Allen Toussaint

Oh, how I wish I could write this entry in more cheerful times....

On Monday evening, Allen Toussaint unexpectedly died after a concert in Madrid. I personally received the news in an e-mail. I was going to see his show in Antwerp 3 days later. On tuesday an e-mail popped up entitled "Concert Allen Toussaint canceled". I first thought they canceled the tour because of an illness. How big the shock was reading what had happened. I stopped doing what I was doing, stepped in the car and drove around.......

Rest In Peace Allen Toussaint. Thank you for your music.


Some weeks ago Joe Henry was in the sudio with Allen Toussaint recording a new album. The label (nonesuch records) anounced its release somewhere in 2016.

According to the announcement, the recording "took place at two sets of sessions over the past several years: The first were solo piano recordings 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 early October 2015."


Joe Henry wrote the following words:

"Joining Allen over four days this past October in a Hollywood studio were the rhythm section of Jay Bellerose and David Piltch joined by other masters of understated invention—guitarist Bill Frisell; legendary tenor saxophonist Charles Lloyd; multi-instrumentalist Greg Leisz; the luminous singer Rhiannon Giddens; and the irrepressible composer/arranger/pianist Van Dyke Parks, who had a long friendship and collaborative relationship with Allen dating back to the early 1970s.
"I have been working with Allen Toussaint—under his spell and subject to his influence—for a full decade now. He was a quiet radical, musically-speaking, and a prince of great humility. In listening to all of the recordings these past days, reeling from the shock of his sudden death, it has meant so much to feel Allen's spirit, vibrant and undiminished. Allen's family, our friends at Nonesuch, and I look forward to sharing the music with the world."

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