Who Dat Jammin' With The HooDude?

"I Been Hoodood" (Mac Rebennack)
Dr. John with the Meters, live in Lake Charles, Louisiana, circa 1973

Having been suffering for the last five days with a bad case of strep-throat and a cold that two trips to the doctor and several shots o’ medicated mojo have yet to completely dispel, I definitely have been feeling hoodooed and more tricked than treated lately. But what the hell, I’ve got one more goodie for Halloween to offer up from the man with a perpetual bag of musical remedies, Dr. John (Mac Rebennack).


“I Been Hoodood” originally came out on his In The Right Place album in 1973 and was the flip side of the hit single “Right Place, Wrong Time”. As many of you already know, Allen Toussaint produced the sessions for that successful album and it’s follow-up, Desitively Bonnaroo; and the mighty Meters were the main backing unit on both. What is not widely known is that, for a brief period after In The Right Place was released, the Meters backed Dr. John on the road, too. I don’t think their bare bones, go-for-it configuration lasted more than a few dates; so, imagine my amazement and delight when I was fortunate enough to receive a recording of one of those shows by way of a gracious HOTG reader, who knew I needed to hear it. Merci, beaucoup!

From a Lake Charles concert, this recording has all the earmarks of a raw feed soundboard tape. In spite of the obvious lack of a mix and the usual live gig audio problems, it has a fairly decent sound quality that allows us to get a feel for the the results of this merger. The Meters did not often back Dr. John, so some of the playing is not totally tight; but it is intense throughout; and, to the Meters credit, they handle Mac’s diverse musical moves and grooves very ably. Just dig their funky, lowdown vamping on this song about a guy ensnared in the net of a strong love spell. Rebennack is on clavinet, I think, and Art Neville on barely audible organ and way loud backing vocal here. Of course, Leo, George and Zig, complete the line-up. I think Zig gets in a line or two of singing himself.

Concocting (with the inspiration of his friend and former partner, Ronnie Barron) the Dr. John stage persona which he debuted in the late 1960s, Rebennack incorporated elements of the voodoo and hoodoo cultures of New Orleans, mixing them with a trippy swamp psychedelia and his strongly rooted barrelhouse blues, early rock ‘n roll, and gritty street fonk styles to create a type of revelatory performance art that joyously has embodied the spirit and heritage of his hometown ever since. Without doubt, he’s a conjure man in the best of many senses of the term. The musical potions he summoned up with the Meters were so strong, it makes you wonder how powerful their combined sound could have become had it been taken farther down the road. And, wow, what must it have been like to experience one of these shows live? It’s strong medicine, for sure, even at this lower, encapsulated dosage. I can testify to that. I just needed the right doctor and assistants working to get my groove back in action.




Note: Top photo of Mac and the Meters (Leo seen on guitar) playing at a club is from the collection of the late Charles Kimball.

Laissez Le Bon Temps Rouler

night trippin'

"Let the Good Times Roll" (Earl King)
Dr. John and the Rampart Street Symphony Orchestra, 1973

Tripped out

Man, it’s been hard getting a post out this week. My weekend Krewe du Vieux romp in New Orleans (more on that to come) wore me out. Not that you should care. You’re just here for some mo’ music, so I pulled out this little miracle of soundboard recording that I picked up at one of my favorite haunts a few weeks back. It’s from a show by Dr. John and “The Rampart Street Symphony Orchestra”, a/k/a his band at the time, reputed to be from 1973 on the CD. There is no further information on it other than the strange title, Funky Knuckle Music. It’s that kind of deal; but what an amazingly clean, clear and fairly well-mixed grey-market artifact it is.

From the sound of the crowd and the acoustics, I’d say this was recorded in a fairly small club. The band is in excellent form and do material from most of his ATCO albums up to that point, plus an interesting cover of “Wang Dang Doodle”. Of course, our feature today, “Let The Good Times Roll”, was written by Earl King, who originally recorded it in 1960 on Imperial as "Come On", and notably covered by Jimi Hendrix. Dr. John recorded it on his 1972 album of classic New Orleans R&B, Gumbo; and this live version is fairly close to that arrangement. While King’s version is bluesy funk, and Hendrix rocked it, the good doctah splits the difference and puts the New Orleans bon temps spin to it. I would guess that his regular drummer from this period, Fred Staele, is the one making this party groove happen. As long as I am in speculation mode and hearing no piano here, that’s probably Dr. John (Mac Rebennack) on lead guitar with his runnin’ buddy, Alvin ‘Shine’ Robinson, on rhythm. As you may know, Mac started out playing guitar primarily when fronting his early bands as a teenager and only switched over to piano (and organ) full time in the early 1960’s when a gunshot damaged a finger on his left hand. It’s a rare treat when he picks up his ax at a show.

Mardi Gras is only two weeks from today, y’all. So, from now ‘til then, we will be kicking it more into that Carnival groove, forgetting our cares, and rollin’ on some more good times. . . . Stay tuned.

[Update: 6/19/2006] As several readers have since pointed out, this recording is from a live radio broadcast. The location, band members and set listings are shown below, supplied by an anonymous commenter - thanks! And thanks to another reader, I have been able to hear virutally the entire show now. I remain impressed at the quality of the entire event archive, including the fact that legendary New Orleans drummer John Boudreaux was on this date, along with the great 'Pops' Popwell on bass. If you can snag a copy (actually there are two CDs worth of material) somehwere, do so. I will be coming back to this show again.

Dr. John Ultrasonic Studios Hempstead, NY Nov.6,1973

Dr John & Rampart Street Sympathy Orchestra:
John Boudreaux, - drums
Robert Lee Popwell, bass
Sugar Bear Welch, guitar,
Darrell Leonard, cornet and trumpet
Jerry Jumonville, tenor sax
Robbie Montgomery and Jessie Smith, vocals.

CD1
1.Loop Garoo
2.I Walk On Guilded Splinters
3.Danse Kalinda Ba Doom
4.Stack-a-lee
5.Hard Judgement
6.Traveling Mood
7.Life
8.Put a Little Love In Your Heart
9.Tipitina
10.Mess Around

CD2
1.Interview & Intros
2.I've Been Hoodooed
3.Such A Night
4.Right Place, Wrong Time
5.Let The Good Times Roll
6.Wang Dang Doodle
7.Mama Roux
8.Qualified
9.Little Liza Jane
10.Mama Don't Allow No Dr John In Here