Dr. John - The Mojo of Dr. John [2CD] (2019)

2 CD 2019 Release featuring Dr. John's early singles pre-Atlantic Records and live concert recordings previously unreleased in North American and Japan. This new retrospective includes rarities from the Rex, Ace, Crazy Cajun labels, and rare live band and solo performances of Dr. John's greatest hits. Dr. John's music is stamped with the rhythms and traditions of the Crescent City, and he has spent a career that now spans more than half a century championing its music. Born Malcolm John 'Mac' Rebennack, he learned piano and guitar as a child. As a child growing up in the 1940s, he was steeped in the music of the city. 'It was a special time in New Orleans,' he told USA Today's Edna Gunderson. 'The radio stations played basically New Orleans music, and I thought that was what the whole world heard.' As a musician, he was schooled by local legends like Walter 'Papoose' Nelson (Professor Longhair's guitarist), guitarist Roy Montrell, keyboardist James Booker and Cosimo Matassa (whose J&M Studio was the hub of the city's recording scene). Rebennack became one of the first white session men on the local scene. Working in L.A. with producer Harold Battiste, a fellow Crescent City expatriate, he created the character of Dr. John the Night Tripper, a voodoo sorcerer and healer. His first album, Gris-Gris, masterfully evoked the mystical spirit of back-alley voodoo in a musical setting of otherworldly 'N'Awlins' swamp funk. It meshed perfectly with the age of psychedelia in which it was released. Such cuts as 'I Walk on Gilded Splinters' evoked a late-night, back-streets netherworld of ritual and mystery. Until his untimely passing on June 6th of this year, Dr. John continued to keep the Crescent City's musical heritage alive.