Creole Moon

Dr. John's latest recording, Creole Moon, demonstrates just how much the Doctor, under his various guises, carries in his little black bag of tricks. Whether it's the voodoo trickery of his Gris-Gris days, the Meters-style funk of his In The Right Place and Desitively Bonaroo days, the traditional New Orleans music that was the main course of his Gumbo album, or the piano professor tributes and jazz-inflected sounds of his more recent work, it's all right here. Whenever you put on a Dr. John album, you cannot escape the sense that you've heard it before. On his less inspired efforts, that might not be a good thing, indicating a slip into formulaic arrangements and playing that is not characteristic of Mac Rebennack's best work. On a good recording, though, which Creole Moon most definitely is, the sense of familiarity is comforting, offset by solid songwriting and the odd twist and turn that shows you've not yet heard everything Dr. John has up his sleeves.

The songs here seem pretty personal, even more so than usual, an impression that is supported by some of Mac's annotations in the CD booklet. "In the Name of You", a song co-written with the late Doc Pomus and dedicated to Art Blakey, with whom Rebennack worked on the Bluesiana Triangle album. "It's my personal take on how hard it is for people to separate the myth from reality, all the different ways people love me cause I am a musician." Heady stuff, indeed, balanced nicely by a second line rhythm and great sax fills by Eric Traub. It immediately follows the album opener, "You Swore", another Rebennack/Pomus collaboration that features a Stevie Wonder-like synth sound a la "Superstition" and a great call-and-response between Dr. John and the female backup singers. David "Fathead" Newman offers his usual great sax work (as he also does on the title track and "One 2 A.M. Too Many").

"Food For Thot" mines that Meters/Allen Toussaint groove that delivered such gold for Dr. John in the early '70s. The lyrics are a bit daft, but you won't notice, because your feet will be moving too much. "Holdin' Pattern" and "Bruha Bembe" provide a nice mysterious ambience. About "Holdin' Pattern" Mac's notes say: "This song was written for the sprouts. They all think they so hip. This tells them, put it on hold, have some patience. It's about the wisdom of waiting." Beuasoleil's Michael Doucet provides some nice Cajun fiddle. "Bruha Bembe" is one of those songs about a bayou herbal healer and voodoo woman. It has the requisite mystery and some nice percussion work that conjures up a Caribbean feel and flute from Charlie Miller. It starts with a spoken introduction that is reminiscent of Robbie Robertson's "Somewhere Down the Lazy River", and it has somewhat the same feel.

There's some incredibly beautiful music with an after-hours feel to it on this recording, particularly the trio of tracks "Imitation of Love", "Creole Moon", and the album's closer "One 2 A.M. Too Many". It should come as no surprise that two of these were co-written by Rebennack and Doc Pomus, who were well matched as songwriters and wrote a number of excellent tunes before Pomus' death. "Imitation of Love" is one of those ballads you might have heard Ray Charles sing in front of a big band in the '50s, complete with a big ending. The lyrics are poignant and, according to the album notes, pretty autobiographical. The other Rebennack/Pomus tune, "One 2 A. M. Too Many" is funky, but still beautiful in its description of a New Orleans old-timer. "I have these hip memories of Doc, and the song makes me think of him, especially when it goes through the changes" says Mac. It's a great ending to the album and a worthy tribute to the legendary songwriter.

"Creole Moon" is a bit like a suite in its structure, and demonstrates the sophistication that Dr. John has taken on while still being able to communicate and get people to dance. The opening is a gorgeous piano melody joined by Fathead Newman's alto sax turn that captures some of the tonal quality, if not the musical ideas, of Charlie Parker. There's a segue into a standard New Orleans piano-based sound during the vocal section. This part is not too different from a lot of Dr. John songs, so it may be that it was written first before being fitted into the larger piece. There's a return of the original piano melody, then for the last minute, in slips into a slightly funkier groove with horns backing Fathead's saxophone outro.

There's a lot more here, too, but if you know the Doctor, you have some idea what's in store and there's no point in talking about each track. If you don't know the Doctor, then you probably ain't feeling so great, bunky. I recommend you check out Dr. John's 10 best and place some orders right away.