RIP. In addition to his hits, which were cool, fun and very interesting as they brought in these other influences, Cajun, Creole, African, jazz, blues, boogie, he had a lot of other works that I find even more interesting. He was a studio musician as well, and just really an overall exceptional artist.
Here's a few of my favorite albums, that I think show off his roots and diversity:
https://www.amazon.com/Sentimental-M.../dp/B000002LHG
https://www.amazon.com/Goin-Back-New...X3CKM35GR66CSP
https://www.amazon.com/Dr-John-Plays...X3CKM35GR66CSP
There's another album I need to find, I got it from the library years ago - it was sort of symphonic, with all these influences, and a little psychedelic as well, really great stuff, kinda 'out there' for most people, I think.
I saw him in a small theater maybe 10 years ago. I was a bit disappointed unfortunately. He had a great band, and they played everything 'perfectly', but sort of static for me. I wanted to hear him do those piano riffs and rolls and runs, but it was all very choreographed 'songs'. Not my thing.
For the encore, he started out with some solo piano, and I thought "finally! He's gonna let loose for 10 minutes of wild, inspired improv! But no, a 10 second intro, and the band went back to playing a well rehearsed "song".
Oh well, he was great, I'll revisit those albums for the gems.
-ERD50
Linear Mode
