The legendary Allen Toussaint takes the stage Oct. 14 at the Community Concert Hall at Fort Lewis College
DURANGO, Colo. – Allen Toussaint, revered as one of America’s greatest musical treasures, takes the stage at the Community Concert Hall at Fort Lewis College Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2009, 7:30 p.m.
Singer, pianist, songwriter, arranger and producer, Toussaint has been making records for more than 40 years. His massive influence on American music reaches deep into the idioms of rhythm and blues, pop, country, musical theater, blues and jazz.
According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, into which he was inducted in 1998, his greatest contribution was not allowing New Orleans old-school R&B traditions to die out by keeping pace with developments in the rapidly evolving worlds of soul and funk. In addition, he brought the New Orleans sound to the national stage, and it remains a vital and ongoing part of our musical heritage to this day.
The New Orleans native began his career in his early twenties when hired by the local Minit Records to supervise its recording activities. Toussaint quickly accumulated a string of hits for the label, producing, writing, arranging and often performing on tracks by Ernie K-Doe, Irma Thomas, Art and Aaron Neville, Chris Kenner and Benny Spellman, putting his signature sound on the map.
Today Toussaint has hundreds of hits to his name. He penned the 1966 Lee Dorsey classic “Working in a Coal Mine” and produced Dr. John’s 1973 hit “Right Place, Wrong Time” and 1975’s “Lady Marmalade” by the vocal trio Labelle. His songs “Java” and “Southern Night” have both been credited and cited for more than 2 million airings. At the 2009 Grammy Awards, his recent collaboration with Elvis Costello, “The River in Reverse” was nominated for pop/vocal album of the year, and he received the Recording Academy Trustees Award.
In August 2009, Toussaint was inducted into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame at The Mother-in-Law Lounge, named for the late Ernie K-Doe’s ’60s hit “Mother-In-Law,” written by Toussaint. The club had been destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, but has been rebuilt and stands as a living monument of Big Easy musical history.
Toussaint has joked in his live shows that he’d spent his life in the studio until “a booking agent by the name of Katrina” put him on the road. According to the “Boston Herald” of a recent performance, “… he proved the road is where he belongs.”
On June 30, 2009 Toussaint performed a taping for the PBS series “Austin City Limits” as part of the show’s 35th anniversary season. The two hour performance by the 71-year-old artist was described as “masterful.”
View Allen Toussaint live at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bUgKgudR0o&feature=related.
Tickets for Allen Toussaint ($35-Balcony, $40-Orchestra and $45-Plaza) are available on the web at www.durangoconcerts.com or by calling 970.247.7657 or 877.282.9992, or at the Ticket Office in Downtown Durango at 7th and Main Ave. All sales final.
Curtain is 7:30 p.m., with doors to the Concert Hall and concessions, serving beer, wine and non-alcoholic beverages and snacks, opening at 6:30 p.m.
The Community Concert Hall is located in the growing arts complex of Fort Lewis College. It operates through a partnership with the college, a state-supported, independent institution of higher education, as well as the city of Durango, and with financial and in-kind contributions from generous members of the community.
