Dr John performs on the Miles Davis Hall stage during the 46th Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland in 2012. (Photo: JEAN-CHRISTOPHE BOTT/AP)
Mac Rebennack, aka Dr. John the Night Tripper, brought the bayou to the bandstand and the funk to the masses. His music, spiced with his gravelly vocals, was a gumbo of blues, R&B, rock and with a bit of New Orleans voodoo thrown in for good measure.
Though he didn’t have many hit records, Rebennack, who died Thursday at age 77, was a living symbol of New Orleans and its vast musical heritage.
“You cannot separate Dr. John from New Orleans. He’s like Louis Armstrong. He’s like a cultural ambassador,” music writer Michael Hurtt told the Associated Press in 2005. “He’s basically packaged this culture he came out of with a lot of nuances that are pretty subtle.”
The musician’s family confirmed the death in a statement released to the Associated Press and New York Times. A tweet from Dr. John’s verified account says, “The family thanks all whom shared his unique musical journey & requests privacy at this time. Memorial arrangements will be announced in due course.”
Born in New Orleans, Rebennack was a session musician in the 1950s, playing guitar and bass, later switching to piano after he injured his left ring finger protecting his bandmate, Ronnie Barron, from gunfire.
He grew up surrounded by music. His father’s record store, near Dillard University, carried records by blues, jazz, R&B, gospel and hillbilly artists.
“It was a special time in New Orleans in the ’40s, and I was real blessed,” he told USA TODAY in 2000.
“I grew up hearing all kinds of music, digging on Duke Ellington’s “Creole Love Call” and great old bebop records. The radio stations played basically New Orleans music, and I thought that was what the whole world heard.”
As a child, he got hooked on Big Joe Turner’s Piney Brown Blues, featuring pianist Pete Johnson. “I thought, ‘That’s what I want to be,’“ Rebennack recalled.
Rebennack branched out as a bandleader, breaking out with 1972’s “Gumbo” and 1973’s “In the Right Place.” The single “Right Place, Wrong Time” reached No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100, his only Top 10 hit.
He continued his session work, playing piano on such hits as the Carly Simon and James Taylor duet “Mockingbird” in 1974. He also contributed the song “More and More” to Simon’s “Playing Possum” album.
Dr. John performs during halftime of the 2014 NBA All-Star Game at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans. (Photo: DERICK E. HINGLE/USA TODAY SPORTS)
His distinctive voice and style were behind Popeye’s Chicken & Biscuits promos as well as the theme song (“My Opinionation”) for the ’90s NBC sitcom “Blossom.”
Rebennack’s movie credits include Martin Scorsese’s “The Last Waltz,” “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” and “Blues Brothers 2000.”
He also wrote and performed the score for the 1982 film adaptation of John Steinbeck’s “Cannery Row.”
In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Rebennack was outspoken in his criticism of the local and federal government. But he also let his music do the talking.
“We played so many benefits that my band was about to go broke,” Rebennack told the Rocky Mountain News in 2006, noting, “I’m a scuffling musician.”
In September 2005, he performed Bobby Charles’ “Walkin’ to New Orleans,” a song made famous by Fats Domino, to close the “Shelter from the Storm: A Concert for the Gulf Coast” telethon.
In November 2005, he released a four-song EP, “Sippiana Hericane,” to benefit New Orleans Musicians Clinic, Salvation Army, and the Jazz Foundation of America.
He joined fellow New Orleans native Aaron Neville, Detroit’s Aretha Franklin and a 150-member choir on Feb. 5, 2006, for the national anthem at Super Bowl XL as part of a pre-game tribute to New Orleans.
In 2011, Rebennack was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. His Twitter account says that the six-time Grammy winner “created a unique blend of music which carried his home town, New Orleans, at its’ heart, as it was always in his heart.”
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