Sunday in New Orleans – Gospel, Funky R&B, Blues and Baby Dolls

By Geraldine Wyckoff
Contributing Writer

“It’s all music,” is a statement often made by musicians and especially this city’s artists who enjoy and can play in many styles. That’s just one of the reasons that it makes perfect sense to pair the renowned gospel group the Blind Boys of Alabama and the opening Legends of New Orleans that features vocalist/percussionist Cyril Neville among many other Crescent City stars at the Orpheum Theatre on Sunday, July 22.

Presented by the Educare Foundation, which, as its name implies, is dedicated to forwarding the educational opportunities for children, the concert also welcomes special guest, the Queen of New Orleans Soul, Irma Thomas. She, of course, is known to also have fervently belted out many a gospel number.

The Blind Boys of Alabama, which was formed in 1939 and just last June lost one of its founding members, the brilliant, 88-year-old Clarence Fountain, is admired around the world for its musicality in delivering its spiritual and uplifting message. The group, which still includes one original member, the great Jimmy Carter whose honest sense of humor often enhances a show, has won five Grammys in its 70-year history and was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Recording Academy (NARAS) among many other accolades.

The beauty of the Blind Boys of Alabama has always been the complimentary relationship between the vocalists’ harmonies and the band’s thoughtful, yet strong, support. Performing with artists from the secular world is not a foreign concept to the ensemble that has recorded with our own Aaron Neville and vocalist Lou Reed among others. Through the decades, the Blind Boys have stepped out of pure gospel like that heard on the group’s first single, 1948’s “I Can See Everybody but My Mother” to embrace more widely-known inspirational numbers familiar to those outside of church communities including “People Get Ready.”

Though the recently deceased Clarence Fountain, who was residing in Baton Rouge at the time of his death, wasn’t touring with the group anymore due to ill health, he did join the Blind Boys in the studio to record its 2017 release, Almost Home.

On looking over those participating on the program at the Orpheum, vocalists appear to be particularly prominent. Cyril Neville, a dominant and provocative member of the Neville Brothers, has been standing at center stage microphones often leading his own band or performing with others as a powerful yet soulful lead singer. Cornell Williams, who is best known as the bassist and backup singer with pianist Jon Cleary, is, simply put, one of the very best singers around and capable, if he wished to do so, of resurrecting some of Johnny Adam’s – the Tan Canary – songs. Then there’s Mem Shannon whose approach to vocals is as unique as that of his guitar work and compositions. Rounding out the band of Legends are drummer Terence Higgins and pianist Tom Worrell.

Showtime at the Orpheum on Sunday, July 22 is at 7:30 p.m. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.

Celebrating a Uniquely New Orleans Tradition

There’s sure to be many women dressed in colorful, decorative outfits and bobbing second line umbrellas on Sunday, June 22, for the celebration of the publication of “Walking Raddy: The Baby Dolls of New Orleans.” Edited by Kim Vaz-Deville, the book which is available in hard cover and paperback as well as through eBook, is a collection of often quite scholarly essays that explore, expand on, dispel or support the Baby Dolls’ origins and generally dig deep into its history in New Orleans and its links to African diaspora particularly in the Caribbean. It looks into what people believe to be a centuries-old tradition, its longevity spurred on by the Treme community and goings-on of the Batiste family, who jumped and shouted on Carnival Day with the Dirty Dozen Kazoo Band. Though the tradition never truly became extinct, its public reemergence was kick-started in 2004 by Antoinette K-Doe, the wife of the legendary Ernie K-Doe, forming the K-Doe Baby Dolls. Many other women jumped on the bandwagon to form their own dancin’ in the streets organizations. Photographs and artistic depictions of the lively ladies then and now fill the pages of the book.

The first question might be: Where else would the description “raddy” be included in a book title about a cultural tradition other than New Orleans? It’s doubtful that another locale, or for that matter, any book publisher would go for the word that doesn’t even appear in the dictionary. On the other hand, New Orleanians will immediately get the fun and funk of it. Yet, surprisingly it belies the academic approach by the many contributors to the assemblage of writings on a topic most local Mardi Gras revelers would consider just having a bunch of fun. That’s not to dismiss the importance of the topic of the cultural tradition that has been central to the lives of so many local folks from New Orleans. “Here come the Indians, here come the skeletons, here come the Baby Dolls!” all on a Mardi Gras Day.

Sunday’s party will be held from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. at Xavier University’s Administration Auditorium and will include music by Arsene Delay and Margie Perez plus refreshments. A more comprehensive review of “Walking Raddy: The Baby Dolls of New Orleans” will be coming soon.

This article originally published in the July 16, 2018 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.