Allen Toussaint

All Music Guide:

Producer, songwriter, arranger, session pianist, solo artist -- Allen Toussaint has worn all these hats over the course of his lengthy and prolific career, and his behind-the-scenes work alone would have been enough to make him a legend of New Orleans R&B. Thanks to his work with numerous other artists, Toussaint bore an enormous amount of responsibility for the sound of R&B in the Crescent City from the '60s on into the '70s. His productions kept with the times, moving from rollicking, earthy soul in the '60s to gritty, rambunctious funk in the '70s. As a composer, Toussaint proved himself a consistent hitmaker, penning more than a few gems that have since become R&B standards and been covered by countless artists working in many different styles. In keeping with that across-the-board appeal, Toussaint has worked in some supporting capacity for a wide variety of rock and blues legends, particularly from the '70s on. On top of all that, Toussaint waxed his own records from time to time, enjoying a creative peak in the '70s with several albums that highlighted his laid-back vocals and elegantly funky piano work. Even if he wasn't always the most visible figure, Toussaint's contributions to New Orleans music -- and to rock & roll in general -- were such that he earned induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998.

Toussaint was born January 14, 1938, in New Orleans, and began learning piano at age seven, inspired by Professor Longhair; his style later grew to include elements of Fats Domino, Huey "Piano" Smith, and Ray Charles. As a teenager, he played in a band called the Flamingoes with bluesman Snooks Eaglin. Toussaint caught his first professional break at age 17, when Earl King tapped him to fill in for Smith at a live gig. Not long after, famed producer/songwriter Dave Bartholomew -- whose role in New Orleans R&B during the '50s was fairly analogous to Toussaint's later career -- hired him to lay down the piano parts at a Fats Domino recording session for which Domino himself was unavailable. Bartholomew made regular use of Toussaint, most notably on further sessions for Domino and Smiley Lewis, and demand for the young pianist's services grew quickly, especially after he first displayed his talent as an arranger on saxman Lee Allen's biggest hit, "Walkin' with Mr. Lee." In 1958, Toussaint recorded an instrumental album for RCA called The Wild Sound of New Orleans, under the alias Tousan; one of his original compositions for the record, "Java," went on to become a smash hit for Dixieland jazz trumpeter Al Hirt five years later. Toussaint also began writing under the pseudonym Naomi Neville, after his mother's maiden name.

In 1960, Toussaint was hired by Joe Banashak as an A&R man for the brand-new Minit label; in practice, he wound up masterminding most of the label's recording sessions. It was here that Toussaint truly began to build his legend. His first national success as a producer came with Jessie Hill's R&B Top Five smash "Ooh Poo Pah Doo" in 1960, and the classic hits came fast and furious after that: Ernie K-Doe's pop and R&B number one "Mother-in-Law" (a Toussaint composition), Benny Spellman's "Fortune Teller," and "Lipstick Traces (On a Cigarette)" (both Toussaint tunes written as Naomi Neville, with the former later covered by the Rolling Stones), Chris Kenner's original version of "Land of 1000 Dances," Lee Dorsey's "Ya Ya," and numerous sides with New Orleans soul queen Irma Thomas. Toussaint's singular touch on all these records redefined the sound of New Orleans R&B for a new decade. When Banashak left Minit to found another label, Instant, Toussaint went with him to fulfill much the same duties; he also freelanced elsewhere, most prominently with Dorsey's recordings for the Fury label, and cut a few low-profile singles of his own, mostly for Seville. In 1963, Toussaint was drafted into the military, during which time he recorded with his backing band the Stokes while on leave; one of their tunes, the Naomi Neville credit "Whipped Cream," was covered by Herb Alpert in 1965 for an instrumental hit, which was in turn later adopted as the theme for TV's The Dating Game.

Upon his discharge in 1965, Toussaint teamed up with fellow producer Marshall Sehorn to form a production company and record label, Sansu Enterprises. Sansu recorded the likes of Betty Harris, Earl King, Chris Kenner, and Lou Johnson, among others, often leasing their singles to larger labels for official release. Their most profitable association was with Lee Dorsey, who returned to the upper reaches of the R&B charts with Toussaint-penned hits like "Ride Your Pony," the oft-covered "Get Out of My Life Woman," the immortal "Working in a Coalmine," and "Everything I Do Gonh Be Funky (From Now On)" (covered by jazzman Lou Donaldson). In 1966, Sansu also engaged the services of a house band dubbed the Meters, who supplied backing for nearly all of the company's productions; after the Meters started making their own records in 1969 (produced by Toussaint), they developed into arguably the top instrumental funk ensemble of the '70s outside of the J.B.'s.

In 1971, Toussaint recorded his first solo album in over a decade for Scepter, calling it simply Toussaint (it was later reissued in the U.K. as From a Whisper to a Scream, after its best-known track). The following year, he moved up to Reprise for Life, Love and Faith, and he and Sehorn opened a state-of-the-art recording studio in New Orleans called Sea-Saint, which became the site for most of his subsequent projects. In addition to his solo records, Toussaint was getting more high-profile offers for outside work during the first half of the '70s. He did horn arrangements for the Band, Paul Simon, Little Feat, and Sandy Denny, and his continued work with the Meters was moving him into contemporary funk with a harder edge than his own albums. In fact, he wound up producing two of New Orleans' greatest funk records: Dr. John's Top Ten hit "Right Place, Wrong Time" and LaBelle's number one disco-funk smash "Lady Marmalade." In 1975, Toussaint released what many regarded as his finest solo album, Southern Nights; the title track went on to become a huge hit for country-pop superstar Glen Campbell, and "What Do You Want the Girl to Do?" was covered by Boz Scaggs, Lowell George, and Bonnie Raitt.

In 1976, Toussaint produced the Meters-related group the Wild Tchoupitoulas, whose self-titled debut was hailed as a classic of New Orleans funk. The record's experimentalism signaled a growing desire to branch out in the Meters camp, though, which would soon cause the band's split with Toussaint and, eventually, each other. The absence of their unerring sense of groove was noticeable on Toussaint's final solo LP for quite some time, 1978's Motion. Toussaint's activities tailed off in the years that followed; he still produced, arranged, and played piano on selected projects, which included albums by blues artists Etta James and Albert King, and rockers Elvis Costello and Joe Cocker, among others. In the meantime, his extensive song catalog was still mined regularly for cover material; the Lee Dorsey period was the most fertile, not just for "Working in a Coalmine" (Devo, the Judds), but lesser-known items like "Yes We Can" (the Pointer Sisters), "Sneakin' Sally Through the Alley" (Robert Palmer), and "Freedom for the Stallion" (the Oak Ridge Boys, among others). In addition, "Play Something Sweet (Brickyard Blues)" was a hit for Three Dog Night, and Bonnie Raitt cut a well-received version of "What Is Success." The Allen Toussaint Collection, a fine overview of his major-label recordings in the '70s, was released in 1991. In 1996, Toussaint formed a new label, NYNO, and recorded a full album of new material at his Sea-Saint studio, titled Connected. Toussaint also began recording newer Crescent City artists in hopes of preserving the classic New Orleans sound. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998 in the non-performer category. Going Places, attributed to Allen Toussaint's Jazzity Project, appeared in 2005, followed by the Joe Henry-produced The Bright Mississippi from Nonesuch Records in 2009.

Wikipedia:

Allen Toussaint (/ˈuːeɪ/; born January 14, 1938) is an American musician, composer, record producer, and influential figure in New Orleans R&B.

Many of Toussaint's songs have become familiar through versions by other musicians, including "Working in the Coalmine", "Ride Your Pony", "Fortune Teller", "Play Something Sweet (Brickyard Blues)", "Southern Nights," "Everything I Do Gonna Be Funky", "I'll Take a Melody", "Get Out of My Life, Woman", and "Mother-in-Law".

Biography [edit]

Early life and career [edit]

Toussaint grew up in a shotgun house in the New Orleans neighborhood of Gert Town, where his mother welcomed and fed all manner of musicians as they practiced and recorded with her son. After a lucky break at age 17 in which he stood in for Huey Smith at a performance with Earl King's band in Prichard, Alabama, Toussaint was introduced to a group of local musicians who performed regularly at a night club on LaSalle street Uptown; they were known as the Dew Drop Set. He initially recorded for RCA Victor as Al Tousan and recorded an album of instrumentals, including the song "Java", which years later became a big hit for Al Hirt (also on RCA).

In his early years Toussaint worked mainly for Joe Banashak's Minit Records and Instant Records, but after Minit was sold to its distributor, he teamed up with Marshall Sehorn, starting their own record label variously known as Tou-Sea, Sansu, Deesu or Kansu. In 1973 Toussaint and Sehorn created the Sea-Saint recording studio in the Gentilly neighborhood of New Orleans.

Success in the 1960s and 1970s [edit]

In the early 1960s he wrote and produced a string of hits for New Orleans R&B artists such as Ernie K-Doe, Irma Thomas, Art and Aaron Neville, The Showmen, and Lee Dorsey. Some of his songs from this period were published under the pseudonym "Naomi Neville" (his mother's maiden name, which he used to circumvent an earlier publishing contract), such as "Ruler of My Heart", recorded by Irma Thomas. The song would go on to be recorded by Otis Redding under the title "Pain in My Heart". In 1964, "A Certain Girl" (originally by Ernie K-Doe) was the B-side of the first single release by The Yardbirds; the song was released again in 1980 by Warren Zevon. A two-sided 1962 hit by Benny Spellman comprised "Lipstick Traces (On A Cigarette)," later covered by The O'Jays, Ringo Starr, and Alex Chilton, and the simple but effective "Fortune Teller", which was covered by many 1960s rock groups including The Rolling Stones, The Nashville Teens, The Who, The Hollies, ex-Searchers founder member Tony Jackson and more recently (2007) by Robert Plant and Alison Krauss on Raising Sand. A significant early influence was the second-line piano style of Professor Longhair.

Toussaint's piano and arrangements show up on hundreds of records during the early 1960s on records by Lee Dorsey, Chris Kenner, and scores of other artists.

Starting in the 1970s, he switched gears to a funkier sound, writing and producing for The Meters, Dr John, and the Wild Tchoupitoulas Mardi Gras Indians tribe. He also began to work with non-New Orleans artists such as B.J. Thomas, Robert Palmer, Willy DeVille, Sandy Denny, Elkie Brooks, Solomon Burke, Scottish soul singer Frankie Miller and southern rocker Mylon LeFevre. He arranged horn music for The Band's 1971 album Cahoots, plus Rock of Ages and The Last Waltz film, in conjunction with arranging horn parts for their concert repertoire. Boz Scaggs recorded Toussaint's "What Do You Want the Girl to Do?" on his 1976 album Silk Degrees, which reached #2 on the U.S. pop albums chart. In 1976 he also collaborated with John Mayall on the album Notice to Appear.

Toussaint also launched his own solo career, which peaked in the '70s with the albums From a Whisper to a Scream and Southern Nights. It was during this time that he teamed with Labelle, and produced their highly acclaimed 1975 album Nightbirds, which spawned the Number One hit, "Lady Marmalade". The same year, Toussaint collaborated with Paul McCartney and Wings for their hit album Venus and Mars. Two years later, Glen Campbell covered Toussaint's "Southern Nights" and carried the song to Number One on the Pop, Country and Adult-Contemporary Charts. Along with many of his contemporaries, Toussaint found that interest in his compositions was rekindled when his work began to be sampled by hip hop artists in the 1980s and 1990s.

He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998 and, in 2009, the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame. On May 9, 2011 he was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame.

2000s [edit]

Contrary to rumors at the time, Toussaint did not take refuge at the Louisiana Superdome in the wake of the Hurricane Katrina disaster. Instead, Toussaint weathered the storm in the Astor Crowne Plaza Hotel. After the hurricane Toussaint left New Orleans for Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and eventually settled in New York City, where he is currently living while his house is being rebuilt. His first television appearance after the hurricane was on the September 7, 2005 episode of the Late Show with David Letterman, sitting in with Paul Shaffer and his CBS Orchestra. Toussaint performed regularly at Joe's Pub in New York City through 2009.

The River in Reverse, Toussaint's collaborative album with Elvis Costello, was released on 29 May 2006 in the UK on the Verve label, by Universal Classics and Jazz UCJ. It was recorded in Hollywood and, notably, in Toussaint's native New Orleans as the first major studio session to take place after Hurricane Katrina.

In 2007, Toussaint performed a duet with Paul McCartney of a song by fellow New Orleans musician and resident Fats Domino, "I Want to Walk You Home", as their contribution to Goin' Home: A Tribute to Fats Domino (Vanguard).

In 2008, Toussaint's song "Sweet Touch of Love" was used in a deodorant commercial for the Axe (Lynx) brand. The commercial won a Gold Lion at the 2008 Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival. In February 2008, Toussaint appeared on Le Show, the Harry Shearer show broadcast on NPR via KCRW.

Toussaint appeared in London in August 2008, where he performed a gig at The Roundhouse. In October 2008 he performed at Festival New Orleans at The O alongside acts such as Dr. John and Buckwheat Zydeco. Sponsored by Quint Davis of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and Philip Anschutz, the event was intended to promote New Orleans music and culture and to revive the once-lucrative tourist trade that had been almost completely lost following the flooding of Hurricane Katrina. After his second performance at the festival, Toussaint appeared alongside then-Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana, Mitch Landrieu. The following day, he performed again in London at the NFL Tailgate Party.

Toussaint performed a taping for the popular PBS series Austin City Limits on June 30, 2009 as part of the show's 35th anniversary season. He played instrumentals from his most recent album, "The Bright Mississippi", as well as many songs from his back catalog. He performed with Levon Helm and his band on Imus in the Morning on October 9, 2009. In December 2009, he was featured on Elvis Costello's "Spectacle" program on the Sundance Channel, singing "A Certain Girl". Toussaint appeared in Eric Clapton's 2010 album, Clapton, in two Fats Waller covers, "My Very Good Friend the Milkman" and "When Somebody Thinks You're Wonderful".

Toussaint is a musical mentor to Swedish-born New Orleans songwriter and performer Theresa Andersson.