Legendary musician Allen Toussaint dies after performance in Spain

Toussaint dies at 77, European news outlets report

Published  8:53 AM EST Nov 10, 2015



Allen Toussaint is honored with the National Medal of Arts by President Barack Obama in 2013 at the White House. (2013)WDSU



NEW ORLEANS —Legendary musician Allen Toussaint died Monday following a performance in Spain. He was 77 years old.

Madrid emergency services spokesman Javier Ayuso told the Associated Press that rescue workers were called to Toussaint's hotel early Monday morning and managed to revive him after he suffered a heart attack.

But Ayuso says the 77-year-old Toussaint stopped breathing during the ambulance ride to a hospital and efforts to revive him again were unsuccessful.

He was taken to Jimenez Diaz Foundation Hospital in Madrid and was pronounced dead on arrival, El Mundo reported.

Toussaint had just performed at the Teatro Lara before his death.

A fan posted a video of his performance to YouTube on Monday night. Watch it below or tap here.






After being born in 1938, Toussaint grew up in the New Orleans neighborhood of Gert Town, raised by his parents Naomi Neville and Clarence Toussaint. In at least 20 songs, Toussaint credits his parents as writers.

In the 1960s, he wrote and produced a series of hits for New Orleans artists, such as Ernie K-Doe, Irma Thomas and the Neville Brothers, among many others. Many of his hits were later covered by pop and rock artists, such as The Rolling Stones, The Who, Ringo Starr and Alex Chilton.

In the 1970s, Toussaint teamed with Patti Labelle and produced the album "Nightbirds," which birthed the No. 1 hit "Lady Marmalade." The song has been covered, redone and remixed numerous times by countless artists.

Paul McCartney and Wings also paired up with Toussaint on the album "Venus and Mars." On that record, Toussaint played on the song "Rock Show."

Other songs, such as "Ruler of My Heart," "Fortune Teller" and "Working in the Coal Mine," are among many that artists covered in nearly all music genres.

Toussaint's legacy earned him inductions into multiple halls of fame, including the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998, the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame in 2009 and the Blues Hall of Fame in 2011.

When the news of Toussaint's death began circulating on social media Tuesday morning, New Orleans artists posted their condolences and memories.

"Sad news," trumpeter Jeremy Davenport said on Twitter. "RIP Allen Toussaint. He was at my show a few weeks ago and I'm thankful that we visited one final time. He was always kind to me."

New Orleans brass band the Soul Rebels said a legend has passed.

"A legend has left us," the Soul Rebels said in a post on Twitter. "RIP Allen Toussaint. So many hits and such a legacy. You will be truly missed."

The Rolling Stones posted a link to a YouTube video for "Fortune Teller," saying "RIP Allen Toussaint."

Toussaint was next scheduled to perform in Belgium on Thursday, then at the EFG Jazz Festival in London on Sunday. The jazz festival lasts 10 days.

Funeral arrangements are pending.


http://www.wptz.com/news/legendary-musician-allen-toussaint-dies-after-performan...

Allen Toussaint, New Orleans R&B Musician, Dies at 77

By KATIE ROGERS and BEN SISARIONOV. 10, 2015
Photo



Allen Toussaint at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival in 2010. Credit Skip Bolen/European Pressphoto Agency



Allen Toussaint, the versatile producer and songwriter who was a fixture of New Orleans R&B, died Monday after appearing in concert in Madrid. He was 77.

His daughter, Alison Toussaint-LeBeaux, confirmed his death in an email, and said the cause appeared to be a heart attack. El Mundo reported in Spain that Mr. Toussaint had collapsed at a hotel after the performance and was taken to a hospital.

He had been keeping a busy schedule, appearing in the United States and in Europe in recent weeks, with plans to perform in Belgium and Britain after his appearance in Spain.

Mr. Toussaint was born in 1938 in Gert Town, a humble, working-class neighborhood of New Orleans, where he taught himself piano. He began his career as a teenager in the 1950s, releasing his first album in 1958 under the name Tousan. In 1960, he became the house producer, arranger and songwriter for the Minit label, working on songs like Ernie K-Doe’s “Mother in Law,” Lee Dorsey’s “Ya Ya” and Jessie Hill’s “Ooh Poo Pah Doo.”

Throughout his career, Mr. Toussaint embodied the traditions of the New Orleans R&B scene, working as one of the city’s most prolific and influential songwriters and producers during the 1960s and 70s. Even in that fertile period of New Orleans music, Mr. Toussaint’s work stood out for its humor, jaunty style and arrangements with piano flourishes that showed the influence of Professor Longhair.

After a brief stint in the United States Army, Mr. Toussaint returned to music in 1965 and continued to work with a range of New Orleans musicians, including the early funk group the Meters. He co-founded Sea-Saint Studios in 1972, which attracted Paul Simon, Paul McCartney and others.

His songs would eventually be covered widely by other musicians, including “Java,” a hit for Al Hirt in 1964, and “Fortune Teller,” which became a standard among British Invasion rock bands in the mid-60s, recorded by the Who and the Rolling Stones, among others.

“I was so glad when the Stones recorded my song,” Mr. Toussaint once told an interviewer. “ I knew they would know how to roll it all the way to the bank.”

On Tuesday, the Rolling Stones posted the song on Twitter, with the message “RIP Allen Toussaint.” Other musicians, like Harry Shearer and Harry Connick Jr., also posted messages.

“We have lost a giant,” Mr. Shearer wrote.

In recent years, Mr. Toussaint continued to be a frequent and versatile collaborator, whether it was exploring his roots with New Orleans musicians or pairing with pop stars like Elvis Costello, with whom he recorded the album “The River in Reverse,” a response to Hurricane Katrina.

According to his website, Mr. Toussaint said his career was rebooted a decade ago when the storm forced him to move to New York, where he often performed alone at Joe’s Pub on Lafayette Street.

Mr. Toussaint would eventually return home, where he was a beloved local figure with an understated demeanor.

“I’m not accustomed to talking about myself,” he said, according to his website. “I talk in the studio with musicians. Or through my songs.”


http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/11/arts/music/allen-toussaint-dies.html

CREDIT: CHRISTOPHER JONES / THE TELEGRAPH



By Martin Chilton, culture editor
10 NOVEMBER 2015



With the news that Allen Toussaint has died, read an interview with the jazz great, at of one of his last gigs in the UK, Brecon Jazz Festival in 2011:

Allen Toussaint was standing looking at the trees after his stunning concert at the Brecon Jazz Festival.

"This is such a beautiful part of the world. I've already composed two songs while I have been in Brecon," he said.

Wales should be honoured and will be in for a lyrical treat because New Orleans-born Toussaint is one of the greatest living songwriters.

The 73-year-old showed off some of his vast and awesome back catalogue in a concert that earned two standing ovations as the headline act of the 2011 festival.

He's a world class act in so many ways. As a writer, a singer, arranger and pianist – and for a naturally quiet and reserved man he is a born showman and droll wisecracker.

Brecon knew it was in for a good night when he turned up on stage in a dazzling red and gold sparkling suit that matched the Mardi Gras mask perched on his Steinway grand piano.



CREDIT: TELEGRAPH/CHRISTOPHER JONES



There were asides galore in an extended 100-minute set. He opened by turning to the seats to his right saying: "I'd like to pay special tribute to a group of wonderful people who are going to see the back of my head all night."

He glided through a medley of early hits that included A Certain Girl/Fortune Teller/Play Something Sweet (Brickyard Blues)/Working In The Coalmine before doing a fine version of Sneakin' Sally Through The Alley.

Toussaint's songs have been recorded by artists for the past 40 years including Lee Dorsey, The Rolling Stones, The Neville Brothers, Frankie Miller, Robert Palmer, Lowell George, Otis Redding, Dr John, Irma Thomas and Elvis Costello – and hundreds more.



Here Come the Girls? I thought that song was laid up for dead. Thank God for adverts



Toussaint was keen to pay tribute to the performers who have made his songs so well known. Fortune Teller was covered by the Rolling Stones and Toussaint joked: "I was so glad when the Stones recorded my song – I knew they would know how to roll it all the way to the bank."

One of the more improvisational elements of the concert was an extended instrumental, with playful classical, blues, jazz and show tunes thrown in – even a bit of Roll Out The Barrel – sometimes in the mock style of a cocktail pianist but all with the rolling New Orleans piano style he excels at. There was a serious point to it. Toussaint talked about what had happened to him post-Katrina, where he had been forced to leave New Orleans. "Hurricane Katrina forced me out of my comfort zone. I had to go out on the road and do concerts – I even had to do interviews. Before that I had spent most of my life in studios waiting for the red light to come on. Now I'm taking New Orleans with me wherever I go."

The finale of the set was a touching version of All Of These Things, which he had written for Aaron Neville, followed by a boisterous version of Here Come The Girls, which went back into the charts in 2007 – 37 years after Ernie K Doe recorded it – when Boots used it as a Christmas commerical. "I thought that song was laid up for dead," Toussaint joked. "Thank God for adverts."

He was given two standing ovations – coming on to do an encore of Tipitina - before handing over his Mardi Gras mask (in gold and red colours to match his outfit) to a lady in the audience.

Toussaint's act had also included an unexpected song in tribute to Brecon. Although he had joked "I have no idea where I am" he turned himself into perhaps the most charismatic walking advertising board Brecon and the Welsh tourist board could have wished for.

"I'm blessed as a guest of the best,
and greatest green I've ever seen
when you get me day dreaming
with a smile on my face
I reckon, I'm in Brecon."






Given that this is the man who wrote the beautiful song Southern Nights – in tribute to the times he had spent in the American south with his family looking at the moonlight dancing on the leaves of the trees – this was high praise. He gave a wonderful monologue about his boyhood memories of those times.

After the show, I asked him about his first trip to the Brecon Jazz Festival.

"As we drove up from Heathrow, I couldn't believe what I was seeing. It's just so beautiful. I have a lot more verses to the song I ad-libbed. I've already been inspired to write a couple of songs while I've been here. I can't get over what it's like here. I can't believe you could get angry here."

Toussaint, who normally performs with a quintet that includes his son, says he is a compulsive scribbler, constantly jotting notes down on scraps of paper. He talked about New Orleans jazz post-Katrina, Louis Armstrong, Sidney Bechet and Ben Webster and Dave Bartholomew ("he's still performing at the age of 90"), and the benefits of the HBO series Treme, whose wonderful soundtrack features Toussaint.



Allen Toussaint at Jazz Vitoria festival in 2009 CREDIT: AFP/GETTY IMAGES/RAFA RIVAS



He was also fulsome in his praise of fellow songwriter Randy Newman. "What a great songwriter. Such an intellect and he makes complicated songs so simple – and who else would think about writing a jokey song about the young Stalin?"

And what about giving away the Mardi Gras mask at the concert?

"I only give away one now. I used to love wandering in the crowd and giving away masks. I thought well if I was in the audience, I would want a mask but my manager limits it to one now – he says it detracts from the music."

Nothing detracts from music as good as Toussaint's. Brecon was treated to a world-class performer and showman. And now they will have songs to prove it.


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/music/what-to-listen-to/allen-toussaint-brecon-jazz-f...

New Orleans Music Legend Allen Toussaint Dies: Here Are Five of His Best Collaborations



Allen Toussaint
GILLES PETARD/REDFERNS



BY ALEX HEIGL


Allen Toussaint, a legendary fixture of New Orleans music – both in the city as a representative of its distinctive sound – died Monday at 77.

While Toussaint wasn't quite a household name as other Crescent City notables like the Marsalis family or Dr. John, he contributed arguably as much as any other New Orleans musician, through a busy schedule of performance, production, songwriting and arranging for other artists.

Toussaint was born in 1938 and taught himself piano. He released his first album in 1958 and by 1960 was the house producer, arranger and songwriter for New Orleans' Minit Label. After briefly serving in the Army, he returned to music in 1965. By that time, one of his songs, "Fortune Teller," had become something of a British Invasion standard, recorded by the Who and the Rolling Stones.

"I was so glad when the Stones recorded my song,” Toussaint told the U.K. Telegraph." I knew they would know how to roll it all the way to the bank."

By 1972, Toussaint had co-founded Sea-Saint Studios, at which Paul Simon, Paul McCartney and many others recorded. He was an in-demand arranger at this point, too, adding sumptuous horn parts to releases by The Band for their live album, 1972 Rock of Ages, a role he'd resume for their 1978 farewell concert, The Last Waltz

In 1975, Toussaint produced Patti Labelle's iconic version of "Lady Marmalade" (a song written about New Orleans' women of the night) …

… and in 1977, his song "Southern Nights" was recorded by Glen Campbell, eventually reaching number one on the Billboard Hot Country Singles, Hot 100 and Hot Adult Contemporary charts.

Displaced by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Toussaint settled in New York, and released an acclaimed contribution with Elvis Costello, The River in Reverse, the next year.

In 2010, Toussaint appeared on Eric Clapton's self-titled album, covering two Fats Waller songs, "My Very Good Friend the Milkman" and "When Somebody Thinks You're Wonderful."

Fans of the HBO series Treme would also recognize Toussaint from the several appearances he made on the series playing himself.


http://www.people.com/article/allen-toussaint-dies-collaborations

Jesus...does every thread around here have to end up with a pic of Paul in it??

Every time I log on here, someone else is dead. Ya  know what?
We're a fucking jinx Betty.

Another goodbye to another good musician!

The first time I knew about him was when I bought my "In the right place" album by Dr. John, the song "Life" is by him and in the album he does a lot of things including producer arranger. Conductor and composer, so at the beginning I thought Allen Toussaint was in fact Dr. John

Joey wrote on Nov 11^th, 2015 at 9:17pm:

Don't tell me Glen Campbell died. So near to me Dad's demise. Shit! That's fucking spooky. I hope me poltergeist don't come back now.

After all this love - Nobody will reseed Lee Dorsey's hits (produced by and featuring Toussaint) on Kickass Torrents.

Edith Grove wrote on Nov 21^st, 2015 at 7:17am:


Love it! enjoyed it a lot... first the solemnity and then the celebration of Allen's life, cool