JerryNOLA: Jerry Covers New Orleans
A Compilation
DISC ONE
1. Get Out Of My Life Woman (Allen Toussaint) (7:17)
JGB, The Stone, San Francisco, Oct. 4, 1986
2. All By Myself (Fats Domino) (13:14)
JGB, Keystone, Berkeley, CA, Oct. 12, 1975
3. Something You've Got (Chris Kenner) (3:58)
JGB, Club Front, San Rafael, CA, Jan. 7, 1976
4. You Are My Sunshine (Jimmie Davis and Charles Mitchell) (11:43)
JGB, Sophie's, Palo Alto, CA, Jan. 10, 1976
5. Stagger Lee (Garcia & Hunter) (6:03)
Grateful Dead, Winterland, San Francisco Oct. 17, 1978
6. Don't Try To Be Your Brother's Killer (James Booker) (9:55)
JGB, Club Front, San Rafael, CA, Jan. 7, 1976
7. Rockin Pneumonia & The Boogie Woogie Flu (Huey "Piano" Smith) (6:08)
JGB, Orpheum Theatre, Boston, Oct. 24, 1975 (Early Show)
8. United Our Thing Will Stand (James Booker) (11:51)
JGB, Sophie's, Palo Alto, CA, Jan. 9, 1976
DISC TWO
9. Just Kissed My Baby (Modeliste, Neville, Nocentelli, Porter Jr.) (11:11)
Garcia & Saunders, Great American Music Hall, San Francisco, Nov. 28, 1974
10. Junco Partner (Traditional) (4:45)
JGB, Sophie's, Palo Alto, CA, Jan. 10, 1976
11. Stagger Lee (Garcia & Hunter) (5:44)
JG (Solo), Capitol Theatre, Passaic, NJ, April 10, 1982
12. Classified/Right Place, Wrong Time Medley (James Booker/Mac Rebennack) (10:01)
JGB, Club Front, San Rafael, CA, Jan. 7, 1976
13. Iko Iko (James "Sugar Boy" Crawford) (12:08)
Grateful Dead, Huntington Civic Centre, Huntington, WV, April 16, 1978
14. I'll Take A Melody (Allen Toussaint) (12:38)
JGB, Lisner Auditorium, Washington, Feb. 12, 1980 (Late Show)
15. What A Wonderful World (Bob Thiele & George David Weiss) (8:42)
JGB, Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre, Irvine, CA, Aug. 1, 1992
It's no coincidence that this compilation is dominated by James Booker and, to a lesser extent, Nicky Hopkins, two of the boogie-woogiest piano players the world has ever known. And since eight of the 15 tracks feature one or the other doing songs Jerry only played with them, many of these tracks selected themselves. None of the Booker tracks were played in any other incarnation of Jerry's side projects. Since there are only three recordings over four nights with Booker, there was no way to get a wide variety of choices.
Of the other songs done by the JGB, only two, Get Out Of My Life Woman and I'll Take A Melody (both written by Allen Toussaint), were done with any regularity. GOOMLW was an easy choice, taken from Jerry's 10/4/86 first post-coma performance. There are better recordings of it but the electricity and warmth coming from the audience at this historic show made this one easy. Melody was also an easy selection. A 1980 Ozzie Ahlers song had to be included.
While Stagger Lee is a Garcia/Hunter composition, the story of Stagger Lee (and Billy DeLion) is deeply rooted in the rich tradition of New Orleans music. There are two versions here, one with the Grateful Dead and one from Jerry's only solo show. Although What A Wonderful World was written by non-Louisianans Bob Thiele and George David Weiss, it was popularized by Louis Armstrong. So it's inclusion is also necessary. There was no more famous New Orleans musician than Satchmo. The version included here is from Jerry's 50th birthday.
THE HISTORY
All By Myself: Performed 20 times. 17 from April, 1975 with the Legion Of Mary, through the Nicky Hopkins and James Booker bands. Brought back twice in 1978 and then once more in August, 1980.
Written by Fats Domino http://rockhall.com/inductees/fats-domino/bio/
Classified: Performed three times from Jan. 7-10, 1976.
Written by James Booker http://www.cascadeblues.org/History/JamesBooker.htm
Don't Try To Be Your Brother's Killer: Performed once in rehearsal on Jan. 7, 1976.
Written by James Booker http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/musician.php?id=5177
Get Out Of My Life Woman: Performed 63 times beginning in July, 1984 until September, 1994.
Written by Allen Toussaint http://www.allentoussaint.com/
Iko Iko: Performed by the Grateful Dead 185 times beginning in May, 1977 and remained a regular part of the repertoire until the end.
Written by James "Sugarboy" Crawford http://www.offbeat.com/2002/02/01/james-sugar-boy-crawford/
I'll Take A Melody: Performed 212 times by the JGB, beginning with the Legion of Mary in April, 1975 and remained a regular part of the repertoire through November, 1990. It was then brought back twice in early 1994.
Written by Allen Toussaint http://www.nonesuch.com/artists/allen-toussaint
Junco Partner: Performed once on Jan. 10, 1976.
Traditional http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junco_Partner
Just Kissed My Baby: Performed four times in November, 1974 by Garcia & Saunders.
Written by Zigaboo Modeliste, Art Neville, Leo Nocentelli & George Porter Jr. (The Original Meters) themetersonline.com expired on 07/26/2010 and is pending renewal or deletion.
in the meantime... http://www.georgeporterjr.com/weblinks.html
Right Place, Wrong Time: Performed twice, on Jan. 7 and Jan. 10, 1976. It was part of a medley on Jan. 7, the version included here.
Written by Mac Rebennack http://www.drjohn.org/
Rockin' Pneumonia & The Boogie Woogie Flu: Performed five times from Oct. 22-27, 1975
Written by Huey "Piano" Smith and Johnny Vincent http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huey_%22Piano%22_Smith
Something You Got: Performed once in rehearsal on Jan. 7, 1976
Written by Chris Kenner http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Kenner
Stagger Lee: Performed by the Grateful Dead 147 times including regularly from August, 1978 to December, 1979. It reappeared a couple of times in August, 1982 then returned to the regular rotation in June, 1985 and remained there until June, 1995. Jerry also performed it acoustically by himself and with Garcia & Kahn three times in 1982.
United Our Thing Will Stand: Performed three times from Jan. 7-10, 1976.
Written by James Booker http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Booker
What A Wonderful World: Performed five times from 1992-93.
Written by Bob Thiele and George David Weiss http://www.jazzhouse.org/gone/lastpost2.php3?edit=920666365
http://www.songwritershalloffame.org/exhibits/C24
You Are My Sunshine: Performed once on Jan. 10, 1976.
Written by Jimmie Davis and Charles Mitchell http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmie_Davis
A Skiddly Bop Production
Others In The Series
Jerry Does Dylan (Feb. 2005)
Musical Gods: Jerry Does Van (May 2007)
Don't Forget The Motor City: Jerry Does Motown (Dec. 2007)
The Toussaint Covers (July 2008)
Down The Road: Interpretations of Junco Partner (Oct. 2009)
All On A Mardi Gras Day (Feb. 2010)
robbiem@optonline.net