David Toop digs deeper into the strange hoodoo of Dr. John's Gris-Gris album

David Toop looked more closely at Dr. John's classic 1968 album Gris-Gris and reports his findings in Two-Headed Doctor. 

Two-Headed Doctor 

Listening For Ghosts in Dr. John's Gris-Gris

David Toop

MIT Press, Nov 26, 2024.  264 pages

ISBN: 1913689603, 9781913689605

A forensic investigation into a single LP: Dr. John, The Night Tripper's Gris-Gris album

Two-Headed Doctor is a forensic investigation into a single LP: Dr. John, the night tripper's Gris-gris. Though released in 1968 to poor sales and a minimum of critical attention, Gris-gris has accumulated legendary status over subsequent decades for its strangeness, hybridity, and innovative production. It formed the launch pad for Dr. John's image and lengthy career and the ghostly presence of its so-called voodoo atmosphere hovers over numerous cover versions, samples, and re-invocations. Despite the respect given to the record, its making is shrouded in mystery, misunderstandings, and false conclusions. The persona of Dr. John, loosely based on dubious literary accounts of a notorious voodooist and freed slave, a nineteenth-century New Orleans resident known as Doctor John, provided Malcolm "Mac" Rebennack with a lifelong mask through which to transform himself from session musician in order to construct a solo career.

Somewhere between puzzle, experimental rhythm, blues disguised as rock, and elaborate hoax, Gris-gris was a collaborative project between Rebennack and producer/arranger Harold Battiste (at the time musical director for Sonny & Cher). A few brief sessions held at Gold Star Studios in Los Angeles brought together many of New Orleans' finest musicians, including Shirley Goodman, John Boudreaux, Plas Johnson, Jessie Hill, Ernest McLean, and Tami Lynn. Along with their complex histories, the cast of characters implicated in the story includes Ornette Coleman, Lafcadio Hearn, Zora Neale Hurston, Cher, Sonny Bono, Sam Cooke, Ishmael Reed, Black Herman, Prince La La, and many others. The story details in discursive style the historical context of the music, how it came together, its literary sources, production and arrangements, and the nature of the recording studio as dream state, but also examines as a disturbing undercurrent the volatile issue of race in twentieth-century music, the way in which it doomed relationships and ambitious projects, exploited great talents, and distorted the cultural landscape.

Check out David Toop's Two-Headed Doctor here. As a companion piece, you may want to look into the memoir of Dr. John's longtime musical collaborator Harold Battiste Jr. "Unfinished Blues: Memories of a New Orleans Music Man" from 2010 available here. 

R.I.P. Dr. John, 1941-2019

Iconic New Orleans musician Mac Rebennack died of a heart attack on Thursday at the age of 77. He'll be greatly missed.

Dr. John's Atco/Atlantic singles collection due in September from Omnivore

Omnivore's 22-track compendium of Dr. John's Atco/Atlantic Singles 1968-1974 is out September 18. 

Here's the press release from Omnivore Recordings...

LOS ANGELES, Calif. — Dr. John’s Atco and Atlantic sides were clearly the right-place right-time recordings. They put Mac Rebennack on the map and into the ears and minds of music enthusiasts the world over. On September 18, 2015, Omnivore Recordings will release the 22-song compilation Dr. John: The Atco/Atlantic Singles 1968–1974.

The collection contains the six-time Grammy® Award winner and Rock ’n’ Roll Hall of Fame inductee’s A- and B-sides recorded for the Atlantic labels from 1968-74, among them some of Dr. John’s best-known songs: “Right Place Wrong Time,” “Iko Iko,” “Cold Cold Night,” “Gris-Gris Gumbo Ya Ya,” “Loop Garoo,” “I Walk On Gilded Splinters” and more. Included also are “A Man Of Many Words,” featuring accompaniment from Buddy Guy and Eric Clapton, and the mono short version of “The Patriotic Flag Waver.”

Arrangers and producers include Allen Toussaint, Harold Battiste, Tom Dowd, Jerry Wexler, Eric Clapton, Ahmet Ertegun, and Michael Cuscuna. Writers include Willie Dixon, Huey Smith, Buddy Guy, Allen Toussaint,  Earl King, James “Sugar Boy” Crawford, Alvin Robinson, Jessie Hill, and Mac “Dr. John” Rebennack himself. Musicologist Gene Sculatti wrote compilation liner notes.

From Sculatti’s notes: “Dr. John has proven to be one of music’s foremost generalists, a primary-care cat whose practice extends back some 60 years. His expertise encompasses rock ’n’ roll, swamp pop, New Orleans, R&B, funk, jazz, and the Great American Songbook—and he’s made worthy contributions to recordings by the Stones, B.B. King, Van Morrison, Frank Zappa, Buddy Guy & Junior Wells, Buffalo Springfield, Gregg Allman, and others. The awards (six Grammys and counting) and accolades long ago validated the quality of his output, but it’s the range of what he’s done that truly impresses.

“These Atco and Atlantic sides were clearly the right-place right-time recordings. They put Dr. John on the map and into the ears and minds of music enthusiasts the world over.”

    CD Track List:
1. The Patriotic Flag Waver (Mono Short Version)
2. Mama Roux
3. Jump Sturdy
4. I Walk On Gilded Splinters (Part I)
5. I Walk On Gilded Splinters (Part II)
6. Gris-Gris Gumbo Ya Ya
7. Loop Garoo
8. Wash Mama Wash
9. Iko Iko
10. Huey Smith Medley: “High Blood Pressure” “Don’t You Just Know It” “Well I’ll Be John Brown”
11. Wang Dang Doodle
12. Big Chief
13. A Man Of Many Words (Buddy Guy With Dr. John & Eric Clapton)
14. Right Place Wrong Time
15. I Been Hoodood

16. Such A Night

17. Cold Cold Cold
18. Life
19. Let’s Make A Better World

20. Me – You = Loneliness

21. (Everybody Wanna Get Rich) Rite Away
22. Mos’ Scocious

Dan Auerbach goes Ethiopian with Dr. John

The first track to appear from Dr. John's new album Locked Down (out April 3) that the New Orleans icon recorded in collaboration with the Black Keys' Dan Auerbach is the Farfisa-backed cooker Revolution. 

Just as interesting as the unusually overt political commentary from the artist formerly known as Mac Rebennack is the way in which the horns, drums and wheezing organ are used to create a throwback Ethiopian groove. If it wasn't for Dr. John's familiar growl, you could easily mistake Revolution for a late 60s Mulatu Asatatke joint straight outta Addis Ababa. Looking forward to hearing if that sneaky Auerbach tries to incorporate some Girma Bèyènè and Mahmoud Ahmed moves on the other tracks. Listen to Revolution right here.