|
They're an unlikely pair: Allen Toussaint. and Elvis Costello. Britain's Costello was punk's original angry young man. New Orleans' Toussaint, a soulful producer and songwriter, is known for a string of hits starting in the '50s, including "Mother-in-Law," "Working in a Coal Mine," "Southern Nights" and "Lady Marmalade."
A hurricane has brought the two together for "The River in Reverse," an album written in the wake of Katrina's devastation.
After escaping the flood, which destroyed his home and production studio, Toussaint, 68, found refuge in New York. He immediately went to work on benefit shows at Joe's Pub. At these intimate shows, Toussaint, embodied grace and hope as he delicately played the piano and sang a jukebox full of his hits.
Near the end of one performance, Costello, 51, joined in on Toussaint's "Freedom for the Stallion." Then in November, the two ventured south to Toussaint's decimated city to record "The River in Reverse." Their tour arrives at the Beacon Theatre tomorrow and Tuesday.
"I never recorded in these circumstances,"Costello says. "It was a little unusual with Humvees and people in fatigues carrying automatic weapons."
Even though Toussaint's famous SeaSaint Studio was destroyed, the pair found a place to stay and a soundstage, Piety Street Recordings, in working condition. The city lifted martial law, but there was still a curfew.
"It was great to be there," Costello says. "Even though it was very shocking. I went right down the first day and drove to where the breach in the levee took place. You're at eye level, and you're looking up at a car on the roof of a house and personal belonging hanging in trees. It's a surrealistic, horrific sight."
Toussaint sounds relieved he was able to record the album there.
"It was a wonderful, really spiritual time for the band and myself," Toussaint says. "And not just for the players from New Orleans, but [for Costello's band] the Imposters, because they cared enough to ride around and take a look at where we were. All of that was dear to the music and, I'm sure in some way - since we are a reflection of what we do and see - all of that experience is in this recording."
The album features some new songs - written by the partners - as well as lesser-known Toussaint tunes from his catalog. "Ascension Day," is a reworking of Professor Longhair's "Tipitina" played in a minor key and slowed down to bring, Costello says, "the lament out."
On tour, the musicians - including the Imposters and Toussaint's Crescent City Horns - breathe new life into songs from Costello's extensive songbook with the addition of new horn parts.
As a young pianist under the influence of Professor Longhair (whom he dubbed the Bach of rock), Toussaint dropped out of school to tour with Shirley & Lee in the '50s, but after that he was strictly a studio man.
"I went directly to the studio and found a home there," he says. "I found it rewarding and fun daily. So that's just the way life turned out. I hadn't really chosen that I would do this and not that. I wanted to make music - when and wherever."
Toussaint hopes that he'll permanently return to his damaged home by August. He's optimistic about the state of his neighborhood, near the Jazz Fest Fairgrounds. "It's a very long process but a very sure process," he says. "People have come back from wherever they were and are working on their houses. Electricity has been restored. Every lawn has a trailer on it, which is good sign. It would be better if people were in their houses, but it is a slow process."
Toussaint came to New York post-Katrina because he knows the city better than any other - aside from his hometown.
"I've been here for many, many years, so I know where I am," he says. "My father was a railroad man, so we had a pass to ride somewhere every year. So we'd go to New York one year, California next."
So does he now consider the Big Apple a second home?
"Yes, if there'd be such," he says. "But not for me."
| 
