Allen Toussaint Bright Mississippi Zip Line

1. Allen Toussaint Bright Mississippi Zip Line Video
2. Allen Toussaint Orchestra

.' when I meet someone like Allen Toussaint - that for me is like meeting, you know, someone the equivalent of the Dalai Lama because for me, he influenced the way I played the piano, he's a historical part of rock and roll.' -Elton John on Elvis Costello's SpectacleWatch on PBS.

Allen Toussaint Bright Mississippi Zip Line Video

Toussaint arranged Solomon Burke's Cry to Me for Betty Harris (w/ strings). It was this version, a ballad, not Burke's upbeat version, that the Stones covered on Out of Our Heads, which to this day is one of my favorite Stones tunes. All three versions, btw, are the best.Saw Toussaint, along with other Orleans R&B luminaries (like Bobby Marchan, Betty Harris, Huey 'Piano' Smith, Irma Thomas and Earl King) in a club in the evening during Jazz Fest. I knew at the time that I had better see this musical history before it passed. It certainly has.

Allen Toussaint Orchestra

But the recordings will never die.