Chris Granger / Times-Picayune Archive Allen Toussaint puts a fresh spin on jazz standards on his new album. Allen Toussaint's post-Katrina renaissance rolls on.

Legendary New Orleans songwriter Allen Toussaint performs on the ACL stage. Bob Dylan (/ ˈ d ɪ l ən /; born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, author and painter, who has been an influential.

Ever since his 1958 debut 'The Wild Sound of New Orleans' -- released under the name Tousan -- he has recorded only sporadically. He earned his place in the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame by writing and producing hits for other artists. But his national profile as a performer in his own right has never been higher, thanks in large part to 'The River in Reverse.' The acclaimed 2006 collaboration with Elvis Costello revived Toussaint's touring career and reintroduced him as a contemporary recording artist.

His new, genteel 'The Bright Mississippi' (Nonesuch Records), while much different, should only enhance that reputation. Toussaint and producer Joe Henry -- a rock-based singer songwriter with a sartorial sense nearly as refined as Toussaint's -- share a productive recent history. Henry oversaw 'I Believe to My Soul,' a 2005 collection of classic R&B and soul songs recorded by Toussaint, Mavis Staples, Irma Thomas, Ann Peeples and Billy Preston. Henry was also behind the boards at Piety Street Recording in Bywater as Toussaint, Costello and a hybrid of their respective bands crafted 'The River in Reverse.' So Toussaint trusted Henry's bold concept for 'The Bright Mississippi.'

With the notable exception of trumpeter Nicholas Payton, Henry did not employ New Orleans musicians; instead, he assembled an ace modern jazz band in a New York studio. And rather than record Toussaint compositions, they revisited classic jazz standards -- a decision that seems, at first glance, counterintuitive. But the utterly enchanting result is as New Orleans as the wrought iron balconies of the French Quarter, similarly intricate and sturdy, and equally impressive up close or at a distance. Big Easy mystique is woven into Sidney Bechet's 'Egyptian Fantasy' courtesy of Don Byron's clarinet.

During the piano solo, a tambourine is barely audible in the background, one of many subtle touches that jazz up arrangements. Allen Toussaint recorded 'The Bright Mississippi' in New York with producer Joe Henry and a band that included trumpeter Nicholas Payton. Payton and Toussaint are simpatico in a six-minutes-plus reading of 'Dear Old Southland'; the piano is infused with a slyness and joy. Payton's golden tone shimmers on 'Singin' the Blues' as Toussaint trots out a fancy saloon progression over tight rolls by drummer Jay Bellerose.

On 'Bright Mississippi,' the Thelonious Monk composition that provided the album's title, Payton channels the late Al Hirt, who scored a massive hit with Toussaint's 'Java.' The Big Easy-in-August torpor of Joe Oliver's 'West End Blues' is broken when Payton lights a fuse on a five-alarm sustained note. James Infirmary' is freshened up with unexpected, and delicious, swing rooted in David Piltch's upright bass, Marc Ribot's acoustic guitar and Bellerose's well-placed cymbal strikes; Toussaint fades away, then springs back to engage Ribot in an instrumental call and response. Similarly, Toussaint and Byron invest 'Just a Closer Walk With Thee' with a playfulness that suits it. Fellow pianist Brad Mehldau joins Toussaint for a duet on Jelly Roll Morton's 'Winin' Boy Blues.' Tenor saxophone star Joshua Redman is at his late-night best alongside Toussaint on the Duke Ellington/Billy Strayhorn ballad 'Day Dream,' right down to the flirtatious finish. Only one track contains vocals: Toussaint sings Leonard Feather's 'Long, Long Journey' as a debonair blues set against muted trumpet, acoustic slide guitar and brushes on the snare drum.

Django Reinhardt's 'Blue Drag' is a sexy midnight creeper with a Spanish tinge and deft Ribot solo. 'Solitude,' from the Duke Ellington/Irving Mills/Eddie DeLange songbook, is an especially elegant finale. Toussaint's piano and Ribot's guitar conjure lovely passages interspersed by intoxicating pauses. Over the decades, Toussaint's best work has often been in support of others. Tellingly, 'The Bright Mississippi' is not a piano showcase per se. But in collaboration with Henry, Payton and the rest, he is once again at the center of a whole that is far greater than its considerable parts.

'The Bright Mississippi' is a highlight of an already remarkable career.

When Record Store Day took place last month, among the special items were The Allen Toussaint Collection, a compilation of tracks from his first four albums in its first-ever vinyl release; Emmylou Harris's Queen of the Silver Dollar: The Studio Albums, 1975–79, her first five studio albums on vinyl and a bonus 45 RPM; and Randy Newman's Lonely at the Top: Studio Albums, 1968–77, his first five studio albums on vinyl and a bonus 45 RPM. A limited number of all three vinyl releases is now available in the Nonesuch Store. Record Store Day, the annual celebration of independent record stores, takes place this Saturday, April 22, 2017, and included among the releases on that day are The Allen Toussaint Collection, a compilation of tracks from his first four albums in its first-ever vinyl release; Emmylou Harris's Queen of the Silver Dollar: The Studio Albums, 1975–79, her first five studio albums on vinyl and a bonus 45 RPM; and Randy Newman's Lonely at the Top: Studio Albums, 1968–77, his first five studio albums on vinyl and a bonus 45 RPM. Nonesuch Records released The Bright Mississippi, Allen Toussaint’s first solo album in more than a decade, on April 21, 2009.

Produced by friend and frequent collaborator Joe Henry, the record includes songs by jazz greats such as Sidney Bechet, Jelly Roll Morton, Django Reinhardt, Thelonious Monk, Duke Ellington, and Billy Strayhorn. Toussaint and Henry created a band of highly regarded musicians for the sessions: clarinetist Don Byron, trumpeter Nicholas Payton, guitarist Marc Ribot, bassist David Piltch, and percussionist Jay Bellerose.

Free Download Program Richard Smallwood Persuaded Rar Files on this page. Additionally, pianist Brad Mehldau and saxophonist Joshua Redman each join Toussaint for a track. The Bright Mississippi was reissued on 140-gram vinyl on June 10, 2016. Growing up and learning to play the piano in New Orleans, Toussaint knew the music that is on The Bright Mississippi well, although his career tended more toward rock and popular music; he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998, by his friend and collaborator Robbie Robertson of The Band. This return to the music of his roots was suggested by The Bright Mississippi producer Joe Henry, who had produced Toussaint’s 2006 album with Elvis Costello, The River in Reverse, as well tracks from as I Believe to My Soul, a collection of classic R&B and soul songs, and songs on Nonesuch’s 2005 Gulf Coast benefit album, Our New Orleans. As Henry explains, “At the close of the day’s Our New Orleans session, Allen sat alone at the piano and played through an arrangement he’d devised of Professor Longhair’s Crescent City standard, ‘Tipitina.’ It sounded like nothing I’d ever heard before and like everything I’d ever heard.” He continues, “In the weeks that followed I worried over this brief piece of music like it was a rosary, and I wasn’t alone in my devotion to it. The principals of Nonesuch Records were thinking what I was: that a door had been nudged open, and behind it lay a room; and in that room there perhaps resided a particularly gifted and heretofore unsuspected executor of the broad musical amalgam born to New Orleans at the dawn of the 20th century.” While Toussaint has always known material like “West End Blues” and “St.

James Infirmary,” he admits that, as a performer, “I hadn’t tackled them on my own. ‘Tackle’ is a bad word—I hadn’t caressed them on my own, except to listen from time to time in passing. Even the gigs that I’ve done during my gigging days, I was playing whatever was on the radio at the time, boogie-ing and woogie-ing and the like. I hadn’t been through this standard bag. I always loved those songs, but I had never been in a setting where that is what I would do for a while. Until now.” He calls the experience of making The Bright Mississippi “wonderful. Everything is live, of course.

This isn’t the kind of assembly line music where somebody put the wheels on here and somebody put the top on there. Everything got done at the same time, so everybody fed on each other, their personality and tonality.”.

Nonesuch Records released The Bright Mississippi, Allen Toussaint’s first solo album in more than a decade, on April 21, 2009. Produced by friend and frequent collaborator Joe Henry, the record includes songs by jazz greats such as Sidney Bechet, Jelly Roll Morton, Django Reinhardt, Thelonious Monk, Duke Ellington, and Billy Strayhorn. Toussaint and Henry created a band of highly regarded musicians for the sessions: clarinetist Don Byron, trumpeter Nicholas Payton, guitarist Marc Ribot, bassist David Piltch, and percussionist Jay Bellerose. Additionally, pianist Brad Mehldau and saxophonist Joshua Redman each join Toussaint for a track.

The Bright Mississippi was reissued on 140-gram vinyl on June 10, 2016. Growing up and learning to play the piano in New Orleans, Toussaint knew the music that is on The Bright Mississippi well, although his career tended more toward rock and popular music; he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998, by his friend and collaborator Robbie Robertson of The Band. This return to the music of his roots was suggested by The Bright Mississippi producer Joe Henry, who had produced Toussaint’s 2006 album with Elvis Costello, The River in Reverse, as well tracks from as I Believe to My Soul, a collection of classic R&B and soul songs, and songs on Nonesuch’s 2005 Gulf Coast benefit album, Our New Orleans. As Henry explains, “At the close of the day’s Our New Orleans session, Allen sat alone at the piano and played through an arrangement he’d devised of Professor Longhair’s Crescent City standard, ‘Tipitina.’ It sounded like nothing I’d ever heard before and like everything I’d ever heard.” He continues, “In the weeks that followed I worried over this brief piece of music like it was a rosary, and I wasn’t alone in my devotion to it.

The principals of Nonesuch Records were thinking what I was: that a door had been nudged open, and behind it lay a room; and in that room there perhaps resided a particularly gifted and heretofore unsuspected executor of the broad musical amalgam born to New Orleans at the dawn of the 20th century.” While Toussaint has always known material like “West End Blues” and “St. James Infirmary,” he admits that, as a performer, “I hadn’t tackled them on my own.

‘Tackle’ is a bad word—I hadn’t caressed them on my own, except to listen from time to time in passing. Even the gigs that I’ve done during my gigging days, I was playing whatever was on the radio at the time, boogie-ing and woogie-ing and the like.

I hadn’t been through this standard bag. I always loved those songs, but I had never been in a setting where that is what I would do for a while. Until now.” He calls the experience of making The Bright Mississippi “wonderful. Everything is live, of course.

This isn’t the kind of assembly line music where somebody put the wheels on here and somebody put the top on there. Antares Filter Vst Rar Files. Everything got done at the same time, so everybody fed on each other, their personality and tonality.”.