Dr John, the High Priest of New Orleans' hoodoo, the Night Tripper and one of the heirs to Professor Longhair's legacy, died last week at the age of 77. He was widely regarded as one of the Crescent City's most accomplished musicians -- a master bandleader, songwriter, guitarist, voodoo showman and pianist. He was comfortable moving between blues, jazz, funk, boogie-woogie and anything else he fancied, and he was known as a keeper of New Orleans' piano traditions.
Born Malcolm John Rebennack Jr in 1941 into a musical family -- his father ran a record store -- he grew up in the 3rd Ward of New Orleans, and, in a local culture rich in music and performance, he was exposed to everything from minstrel music to trad jazz to the hottest R&B. He gained access to recording sessions with musicians like Little Richard, and in his early teens began playing guitar onstage with local bands.
At 13, he met someone who would change his life: Professor Longhair. He was greatly impressed by Longhair's flamboyant and wild style, his unique piano playing, which blended Afro-Caribbean rhythms with jump jive, boogie-woogie and a nascent R&B.
Allen Toussaint, another New Orleans giant who recently died, also had that career-defining moment when he first saw the great Professor tickle the ivories. Dr John would later claim that Professor Longhair's assimilation of the Cuban clave into his music would pave the way for New Orleans funk.
By 16, Dr John was a session musician and songwriter for Johnny Vincent at Ace Records, and at Ace he worked with musicians like Earl King and James Booker (another great pianist inspired by Professor Longhair).
But in a town that once boasted America's biggest red-light district -- Storyville -- there were plenty of extra-curricular activities to tempt a young man.
Dr John, then still known as Mac, went rogue and ended up spending two years in a correctional facility, as well as developing a heroin addiction. He left his hometown and set up shop in Los Angeles, joining the top session band, the Wrecking Crew, on the West coast. He played for a who's-who of West Coast musicians, working with, among others, Sonny & Cher, Canned Heat and Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention (Zappa sacked the good doctor for turning up stoned to a rehearsal). It was in LA that he created a new stage persona, Dr John, loosely based on the life of Dr John, a Senegalese prince and spiritual healer who arrived in New Orleans from Haiti (Haiti has a strong influence on New Orleans culture); he sold gris-gris, or voodoo amulets, to protect the wearer from any misfortune or harm.
He created a new sound that blended New Orleans-style R&B with psychedelic rock and a colourful stage act that used the trappings of voodoo ceremonies, and Dr John, The Night Tripper was born.
As I entered university in 1973, I became aware of Dr John as a result of hearing Gumbo (released in 1972) and his hit album (and biggest single hit) In The Right Place, which featured the funky Meters and Allen Toussaint. In his autobiography, Under A Hoodoo Moon (St Martin's Press, 1994) he noted that he wanted to go back to his R&B roots of the late 1940s and 1950s, which he did while at the same time adding a deep funk groove that placed him as one of the Big Easy's ambassadors of funk. I listened to the album again this past weekend -- wonderful music that I will certainly spin at my next DJ night.
If you were in the UK at that time and you did not like rock music, which was where I was at, then acts like Dr John and The Meters (and you could add George Clinton's Parliament-Funkadelic collective as well) were a funky alternative. I've been following these bands ever since.
In his autobiography, Dr John pulls no punches about the lost years of his heroin addiction. He finally beat the monster in 1989 and remained clean for the rest of his life. In the early 1990s he returned to his Orleans roots with an exploration of his musical roots on Going Back To New Orleans (highly recommended) and an updated funk album, Television, in 1994 (worth it for the cover of Sly Stone's Thank You Falletin Me Be Mice Elf Again). As he told The Los Angeles Times at the time: "New Orleans music is all about the funk, and I try to give a little funk in different areas and styles."
I saw the great man in Tokyo in the early 90s. He was part of a New Orleans week that included Earl King and The Neville Brothers performing in Hibiya Park (highlight: Art Neville put out his back, so Dr John sat in and played guitar for their gig). He also gave a show at the tiny Thai restaurant, Cay, in Omotesando, for which we photographers were allowed to take photos of the first three songs in his set. I made sure I had the best spot right next to his piano. To watch the master at work at close quarters was a great thrill for me and I did get to speak briefly with him, but I have to be honest: I found his idiosyncratic speech (a mix of New Orleans and voodoo-influenced jive talk) hard to understand. Still, to briefly chat with him and some of The Neville Brothers (Art Neville was one of the founders of The Meters) was a great honour for me. The Neville Brothers also played the same small venue, as did another New Orleans piano legend, Eddie Bo. Great times.
You can get the five-CD Dr. John Original Album Series or just go for some of the classic albums like Gris-Gris, Gumbo and In The Right Place, or some of the more recent ones like his Grammy-winning Locked Down from 2012. His last album was a tribute to trad jazz and Louis Armstrong, Ske-Dat-De-Dat: The Spirit Of Satch.
But if you just want to see why he is so revered, have a look at Clint Eastwood's interview with him for Martin Scorcese's documentary series on the blues, and don't miss the 1974 concert footage of Dr John, Professor Longhair, The Meters and Earl King. Magnificent music.
RIP Dr John the Night Tripper, you will be missed but your music lives on.
John Clewley can be contacted at clewley.john@gmail.com.
