NE

W O

RL

EA

NS

EW ORLEANS, where theFrench collided withAfricans, where colonists

of every creed came to exploit thebountifully rich Gulf of Mexico.It’s where Catholicism and new

world Protestant fundamentalismcame face to face with African juju, and voodoo and what emergedwas a ‘Hey honey, how do you do?’ It’s the city of the overt sexually of

Mardi Gras that sits next to thebougainvillea clad antebellum arti-facts of the age of puritanism andslavery.It’s where the Irish and Scots and

Welsh learned how to swing andsing like they’d never done before.But more than anything it is the

city in which popular music, as weknow it, was born. Without the clash of African blues

and European baroque, we don’thave jazz. Without the mix of jazzand blues and Celtic folk songs,you ain’t got country or rock n’ rollor, even, tenuously, hip hop.It’s the city that gave us Louis Arm-

strong, Sidney Bechet, Jelly RollMorton, Irma Thomas, MahaliaJackson, Allen Toussaint, FatsDomino, Dr John, Clifton Chenier,the Marsalis family, Randy New-man, the Rebirth and Dirty DozenBrass Bands.It has faced civil war, crushing

poverty, organised crime, genera-tions of civic corruption and one ofthe greatest natural disasters of re-cent times, yet it will always be themost important city in modern pop-ular culture. It’s all copacetic, pod’na.

PADDY HOEY

massivemingleApril 15 2011

N

the m

usic

of

DISC 1

1. Angelina (4:22) Louis Prima

2. Way Down Yonder In New Orleans

(3:09) Sidney Bechet

3. Basin Street Blues (3:18)

Sidney Bechet

4. Mardi Gras In New Orleans (2:18)

Fats Domino

5. Jelly Roll Blues (3:08)

Jelly Roll Morton

6. Rum & Coca-Cola (2:04)

Professor Longhair

7. I’m A Hog For You (6:20)

Clifton Chenier

8. Don't Go Back To New Orleans

(1:21) T Bone Walker

9. Intro (0:32)

New Birth Brass Band

10. Feel Like Funkin' It Up (5:39)

Rebirth Brass Band

11. Hush Your Mouth (6:24)

New Birth Brass Band

12. Just a Closer Walk With Thee

(5:31) The Dirty Dozen Brass Band

13. Down By The Riverside (2:21)

Mahalia Jackson

14. Where The Blues Were Born In

New Orleans (3:11) Louis Armstrong

15. Louisiana Bayou Drive (3:14) T-

Bone Walker

16. Louisiana Two Steps (4:05)

Clifton Chenier

17. Louisiana 1927 (2:57)

Randy Newman

18. In The Morning (Jockomo) (4:14)

Big Chief Boudreaux

19. Riffs And Variations (0:49)

Sufjan Stevens

Q1: TRY to imag-ine modernmusic withoutLouis Arm-strong’s influ-ence? See, youcan’t. Q2: Name fivemore influentialfigures in themodern historyof popularmusic? Again,you can’t.That’s not bad

for a man born inNola in 1901 andwho learnedmusic in a char-ity for poor boys.He was playing

pro at 18,learned his bigband chops inChicago in the20s went on todevelop the mod-ern jazz solo inLA and New Yorkin the 1930s &40s and by the1950s and 1960swas one of popu-lar entertain-ment’s biggeststars.He may have at-

tracted the ire ofmany black ac-tivists for his per-ceived ‘UncleTom’ act on TV,but the pay-offfor being re-ceived by whiteaudiences wasbeing allowed tobe a true pioneer.

essentialartists

Louis Armstrong

“The minute you land in New Orleans, something wet and dark leaps on you and starts

ROYAL APPOINTMENT: The queen ofNew Orelans soul Irma Thomas

DISC 2

20. Mozartin’ (4:34)

Ellis Marsalis

21. 2nd Line (3:55)

Wynton Marsalis

22. Time is on my side (2:55)

Irma Thomas

23. Last Train (3:02)

Allen Toussaint

24. Sweet Home New Orleans (5:51)

Dr. John

25. Handclapping Song (2:54)

The Meters

26. Hercules (4:11)

Aaron Neville

27. Funkyard (5:01)

Walter "Wolfman" Washington & The

Roadmasters

28. Baltimore (4:04)

Randy Newman

29. Shake Ya Ass (4:18)

Mystikal

30. Ghetto Fabulous (feat. Charlie

Wilson & Snoop Dogg) (4:15)

Mystikal

31. Get Ya Hustle On (3:29)

Juvenile

32. Brickyard Blues (feat. Allen Tou-

ssaint) (3:56)

Bluesiana Hot Sauce

33. What a friend we have in Jesus

(3:44) The Dirty Dozen Brass Band

blues &soul &funk &all thatjazzWhat’s on the CD?

‘HALIE’Jacksongrew up in thenotorious Carroll-town district ofdowntown NewOrleans and hadthe kind of up-bringing that isquintessential togreat soul andgospel artists:absent parents,physical beat-ings and deep in-volvement in thechurch.Jackson was the

woman that gaveus gospel, in itstrue sense.After moving to

Chicago in thegreat migrationof the 1920s shequickly becamea mainstreamstar.She was the

first gospel artistto play CarnegieHall in New Yorkand her work forApollo recordssaw her havehits with Go Tell itto the Mountain, TheLord’s Prayer andMove on a LittleHigher.Another artist to

gain huge re-spect in Europe,she was deco-rated in Francereceiving theGrand Prix duDisque.

essentialartists

MahaliaJackson

humping you like a swamp dog in heat...” - Tom Robbins (Jitterbug Perfume)

This appears to be ameans of contacting me:hoeyp@hope.ac.uk. It’s actually just fillingspace on a badly designedpage. Design pro tip, ahoy.

funkin’it up

I feellike

Brass bands are

the fruitful breeding

ground for Nola

jazz and some are

the heart & soul of

the city itself

THE first time Iheard Dr John, Ithought he wasfrom anotherplanet, but then,the first Dr Johnrecord I heardwas Gris Gris, agruelling gumboof voodoo andpsychedeliawhich reallydoes sound likeit comes fromanother world.However, to see

Dr John throughthe lens of hisquintet of late60s/ early 70s al-bums does thegreat man a dis-service. Simply, he is

New Orleans.From his medi-

cine shows ofthe 70s throughto his jazz, popand blues workwith every majorNew Orleansartist of the last50s years, he isa kind of unoffi-cial curator ofthe city’s recentmusical history.A winner of five

Grammys and aRock and RollHall of Fame in-ductee, he con-tinues torepresent themelting pot thatis Nola.

essentialartists

Dr John

“There are only two things: all sorts of love, with pretty girls, and the music of New Orleans

funkin’it up

HE Dirty Dozen Brass Bandhelped to rewrite the modernhistoryof New Orleans musicwith an upbeat modern take

on the brass bands which had beenthe city’s mainstay since the start ofthe 20th Century.Brass bands were the beat that drove

the city’s Mardi Gras carnival and thefunerals.But when Gregory Davis, sousaphon-

ist Kirk Joseph, trombonist CharlesJoseph, and saxophonist Kevin Harriswere joined by Efrem Towns (trum-peter/ lead singer) and Roger Lewison saxophone and Benny Jones andJenell Marshall on drums in 1977, the

brass tradition was at a low ebb.When the DDBB took to the road,they spread the word of this newlyupdated form of the old music far andwide and beyond Lousiana.New York, California and Europe, in

particular, took to a vibrant band ofvirtuoso musicians who had beenschooled in community music pro-grammes.Along the way they have collabo-rated with some stellar names, includ-ing Dr John, Elvis Costello, DizzyGillespie and Norah Jones. And they inspired other similar actslike Nola’s Rebirth Brass Band andWisconsin’s Youngblood Brass Band.

essentialartists

FatsDomino

Everything else ought to go, because everything else is ugly.” - Boris Vian

T

IF Louis Arm-strong is merelyfrom New Or-leans, FatsDomino IS NewOrleans.Born in the city

and speakingCreole as hisfirst language, heis the fulcrumpoint betweenjazz, blues androck and roll. Beginning his

career in 1949,his early recordswere embracedby the rock androll generation. Indeed his boo-gie woogie mas-terpiece The FatMan, is consid-ered by many tobe the first rockrecord.In the aftermath

of Katrina, it wasfeared he haddrowned, refus-ing to leave hishouse in theLower Ninthward. He was,thankfully, res-cued by thecoast guard.But, only one

thing needs saidabout Fats: arethere any morejoyous sounds inpop than BlueberryHill and Ain’t Thata Shame? No, Ididn’t think so.

BORN in a shot-gun house typi-cal of NewOrleans, Tous-saint is, like DrJohn and FatsDomino, umbili-cally linked tothe city and itsmusic.His mother fed

musicians intheir home andby 17 he wasplaying pro.By the early

1960s he hadwritten hits forartists like ErnieK-Doe, IrmaThomas, Art andAaron Neville,The Showmen,and Lee Dorsey.Otis Reddingrecorded his ver-sion of a Tous-saint song withPain in My Heart.But his solo

work stands out.He is anotherbridge betweenblues, soul, jazzand funk and hissong SouthernNights has be-come an anthemfor N’awlins andToussaint,through his col-laborations withElvis Costello, DrJohn et al, hasbecome anothercurator of thecity’s musicalheritage.

essentialartists

Allen Toussaint

“Mardi Gras is the love of life. It is the harmonic convergence of our food, our music,

The manwhorewrotethe rulesof pop

Bechet is one ofthe most impor-tant men in thehistory of mod-ern music. As apioneer of theone of the jazzsolo he beatLouis Armstrongto the recordingstudio by severalmonths. He was also one

of the first jazzsaxophonistsand his confidentdelivery, brilliantimprovisationand unique vi-brato, paved theway for a genera-tion of musicianswho would rede-fine the genre inthe 1940s on-wards.Bechet also

blazed a trail, be-coming one ofthe most cele-brated jazz play-ers in Europe.He moved to

France in thefinal years of hislife and becamea hero to thenew intellectualmovementsthere, in particu-lar the existen-talists whorevelled in thegloriously highbrow nature ofhis playing andcomposition.

essentialartists

HEN it comes to tacklingdifficult subjects, therearen’t many people

braver than New Orleans singer song-writer Randy Newman.From taking on the persona of a slave

trader (Sail Away), to virulent racistsand a child murderer (In Germany Be-fore the War), Newman has nevershied away from saying the unsayableand making music that redefines whatthe singer songwriter is all about.It’s a stretch to call him a N’awlinsboy, he moved there as a youngsterand then moved back to the place ofhis birth, California, at the age of 11.But, for this magazine,he’ll do. Call it the JackCharlton school of selec-tion, at least he actuallylived there and it isn’t agranny which qualifieshim.A professional songwriter from theage 17, from a family with a two gen-eration history of scoring films, New-man has had a successful career fromthe late 1960s. Along that way he has written dozensof wonderful songs recorded both byhimself and a band of luminaries.A list of his songs and those whohave recorded them shows how muchhe has seeped into the popular imagi-nation, his mordant wit and intelli-gence shining through. That he can beseen as both high brow and a com-poser of standards for MOR/ FMradio says much for his abilities. Small People, Mama Told Me Not toCome, Rednecks and You Can Keep

Your Hat On have been covered bymany.But, it’s his work as a three time

Oscar winning writer for films thatshows his true genius. He’s writtenthe scores for Monsters Inc., ThePrincess & The Frog and is mostnoted for his work on Pixar’s ToyStory Series.It is for the latter series that he dis-

plays his true ability to write aboutoutsiders most poignantly.He won the 2000 Academy Award

for best film song for the heartbreak-ingly beautiful When She Loved Me,about the cast aside cowgirl toy Jesse,struggling to come to terms withbeing forgotten by a child grown -upand moving away from play.

SydneyBechet

From songs about childmurder and racism, towinning Oscars forcartoon soundtracks,Randy Newman, is oneof small number ofartists who can do it all

SMALL PEOPLE: Newman

doesn’t mind wee Oscar

W

our creativity, our eccentricity, our neighborhoods, and our joy of living.” Chris Rose

Have yourself anIndian summer

IKE everything else thatDavid Simon has beeninvolved in, Treme is a

morality tale about our times.Just as The Wire was supposedto be about the war on drugs, butwas really about the systematicdestruction of the urban workingclass by those institutions of so-ciety supposedly sworn to protectit, Treme is nominally about NewOrleans after Hurricane Katrina.But it’s not that simplistic. It

may also be about racism andneglect of a once great city, butit’s also a celebration of culturesin decline, old cultures underthreat and those people from thecommunity that resist the stiflingtemptation of moving and forget-ting the past for the sake of it.Music is a symbol for saving

N’awlins, it’s a powerful symbol

of a glorious past which sustainsthose who refuse to give in to thestorm, the government and thenay sayers.Chief among those keeping the

old times alive is Clarke ‘Lester

Freamon’ Peters as Indian chiefAlbert Lambreaux who sews andworks his fingers to the bonekeeping his historic carnivalgang together. Wendell ‘Bunk

Moreland’ Pierce, is gifted butpriapic trombonist AntoineBatiste hustling for work playingmusic from across the city’s richhistory, while Steve Zahn plays

middle class white musician andDJ Davis McAlary, a man in lovewith black music, its musiciansand who leads a crusade to getthe truth about Katrina known.With cameos by Toussaint, DrJohn and Kermit Ruffins, it alsoboasts one of the best openingsequences of any TV show - apanorama of the city's heritagefrom ragtime to revival, be bop,rock and dirty south hip hop, itall concludes with a New Orleansmarching band on the streets ofTreme, a troubled neighbourhoodin the French Quarter.

L It may test your patience withplots as slow moving as a siltedup bayou, but HBO’s Treme is aone stop shop in Nola music

Word Magazine NW Massive Mingle Music of New Orleans Magazine was compiled lovingly by Paddy Hoey (PaddyHon the blog). You can email him on hoey1967@hotmail.com or follow him on Twitter @paddyhoey. If youwant to take issue with anything contained herein, please consult the prospectus of your local adult education centre, whereyou may stumble upon a course which will help you get a life and put things like a typo in a free magazine into perspective.

NO,SMART CASUAL:Clarke Peters as ChiefAlbert Lambreaux inHBO seriesTreme