Celebrating Black Music Month, The Rhythm & The Blues!
26th June 2023 · 0 Comments
Part IV
Rhythm & Blues was born in New Orleans.
A look at Billboard’s early music charts attests to that fact. Louisiana native Roy Brown’s “Good Rocking Tonight,” released in 1947, rode the Billboard Rhythm & Blues chart for weeks and climbed to #13. Some say it was the “first rock & roll record.”
Wynonie Harris, Elvis Presley, Bruce Springsteen, Paul McCartney, Joe Ely, Ricky Nelson, Jerry Lee Lewis, Pat Boone, James Brown, the Doors, and the rock group Montrose have re-recorded “Good Rocking Tonight.”
Others point to New Orleanian Antoine Dominque Domino Jr.’s 1949 recording “The Fat Man” as the first rock & roll record.
The late “Fats” Domino, who preferred to be called Antoine, solidified New Orleans’ reputation as the birthplace of R&B. Domino had eleven Top 10 hits, five of his records had sold more than a million copies, being certified gold, and he sold over 65 million records. Domino earned the title of the “Godfather of R&B” when he refuted a description of his music as rock & roll.
When Dick Clark asked him what he thought about rock & roll, Domino responded, “Mister, what you call rock and roll is rhythm and blues and I’ve been playing that for 15 years.”
Dave Bartholomew, the late great songwriter, trumpeter, bandleader and record producer, is indisputably the Father of Rhythm & Blues. Born in Edgard, Louisiana, Bartholomew moved with his parents to New Orleans, where he played in local jazz and brass bands, including Papa Celestin’s and Fats Pichon’s band on a Mississippi riverboat.
Bartholomew reportedly developed writing and arranging skills as a 196th Army Ground Forces Band member. He put those skills to work as bandleader of Dave Bartholomew and the Dew Droppers.
Bartholomew wrote, arranged, and produced recordings for Imperial, Specialty, and Decca record labels and launched the careers of many artists, including Smiley Lewis. Lewis’ “I Hear You Knocking” and “One Night” were written by Bartholomew and recorded by other singers, including the Spiders, Chris Kenner, Earl King, Tommy Ridgley, Robert Parker, T-Bone Walker, Roy Brown, Frankie Ford, Shirley and Lee for whom Bartholomew produced “Let the Good Times Roll.”
Bartholomew’s “Ain’t That A Shame,” co-written with Fats Domino, was recorded successfully by Pat Boone; “I Hear You Knocking” was a hit for Gale Storm in the 1950s and Dave Edmunds in the 1970s; “One Night” and “Witchcraft” were hits for Elvis Presley; and “I’m Walkin’” was a hit for Ricky Nelson. On several of his songs, a co-writing credit was given to his wife, Pearl King.
Allen Toussaint, the famed New Orleans pianist, composer, songwriter, and bandleader, believed Bartholomew never was properly recognized despite Bartholomew’s induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Songwriters’ Hall of Fame. So, Toussaint feted his mentor at a 2009 celebration in Bartholomew’s honor.
In 1960, Toussaint was hired by record producer and radio impresario Larry McKinley, part owner of Minit Records label with Joe Banashak, where he began to produce, arrange, and play on Minit’s first big hit, Jessie Hill’s “Ooh Poo Pah Doo,” which reached the R&B Top Five in 1960. Their biggest hit was Ernie K-Doe’s “Mother-in-Law,” which hit number one in 1961.
Other Minit hits include “Lipstick Traces (On a Cigarette)” and “Fortune Teller” by Benny Spellman, “It Will Stand” by The Showmen, “Over You” by Aaron Neville, and “It’s Raining” by Irma Thomas.
Several of the Minit hits were highly influential for early British Invasion bands. For example, the Yardbirds covered “A Certain Girl,” while the Rolling Stones, among others, covered “Fortune Teller.”
Toussaint also produced sessions for other labels, such as “Ya Ya” by Lee Dorsey for the Fury label and “But I Do” by Clarence “Frogman” Henry for Argo.
Toussaint also arranged hits such as Chris Kenner’s “I Like It Like That” and Art Neville’s “All These Things.” In 1965, Toussaint formed a production company, Sansu, with promoter Marshall Sehorn and released Lee Dorsey’s “Ride Your Pony;” and “Working in a Coal Mine,” which reached number eight in the summer of 1966, and “Everything I Do Gonna Be Funky (From Now On).” In the late 1960s, Toussaint began working with The Meters, who played on many of Sansu’s hits.
In 1973, Sehorn and Toussaint built Sea-Saint Studios in the Gentilly neighborhood of New Orleans and recorded The Meters and The Wild Tchoupitoulas, a New Orleans Mardi Gras Indian tribe. His production of Dr. John’s 1973 LP “In The Right Place,” with The Meters, featured the number nine single, “Right Place Wrong Time.”
Toussaint also recorded The Band, Paul McCartney and Wings, Robert Palmer, Joe Cocker, Etta James, and Albert King. His production of Patti Labelle’s Nightbirds album led to the 1975 number-one disco hit “Lady Marmalade.” Glen Campbell had a number-one hit with “Southern Nights” in 1977, while Boz Scaggs, Little Feat, Bonnie Raitt, and The Pointer Sisters covered Toussaint compositions. Even new-wave rockers Devo recorded a version of “Working in a Coal Mine.”
Toussaint released four albums of his own composition. He was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1998.
A few weeks after Hurricane Katrina, Toussaint appeared on the David Letterman Show. He released “The River in Reverse,” a collaboration with British rocker Elvis Costello in 2006. In 2009, Toussaint released “The Bright Mississippi,” “the first jazz album of his 50-year career,” according to Paul Kauppila’s biography of Toussaint.
Toussaint died from a heart attack while on tour in Madrid, Spain, on November 10, 2015. In 2016, Nonesuch Records released his final album, “American Tunes.” In January 2022, the New Orleans City Council renamed Robert E. Lee Boulevard in his honor.
During the 1960s and beyond, The Meters, Batiste Brothers, Neville Brothers, and Willie “Tee” Turbinton kept the R&B tradition going but fused “funk” and “soul” music into the genre.
Professor Longhair, Henry Roeland “Roy” Byrd, a pianist, composer, and vocalist, recorded many New Orleans’ R&B classics, fusing funk, Latin rhythms, and R&B in guitarist Earl King’s “Big Chief,” and Longhair’s “Go To The Mardi Gras,” and “Tipitina.”
Several women singers and performers added their voices and recorded New Orleans R&B in the 1960s and 70s: The Rouzan Sisters (Wanda, Barbara, and Laura), Barbara George, Lady BJ Crosby, and the “Godmother of New Orleans R&B” Irma Thomas added to New Orleans’ reputation as an R&B wellspring.
Both Irma Thomas and Wanda Rouzan are still performing. Wanda formed her own band, A Taste of New Orleans. She produced albums with some of the most excellent New Orleans musicians, including Phil Parnell, George French, George Porter Jr., Herlin Riley, Shannon Powell, David Lastie, Al “Shine” Robinson, Papa Don Vappie, Reynard Poche’, Wendell Brunious, Norbert Susemihl, Michael Pierce, Michael White, Fredrick Lonzo, among others.
Grammy-winner Ledisi is doing her hometown proud. And a new group of women vocalists/entrepreneurs are recording and owning their content and music. WCWM.org (Who’s Coming With Me) has “4 New Orleans Women: Vocalists You Should Know” on its website. Profiled by the illustrious photographer and founder of WCWM, C-Freedom, these young women are impressive millennials. Casmé, Denisia, Caren Green, and Yahjah are making their mark on the music industry.
Davell Crawford, pianist, composer, and vocalist, is the godson of the iconic Roberta Flack and the grandson of the great vocalist/pianist/composer James “Sugar Boy” Crawford of “Jock-A-Mo” fame. Crawford keeps the New Orleans R&B tradition going. He plays tunes from pianists Fats Domino, Professor Longhair, James Booker, and Huey “Piano” Smith.
A third generation of Batiste Brothers’ sons continues their family’s legacy. Damon, Russell, and Jamal, David Batiste’s sons, are still performing, as is Michael Batiste’s son, Jon Batiste, a pianist and entertainer who won five Grammy Awards last year.
Several Neville Brothers’ sons are currently performing. Ivan, Aaron’s son, and Ian, Art’s son, play in Ivan’s band, Dumpster Funk. Aaron’s son, Jason, leads the Jason Neville Funky Soul Band, and Charles’ daughter, Charmaine Neville, sings, records, and performs worldwide.
This article originally published in the June 26, 2023 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
