Allen Toussaint - Live 1989 Chicago Blues Festival
by Nicky Crewe
published: 17 / 10 / 2016
Label:
Floating World
Format: CD
intro
Exuberant live album recorded in 1989 from late New Orleans jazz and blues artist Allen Toussaint
Back in the mid 1970s, when I had a collection of LPs, one of my favourites was the 1976 double album of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival featuring Allen Toussaint, Lee Dorsey, Ernie K Doe, Robert Parker, Irma Thomas, Earl King, Lightnin’ Hopkins and Professor Longhair. Wonderful performances and an amazing collection of artists and songs. At the same time I was listening to Aaron Neville and the Meters, Bobby Charles, Clarence ‘Frogman’ Henry and Dr John, the Night Tripper. So when the chance came up to review a live recording of Allen Toussaint in 1989, I had to grab it. He’s a bit older and a bit funkier in this recording, racing through a repertoire of favourite songs, with an enthusiastic and engaged audience. It’s his first time at this particular festival. The band are fantastic and it’s a performance that is full of energy, life and soul. For those of you familiar with Allen Toussaint, you won’t need to be persuaded to give this a listen. If you haven’t come across him, he’s a New Orleans singer, songwriter and producer who came up through the New Orleans jazz and blues scene of the 1950s. He wrote some of the best songs of the Sixties and Seventies, songs covered by artists as diverse as the Yardbirds and the Rolling Stones, Lee Dorsey and Glen Campbell. He died on tour in November 2015 at the age of seventy-seven. He had continued to play and work with contemporary musicians, and notably collaborated with Elvis Costello to raise funds after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. On this album we are treated to great versions of old favourites ‘Shoorah, Shoorah’ and’ Brickyard Blues’. The amazing Scottish soul singer Frankie Miller gets a mention. Like Otis Redding’s widow, Toussaint also compares his voice to Otis. There’s a French Cajun song, ‘Laisser Le Bon Temps Rouler’. They certainly do. He works the audience with his version of Huey Smith’s ‘Rockin Pneumonia’, gives us a version of ‘Southern Nights’, a seventies hit for Glen Campbell, and includes a new song, ‘Who’s Minding The Store’, not resting on his laurels. It’s an exuberant celebration of the man and his music. Great memories. Good times.
Track Listing:-
1 Fun Time2 Shoorah Shoorah
3 A Certain Girl
4 All These Things
5 Who s Minding the Store
6 Brickyard Blues
7 Rockin Pneumonia
8 Laissez Bontempts Roller
9 With You in Mind
10 Southern Lights
11 Fun Time.
Band Links:-
https://www.facebook.com/AllenToussaint/Label Links:-
http://www.floatingworldrecords.co.uk/https://www.facebook.com/floating.worldrecords
https://twitter.com/floatingwrecord
most viewed articles
current edition
Cliff Richard and The Shadows - CommentSuzi Quatro - Photoscapes
Beach Boys - Film
In Dreams Begin Responsibilities - Peter Perrett Part One
Garfunkel and Garfunkel Jr. - Interview
Eagles - Co-op Live, Manchester, 7/6/2024
T Bone Burnett - Old Town School of Folk Music, Chicago, 19/11/2024
Sukie Smith - Interview
George Harrison - Living in the Material World
Wreckless Eric - Interview
most viewed reviews
current edition
Morgan Wade - ObsessedBleachers - Bleachers
Slambovian Circus of Dreams - A Good Thief Tips His Hat
Snow Patrol - The Forest Is The Guide
Ashley Reaks - The Body Blow of Grief
Hannah Wicklund - The Prize
Camila Cabello - C.XOXO
Jack Savoretti - Miss Italia
Shaznay Lewis - Pages
Charli XCX - Brat
Pennyblackmusic Regular Contributors
Adrian Janes
Amanda J. Window
Andrew Twambley
Anthony Dhanendran
Benjamin Howarth
Cila Warncke
Daniel Cressey
Darren Aston
Dastardly
Dave Goodwin
Denzil Watson
Dominic B. Simpson
Eoghan Lyng
Fiona Hutchings
Harry Sherriff
Helen Tipping
Jamie Rowland
John Clarkson
Julie Cruickshank
Kimberly Bright
Lisa Torem
Maarten Schiethart