Allen Toussaint - Southern Nights | Soul Sunday

Описание: This Soul Sunday highlights Allen Toussaint’s Southern Nights, a 1975 release that pairs New Orleans funk with psychedelic soul textures. Originally conceived as a nostalgic tribute to his Louisiana childhood, the track blends dreamy instrumentation with Toussaint’s signature piano work. Though Glen Campbell’s later cover found mainstream success, Toussaint’s version remains a singular, atmospheric journey through memory and place.

The producer, songwriter, arranger, and eventually top-billed performer Allen Toussaint was the youngest of three children born to Clarence Toussaint, a trumpet-playing railroad worker, and his spouse, Naomi Neville. The family lived in Gert Town, a New Orleans neighborhood known for factories and musicians like Buddy Bolden. Young Allen learned piano, absorbing Professor Longhair’s barrelhouse style. At 17 he joined a
cadre of club musicians, leading to his first LP, which included “Java,” an instrumental covered in 1962 by Nashville piano picker Floyd Cramer and a funkier 1964 take by NOLA trumpeter Al Hirt that made the Top 10. Toussaint took to studio life; even as a U.S. Army draftee (1963-65), he was punching the clock. After the Army, he made auto- body work his day job while writing and producing classics like “I Like It Like That,” “Fortune Teller,” “Ride Your Pony,” and “Workin’ In The Coal Mine.” His clients were musical royalty—Lee Dorsey, Irma Thomas, Dr. John, and Fats Domino, among others—and the band he worked with, Art Neville and the Sounds, evolved into The Meters. His charts for LPs by The Band led that group to have him arrange horns for its legendary Last Waltz farewell show. His song “Southern Nights” became a standard. In 1987, jukebox musical Staggerlee, featuring Toussaint songs, ran for 150 performances in New York. In 2005 Hurricane Katrina washed away nearly all he owned. Relocating to New York City, he spent years there performing before returning home to contribute mightily to New Orleans’ efforts to rebuild its musical culture. He collaborated with Elvis Costello, Paul McCartney, Bonnie Raitt, and Paul Simon. His final LP, American Tunes, was named for a Simon song. Allen Toussaint died of a heart attack while on tour in Madrid, Spain. He was 77.

Allen Toussaint - Southern Nights
Album: Southern Nights
Release Year: 1975
Warner Records

Written By: Allen Toussaint

Performed By:

Allen Toussaint -- piano, vocals, percussion

Produced By Allen Toussaint, Marshall Sehorn

Arrangements By Allen Toussaint

Recorded by Roberta Grace and Ken Laxton at Sea-Saint Studio in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1975

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