New Orleans Composer Allen Toussaint Dies at 77

As Toussaint aged into the role of elder statesman (always sharp as all get-out, he only got more dapper as the years went by), his name became synonymous with the music of New Orleans. Toussaint, however, stopped breathing during the ambulance ride to a hospital and efforts to revive him again were unsuccessful.

“In the pantheon of New Orleans music people, from Jelly Roll Morton to Mahalia Jackson to Fats [Domino] – that’s the place where Allen Toussaint is in”, said Quint Davis, the longtime producer of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, where Mr. Toussaint played nearly every year since the mid-1970s.

Mr. Toussaint was born in 1938 in Gert Town, a humble, working-class neighborhood of New Orleans, where he taught himself piano.

“You know, he was writing for Lee Dorsey, and for Irma Thomas, and for Al Hirt, and for Ernie K-Doe and Benny Spellman – all these artists who came from here”. In the 60s and early 70s, Toussaint worked for Minit Records and Instant Records, then began a long collaboration with Marshall Sehorn recording on their own label under a variety of names before creating their own studio (Sea-Saint) in 1973. Later, his songs were discovered and covered by artists like the Rolling Stones, Robert Plant and the Doors.

Back in 1986, Allen Toussaint told All Things Considered that he could write a song from the scraps of a joke, or from snippets of conversations. “I knew they would know how to roll it all the way to the bank”.

“Look-Ka Py Py”, The Meters (1969): Many of Toussaint’s ’60s sessions included the Meters, a rhythm section on par with any in the land.

Other honors include a Grammy Trustees Award in 2009, Grammy nominations and his 2011 induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

“Allen asked me: ‘How did you learn to play piano like that?”

Drummer and producer Questlove also lauded Toussaint on Instagram.

In 1971, Toussaint launched a solo career, producing records that remain critically well-regarded-though perhaps typically, the biggest hit they spawned was Glenn Campbell’s hit cover of the title track from 1975’s Southern Nights.

Any time a musician dies, it’s common to say that he or she was taken too soon. Ms. Khadija was the Director of Performing Arts, and she was the first person (besides my parents) who encouraged me to follow my dreams. In 2013 he was awarded the National Humanities Medal by President Barack Obama at a ceremony in Washington. With his death in Spain following a performance last night, we all lost a giant, possibly the greatest ambassador of New Orleans music of all time.

Henry remembers Toussaint as a man who helped his career, but also boosted the careers of fellow musicians across the Crescent City. My mother’s response was always “If it was to meant to be it would of been”, even though I don’t necessarily agree.