Very unexpectedly, the great composer, arranger and pianist so representative of New Orleans Culture has passed away- November 10th, in his hotel in Madrid, following a performance in the Spanish capital.
What a shock! Though seventy-seven years of age, this maestro of all things pianistic; and all emotions Human (high and low), cannot really have departed this realm– how can this loss be possible? But wait! We have the music! The songs- “Don’t You just know It?” “Fortune Teller?” “Working In a Coal Mine?” The elegies– “Southern Nights,” “Louisiana Suite,” “Freedom for the Stallion?”
My greatest piano mentor, Dick Heintze- a Tidewater keyboard genius gone since 1986 – was an Army buddy of Mister Toussaint; he swore the bubbling Allen steered his life’s path on to the ‘ivories.’
That is the warm, generous manner of the good Monsieur. Seldom without a smooth suit, tie and silk scarf, he spun his magic one night a few years ago for my dear companion and me, in a darkened Blues Alley (save for one crimson spot). Spinning a heartfelt memory of beloved Grandparents rocking on the old oaken porch under a bayou moon, the great Toussaint then led us through “Southern Nights,” and left us in tears of joyful remembrance of the way things once had been.
AU REVOIR, MONSIEUR
with syncopation, a lilt, a sigh.
Like the roman Candy Calliope man,
rolling down Prytaina Street;
Your horse bells ringin’ in time.
we all smiled, didn’t we.
Waitin’ at the station till a
quarter to nine, and then
The train pulled in, with Sehorn, Querzergue,
and the Nevilles along too.
Toodle-oo, whoop-tidoo.
all the rhymin’ chimin’ Nola’
World will honor you. and I feel
that no graveyard is big enough to
Hold your spirit down in the ground!
Monsieur Toussaint: Hear!
our venerations of what you gave
All the world, not only that of bright
Music, but the words that Reverberate
in the heart and soul;
every day and every moonlit night.
