Lesson 5: Alan Toussaint and New Orleans Drumming

Hello, and welcome to another lesson in the New Orleans drumming course.

Alan Toussaint: A Musical Legacy

I'm going to talk about Alan Toussaint, who you might have heard about. He passed away recently, unfortunately, but he was a:

• Piano player in New Orleans
• Singer
• Songwriter
• Arranger (notably, a very good horn arranger)
• Recording studio owner
• Producer

He wrote songs for many artists in New Orleans, which became big hits and were also covered by numerous people. It was not a commercial way of selling New Orleans, but certainly a way of utilizing what New Orleans had to offer musically and finding a way to infuse that into pop music, for want of a much better word.

Writing Specific Parts

When Alan Toussaint wrote a tune, he would write everything out,
all the parts for:

• Drums
• Bass
• Guitar

These would be very specific parts. Every tune would have a very specific drum part that goes with it.

The Meters

The Meters were the house band for Alan Toussaint for much of his time, particularly in the studio, especially during some of those big hits in the 60s and 70s.

Featured Song: Working in a Coal Mine

With that in mind, we're actually going to do one that I don't think the Meters played on. It's called "Working in a Coal Mine," which you might have heard by Lee Dorsey.

This is a whole Alan Toussaint production, and he came up with this groove. You might have heard that groove before or the tune itself.

As you can see, it has:

• Elements of New Orleans drumming
• Elements of rock drumming (just backbeat drumming)

It combines these two styles which work so well, as we saw within the Fats Domino music. It translates very well to rock and roll and funk.

Groove Characteristics

The groove features a slightly displaced bass drum and snare drum, ending with two bells.

Sometimes, I hear people reference this groove quite a lot when they're just playing, having fun. They might incorporate it as a fill, you know, by putting in those two "bing, bing," either on the hi-hat or the ride cymbal.

So one more time, it sounds like this:

[Demonstrate the groove]

Another Example: Yes We Can

Another groove that Alan Toussaint wrote was for a song called "Yes We Can," which is fantastically played by the Meters, specifically Zigaboo Modeliste on the drums.

That groove sounds a bit like this:

[Demonstrate the groove]

When you're playing that groove, always think of the bass drum. Remember that the bass drum is the lead instrument.

Meeting Zigaboo Modeliste

I once met Zigaboo Modeliste, the drummer who played on a lot of these recordings and was the drummer in the Meters.

It struck me because he had a 24-inch bass drum, which is, you know, huge. I thought maybe there was a mistake, but he very much wanted the bass drum as a very strong sound for his groove.

Conclusion

So, listen to Alan Toussaint. He is a very important figure in the whole story of New Orleans music.

There are many particular grooves that are just fascinating, too many to mention here.

So there's just a glimpse into a couple.

Do download the PDF; there's a lot more information there, and I look forward to seeing you in the next lesson!