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Dr. John and The Lower 911: Tribal
by Chris May
With hindsight, keyboards player and vocalist Mac Rebennack's return to his “Dr. John, The Night Tripper" oeuvre might have been foreseen before the recording of Tribal, when in 2006 he once more donned the full-blown voodoo regalia for his appearance at the Bonnaroo Music Festival. But then Katrina came along and Rebennack's attentions became focused on a more pressing concern, the rescue of his hometown, New Orleans. The Grammy award-winning ("Best Contemporary Blues Album") City That Care Forgot (Cooking Vinyl, ...
read moreDr. John and The Neville Brothers at the Keswick Theatre
by Wade Luquet
Dr. John and The Neville BrothersKeswick TheatreGlenside, PAAugust 25, 2009
Mardi Gras came to the Philadelphia suburbs when Dr. John and The Neville Brothers took over the stage at the Keswick Theatre in Glenside, Pennsylvania. The Keswick is an acoustically perfect, fully restored, 1350 seat music venue built in 1928. It is a beautiful building with literally “no bad seats" and filled with original art deco touches. Yet it has a fully modern sound and ...
read moreDr. John: City That Care Forgot
by Mike Perciaccante
Dr. John is angry--and with good cause. Though saddened by the natural destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina, he is pissed at the man-made tragedy that its aftermath has spawned. On City That Care Forgot he directs his anger at the White House, the mayor and police force of New Orleans, insurance companies, crooked, thieving contractors/roofers and everyone else making money off the Katrina disaster. His mood can best be summed up by this telling lyric from “We Gettin' There"--"And if ...
read moreDr. John: Mercernary
by C. Michael Bailey
On Mercernary the good doctor, Mac Rebennack, performs a Voodoo mass on the music of Johnny Mercer, casting it in the gris-gris patois of his native New Orleans. This union of standards and Creole is a contentious one, showing that one cannot force a square peg into a round hole. “Blues in the Night, “I'm an Old Cowhand, and “Lazybones all sound miscast on this recording. The funk infusion given Mercer's music smothers the delicate melodies.
Dr. John ...
read moreDr. John: Right Place, Right Time
by Jim Santella
This 1989 performance at Tipitina's features Dr. John with his band playing a program of comfortable New Orleans favorites. Blues, gospel, voodoo and jazz merge evenly on this Mardi Gras concert, which feels like an all-night celebration.
With “I Walk on Guilded Splinters, Dr. John sings about the prescription that he can provide for those who will listen. Count me in. He has the mojo to make magic happen any night of the week. With congas poppin' and ...
read moreDr. John: Right Place Right Time: Live at Tipitina
by C. Michael Bailey
Dr. John at Tipitina's on Mardi Gras, God's in his heaven, and all's right with the world. Right Place Right Time is the second of the projected Rebennack Chronicles, live recordings culled from Dr. John's extensive private collection by uber-producer Joel Dorn. The first release was the exquisite All By Hisself, a 1986 solo outing that found the voodoo doctor in fine form. Add a band to that piano in the cradle of jazz on the Crescent City's highest holy ...
read moreDr. John: Live at Montreux 1995
by Jim Santella
Dr. John Live at Montreux 1995 Eagle Eye Media 2005
Dr. John brought a strong band to the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1995. Everyone solos hard and often. He sings at the piano and keeps the house rockin' with his unique delivery. Backup singers shadow much of what he sings and provide plenty of depth. From the piano bench, he tells stories that roll out a distinctive New Orleans flavor. When he ...
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