‘Gumbo , Voodoo and the New Orleans Kitchen Sink ‘ was the bizarrely titled mixtape from the late 1990s, that fired up my enthusiasm for the music that originates from , or is influenced by the ‘Crescent City’ of New Orleans, especially the piano music of Dr John and Professor Longhair, as well as that of The Neville Brothers, The Dirty Dozen Brass Band , and Little Feat.

I compiled the tape for a friend back then, and my passion for such music hasn’t diminished over the years . As with a lot of the music I listen to , the music of Dr John, and I suppose that of New Orleans, is eclectic, a veritable melting pot of styles, taking in the rhythms of Cuba, blues, jazz, rumba, cajun, and soul , from the voodoo tinged trippy, psychedelic funk sounds of Gris-Gris, to the jazz-isms of ‘Duke Elegant’ , an album of Ellington interpretations, there’s a lot more to the good doctor than the boogie woogie that we have heard him play along with Jools Holland, on his ‘Later’ show, or on You Tube.

Maybe it was a strange move going for New Orleans music, but then, I was into blues, and songwriters like Tom Waits and Van Morrison, so maybe this was a logical progression, a step ahead. I had just discovered crime fiction by James Lee Burke and James Sallis, and imagined that in my ‘New Orleans of the Mind’, that their New Orleans based private eyes, Dave Robichaux and Lew Griffin would sit together in some seedy bar in the bad part of town, sipping a glass of bourbon, talking over their latest cases, where Dr John’s music was on the jukebox eternally, perhaps his take on ‘Tipitina’, or possibly ‘I Thought I Heard Buddy Bolden Say’ , a story of an enigmatic jazz star , sung by Crescent City stalwart, Danny Barker, would provide a soundtrack to my reveries , from the ‘Goin Back To New Orleans’, which came out in 1992.

‘Goin’ Back To New Orleans’ , is a hymn to the Crescent City and its music, not dissimilar to the earlier ‘Gumbo’ album in 1972, with Dr John delving once more into the music of his birthplace , taking in Jelly Roll Morton, Dave Bartholomew, Fats Domino, Huey ‘Piano’ Smith, and Sam Theard, and making these compositions his own. I recall the first time I played this album on a Sony Walkman, with the Leadbelly tune, ‘Good Night Irene’, stuck in my mind for days after, the pounding keyboards, and honking brass section was amazingly uplifting , after hearing the song performed by numerous folk singers in the pubs of Aberdeen to varying degrees of success!. The title track , from the repertoire of Joe Liggins, showcases a whole selection of New Orleans musos, with the Neville Brothers, Charles Neville (on sax) Al Hirt, (on trumpet), with a earworm of a brass riff which gives it an almost Cuban / Salsa sound. What with the standard ‘Careless Love’, which has been covered by everyone from Bessie Smith through to modern day jazz singer, Madeleine Peyroux, and the stunning ‘Fess Up’, Dr John’s pianistic tribute to Professor Longhair, its an album well worth searching out, and it was the Grammy Winner in 1992 for the Best Traditional Blues Album, well deserved I would say. Listening to this album, led me on to other similar music, which I will write up about in the near future.

Playlist:

Dr John- ‘Going Back to New Orleans'(Warner Brothers 1992)

Dr John-‘Gumbo’ (Atco Records 1972)

‘Bluesiana Triangle ‘(Windham Hill Records 1990)

Maria Muldaur ‘Louisiana Love Call’ (Black Top Records 1992)