Musically speaking, episode 3 is a toss-up between piano players and Mardi Gras Indians – and the piano players win, by a hair. Even so, the pianists slide into some Indian music now and then. In fact, we're introduced to five icons of New Orleans piano music this time: Dr. John, Huey 'Piano' Smith, Tom McDermott, James Booker, and, by way of Davis McAlary, the late Professor Longhair. We start with Dr. John, aka Malcolm John Rebennack, Jr., or Mac to his friends.
The episode's title is taken from what is probably Dr. John's best known tune. ...
Meet De Boys On The Battlefront Season 1, Episode 02
In this episode, we get a better idea of the problems facing the main characters and where their battle lines are drawn. Which makes the choice of the song/title of this episode appropriate.
"Meet De Boys On The Battlefront" is a tune first recorded by The Wild Tchopitoulas. It has since been recorded by others, including Bo Dollis & The Wild Magnolias and Big Chief Monk Boudreaux. It refers to the mock battles that Mardi Gras Indians engage in and signs of respect they exchange when they meet on the streets of New Orleans in full regalia. ...
The pilot episode introduces us to the ensemble of characters whose lives the series follows. The musicians in that ensemble include the eternally short of money trombonist Antoine Batiste, played by Wendell Pierce; deejay, gadfly and occasional musician Davis McAlary, played by Steve Zahn; deadly serious 'Big Chief' Albert Lambreaux, a Mardi Gras Indian, played by Clarke Peters; the chief's expatriate son, trumpeter Delmond Lambreaux, played by Rob Brown; cynical street musician Sonny, played by Michiel Huisman; and his considerably more talented girlfriend, the classically trained violinist Annie, played by real-life violinist Lucia Micarelli. These characters mix it up with real New Orleans musicians ...
Sometimes, too much is just enough. That might be a Mardi Gras motto, but it applies to so many things New Orleans.
It’s been said that Tremé the TV series is a love letter to New Orleans, and to Tremé the neighborhood in particular. True, dat (as they say in the local vernacular). ...
Musically speaking, episode 3 is a toss-up between piano players and Mardi Gras Indians – and the piano players win, by a hair. Even so, the pianists slide into some Indian music now and then. In fact, we're introduced to five icons of New Orleans piano music this time: Dr. John, Huey 'Piano' Smith, Tom McDermott, James Booker, and, by way of Davis McAlary, the late Professor Longhair. We start with Dr. John, aka Malcolm John Rebennack, Jr., or Mac to his friends.
The episode's title is taken from what is probably Dr. John's best known tune. From the 1973 album In The Right Place, "Right Place, Wrong Time" was a huge top-40 crossover hit and is heard early on in the episode. A second hit single, "Such A Night," came from the same album. Whereas Dr. John's earlier records were best described as a blend of voodoo R&B and traditional New Orleans blues, In The Right Place was seasoned with a generous dose of funk, an element that has remained part of his playing style to this day.
The album was produced by the locally ubiquitous Allen Toussaint and for back-up featured The Meters, who were probably one of the most influential exponents of funk nationally and the most influential funk band in New Orleans. Art Neville was the group's leader. It depends on whom you ask, but there's a pretty good consensus that James Brown, Toussaint, and The Meters are most responsible for the introduction of funk in R&B, providing the musical foundation upon which other blues and soul musicians built.
Toussaint had a considerable stable of musicians for whom he wrote and arranged and whose records he produced and promoted, including Dr. John, among many others. Toussaint and The Meters were connected at the hip: they were the house band for Toussaint's label, Sansu Enterprises (Toussaint even wrote several songs under the pen name 'Naomi Neville;' his connection to the Nevilles goes back at least to the early 1960s). After The Meters broke up, the Neville Brothers formed their own group and continued the funk tradition. For an excellent retrospective of The Meters' work, check out Funkify Your Life: The Meters Anthology – at $25 for 43 tracks via Amazon, it's a steal.
In this episode, we also hear Dr. John playing "My Indian Red," a traditional New Orleans song for Mardi Gras Indians that he recorded on an album of New Orleans favorites, Goin’ Back To New Orleans. Finally, over the closing credits, we hear him backing homeboy saxophonist Donald Harrison on another version, "Indian Red" from their joint album Indian Blues. The album is best described as half jazz, half chant, and respectful of both. Harrison himself is chief of the Guardians Of The Flame, a position previously held by his father, Donald Harrison, Sr., who founded that tribe. In a later episode, we see Harrison's tribe meet up with Big Chief Albert Lambreaux's tribe in the street when both groups 'mask' and march on St. Joseph's Day.
Both Indian Blues and Dr. John's 1968 debut album, Gris-Gris, feature several Indian chants. Typically, many Mardi Gras Indian chants and ceremonies are considered private; strangers aren't allowed to witness them, and the Indians themselves don't talk about them. This is a lesson that the tour bus driver and tourists learn during the episode when they are bluntly turned away from an Indian memorial service by Chief Lambreaux (Clarke Peters) and his fellow Indians. During the service, we hear them chant an Indian standard, "Hey Pocky Way" – not to be confused with a Meters song of the same name that references the chant but sounds way different (and funky, of course).
Tom McDermott, a contemporary of Dr. John's, shows up as himself during this episode and tempts Annie (real-life violinist Lucia Micarelli) into accepting an invitation to play a paying gig with him. The song they play together during the gig, "King Porter Stomp," is a jazz classic. McDermott reappears in later episodes.
Huey 'Piano' Smith, now 76, is better known outside New Orleans as the one who gave us the "Rockin' Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu." Backed by his group, The Clowns, Smith's style was highly influential on early rock 'n' roll. He himself was influenced by one of his own contemporaries, Fats Domino, as well as Professor Longhair, boogie-woogie pianists Albert Ammons, Meade Lux Lewis and Pete Johnson, and the granddaddy of all New Orleans and jazz pianists, Jelly Roll Morton.
Morton, another son of New Orleans, had a style that blended ragtime, stride piano, and barrelhouse, and he was gifted and prolific. Fans of traditional jazz piano would do well to check out the 8-CD boxed set of Morton's work that music historian Alan Lomax recorded, called The Complete Library Of Congress Recordings. It's currently an incredible bargain at $19.98 for a full MP3 download at Amazon. Chicagoans should get a kick out of the fact that disc 5 contains a track titled "State And Madison," which no doubt originated during the brief period of Morton's career when he was living and playing in Chicago. I've referenced the boxed set in the playlist below as a suggested alternative to an unrecorded version of "New Orleans Blues" played by Annie and Tom McDermott during the episode.
If Morton was the granddaddy of New Orleans piano music, the late Professor Longhair (aka Henry Roeland Byrd, or Fess to his fellow musicians) must have been at least its godfather. Indeed, he's probably the pianist most closely associated with New Orleans music during the second half of the 20th century and Mardi Gras music in particular. During the episode, we see the usually irreverent Davis McAlary (Steve Zahn) solemnly trying to teach Sofia Bernette (India Ennenga) to play "Tipitina," one of Longhair's most famous songs. Davis also tries to imbue his young student with the proper amount of respect for the Professor, whom he considers a music god.
Another note of interest to Chicagoans: in 1980, Professor Longhair appeared on PBS's Soundstage (a production of WTTW-Chicago) with Dr. John, The Meters, and blues guitarist Earl King, yet another son of New Orleans. That's one show I'd love to see rebroadcast, or at least released on DVD. Shortly after that program, Longhair was in the middle of filming the documentary Piano Players Rarely Ever Play Together when he died of a heart attack in his sleep. The film is available on DVD from Louisiana Music Factory. Joining the Professor in that film were two other New Orleans pianists, Allen Toussaint and the late Tuts Washington. Some of Washington's music is heard in later episodes.
The late James Booker is the one whom Dr. John and Harry Connick, Jr. consider the greatest New Orleans pianist of their generation (well, Mac's generation, anyway). Connick was a student of his and considers Booker an important influence. Booker was classically trained and considered a young virtuoso, but he was already being influenced by Tuts Washington early on. At the age of 19, Booker was introduced to and played for the great classical pianist Arthur Rubinstein when the latter came to New Orleans for a concert; Rubinstein was duly impressed and amazed at the speed at which Booker played some of his offerings, remarking that he himself could never play at that tempo. By that time, Booker had already done some session work in the studio with Fats Domino, Smiley Lewis, and Lloyd Price.
Booker's rendition of the jazz standard and ballad "Angel Eyes" is heard during a scene in Clancy's restaurant. It's from Classified, the last album that Booker recorded. He died in late 1983, just shy of his 44th birthday. To date, he has more albums that have been released posthumously than he did while he was alive.
Here's the episode's playlist, with the tracks in their order of appearance:
unrecorded version of La Vie En Rose performed during the episode by Annie and Sonny (Lucia Micarelli and Michiel Huisman) [suggestion: ballad duo version by Ingrid Lucia on the album St. Valentine’s Day Massacre]
unrecorded version of Toulouse Street Blues played by Annie, Sonny (Lucia Micarelli, Michiel Huisman) and The Black Dogs [suggestion: version by The Black Dogs on the album Black Dogs on Bourbon, Amazon and CD Baby only]
recently recorded version of (I Don't Stand) A Ghost Of A Chance With You performed by Annie, Sonny, and Antoine Batiste (Lucia Micarelli, Michiel Huisman, and Wendell Pierce) from the Treme Season 1 soundtrack album
unrecorded version of King Porter Stomp by Lucia Micarelli and Tom McDermott [suggestion: version by Tom McDermott and Connie Jones on the album Creole Nocturne or the version by Jelly Roll Morton on the album The Library of Congress Recordings by Alan Lomax]
Angel Eyes – James Booker from the album Classified
recently recorded version of New Orleans Blues by Lucia Micarelli and Tom McDermott from the Treme Season 1 soundtrack album
unrecorded version of Tipitina performed by Davis McAlary and Sofia Bernette during the episode [suggestion: live version by Professor Longhair on the album The London Concert]
unrecorded version of Hey Pocky Way chant by various Mardi Gras Indians during the episode [suggestion: Donald Harrison and Dr. John version of Two-Way Pocky Way from the album Indian Blues]
Indian Red – Donald Harrison with Dr. John from the album Indian Blues
As always, your comments on any of these are most welcome.
Next: Doc film 4U: New Orleans Music In Exile, episode break
In this episode, we get a better idea of the problems facing the main characters and where their battle lines are drawn. Which makes the choice of the song/title of this episode appropriate.
"Meet De Boys On The Battlefront" is a tune first recorded by The Wild Tchopitoulas. It has since been recorded by others, including Bo Dollis & The Wild Magnolias and Big Chief Monk Boudreaux. It refers to the mock battles that Mardi Gras Indians engage in and signs of respect they exchange when they meet on the streets of New Orleans in full regalia. This could be during Mardi Gras season, but it's even more likely on St. Joseph's Day (March 19th), a day that is special to Mardi Gras Indians and on which you can expect to see them parading down the streets of the city. Many will also 'mask' and parade on the Sunday before St. Joseph's, better known locally as Super Sunday. However, Mardi Gras chiefs are also known for speaking out on behalf of their communities; it's a quality we see in Albert Lambreaux later on in the season, but we get the first hint of it in this episode.
A classic New Orleans song recorded much more frequently is "Careless Love," which we hear during the episode from that ill-suited busker couple, Sonny and Annie. Sonny's singing isn't up to snuff when compared to Annie's exquisite violin work.
While we're talking classics, there's "When The Saints Go Marching In," which is probably the first tune most people think of when you mention New Orleans, known to locals as just "Saints." In fact, it's so popular and overplayed (not to mention over-requested by tourists) that it's become stereotypical and trite to some. In this episode, Annie reveals to some out-of-town do-gooders who request the song that it's tradition for locals to charge extra for playing "Saints," but she never says why that is (probably because it would've cost her the tip; how do you tell tourists in a friendly way that it's a pain in the ass to play that song for the umpteenth time that day?). In New Orleans, "Saints" is as much a cliche as "Melancholy Baby" and "My Funny Valentine" are to jazz musicians elsewhere. Of course they'll charge extra.
Also heard in this episode is Lee Dorsey, a New Orleans R&B singer. If his name doesn't ring a bell and neither does the song "Ya-Ya," try "Workin' In A Coal Mine," a crossover top-40 hit for Dorsey during the 1960s. Dorsey was one of many musicians who worked with the well-known pianist, songwriter, arranger and record producer Allen Toussaint. Dorsey is heard in the background during a scene at Antoine Batiste's house.
We soon see maestro Toussaint with Elvis Costello, Delmond Lambreaux, and others in the middle of a recording session. At the end of the session, some of the musicians try to persuade Costello to go with them to hear the funk and swamp jazz band Galactic over at d.b.a., a nightclub on Frenchmen Street. Costello declines, pleading too much work left and the need for an early bedtime, but we get the distinct impression that the rocker doesn't think Galactic is really authentic-New-Orleans enough (too bad: it's Costello's loss). What did he miss? Galactic with Delmond sitting in really swinging out on Blackbird Special.
At another point in the episode, we're treated to Antoine Batiste's ambivalence over a gig on Bourbon Street. Some local musicians consider working on Bourbon Street with distaste, given that the area is mostly tourist traps and strip joints, catering to the lowest common denominator of musical taste and the home of the highly commercialized traditional jazz called Dixieland. But Batiste is encouraged to take the gig by others, who remind him "there's pride on Bourbon Street." Indeed, both Pete Fountain and the late Al Hirt worked for many years in the Bourbon Street area.
Batiste then runs into his old teacher, Danny Nelson, portrayed by
Deacon John Moore, a New Orleans jump blues musician, studio musician, and bandleader; this is one of the rare instances in Treme when a local musician doesn't play himself. Moore is also the subject of a jump-blues documentary titled Going Back To New Orleans.
Here's the episode's playlist, with the tracks in their order of appearance:
Walking With The Spirit – Coco Robicheaux from the album Spiritland
Meet The Boys On The Battlefront – Anders Osborne and Big Chief Monk Boudreaux from the album Bury The Hatchet
unrecorded version of Careless Love performed during the episode by Annie and Sonny (Lucia Micarelli and Michiel Huisman)
[suggestion: version by Kid Ory's Creole Jazz Band on the album Kid Ory, New Orleans Jazz Man]
unrecorded version of When The Saints Go Marching In performed during the episode by Annie and Sonny (Lucia Micarelli and Michiel Huisman)
[suggestion: version by Tuts Washington on the album New Orleans Piano Professor]
I Hope You're Comin' Back To New Orleans – New Orleans Jazz Vipers from the album Hope You're Comin' Back (at CD Baby and Louisiana Music Factory only)
Long Hard Journey Home – The Radiators from the album New Dark Ages
unrecorded chant of Shallow Water performed during the episode by Albert Lambreaux and George Cotrell (Clarke Peters and Otto Dejean) and friends
[suggestion: version by Donald Harrison, Dr. John and friends on the album Indian Blues]
unavailable recording of New Orleans by Willy DeVille
[suggestion: version by Roomful Of Blues on the album Raisin’ A Ruckus]
As always, your comments on any of these are most welcome.
