Earlier this year, while reviewing several (if not most) of the 45 Rpm records that were released during 1969 there were several great memories and more than a few new discoveries. One of those records however, has led me to a virtual gusher of great music from not only the same approximate time frame, but dating all the way back to before the birth of Rock And Roll as we know it.
That record was “Break In The Road” by Betty Harris, a stunning example of 1960’s soul from New Orleans, Louisiana. It was written, produced and recorded by the great Allen Toussaint using his house band known as The Meters. Among the track’s many highlights are the searing guitar feedback by Leo Nocentelli, and the propulsive parade-style drumming of Ziggy Modeliste, his kit pushed way up in the mix by Toussaint. George Porter’s bass line anchors the whole recording, which is a landmark example of the amalgam of styles that make up the New Orleans sound.
Turns out that this was the last record Betty Harris would appear on. The phrase “tip of the iceberg” comes to mind as I begin to research this. There are so many possible directions to go in, from Eddie Bo, to Huey “Piano” Smith, Fats Domino, Lee Dorsey, who also recorded extensively with the aforementioned Toussaint, and many, many more.
The records by Lee Dorsey alone are so monstrous in their righteous groovy-ness it’s nothing less than a true eye opener to me. Best known for “Ya, Ya” and “Working In The Coalmine”, Dorsey also recorded many other fantastic records like “Give It Up” and “Yes, We Can”. I have yet to find a dud amongst them.
It goes without saying that Fats Domino is a Rock and Roll legend, but I still could not help but marvel at the sheer number of influential classic hits he actually had. Domino is easily New Orleans’s most prolific hit maker, but his peers recorded bunches of stuff that were just as good, and it boggles my mind as to why more of this music did not reach a wider audience.
You can try to go back as far as possible to trace this path from Jazz to Blues to Rock and Roll, but you wont find an actual date when one genre stopped and was replaced by another. The trails overlap each other and can be more accurately traced within the performances and recordings of the musicians from that area doing whatever it took to get a gig. From Dixieland Jazz bands working Rhythm and Blues tunes into their repertoire to musicians that would play in both Dixieland and Modern Jazz bands at the same time during any one day or weekend, New Orleans musicians were eclectic jacks of all trades that could play whatever, and whenever.
The authenticity of the actual recordings is the real payoff for me. This was 2 track technology recorded on a budget with little or no overdubs. The band simply had to play the tune from start to finish until they got it right with as few mistakes as possible. Guitars, pianos and other instruments that occasionally shift in and out of tune makes for the virtual cherry on top.
Nowhere is this more apparent than within the recording of Guitar Slim’s 1953 smash hit, “The Things I Used To Do”, which is widely acknowledged as one of the records that helped shape Rock And Roll. Backed by a young Ray Charles on piano playing his own arrangement, you can hear Ray shout out an audible “yeah!” near the very end of the track. This exclamation was not so much a cry of enthusiasm for what was being laid down as much as it was a sigh of relief that they finally made it through the entire track without any flubs!
Guitar Slim had a distinctive playing style, very much ahead of the curve towards what other players were doing from a melodic standpoint. It would be almost two years before followers like Chuck Berry burst onto the scene, although it seems that both men were influenced by the great Texas blues guitarist T-Bone Walker.
Like I said earlier, there are more directions to go in at this point than you can count. Research Fats Domino and you will no doubt uncover Dave Bartholomew. Trace the history of Allen Toussaint, and you will eventually end up finding out about Eddie Bo and Professor Longhair. Look into them both, and you will find out about Cosimo Matassa, whose J&M recording studio was the birthplace for so many of these seminal works.
I hope to write about all of these people and many more in depth at a later time, because even though the history is well documented for those that want to seek it, it still seems to be history that is not widely known. The origins of everything that was ever musical emanates from this region, with no disrespect intended towards Detroit, Chicago, New York, Memphis or any other scene .
It just seems that those other regions get talked up much more often than New Orleans does. Combine that with the fact that fewer records out of New Orleans “broke” nationally than out of any other region, and it makes for a thrilling first time listening experience. This music is an unrecognized part of our history, and what I want to do is convey this excitement in order to get our readers not so much to pick up a book, but to play and appreciate the records. As Lee Dorsey sang on “Give It Up”, “Don’t wait another longer…”.
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