As a pianist, he seemed to have the entire history of New Orleans in his fingertips.
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Among Toussaint’s accolades include an induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988, the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame in 2009, and the Blues Hall of Fame in 2011. To this day I’m not quite sure why.
Toussaint had numerous hits to his name.
Allen Toussaint was born in New Orleans, LA, in 1938, and began his long musical career as an apprentice for famed New Orleans bandleader Dave Bartholomew, sitting in on sessions with such legends as Fats Domino – whom, as a teenager, Toussaint once had to play the piano for in a session that Domino couldn’t attend. Hurricane Katrina and the federal floods brought 5 feet of water into his New Orleans home. By his late-teens, Toussaint was writing, jamming, and producing with notable local artists, and his hitmaking songwriter career was in full stride by the 1960s.
Over the decades, many of his songs have lived multiple lives as succeeding generations of artists rediscovered and re-recorded them. His songs have been performed by a diverse lineup of artists, including Glen Campbell, The Rolling Stones and Otis Redding. My picture of Toussaint, however, can be seen above.
He sold the image to Warner Bros. for $50, Merlis said, laughing. Toussaint performed there so often – frequently as a headliner – that Davis said he referred to it as his “annual concert”.
He was nominated for more than 30 Grammy Awards over the span of his career but never won for his own performances. I just can’t say enough good things about him! In addition to George Porter Jr.’s poignant Facebook post, other tributes to Toussaint have come from Paul McCartney, The Rolling Stones, Aaron Neville, Paul Simon and many more. In the early “70s, he opened Sea-Saint studio in Gentilly”.
Mike Miller, owner of Wilbert’s Food & Music, lamented on missing out on a chance to have Toussaint play his club, either at its current location in the Caxton Building or in its original spot on West Sixth.
On a few level, Allen Toussaint’s groove-a syncopated, whip-smart strut with a low-end like a gut punch-was always his calling card. “The city’s soul is alive and well in New Orleans, and I just love that”. He learned much about the art of crafting a song from Dave Bartholomew, Domino’s producer and co-writer. While his work with Lee Dorsey, Jessie Hill, the Meters and Dr. John remains key to the Toussaint canon, these five tracks – as performed by Toussaint himself – serve as a solid intro to Toussaint’s overall body of work.
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“The news came overnight, so people woke up to what they thought was a really bad dream: That Allen Toussaint has died, that he died away from his beloved New Orleans, that we are not going to see him again, is a very, very distressing notion for us”.
