by Jim Kelton

3/10 @ Lincoln Theatre, Mt. Vernon, 4:30 & 7:30pm; 3/12 thru 3/17 @ Jazz Alley, Seattle (Times in calendar)

Photo by Phil Chesnut ©2002

Musical metaphysician Dr. John (aka Mac Rebennack) has the cure for what ails you, spiritually speaking. The good doctor, who was born 60 years ago in New Orleans, LA, is the consummate eclectic Crescent City roots-meister. He incorporates funk, jazz, R&B and rock 'n' roll into his sound and, consequently, nobody else sounds remotely like him. He was writing songs at age 14 and, in the late 1950s, he was playing sessions for the legendary labels Ace, Ric, Rex, and Ebb. Asked once how many instruments he played on those pioneering sides, he replied, without a moment's hesitation: "All of 'em on some of 'em." He toured in those years with Frankie Ford (of "Sea Cruise" fame) and by 1962 he had racked up studio work with Phil Spector, Harold Battiste, and Sonny Bono. Still, his own bands had never achieved any kind of significant liftoff so he moved on to Los Angeles and there brought about a critically-acclaimed merger of his Louisiana roots & West Coast psychedelia. He became known as Dr. John Creux, The Night Tripper, a persona that yielded an album that became a critics' favorite Gris-Gris.

In 1972, renowned producer Jerry Wexler helped Dr. John mold a genuinely classic album, Dr. John's Gumbo, a collection of rousing versions of diverse New Orleans standards. This session's "Iko Iko" charted as a single. But his biggest and most durable hit came in 1973 with the album In the Right Place and the single from it titled "Right Place, Wrong Time." The latter is still a radio staple.
Later, he toured with the rip-roaring Meters (who backed him on In the Right Place) and recorded Triumvirate with Michael Bloomfield and John Hammond. He toured and recorded throughout the subsequent decades, creating at least one more bona fide gem, the soulful jazz/blues album Bluesiana Triangle with drummer Art Blakey and saxophonist David "Fathead" Newman. Rather than a flamboyant hitmaker, Dr. John has been a prime example of continual excellence; he's one of the great musicians of the past 50 years and his music is going to be around for a long, long time.

Whether he's revising Duke Ellington standards (on the recent album Duke Elegant) or whipping up a moody potion composed of swamp/funk voodoo and insinuating it eerily into the 21st Century (as in Creole Moon), he's in the right place right now and there's no better situation than that.

Back to Contents of Archive

© 2002