out a Spotify stream...

As Questlove from the Roots said of him, 'he wrote a lot of your favorite songs - you just didn't realize it"...

-Ray

[jr59]

RIP

I was blessed to see him MANY, MANY times. Most, just sittin in with friends around town. Jazz Fest of course, but really in very small clubs on Frenchman St and around town.

He will be missed!

[rounder]

I never saw him play, but have the cd with Elvis Costello. I did a youtube search and found this which is pretty cool.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4frYZXc9tQ