New Orleans R&B

Unlike jazz, R&B didn’t begin in New Orleans, but whether it’s the spice in the food, the heat hanging in the air, or just the heavy-duty musical history packed into every inch of the town, the Big Easy birthed a brand of rhythm & blues all its own. When Fats Domino strolled across the ivories in 1957 with “I’m Walkin’,” he not only made rock ’n’ roll history, but he also hammered out a hometown R&B milestone. Soon, other local legends-in-the-making were taking their soul-struttin’ sounds national, like Lee Dorsey with the giddy, grooving Allen Toussaint tune “Ya Ya,” and Frankie Ford, who sent Huey “Piano” Smith’s rockin’ “Sea Cruise” sailing into the Pop Top 20. By the time King Floyd (“Groove Me”) and Jean Knight (“Mr. Big Stuff”) starting mixing Crescent City flavors with Southern soul, New Orleans R&B was an unstoppable force.

Your N.O. R&B IQ may be higher than you think — find out why, in Next Steps.

Over the past half-century, New Orleans R&B has slipped into the bloodstream of American culture in more ways than most people even realize. In the ’60s, the whole country was doing the Mashed Potato and the Alligator along with “Land of 1,000 Dances,” a smash for both Wilson Pickett and one-hit wonders Cannibal & The Headhunters, but Allen Toussaint cohort Chris Kenner cut the original. To most of the world, the slow-rolling song of devotion “Time Is On My Side” is a 1964 Rolling Stones hit, but the Brits based their cut closely on N’awlins R&B queen Irma Thomas’s version. And more people have probably heard Huey “Piano” Smiths’s jumpin’, joyful rocker “Don’t You Just Know It” in movie soundtracks and TV commercials than anywhere else, even though it was a Top 10 single back in ’58.

Peerless piano men hammer their hearts out in Deep Cuts.

Even though New Orleans R&B came to encompass everything from the Meters’ sharp-shooting ’70s funk to the bluesy bends of Earl King’s six-string, its primary building blocks were the great piano-pounders. Professor Longhair’s whoopin’, wailin’ “Tipitina” is practically the “Star-Spangled Banner” of New Orleans, and Fats Domino shows that even a Nashville tune can take a New Orleans twist when he tackles Hank Williams’ gumbo-gobblin’ “Jambalaya (On the Bayou).” And James Booker was one of the most strikingly original ivory-ticklers ever to tumble out of the Big Easy, but he stays true to his roots by revisiting Lloyd Price’s 1952 R&B phenomenon “Lawdy Miss Clawdy.”

Everything feels a little bit different in New Orleans, especially the music, and Crescent City R&B moves to a different groove than you’ll find anywhere else in America. From the sizzling, second-line funk of the Meters’ “Hey Pocky A-way” to the spectacularly sleazy stroll of Dr. John’s “Iko Iko,” from Roy Montrell’s honking, hiccupping — and deceptively titled — blowout “(Every Time I Hear) That Mellow Saxophone” to Earl King’s bluesy burner “Trick Bag,” the kings and queens of New Orleans R&B all boogie to their own bayou beat. It’s a lot to absorb, but don’t worry — we’ve worked up an awe-inspiring array of the city’s most soulful sides, to keep you cutting a rug until the threads wear away.