Albums I Love, Part II: Allen Toussaint “The Bright Mississippi”

Posted: July 13th, 2009 | Filed under: Culture, Music | 1 Comment »

In his liner notes, the album’s producer Joe Henry makes reference to a Toussaint rendition of Professor Longhair’s “Tipitina.” That version, titled “Tipitina and Me” can be found on the album, Our New Orleans.

Henry called that Toussaint creation, recorded for that benefit album, “a history lesson in American musical alchemy.”

He became obsessed with it. Moi aussi.

Except my focus is less broad, less knowing than that of Henry, one of the preeminent producers/ musicians/ songwriters extant. What I hear when listening to “Tipitina and Me” is the history of New Orleans music.

I hear Longhair, of course. But also Louis Moreau Gottschalk, a “classical” composer who lived in and was mightily influenced by the sounds of the Crescent City. And James Booker. And Fats Waller. Henry Butler. Dr. John. Marsha Ball. Amasa Miller. The nameless guys and gals that sat at the uprights in Storyville’s whore houses. Etc, etc.

But Toussaint’s rendition transcends rollicking barrelhouse. Beyond stride and honky tonk and the blues, it is stunning in its eloquence. The word that comes to mind is elegant.

Which is how I shall describe The Bright Mississippi.

Joe Henry cajoled Allen Toussaint into this album, which is as monumental a career statement as one could conjure. It is also a perfect reflection of the history of music in the world’s premier music town. Call it a primer, if you will.

Plus you get eminent renditions of tunes by Thelonious Monk, Billy Strayhorn, Leonard Feather, Duke Ellington and Django Reinhart.

But the soul of this blissful collection is all New Orleans. Sidney Bechet’s “Egyptian Fantasy.” “St. James Infirmary.” A Jelly Roll Morton tune. A meaningful version of the Satchmo classic that only the stalwarts dare to play, “West End Blues.” (Nicholas Payton is up to the task.) And the gospel standard, “Just A Closer Walk With Thee,” part of New Orleans’ lore for the moment at the very first JazzFest when home girl Mahalia Jackson, the world’s foremost gospel singer, grabbed the mic to sing it along with a second line band.

Don Byron on clarinet matches the chops of Payton.

And the heart of all this is Allen Toussaint on the 88s.

I can’t begin to describe it all. So I won’t. He has distilled the essence of American music — Read: New Orleans music — into this transcendent album.

Allen Toussaint is an American treasure. He is arguably the most underrated genius in our pop culture. I’ve written before about another of his albums, Southern Nights. You can read that here.

Now the truth is I can’t expect everybody, even every music fan, to be as locked into New Orleans music as I am. But I do know that The Bright Mississippi is nothing short of brilliant, a monumental homage to the tradition of a very unique and special place by a living legend, Allen Toussaint.

And that, sweethearts, ain’t no hyperbole.

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