dr john - keyboard magazine transcriptions 06-98

5/24/2018 Dr John - Keyboard Magazine Transcriptions 06-98

1/6


2/6


3/6

ltlASTTRI.A$a couple f hose uys ffandon orabout 5years, ed yler nd trumpeter]harlie il lerfor about 0-somethin'ears. onnie uber'sbeen orkin' ithme orabout 0years.hat'slike160 ears ith ust hoseiveguys

"When uys layogetherora while,he ycan eadhechartsndbend otes llkinds ffunnyways.Theyexperimentn a nightlybasis ithmusic, oing tuffwitha formatoit but t ain' t ike heystickin'0 it. They oalong hangingi f fs nd ustdoing tuf fwi ththe musichat's ot on the paper, nd hat'simportant.hat's hyevery ightwe play try

to writea differenthow o keepeverybodylookin' t some ifferentongs.usedoworkwith bandshatplayedhe same how veryshow, very ight, nd used o think,Thiscan't ewhatmusic'sbout."'The orn layersren'theonly nes hang-ing heir arts na Dr. ohn ig.Growingp nthe ncredibleool f Professoronghair-influ-enced ewOrleansianoalenthat ncludedHuey Piano" mith,ames ooker,ndAllenToussaint,ac bsorbedotonly hestyles uta tradit ionf cross-referenc ednfluences.nenight emayplay Tipit ina"ikeLonghair,he

nextnighthe might oundikeHueySmithplaying onghair,nd stil l another ight hemightn act oundikeMacRebennacklayingLonghair.See xampleseginningelow.)"All he piano layerseverworked it hfromNew0rleans,"e explains,whether ewas n betweenakes trecordessionsr us tgoofin, ' e al lwould lay neof Fess'songs.I t wasa thing.Wedid t in he 50s, nd his sthe 90sandwe stil ldo t. Theret omethingaboutProfessoronghair'susic we all di dsomethingif ferent ith t , but t 's l lourver-s ion f h im. th inkwhen ny neof usdo his

Ex.1.want o get o the rcots f funk? ry littleprofessoronghair.ac layedhisnice ndslow,andsaid, fhis s realsignatureonghair kinda low-town unk.,, i heptayedhewalkdownn bar1a,hepointed ut hatProfessoronghairlwayshrew n "a ittleo' thatkindamotion."Slow & funky, eveneighthsJ =a+ F7

B,D hroughoutebz

KEYBoARD rurur resa


4/6

nithneIngi l ithWCjustngs.is shingdidvet-r his

'ow-

songs,t means omethingifferento us ha nit would o anybody lse.Whethert 's ArtNevil le,r anypiano layerromNewOrleans.I don't now xactly hywe do hat; t 'snotaconscioushing, utwe alldo t. t 's indamys-tical. utwhen 'mplaying,don't ecessarilythink bout othin' it 'swhateveromesut.lf you've ver ookednto Mac's atalog fcompositions,ou nowhat heother ctivityespends ostof his ime0n is songwrit ing.lwrite l l he ime, he says.l beenwrit ingwhole unch f new tuff.n he ast woyears,

l'vewrittenmaybe bout 00new ongs.here'sprobablyne utofahundredhatmight ean ygood who hehell nows?gethome nd itat the piano ndstartwrit ing ome uneorsomething,ikemaybeour r ive unes day.think t 's mportanto ustkeepwrit in' tuff.stickhemon a tapeandmake emos utofthem l'mstil l emoingpsongshatmean dDoc omus rote 5, 0yearsgo.Who nows?Somebodyightwant o recordome f hemonedayor somethin'.know like em, helaughs.But t don'tmean obodylse il l .

Even ith that kindof output,t 's not asthoughMac s a self-su fficientong-marketingmachine,hoppinguneseftand ight, ett ingalbumplacementightand eft. Far rom t.Songwrit ings a collaborative,ersonal-contacttypeof proposit ionor him. n act, e doesn'tevenoperate nder he aegis f a publisher.When ewrites ith omeone,Wemightmakeapublishingeal nd et omebodyo helpwithit at some oint.Maybe e won't.But n themeantime,do what do.Michael oucetro m

TEXTCONTINUEI))N PAGE 2ebz

Ex.2. fhat lefthand move, said Mac as he played his example, comes rom tunes ike the JunkieBlues' hat catswould ust throw down. It's old, otdNew 0rleans, hat motion.Slow.1. eo Ab nbz

nbnb r[ra .t -AD I

57

oban E7

JUNE iees I xeveoeno


5/6

fYlA$tR.ASSEx. . Now his, aidMac,his aised yebrowushing isFedorap an nch, is he wayHuey mithwould layProfessoronghair'stuff. didn'tevenrealizehat wasdoin' hat,but t's fromwatching ueySnith do Professoronghair o much.

Even eighths CJ =ee 'l

8,bKEYBoARD I ruue rsse

IIIIil


6/6

19taed

?IHca doLru9

sn6Sm.dov coc 6c{ so

L

ouxc

+PLco

t00 leooOLou6 itl

I'/|A$[RTASS

Beausoleil| gota song thinkhat hatwholeband ould onice.gotsome ongs ust en tto AllenToussaintor somedifferent rt ists,includinge. ' l l seewhathappens.ou everknow. gotcertain eopleike NewOrleans-basedlues ocalistlohnnydams hoalwaysrecordsome ongshat itherwrote rmean dDocPomus rote.Youknow peoplehat'sfriendsfmine. hey'l lut song fmine. hat'swhat ife's bout. oumeetpeople ndsharesome ind fcommonround aneuvers."Mac'sdea f collaborationsn't ecessarilyllnice ndcooperative,hough.lt ain't ust hegood idehatmakes usic.really elieveha tyou otta ave omebodyna bandhat on't oalong ith he est o make ome ind f elec-tricity appen,o maket allhave noughnergyto besomethin'.thinkhat f everybodyas lll ike ne ind fguy,t wouldn'tea good and."l nolicedhat n bands ver lotof years,man,"he continues.l was alkingo [trum-peterl arry'Sweets'disonbout month go.Sweetsnd he bass layer sed o be n thesameoom hen heywere utwithBasie,ndtheywas wooppositeind f cats. nd t wasperfectecauseheydidn't eeeye o eyeonnothin'. if ty ears r somethin'hey oomedtogethernd heydidn't gree nnothin'. ndthat's hat t 'sabout howcouldhesewoguys ven tay n a room iveminutes?usedto do hatmyself;didn't oom uysogetherintentionallyhat knewwouldn't et along.but sometimesuysquit the bandover t.Sometimest hadgood ffects,utmore ftenthan ot,when oudo hingsike hat rom hehead,t don't ork. ouustgotta o hem cci-dentallynd t 's ight.When ou hink,l guessl' l l st ickhese uysogether, aybe omethin'hipwillcome utof t, ' t usuallyackfires."Wi th hatmuch ol laborat ingxper ience,you'd xpectMac o havea pretty moothlyhoned ystemor writ ing.Well,n 45yearsain't igured uta method," edemurs.Andl'mgratefulain't. f I hada methodor wri t -inga song,t wouldn' te un. wrotea lotofsongs ithdifferenteople,ndevery neofthemguys wrotewith - and t goeswa ybacko wr i t ing ongs i thguysikeEarl ing,Bobby ones,r DocPomus theyhad heirwayof doing omethin,'ome artof writ in'that wasdifferentromanybody lse everwrote i th. hatmade omethin'lse appenwhenwe wrote ogether,omethingifferentfrom ust heirsongs, nddifferentrom us tmy songs. know hatwhenme andAl lenToussaintrotesome ongs, e's o lockedintowhateveredoes nd 'msounlockedewrote ogether,ike, ast."Whenme andJesse il l,AlvinRobinson,andDave icksenaswrit ingogether,e us thung ut orweeks ta ime.Whenevereha dto inish nalbum rsomething,e ustbusted

6ino),Gorn' Back o New Orleans1992, WarnerBros.),SeniimentatMood (1989, Warner Bros.), JttimateDr. John:e (.1 79, Horizon), ity Lights 1978,Horizon)Mardi Grasn.(1974,Atlantic),lriumverate 1973,CBS), n the RightPlacet (1972, t lant ic), un,Moon,& Herbs 1971, t lant ic),,n (1969,Atlant ic), zs Grs (1968,Repertoire).

DISCOGRAPHY(1995,BlueThumb), elevision1994,

our balls o it was eady. nd herewas nothinking bout t. We ustdid t consistently.We'd ave whole lbum f songsorwhoeverwe waswrit ingor.Wehad lotof peopleha trecordedhosesongs ike ArethaFrankl in,Wilson ickett,r peoplen that ime hatwaspopular.t meant omethingo us hatat eastall hatworkwasn'tornothing."As or the corporateongwrit ingorld, lthink wroteormaybewodifferentublishingcompaniesorashortime,"Mac ecalls.l reallydon't hink hat's owwe did ourbestwork,doing tuff or some ompany.e andAlvinRobinson,e waswrit ing tuff or A8M,an djustbeingnanoffice asweird.Wedidbetterwhen hey'detususe his ld unky ouseha tthey toredtuffn.That's here e dida otofworkwith Ricky ee ones efore hedid herfirst ecord,nd otof other tuffwas oing nin hatbuilding. edidn't now ow o work nan off ice lace. ike, oyou ustsit herean dwrite?We'd o to somebody'sad or some-thing, angout,andwe could o more. ouknow, t 's ikewe could uss achotheroutlouder, n lesshe neighborsomplained.mean herewasa timewe'dbe writ in' ongsandpol ice ould ome ecausef complaintswe wasso oud. ou now, e would et of fintowhatwe was oing.Weain't hinkingha twete nsomebody'sad. hey ome ome n dfindout hey eenhreatenedo getevictedrsomethin'ecauseebeen rit ing ongshereawhile. ndwe neverhought bouthat wejustdidwhatwe was oing "Macpeersromunder isFedora,akingdrag nhis moke.l think wrotehebest tuffI wrotewhen was irst oin' t. When was ngradechool,had book overhat ookedik ea loose-leafook, nd 'd pastedhaton myschoolook. ut nside asn't schoolook,twasmy notebook'dbe writ ing ongsn. go tinto, ike, itt in' here ndwrit in' ongs. ueySmith sedoencouragee.And eusedosay,'Man,ustkeep oingt. ' Hegaveme clues nhow odo t .That as hebesthing.had oo dcats round eallmy ife.They ointed e ndirectionshat aid f f na otofways. ut was-n'tgood t ollowinghe oadmap.Laughs.l"l justdealwith he music,ouknow. t' slike ecordsnd ecordingndustry ndall ofthemwordshat owith hatpart evenwhenI wasa recordroducerndstudiomusician,wascaught p n the music ideof it. That'sprobablyhy ain't it t in' ere alkingo yo ufromsome wanky, oreexpensiveotelorsomethin'.hemusic's ore mportant.ouknow f I don'teverget o be on The ifestylesof theRich ndFamous that's kaywith meif can layhemusicheway believetgoes."

Hesmiles ndwinks.l 'm ivin' n he ap,al l r ight but t 's n the apof memory,otof uxurv."R.EADERERVICEO. 27KEYBOARD JUNE 1 9982

dr john - keyboard magazine transcriptions 06-98

Documents