The
Good Doctor, that phunk physician, the purveyor of snake oil and that
gen-u-ine N'Orlans sound, that street-wise hipster and Night Tripper
a.k.a. Mac Rebennack, a.k.a. Dr. John, is rollin' into town for the
6th annual Monterey Bay Blues Festival, June 22 and 23. And does he
have some stories to tell — like how he got his strummin' finger shot
off after Sister Eustace, that "hip old lady" as he calls
her, taught him to play guitar, and put him in her band at the Temple
of the Innocent Blood.
"This
guy was whuppin' a singer in my band," he drawls in his slow, sleepy-sounding
voice, "and I tried to take the gun away from him. But I grabbed
the wrong end. I was real surprised."
That
was way before he took up playing piano in the style of Professor Longhair,
but not long after he played in Fess' band. In between, he took up bass.
"I
could play the bass with a cast on my finger, but I was so bummed about
playin' the same thing every night that I started playin' drums. I never
did know how to set up the drums. I used to carry 'em all set up in
the back of a station wagon.
"Then
James Booker called me for a gig playin' the organ. He had connections
with these gangsters, and he'd talked them into buying Hammond B3 organs
for all their clubs. He taught me, real fast, how to play and how to
work the foot pedals before the gig.
"It
was 365 days a year, 12 hours a night — 16 hours some nights. Actually,
it was probably my favorite gig ever in my life. I felt my chops was
up, and I felt proficient, being a musician. I was backing exotic dancers
for one show and strippers for the next show and then a dance set."
After
that, he split for L.A. to play with Sam Cooke. But Sam's lady friend
shot Sam, dead, before Mac got there. Stranded, his only option seemed
to be working for pop record producer Phil Spector like everybody else
he knew was doing at the time.
"I
didn't know how to relate to any of it. It had nothing to do with the
R&B scene, and I had no connection with what was goin' on out there."
It was the era of Do Your Own Thing, so Dr. John did.
"Doctor
John was a hysterical character in New Orleans who had fascinated me,"
he explains. "So I copped the guy's name and copped his hoodoo
stuff as part of my shows." He was an instant hit with the rock
'n' roll retinue.
The
schtick wore off after the '70s, and now he appears in full regalia
only for Mardi Gras and special shows. By the time Warner Bros. released
"In a Sentimental Mood," in 1989, Dr. John-the-Snake-Charmer
was history, pretty much.
That
album was Mac's tribute to Ray Charles and someone else he admires,
with similar roots, Charles Brown. Musicians never forgot that Brown
had nine top-10 singles on the black music charts in just six years,
form 1946 to 1952. He was riding in limousines. Then rock 'n' roll relegated
him and his genteel style to obscurity for the next decade.
"Dinah
Washington was the one who found me again, in 1960," Brown says.
"I was in Newport, KY, working for the mob. She said, 'Charles,
what are you doin' here? You gotta get outta here! Do you owe these
people any money?' And they told me, 'You'd better not leave. You might
find a bullet in your head.'"
Well,
the gangsters got busted, and Brown got out of town. He started his
climb to the limelight all over again, singing those sweet ballads in
his dark-molasses voice, and playing piano like the Southern son that
he is.
Two
years before Mac's tribute album, back in 1987, Brown won a Grammy.
It was for Best Male Jazz Vocalist, even though he's better known for
the blues. Then he opened for Bonnie Raitt on her flashpoint 1990 tour.
Last year, they shunted him to the Garden Stage at the Monterey Bay
Blues Festival. But this year, he tops the roster on the main stage,
along with Dr. John.
John
Mayall, The Five Blind Boys from Alabama, Robben Ford, Ester Jones and
others — old- timers and stars on the rise — also made the A-list. Altogether,
they make for one of the most joyous weekends anyone could hope to spend,
anywhere. As Charles Brown says, "The blues is a form, not a mood."
Copyright
© 1991,
Judith Broadhurst. All rights reserved
"Jazzbeat" column in Pacific magazine, June 1991
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