In Charlie Gillett's classic study of rock history, The Sound Of The City,
he identifies five regional styles as the headwaters of rock & roll -
northern band music, personified by Bill Haley & the Comets; the Chicago R&B
of Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley; Memphis rockabilly; vocal group rock & roll,
AKA doo-wop; and New Orleans dance blues. I think Gillett's analysis is pretty
solid, but if there was one style of the five that was perhaps more equal
than the others, I'd have to tip my hat to New Orleans.
New Orleans R&B had its own superstars, of course, and it wasn't by mistake
that Fats Domino and Little Richard were chosen as part of the inaugural
class for the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame. The early importance and enduring
influence of New Orleans R&B on the history of rock music can't be reduced
to the work of a pair, or even a handful, of stars, though, regardless of
how seminal and significant their contributions were. The rich vein of
musical tradition of the Crescent City created fertile ground for a
distinctive and enduring scene that was both separate from and central to
the development of a national rock & roll market.
[Pictured: Lee Dorsey]
Long before Antione became Fats, or Mr. Penniman rolled into town from
Macon, GA, New Orleans was known as the birthplace of jazz. While most of
the legendary jazzmen made the migration north to Chicago, Kansas City and
New York to achieve their greatest notoriety, what they left behind was a
civic culture which retained the desire to let the bon temps roulez as one
of its primary features. From the tourist clubs of the French Quarter to
the back street jukes, players mining the tradition of the Storyville
"professors," the proverbial whore house piano players, found plenty of
work, if relatively little renown and even less money (one of the great
figures of New Orleans rock, Lee Dorsey, always made his primary living as
an autobody repairman, and he was reputed to be the best in town). Over
time, New Orleans developed its own circle of dance bands, putting a local
slant on the swing music that had swept the country in the mid-20th century.
When big band jazz gave way to bebop in the post-WWII environment, dance
band musicians needed a new musical direction to satisfy the audiences who
came to party, not to be challenged by the latest innovation. It was the
beginning of the jump blues era, and of rock & roll.
Among the New Orleans bandleaders, the most prominent figure in the
development of the new R&B music that was to become rock & roll was Dave
Bartholomew, a trumpeter, songwriter, bandleader and, by 1949, the New
Orleans A&R man for a new Los Angeles company, Imperial Records. It was in
that capacity that he booked the J&M Studios for a December date with a 20
year old heir to the piano professor tradition, Fats Domino. The song they
recorded that day, "The Fat Man," was a breakout hit, climbing to the #2
spot on the R&B charts, and, perhaps more importantly, the #2 spot on the
then all important Jukebox chart. Together, Dave Bartholomew and Fats
Domino inaugurated the modern era of New Orleans music, and staked a solid
claim as the fathers of rock & roll.
While Bartholomew would record Fats Domino during three decades, with 100
sides released on Imperial, many co-written by the pair, he had a great deal
more to offer than a single star. With a core of solid studio musicians
drawn from his dance band and an LA label eager for more of his Crescent
City magic, Bartholomew scored hits for Chris Kenner, Smiley Lewis, Bobby
Mitchell, Shirley and Lee and many more. Interestingly, although he wrote
many of those hits, and played on many of them, his own records never
achieved similar chart success. At heart, Dave Bartholomew the performer
was still a product of the big band era, and his own records lacked the
energy and edge that the rock & roll kids were looking for.
[Pictured: Allen Toussaint]
If Dave Bartholomew owned the 50's, by the end of the decade it was time for
a new sound, a new ear to hear it and a new producer to present it to the
country. Enter Allen Toussaint, a home-grown musician and producer at the
helm of a hometown label, Minit Records. With a funkier, bluesier sound
that was right for the times, he redefined New Orleans R&B with a stable of
performers including Ernie K-Doe, Aaron Neville, Jessie Hill and Irma
Thomas, and kept New Orleans at the forefront of the development of rock in
a new era.
All this is by way of introduction to four new releases from the EMI vaults
that collectively make up The Crescent City Soul series. While they're
individual releases, they could have as easily been compiled into a box set,
and they're best considered together. The heart of the set is titled Let
The Good Times Roll - 20 Of New Orleans Finest R&B Classics 1949-1966, and
it contains classic cuts produced by Bartholomew and Toussaint among the work of
other important New Orleans R&B studio figures like Earl Palmer and Harold
Battiste. It also features the only appearance by Little Richard in the
series, "Long Tall Sally,"
which appears courtesy of Specialty Records, the
LA label that was his recording home during his most fertile period, and
which, alas, has passed along to other hands over time. Still, the series
would have been sadly incomplete without at least one classic performance by
the Georgia Peach, and this classic from 1956 gives the whole collection a
stronger claim to competition.
Next up is a collection by the master himself, The Big Beat Of Dave
Bartholomew - 20 Of His Milestone New Orleans Productions 1949-1960. These
cuts show off the work he did when he wasn't occupied with Fats, with only
one Domino heat, "I Hear You Knocking," represented. Included are 8 of the
17 singles Bartholomew recorded for Imperial under his own name, and they'll
leave you shaking your head, wondering why he never scored a hit with "Four Winds"
or the Mardi Gras flavored "Shrimp And Gumbo."
Also on the disc is
one of Bartholomew's rare non-Imperial productions, Shirley & Lee's "I'm Gone,"
an R&B #2 on Aladdin in 1952 (another departure from Imperial was
Lloyd Price's "Lawdy Miss Clawdy," a hit on Specialty which appears on Let
The Good Times Roll). Produced in amazingly primitive conditions by
today's standards and engineered for vintage jukebox systems, the sound of
this music today is surprisingly satisfying.
Taking a step forward chronologically, and arguably musically, brings us to
Finger Poppin' And Stompin' Feet - 20 Classic Allen Toussaint Productions
For Minit Records 1960-1962. As the producer, house pianist/bandleader and
songwriter for the fledgling New Orleans-based Minit Records, the young
Toussaint (he was in his early 20s when these recordings were made)
accomplished a number of firsts. Among them were the first hit on the label
(Jessie Hill's "Ooh Poo Pah Doo"), the first #1 Pop side ever recorded in New Orleans (Ernie K-Doe's "Mother In Law") and the first chart hit (#21 R&B) for Aaron Neville. Those are here, along with gems from Irma Thomas, The Showmen and others.
The fourth disc of the series, and in many ways its crowning glory, is The
Fats Domino Jukebox - 20 Greatest Hits The Way You Originally Heard Them.
From 1945 to 1957, the most important R&B chart was the Billboard Most
Played Juke Box R&B listing. A national hit would fill as many as 100,000
machines, and if it was frequently played, the 1/4 pound tonearms would
grind through a disc in about 100 plays, guaranteeing regular re-orders.
From his first release, "The Fat Man," (#2 Jukebox in 1950) to the
double-sided jukebox hit "Valley Of Tears"
b/w "It's You I Love,"
Jukebox in 1957), Fats was the king of the coin operated record players,
with five #1 Jukebox hits among the tracks included here. In fact, the
five, "Ain't That A Shame," "I'm In Love Again," "Blueberry Hill," "Blue
Monday," and "I'm Walkin'' were all #1 Jukebox, #1 R&B and top ten Pop hits
("Blueberry Hill" was his greatest pop chart hit, rising to #2). Nearly
half of the songs on the disc were released too late for the Jukebox charts,
or there would doubtless have been a few more #1s to talk about, but every
one of the 20 tracks was a bona fide R&B and/or Pop hit.
Between the four discs in the Crescent City Soul Series (there's a separate
box set containing all 100 of Fats Domino's Imperial sides) there's a nearly
complete history of New Orleans R&B. The only essential addition would be a
greatest hits collection of Little Richard, which is easily found. Many of
the tracks are songs you already know by heart, even if you haven't heard
these versions. They're among the most beloved and covered cuts in the
history of rock & roll, the quintessential party songs from the
quintessential party town. Listen to them and tell me - if Charlie
Gillett's right about the five roots of rock, doesn't the fifth assigned to
New Orleans make up about fifty percent?
Let The Good Times Roll: Let The Good Times Roll/Shirley & Lee * Mardi Gras
In New Orleans/ Professor Longhair * Lawdy Miss Clawdy/Lloyd Price * I
Didn't Want To Do It/The Spiders * I Hear You Knocking/Smiley Lewis * Stack
A Lee (Part 1)/Archibald * New Bon-Ton Roula/Clarence "Bon Ton" Garlow * Ya
Ya/Lee Dorsey * Long Tall Sally/Little Richard * I'm Wise/Ruth Durand * Let
The Four Winds Blow/Roy Brown * Feel So Good/Shirley & Lee * Trick Bag/Earl
King * I Know (You Don't Love Me No More)/Barbara George * She Put The Hurt
On Me/Prince La La * You're The One/The Spiders * Real Man/Ernie K-Doe *
Tell It Like It Is/Aaron Neville * Come On (Parts 1&2)/Earl King * Chicken
Shack Boogie/Amos Milburn
The Big Beat Of Dave Bartholomew: Sick And Tired/Chris Kenner * The
Monkey/Dave Bartholomew * Blue Monday/Smiley Lewis * Four Winds/Dave
Bartholomew * I'm Gonna Be A Wheel Someday/Bobby Mitchell * Country Boy Goes
Home/Dave Bartholomew * I Hear You Knocking/Fats Domino * Shrimp And
Gumbo/Dave Bartholomew * Toy Bell/The Bees * Witchcraft/The Spiders * I'm
Gone/Shirley And Lee * Would You/Dave Bartholomew * 3x7=21/Jewel King *
Someday You'll Want Me/Smiley Lewis * Great Big Eyes (Those Little
Reds)/Archibald * That's How You Got Killed Before/Dave Bartholomew * One
Night/Smiley Lewis * Who Drank My Beer While I Was In The Rear/Dave
Bartholomew * Shrewsbury Blues/Tommy Ridgley * Country Gal/Dave Bartholomew
Finger Poppin' And Stompin' Feet: It Will Stand/The Showmen *
Mother-In-Law/Ernie K-Doe * Over You/Aaron Neville * Heavenly Baby/Allen &
Allen * Ooh Poo Pah Doo (Part 1)/Jessie Hill * Tain't It The Truth/Ernie
K-Doe * Cry On/Irma Thomas * True Love Never Dies/Allen Orange * Let's
Live/Aaron Neville * Te-Ta-Te-Ta-Ta/Ernie K-Doe * Whip It On Me/Jessie Hill
* Fortune Teller/Benny Spellman * I Cried My Last Tear/Ernie K-Doe *
Lipstick Traces (On A Cigarette)/Benny Spellman * Always Naggin' (Grumblin'
Fussin' Nag Nag)/The Del Royals * It's Raining/Irma Thomas * A Certain
Girl/Ernie K-Doe * 39-21-46/The Showmen * Ruler Of My Heart/Irma Thomas *
Ooh Poo Pah Doo (Part 2)/Jessie Hill
The Fats Domino Jukebox: The Fat Man * Goin' Home * Going To The River *
Ain't That A Shame * All By Myself * Poor Me * I'm In Love Again * Blueberry
Hill * Blue Monday * I'm Walkin' * It's You I Love * Valley Of Tears * Whole
Lotta Loving * I Want To Walk You Home * I'm Gonna Be A Wheel Someday * Be
My Guest * Walking To New Orleans * My Girl Josephine * Let The Four Winds
Blow * Jambalaya (On The Bayou)