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Disclaimer:
The opinions expressed in Little Red’s Picks are mine. I want to tell y’all about some of the things that have inspired me. If I leave out your favorites or you don’t agree with me, no offense. Music, like any art, has different meanings for each of us. What moves you is good. This stuff moves me.
 
Zydeco 101
 
Clifton Chenier: Louisiana Blues and Zydeco, Arhoolie F1024
 
I won’t go into a history of zydeco. If you made it this far you probably know what zydeco is, and if you don’t, there are a lot of internet sites that will tell you. Clifton Chenier is the king of zydeco. He didn’t make it out of thin air, but he is responsible for popularizing it.
 
If you are a zydeco fan and you’re not hip to this album, you need to get ahold of Clifton Chenier’s first Arhoolie LP, Lousiana Blues and Zydeco. I had pretty much quit playing the accordion and was playing guitar and harp when I found this LP at the Record Runner in Syracuse, NY in the mid-60's. I had to buy it to see how anyone could play blues on the accordion. I loved the instrument, but I couldn’t imagine playing Muddy or Wolf on the accordion. Well, let me tell you, it was quite a shock. I remember thinking "I can do that." I’m still trying.
 
Back to the album. One side is with a full band of accordion, scrub board, bass, guitar, piano & drums. The French side is just Cliff, his brother Cleveland on scrub board, and a drummer. What a rockin’ band! Both sides. I won’t give you a track by track breakdown, but believe me, this is a killer record. There’s no fluff or filler. It’s been re-released on CD with some extra cuts, but the CD has an alternate take of Hot Rod. The original vinyl version of Hot Rod cooks! It’s worth the effort to track it down on LP or 45. The version on the CD is good, but the vinyl version just won’t quit. Nobody plays guitar like that either. Anyway, for me, this album is pretty much the cornerstone of modern zydeco. Even if you’re a fan of the Boozoo/Beau Jocque school of zydeco more than the piano accordion stuff, the roots of that style is here on side 2. This LP has got it all.
 
Chenier didn’t put out any bad records, but some of my favorites are Bon Ton Roulet, Bogalusa Boogie, and Red Hot Band, all on Arhoolie, and I’m Here on Alligator. Any of Cliff’s records with Jumpin’ Joe Bruchet on bass and Robert Peter (St. Julien) on drums are gonna be good. Most of the earlier stuff by Cliff is more in the blues/R&B vein. It’s all good, but I know some people think zydeco is only waltzes and two-steps, so I’m just telling you in advance you won’t hear the Boozoo/Beau Jocque beats on Chenier’s early records. What you’ll hear is great blues. If you don’t dig blues, well, sorry. Probably time to find another website.
 
Rockin’ Dopsie: Doin’ The Zydeco, Sonet 718
I think this was Dupsie’s (spell it anyway you wanna, but this is how he pronounced it) first full-length album and it’s an English release. Strong stuff. Very funky, driving blues, zydeco, and rockers. A really electric sound. I never heard Dupsie play with this particular band in it’s entirety, and I wish I had because these guys kicked booty. Dupsie always had a good band, and when he got his sons playing scrub board and drums, they kicked booty, too.
 
Who’s Lovin’ You Tonight is the Jimmy Rogers song, That’s All Right. Solid blues. Ma Negresse is Dupsie’s take on Nathan Abshire’s Pine Grove Blues, and boy does it kick! (Pine Grove Blues is the perfect comeback to "white guys can’t sing the blues", by the way). If you don’t like hard driving rhythms where the chord changes happen when they get around to it, stay away from this. I think Chester Zeno, the rubboard player, actually got inside the mike on this one. Please Come Home is a typical South Louisiana swamp-pop two chord ballad. You know, so simple no one can play it outside of Louisiana or Texas. (Except for Les Pachas, the Haitian Compas Direct band, but that’s another story.) Sweet. Jolie Blonde is one of the better versions of that song. Doin’ The Zydeco closes out side one. Accordion, rubboard and drums. Now we’re talkin’. Kick-butt zydeco.
 
Side two starts with Jump Up, which is a terrific version of Scratch My Back. Then comes Rock Me Baby. Another solid blues. One thing that really struck me when I got to Louisiana is that the blues wasn’t some museum piece there, like it seemed to be in most of the country. It was real, down and dirty dance music, and Dupsie always played the blues for real. Up next is Josephine, a staple of Dupsie’s and every other Zydeco band back in the 70's. Then comes Good Old Mamou, a nice cajun waltz. The LP closes out with Please Don’t Leave Me, the great Fats Domino song. It does not sound like Fats. You should hear it.
Another great Dupsie album is Crowned Prince of Zydeco on Maison de Soul. On this recording Dupsie had two members of Chenier’s Red Hot Louisiana Band, Paul "Little Buck" Senegal on guitar, and John Hart on sax. His sons Tiger and David were on drums and rubboard. Senegal is one of my favorite guitar players and for some reason he always reminds me of my cousin Marcello. The rhythm section is faultless as usual. Good stuff. More blues than zydeco, but who cares? Most of this album was re-released on a Maison de Soul CD called Saturday Night Zydeco, along with half of the album of the same name, but the CD doesn’t have Hey, Hey, Hey. Too bad.
 
Boozoo Chavis
 
Boozoo put out some records in the 50's at the same time Chenier’s earliest 45's were released. Boozoo’s stuff never made it outside of Louisiana, though. His big hit back then was Paper in my Shoe, which became a zydeco staple, although that original recording doesn’t do it for me. Much better is Forty-one Days from those sessions. Boozoo’s 50's recordings were released on an album called The Lake Charles Atomic Bomb (released in 1990 on Rounder). For completists I would say.
 
When Boozoo started recording again in the 80's, he really got his act together with a band that was on the same page with him. And why not, since half the band was his sons. Zydeco Trail Ride on Maison de Soul is a fine package from this period. But, Boozoo just kept getting better. The CD called Boozoo Chavis on American Explorer is great, as are every one I’ve heard on Rounder. Live at the Habibi Temple, Hey Do Right, and Down Home On Dog Hill are all strong and are fine examples of where the kind of zydeco that is popular today came from. Boozoo was really responsible for the resurgence of butt-kicker zydeco. One or two chord rides, chord changes when he felt like it, lots of songs about his horses and Dog Hill. To me this style of zydeco is much more raw and primitive than the Clifton Chenier/Buckwheat style. At the same time it can be way more modern sounding too. Which brings us to:
 
Beau Jocque
 
I fully expected to not like Beau Jocque after hearing people’s descriptions of him. When I actually did hear him for the first time, live by the way, I immediately became a fan. In fact, I drove two hours to hear him again the next night. You cannot go wrong with any Beau Jocque CD that has Skeeter on drums, Chuckie on bass, and Caveman on rubboard. The synergy between Beau Jocque and Skeeter –the whole band really--was infectious. It’s hard for me to recommend one or two CD’s in particular. I really think they’re all great. It doesn’t hurt that Beau Jocque had an affinity for 70's soul stuff either. Of course his take on it was considerably harder than the originals were. I guess Skeeter was responsible for bringing in the rap elements. A really great band. Some of the Santana-ish guitar solos don’t do a lot for me, but the rhythm section is so strong, they could put a theramin on top of it and it’d still kick butt. PAAARRRTY.
 
J. Paul Jr. & The Zydeco Nubreedz
 
I don’t hear too much about this guy and that’s a shame ‘cause he’s really got something different going on. I only have one CD of J. Paul’s called Phenomenon, and I had to special order that. Zydeco Fred plays some J. Paul stuff on his show, though. Some of it’s a bit too urban contemporary for me, but this band can get down. And they have really great vocal harmonies on a lot of their stuff. J. Paul plays a one-row accordion from what I can gather, and he also is a drummer. The rhythm section on the J. Paul stuff I’ve heard is a lot smoother than Beau Jocque’s or Boozoo’s. Not as raw, a lot more polite and more polished, but that doesn’t mean they can’t get that hypnotic groove going. They certainly do. Just a different kind of sound. Maybe ‘cause these guys are from Houston, not Louisiana. And they’re Baptists, not Catholics like most of the Louisiana Creoles. Check him out.
 
 
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Little Red’s Picks, Number 2
 
Primitive Blues Piano
 
I love Otis Spann and Professor Longhair, not to mention Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin, but some of the most "primitive" piano players knock me out too. These are folks who were not "schooled" musicians. Some were better known for talents other than piano playing.
One of my favorites is Louise Johnson. Not very much is known about her. Here’s an exerpt from Barrelhouse Blues, Yazoo 1028.
 
"Louise Johnson hailed from Robinsonville, Mississippi and was a one time crony of delta bluesmen Charlie Patton, Son House and Willie Brown, who contributed vocal jive to some of her records. She was reportedly in her early 20's at the time of her session. Her work had such a marked resemblance to Cripple Clarence Lofton’s style that collectors once considered him as her accompanist."
The notes go on to describe how she plays dissonant major and minor thirds, and how there is no subtlety in her treatment. "Overall, she shows a wealth of musical ideas to which, unfortunately, her technique is not always equal." I wish I had her technique. She was a hell of a singer too.
Apparently Louise cut one session in the late 20's or early 30's, out of which four songs were released. I’ve heard three of the four. Some combination of Patton, House, and Brown were at said session. That’s pretty good company. On The Wall and Long Ways From Home are great blues with rolling piano accompaniment and tough syncopation. Louise’s voice is so strong and plaintive and real, even after all these years. She just cuts through all the bullshit and nails it. The tempos vary, the endings are rough, but....it’s the real deal, folks. The killer, however is All Night Long Blues, which is basically a slightly faster version of Long Ways From Home. This is just one of those nuggets that never fails to make me stop what I’m doing and get lost in the music. I guess this music is not for everyone. You have to put up with the crappy recording quality of remastered 78's from God knows when, and it sure isn’t easy to find, but if Britney makes you gag, here’s the antidote. Louise plays in F#. I’m gonna learn how one day.
 
All blues lovers know Skip James. Skip’s piano playing is just as unorthodox and complex as his guitar playing, but he’s much better known as a guitarist. Runs just tumble out in answer to the vocals, and the phrases and chords he plays behind the vocals are impossible and beautiful. And like John Lee Hooker and James Booker and Fess, he stomps out the beat. His favorite piano key seems to be B flat. I hear that!! His style is so individual and quirky, I wouldn’t know who to compare it to. Just listen to If You Haven’t Any Hay Get On Down The Road. How does he do that double beat with his feet while playing and singing something this delicate??
 
Another blues singer known for guitar, not piano, is Leadbelly. Louise Johnson and Skip James are totally refined and uptown compared to Leadbelly. Now we’re talking primitive here. I’ve heard 3 of Leadbelly’s piano songs. Eagle Rock Rag, The Eagle Rocks and Big Fat Woman are all the same song, just in different tempos. Yeah, I know...tempi. Tempura. Templar. Temperature. They’re all in E flat. My other favorite key. Leadbelly may be rough, but he never forgot where the groove was. I play my version of this for the old ones at Sunrise. They dig it. You should too.
 
Champion Jack Dupree. Jack Dupree’s piano playing is pretty primitive by most standards, but I just love his music. Jack forgoes the usual rolling boogie bass for the most part and just bangs out octaves. So what. It moves. It stomps. His runs and fills in the right hand are none too precise. Just adds to the groove. Gotta love Champion Jack. Lots of his vocals are kind of wry and laid back, but if you listen to the words of Frankie and Johnny, you’ll see Jack doesn’t spare the gory details either. And he likes the flat keys. B flat, E flat, and A flat. That likely comes from New Orleans. The horns, you know?