Pages tagged “dr john”

B.B. King has traveled around the world, released over 50 albums, won 14 Grammy Awards (not including the Lifetime Achievement Award) and so epitomizes the term "bluesman" that he can teach his guitar, Lucille, how to play in Hebrew on Shalom Sesame without losing one ounce of the note-bending cred he's earned from defining his genre for the greater part of the past century.

Day 2 in Philadelphia near the campus of the University of Pennsylvania saw Music Directors, Program Directors and record label reps, radio promoters (the guys that cajole, plead and otherwise beg the radio stations to play the latest "single" by their clients) checking out new and upcoming artists like Astrid Williamson and Ingrid Michaelson, as well as Ryan Bingham and Hayes Carll (a former Paste 4 To Watch artist).  But let's tell the story of the stellar evening showcase featuring Englishman Newton Faulkner and his red dreadlocks, new mommy Ani DiFranco, Paste cover kids The Hold Steady and New Orleans legend Dr. John in pictures....

Tonight on NBC’s Late Night with Conan O’Brien New Orleans legend Dr. John will be playing the single “That Old Black Magic” from his new album Mercernary: The Songs of Johnny Mercer. The show is scheduled to air at 12:30 A.M. EST.

Legendary New Orleans bluesman Dr. John will be appearing in his first full performance at Bonnaroo, June 17. His 1974 album and title track “Desitively Bonnaroo” inspired the name of the popular music festival. Fans this year will experience a New Orleans- themed lineup at the “This Tent,” culminating in Dr. John’s midnight performance with his famed voodoo “Night Tripper” persona and band The Lower 911.

His two-hour set will include classic and rare gems, and songs from his acclaimed new album Mercenary: The Songs of Johnny Mercer.

Dr. John is also one of two artists whose music will be available exclusively as ringtones for fans attending the festival. For more information on the “Desitively Bonnaroo” ringtone, visit bonnaroo.com.

Water, Water, Everywhere…

Big Easy piano man Dr. John’s post-Katrina release, Sippiana Hericane, is a testament to the old Southern conviction that when the going gets tough, the tough sing gospel. Short (25:25) but bittersweet, the four song mini-album strolls reverently through classic New Orleans musical styles—soul, jazz, blues and spirituals—in a poignant attempt to make sense of Katrina’s devastation. At the album’s core is “Wade: Hurricane Suite,” a four-part improvisational dive into Katrina and its aftermath where grief brims just below the surface, swelling fiercely with the dark “Storm Surge” and ebbing mournfully on “Calm After the Storm,” before receding entirely with the determined spiritual “Wade in the Water.” As always, Dr. John’s grooves are infectious, but Sippiana doesn’t just make you want to shake your hips, it hints at catharsis. The album builds to a hopeful note—the gospel/blues number “Sweet Home New Orleans”—and to the firm declaration that the Crescent City is “gonna be back twice as strong.” Benefiting The New Orleans Musicians Clinic, the Jazz Foundation of America and The Voice of The Wetlands, Sippiana is an inspiration and a crusade—and a passionate celebration of Dr. John’s hometown.

As ambitious in its conception as anything Dr. John has recorded over his career, N’awlinz: Dis, Dat or D’udda endeavors to capture the spirit of New Orleans’ rich musical history as it has evolved throughout the last 150 years.

Joined by a massive handpicked cast of collaborators, spanning both genres and generations, with everyone from the Dirty Dozen Brass Band and B.B King to Willie Nelson and Randy Newman making appearances, the album feels like a triumphant procession of the talented artists who’ve laid a stone at music’s altar over the years.

From the majestically doleful “When the Saints Go Marching In”—recast as a mournfully foreboding gospel dirge instead of the stereotypically upbeat renditions you heard as a child—to a bouncy remake of the blues standard “St. James Infirmary,” Dr. John reinterprets (and reinvents) the bedrock forms from which he has drawn so vibrantly over the past 45 years.

Some cuts, like his slick soul-pop rendition of “Marie Laveau,” don’t work as well as others, like the comparably raw, party sing-along atmosphere of “Chicken Le Pas.” The production, though bold and vibrant in texture, could possibly benefit from a bit less gloss, and while this is obviously a labor of love for the Doctor to bring aboard so many of his friends and mentors, it’s possible that the concept would have been better served by having John do more alone.

While he captures much of New Orleans’ legacy through the character of his arrangements and integrity of his performance, he ultimately falls short of capturing in 19 songs what volumes of music couldn’t adequately address.