New Orleans may have the greatest tradition of piano playing in America, if not the world. There were the “piano professors” of the Storyville and pre-Storyville era, the bridge between parade bands, ragtime and jazz, entertaining brothel patrons with a notably eclectic and unique repertoire. There were seminal players such as Jelly Roll Morton (who once claimed to have invented jazz). There has been a long line of great piano players such as Tuts Washington, Professor Longhair, Little Brother Montgomery, Champion Jack Dupree, Roosevelt Sykes, Archibald, Fats Domino, Huey Piano Smith, Edward Frank, James Booker, Allen Toussaint, Huey Piano Smith, Dr. John, and Ellis Marsallis. Eddie Bo, a notable piano player himself, as well as great songwriter, producer and funk-master, has reconted in interviews that in black neighborhoods in New Orleans “every other house had a piano” when he was growing up, even though, as he noted, “most people had to have a fish fry every other week just to get by.” But then there have been the hundreds of amateur piano players who played just for pleasure and at parties. George Landry of The Wild Tchoupitoulas was one of those. New Orleans piano playing is uniquely percussive and rhythmic oriented, with Latin, Caribbean and African rhythms incorporated, as well as those quintessential New Orleans street parade rhythms. And New Orleans has a classical tradition going back to the Creole orchestras of the 19th Century and noted Creole/Jewish pianist/composer Louis Gottschalk. I fell in love with the style without knowing it when I heard records like Ernie K-Doe’s “Mother-In-Law”, Lee Dorsey’s “Ya Ya”, Franki Ford’s “Sea Cruise” and of course Fats Domino’s records.
Back in the early 90’s, a teenage piano player burst on the New Orleans music scene. 17 year-old Davell Crawford was a young man with an old soul, a prodigy who started out in church and was performing publicly by age 7. He could play a blues or old rock ‘n’ roll number with complete naturalness and authenticity. Steeped in gospel, influenced by the likes of Professor Longhair, James Booker and even Liberace, he soaked up the myriad sounds around him in Louisiana. His grandfather was James “Sugarboy” Crawford, a New Orleans bandleader who had been the first to record “Iko Iko.” He was a young player with an impressive command who could seemingly do anything on the piano. Interestingly, he has claimed not to really have know New Orleans music so well growing up, as he shuffled between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, but this may be disingenuous.
We first saw him at the old Showcase Lounge in Gentilly, where Davell, playing both piano and organ, led a band of veteran players with both his playing and evocative singing. Like James Booker, Crawford’s vocals are not on the same level as his playing but somehow carry an expressive power. Like many New Orleans musicians he moves easily from R & B to blues to gospel to jazz to second-line grooves, often blending elements in the same song. We later saw him at a French Quarter club around 1AM, this time backed by just a rhythm section. The spare crowd was dominated by a table of loud women. Davell kept turning around to scowl at them but they were oblivious. I finally went over to them and suggested they go somewhere else if they weren’t interested in the music and they shut up.
Davell’s first album came out on Rounder Records in 1995; he was being heralded as New Orleans’ “Piano Prince”, the new generation’s standard-bearer of the New Orleans piano tradition. The album presents a representative selection of R & B/blues/gospel from Davell’s repertoire at that time, with no song newer than 1970, except for the couple of originals Davell wrote, one called “Gumbo Piano” a showcase for his piano chops. He put his stamp on the hoary set of tunes. Subsequent albums, including a surprisingly lackluster organ trio set—brought jazz and Davell’s soulful interpretation of pop standards (“Who Can I Turn To?”) into the mix. Though his reputation was getting him concert gigs in major U.S. cities and in Europe, his albums did not sell much. There was a sense that maybe he lacked focus or perhaps Davell was just not ready to make a definitive statement yet. But his JazzFest performances were always highlights for those in the know.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XndIB2Gfapc
And then he kind of disappeared for a while. A colleague of mind discovered him playing in a New York City hotel lounge, an unheralded steady gig. I made a note got catch him there but somehow failed to do so before the gig ended. So when my wife and I went to New Orleans this past May, arriving on the last day of Jazz Fest, a major goal was to see Davell Crawford, hoping that he’d be staying in town after the Fest. But we couldn’t find any notice of any appearances by him. Walking down Decautr St. into the Fauborg section of town, I ducked in Louisiana Music Factory to pick up a copy of Offbeat Magazine to check out the music listings. I heard what sounded like live music coming from the rear of the store and when we strolled back there, lo and behold it was Davell Crawford, with a killing young drummer and bass player playing a “record release” in-store performance in honor of the release of “My Gift To You”, his first CD release in many years. He was in great form, sing and playing exuberantly. He alluded to having come through a period of depression and also played tunes such as “Junco Partner” and “Iko Iko” which he had avoided playing previously, not wanting to be boxed in by expectations. At one point he called up some friends from the crowd to sing with them and soon gospel harmonies were in the air. It was a sublime experience, one of those unheralded almost impromptu musical events that New Orleans specializes in.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQr8bcVyJOI
The new CD is a much more personal statement; it includes a version of “Junco Partner” and “Can’t Find My Way Back Home” but also expansive, decidedly non-traditional original compositions and interpretations of pop material such as his own “Dreams, “Creole Man” and Billy Joel’s “The River.” The overall feeling of t he album is moody, with little of the ebullience of much of his earlier work; long-time fans might be disappointed but the album rewards repeated listening as the depth and subtlety of the music comes through.
In August, I saw Davell open for Roberta Flack at Lincoln Center, on the outdoor stage. Back by a sizable band of mainly New York session players and vocalists, he opened with “Iko Iko” and was quite the showman, clearly reveling in the big stage, concert grand piano and the large audience. On the verge of 40, Davell Crawford, after more than 30 years of performing, may be poised to embark on his most exciting artistic period yet.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-7IzwWpQy0
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