Dr. John is somewhere between an iconic and a cartoon character, beloved and also bizarre,voodoo minded and cold, the emblem for his city, New Orleans, and not what he appears to be. Opening act, Levon Helm’s daughter Amy Helm gave a rousing tribute to the musical gumbo swamp pianist. “I have known Dr. John all my life,” she said of her father’s close friend. “He taught me to stay inside a song.” Sweet. But he is also used to carpool with the family and Amy summoned the image of Dr. John behind the wheel growling “Who wants McDonald?”
Very funny and when Mac Rebennack emerges on the stage an hour later, with a tight little band behind him featuring trombonist Sarah Morrow, we were primed for that swamp thang but… well this what I wrote two years ago (here): “Dr. John isn’t missing much in 2013 that he didn’t have in 1973 and the set built through strange segues and jazz, r&b and blues excursion all unmistakable and his from “Iko Iko” to “Such A Night”. Still, this can work against Dr. John, whatever he does he sounds just about the same and while I like that sound a lot, it is a little too much. Especially since he has an air of going through the motions. I enjoyed him but I couldn’t take a steady diet.”
What is it with Dr. John? Why is he playing this much loved jazzy mish mash with so much coolness? Doesn’t he chose to withhold himself,or is he, like his difficult Ske-Dat-De-Dat: The Spirit of Satch, which rearranged Satchmo hits with an ear for their roots but that wonderful spirit of the greatest jazzman of them all got lost in the shuffle, an artist with too much integrity to give us what we want.
Opening, Amy Helm had her debut album Did It Rain, released late last month and the 44 year old Americana performer, often with her late father’s Midnight Ramblers, is a fine giving, bandleader, with some of her Pops sense of community, and while that lead her down blind alleys, like a drum solo 75 minutes in, her brand of country, rock, jam and gospel was fine in the long run. Her new single “Rescue Me” was wonderful. Plus, she does a mean Dr. John impression.
The Doctor however… while I enjoyed the first three songs from the photographers pit (we were given a draconian photo release to sign, and while I could care less, I might have cared if I made a living from it), the heat and the lack of interaction on instrumental dawdles put me to sleep the further away I got from the stage. Adding insult to injury, the crowd were talkative and personally, I wish they would shut the hell up. I am sick to death of not being able to hear a show because people are speaking over the music.
The set didn’t click for me at all and if Dr. John loves Louis Armstrong so much, maybe he should watch some old Armstrong footage, how, even at his most challenging, say the 1947 Town Hall gig, Satchmo never lost his audience, never took them for granted, never fell so deep into the sound, he didn’t remember he was an employee of we who paid him. Dr. John is what he is and many people love him and I respect him but I don’t respect him that much.
Grade: C+
