You can’t get much more New Orleans than Dr John and Louis Armstrong – so an album of the first playing the latter is something to get excited about. “Ske-Dat-De-Dat … Spirit Of Satch” promises a lot and for the most part delivers it.
First, off this is not Dr John (a.k.a. Malcolm John “Mac” Rebennack Jr., or the Nite Tripper) copying Armstrong (a.k.a. Satchmo). It is an eclectic interpretation that offers some quite delightful surprises. For example, the first track – “What A Wonderful World” – eschews Armstrong’s heartfelt paean for some typical Dr John boogie, helped along by the Blind Boys of Alabama.
When the second track – “Mac The Knife” – digs in, you can’t help wondering what Armstrong (and composer Kurt Weill and lyricist Berthold Brecht, for that matter) would have made of a sudden burst of hip-hop from Mike Ladd. It makes wonderful sense of course. And they would have loved Terence Blanchard‘s horn on the track anyway.
Just to keep you on your toes, track three – “Tight Like This” – sounds as if Satchmo decided to visit his buddies at Havana’s Buena Vista Social Club. Again, some lovely horn – this time from Cuban Arturo Sandoval – and some Latino rap from Toronto-based Cuban musician Telmary.
And so it goes through 10 more Satchmo classics, with lots of guests, including some blues thrown in from Bonnie Raitt on the way.
This is not Dr John’s first foray into the world of Louis Armstrong. He has already had some themed concerts and plans some more (including in Britain). He has also had tribute albums to Washington DC’s Duke Ellington and Savannah’s Johnny Mercer. But Armstrong is from Dr John’s neighbourhood and in a very New Orlean’s kind of way appears to have had a post-mortem chat to the good doctor about all this.
“Louis’s spirit came to me and told me to do something,” Dr John says in his press notes. “Louis told me, “Take my music and do it your way.”
So his did – and we are better off musically for it.
