I remember the very first time I saw Allen Toussaint in person. While we did not actually meet until many years later, it is a New Orleans music memory I will never forget. It was probably the first New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival at which I worked. The grandstand at the Fairgrounds was in the process of being rebuilt after it was destroyed by a fire in December of 1993, so all the heritage interviews and cultural exhibits were moved to tents in the parking lot. At the Heritage Stage, now renamed the Allison Miner Heritage Stage, Allen Toussaint and Dr. John were telling stories about, and performing, some of their famous compositions.

Allen was talking about Mother-in-Law, which he wrote and was one of Ernie K-Doe’s biggest hits. He told the story of how Benny Spellman, who song the iconic “Mother-in-Law” bass line in the tune, tried to convince Allen that it was a hit because of him and how well he sang his part. Benny wanted Mr. Toussaint to write a song for him so that he could be the star, just like what this song did for K-Doe. Allen then demonstrated on the piano how he basically took the same music – and most importantly that catchy bass line which in the new tune is “Don’t leave me no more” – from  Mother-in-Law and changed the melody around to compose what turned out to be Benny Spellman’s biggest hit, Lipstick Traces. A couple more fun facts about his tune are that he wrote it under the pseudonym Naomi Neville – his mother’s name and one he used on several other occasions, and, to much less fascinating degree, it was recorded on my first birthday, February 2, 1962.

Allen Toussaint died while in tour in Madrid, Spain on November 10, 2015. While perhaps just a few people not from the New Orleans area would recognize him as a performer. The music he composed, produced and arranged brought the spirit and soul of our city around world.

In addition to Mother-in-Law and Lipstick Traces, he was the creative force behind many New Orleans R&B standards including Chris Kenner’s I Like It Like That, It’s Raining by Irma “The Souls Queen of New Orleans” Thomas, Ernie K-Doe’s A Certain Girl, and Working in a Coalmine and Holy Cow by Lee Dorsey. On the pop instrumental side, there was Al Hirt’s cover of Java which Allen co-wrote and was awarded the Grammy for Best Performance by an Orchestra or Instrumentalist with Orchestra in 1964. The next year, Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass recorded his Whipped Cream for the album “Whipped Cream & Other Delights.” This tune was used as the bachelorette’s intro music on the television show, The Dating Game. Also, I would be remiss not to mention that the cover art of this album is one of the reasons why records are better than CDs.

Allen was born in New Orleans on January 14, 1938 to Naomi Neville and Clarence Toussaint. Not surprisingly, he took to music like a fish to water “My background in New Orleans music started at the age of consciousness. A piano was brought to my house for my sister to play. My mother thought it was a great idea, and as the men were bringing it to the house in this big truck, as they would roll over bumps, you could hear it making sounds. I walked over to it and [hit a key], it was instant gratification. So I fell in love at first touch.”

He got his first unofficial music theory lessons from his sister, “My sister began taking piano lessons, so she began to learn where A, B, C, and etcetera was on the page. I was busy boogie woogieing off the radio. But I must say that she was a great help because she would show me where [the sounds from keys being played were on the page of music]. So that was my introduction to, I guess you might say, theory and the part that lead me to be able to write and arrange.”

Write and arrange he did. Here is a story about his first monster hit, “The reason Mother-in-Law was written, just so I could use that lower line. The word mother-in-law fell into it just right… My father’s mother called me when she heard about its popularity and said, ‘Don’t you know I’m your mother’s mother-in-law, how dare you!’ But after it became number one in the country, she calmed down.”

Another of Allen’s most popular songs was the title track of his 1975 album “Southern Nights.” Like most of his hits, it was a recording by another artist that propelled it to fame. Southern Nights was inspired by Allen’s childhood trips from the city to visit relatives out in the country. Porch sitting and storytelling under starry skies left an impression on the youngster that he later committed to song and verse. WWOZ radio personality, A. J. “The Boudin Man” Rodrigue, related this story of how the tune came to be recorded by Glen Campbell. One night Glen was listening to music at his friend Jimmy Webb’s place. Jimmy is the composer of a number of platinum-sellers including Up, Up and Away, By the Time I Get to Phoenix, and Galveston. Back to the story, Glen heard the song and was touched by the lyrics which reminded him of his own youth in Arkansas. His version was released on January 17, 1977 and eventually reached the Number 1 on three of the U. S. Billboard Charts: Hot 100, Hot Country Singles, and Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks!

Ever thoughtful of his fans, even in passing, Allen has left us a gift. Nonesuch Records has announced that he has a new album that will drop in 2016. According to a release from the label, the recording took place over two sessions over the past several years. “The first were solo piano recording made at Toussaint’s home studio in New Orleans in 2013, while the second, featuring a core band of musicians with several guest soloists, were completed in Los Angeles in October of 2015.”

In addition to the plethora of New Orleans performers who recorded Allen’s music, scores of artists from the rest of the country, and the world, have contributed to his legend: The Rolling Stones, The Doors, Elvis Costello, The Who, Pattie LaBelle, and Paul McCartney, just to name a few. In fact, I do not think it would be an exaggeration to say that anyone who listened to American music in the 1960s and 70s experienced the magic of Mr. Toussaint’s music. “When you’re writing you can play God, you can just create little Adam and Eves, just make the world according to you for an instant.” My life is better for listening to Allen Toussiant’s music and I am a better person for having met this gracious man. Thanks for sharing your world with me, and with all of us.