Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Winter 2007 - (Page 94)

THE DOMINO EFFECT Musicians from many genres pay tribute to the “Fat Man” So many great new releases, so little time and space; such is the happy dilemma of a music columnist. Let’s start with Goin' Home: A Tribute to Fats Domino (Vanguard). This two-CD set presents newly-commissioned recordings of songs made famous by Fats Domino, as performed by a host of his admirers. Ensconced in a conceptual Mount Rushmore alongside Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Little Richard, Fats Domino is deservedly lauded as a founding father of both rock and roll and rhythm & blues. Despite his curiously asexual demeanor — infinitely less threatening than that of Lewis, Presley, or even the androgynous Little Richard — Domino is also regarded as a potent symbol of New Orleans’ erotic sensuality. On the cusp of his 80th birthday, Domino remains an amazingly vital and influential performer who has made no concessions to passing fads. This undiminished stature, following a distinguished six-decade career, makes Domino an apt icon indeed to be feted by a host of prominent, shamelessly gushing acolytes. The stellar cast, to name just a few, includes fellow New Orleans R&B artists Allen Toussaint, Irma Thomas, Dr. John, Art Neville, George Porter, Jr., and Monk Boudreaux; jazz pianist Herbie Hancock; the contemporary songwriters Lucinda Williams, and Randy Newman, who both have deep personal roots in New Orleans; the South Louisiana pianist Marcia Ball; reggae icons Toots and the Maytals, and the Skatalites (reggae, like New Orleans R&B, is an Afro-Caribbean genre); the eclectic country singer Willie Nelson; and seminal ‘60s rockers Paul McCartney, Robert Plant of Led Zepellin, Neil Young, and Robbie Robertson of The Band. There is also an archival contribution from the late John Lennon. Domino himself does not appear on the album. Photographs of Domino’s dramatic boat rescue from Shame,” and “I’m Walkin’“ — to popular songs which he re-invented with his distinctive stamp, including “Blueberry Hill” and “When The Saints Go Marching In.” The best performances here — by Robert Plant, Lucinda Williams, the Skatalites, and Toots and the Maytals, for example — are those that interpret Domino’s music with creative new arrangements. These renditions work well intrinsically while also evoking the exuberant essence of Domino’s original recordings. By contrast, several songs fall flat in attempting to faithfully reprise the original recordings; such purely imitative versions can only suffer by comparison. But this ambitious album, as a whole, succeeds admirably. Robert Plant’s contribution to Goin’ Home pairs him with the Lafayettebased L’il Band ‘O’ Gold, and was coproduced by Plant and the Band ‘O’ Gold guitarist C. C. Adcock. Adcock is also the co-producer of Is It News (Yep Roc) a striking new set of blues-tinged originals by the singing drummer Doyle Bramhall. Bramhall, a former resident of New Orleans, is best known as a founding father of the rich blues scene centered in Austin, Texas. Plant’s Louisiana connections, meanwhile, are also demonstrated on Nine Lives (Rhino) a nine-CD set that reprises the singers’ work outside of Led Zepellin. It includes strong renditions of the swamp-pop classic “Sea of Love” — originally waxed in Lake Charles, by Phil Phillips, in 1959 —and “Rockin’ At Midnight” by Roy Brown, the first star of New Orleans R&B. These songs were recorded by Plant in the context of a shortlived band known as The Honeydrippers. Plant’s eclectic work has even extended to interpretations of medieval ballads, and a wealth of such material has just been released by Louisiana Crossroads on Women’s Home Music. This two-CD set is a compilation of a capella folksongs from the Archives of Cajun and Creole Folklore at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. The collection reflects nearly eight decades of field research that underscores the AN ION BY TO ILLUSTRAT NGUYEN Katrina’s floodwaters made him a symbolic personification of both the city’s devastation and its subsequent determination to rebuild. His continued visibility, in the post-Katrina era, is a tangible source of inspiration for many New Orleanians. Goin’ Home trades on all of these images. The massive project was con- ceived and coordinated by the Tipitina’s Foundation, the local non-profit organ-ization that is renovating Domino’s house in the ravaged Lower Ninth Ward, and — in much broader terms — effectively assisting the music community citywide. Some proceeds from album sales will going to hurricane relief. Many tribute albums collapse under the weight of their own celebrity-laden contrivance, revealing little real substance in the rubble. Such frequent disappointments have turned the tribute-album concept into a formulaic cliché, but such is not the case on Goin’ Home. The selections range from hits that Domino co-wrote — such as “Blue Monday,” “Ain’t That A 94 LOUISIANA ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES\Winter 2007-08

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Winter 2007

Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Winter 2007 Contents Friends Editor’s Column Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities Katrina: Days of Terror, Months of Anguish Paintings by Rolland Golden The Historic New Orleans Collection The Great Ouachita River Flood of 1932 Jazz Notes Louisiana Architecture Louisiana: Where Land Meets Water Louisiana State Museum Through A Lens Sharply: An Interview with Michael Lewis MR-GO: A “miracle” mired in controversy Louisiana Foodways Louisiana Association of Museums New Orleans: An Autopsy Bookstand Sound Advice Forum

Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Winter 2007

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