Blues crooner and tuba player, Alton ‘Big Al’ Carson dies

By Geraldine Wyckoff
Contributing Writer

Big Al Carson, a man who joyfully boasted a large musical talent, personality, smile and girth, was most renowned as a vocalist leading his Blues Masters at Bourbon Street’s Funky Pirate for some 25 years. “I love what I do,” said Carson in a 2010 interview. “It’s so funny, now we’re playing for a next generation. Folks come in and say, ‘My dad sent me, my grandfather sent me, my mom sent me.’ I love meeting the people, that’s why I’m still here.” A New Orleans native who grew up in the 7th Ward, Alton, “Big Al” Carson, died on Sunday, April 26, 2020, at the age of 66.

Carson’s other passion was for New Orleans traditional jazz, which he said he always incorporated in his sets at the Funky Pirate. He played tuba in the classic New Orleans style whenever he had the opportunity. Big Al actually began his musical journey blowing trumpet but as the often-repeated story of “give the tuba to the biggest guy around” goes, Carson landed on the hefty horn at Andrew J. Bell High School and also played tuba at Booker T. Washington High School and later at Xavier University. It was while at Xavier that, as he once explained, Carson began singing “accidentally,” when he casually started harmonizing with a jazz vocalist at the college. Encouraged, he got a group together and jumped into hot spots on Orleans Avenue and Basin Street playing trumpet and singing rhythm and blues with the band called the Better Half.

ALTON ‘BIG AL’ CARSON

His first professional gig however, was with trumpeter Ernest “Doc” Paulin’s Brass Band and he went on to perform with an array of ensembles including the Olympia, Teddy Riley’s Royal, Hurricane, Tornado and Pin Stripe brass bands. Carson’s brass and traditional musical roots are realized in his having recorded with several of the above-mentioned brass ensembles as well as classic jazz masters including clarinetist Michael White and pianist Lars Edegran. He also played trombone with the Kid Johnson Orchestra.

Carson’s very first recording was in a gospel setting with the legendary trumpeter Wallace Davenport. As a vocalist, Big Al also recorded as a leader including several live performances captured at the Funky Pirate. He wrote a number of originals most notably, “Send Your Drunken Ass Home,” that was inspired by his long nights on Bourbon Street. His final disc was 2010’s hilariously titled 3 Phat Catz & 1 Skinny Dogg that sported a colorful cartoon image of the group on the cover.

“I did a lot of different work at the same time,” Carson said reflecting on his career when in 2008 he was named in New Orleans magazine as a New Orleans Jazz All-Star.

In the 1970s, Carson joined the cast as both a tuba player and vocalist of Vernel Bagneris’ musical “One Mo’ Time” that offered him the opportunity to travel abroad. He once remembered how bassist Walter Payton took him under his wing to train him in the required styles of the 1930s and ‘40s. The association led to Carson’s 13-year stint with Payton’s Snap Bean Band as lead vocalist.

Carson was a regular at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and performed at the Fair Grounds for 15 years beginning in 1997. He also appeared regularly at the French Quarter Festival and had been scheduled to play both in 2020.

Big Al held court as the king of the Funky Pirate delighting audiences with his music and sometimes suggestive but always good-natured humor. “It is a blessing to work with one of the few club owners who realizes and understands that Bourbon Street is about the music, not the T-shirt shops or the daiquiri shops,” he once declared.

“I always say, it’s not about me, it’s all about the music. You have to give the music its props. The motivation is to keep it goin’ and pass it on. If you don’t pass it on, it will get lost. There’s a lot of stuff you just can’t get from a book. You get it from word of mouth and from your soul.”

Big Al Carson opened his heart and soul to folks from around the world with his music and warm demeanor. He loved them and they loved him right back.

This article originally published in the May 4, 2020 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.