Maurice Hope – July 10, 2016 at 01:04PM
Tags:_AMERICANA
New Orleans born and breed singer-songwriter, musician (piano, acoustic guitar, harmonica) Allen Toussaint (1938-2015) left a wonderful legacy of music; songs, recordings and general musical style. Eloquent, sometimes a little funky as r&b and soul would meet head-on Toussaint was a master, and he was also an excellent producer, arranger and sideman and an A&R man too boot. Toussaint did them all, his deep range of product and general standing was as wide and appreciated within music as the Mississippi river he grew up alongside.
Apart from recording a heap of albums he also serviced soul, r&b, pop and country “Southern Nights”; Glen Campbell) music even with hit songs. His work knew few boundaries, and those it did it would ease across without changing stride. As for songwriting ‘It seemed like a natural evolution from my playing. I played all the time as a child and played everything I heard. I thought all musicians played everything, all kinds of music, and I didn’t know there were specialists that could play one thing or other. So I would play everything I could and, of course, if you do that for so long things just creep into your head’ writes Charles Waring in his lengthy, well observed liner notes for the collection; the first two albums were recorded in 1972 the other, Motion in 1978.
Toussaint’s ability to both lay down a fiery groove and easy, laid-back as they come tune see his music an appeal to a wide discerning audience and not just commercial attuned ears.
Maurice Hope
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