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Fats Domino
From Music Inside Out | Part of the Music Inside Out series | 52:00
The Founding Father of Rock and Roll
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At first, there wasn’t a name for the kind of music that Fats Domino played.
He called it rhythm and blues. But Domino’s songs stretched beyond that category.
In the late 1940s, Domino was working at a mattress factory in New Orleans and playing piano at night. He’d just gotten married … and both his waistline and fan base were expanding. That’s when the bandleader Billy Diamond first called him “Fats” — and predicted he’d have an outsized career.
The owner of Imperial Records heard Domino sing “Junker’s Blues” at a club in the Ninth Ward, and signed him right off the bandstand to a recording contract. Producer Dave Bartholomew was there. He said Fats was rocking the joint with the tune that would become The Fat Man — Fats’ first million-selling record.
“And he was sweating and playing and he put his whole heart and soul into what he was doing. And people was crazy about him, so that was it. And we made our first record, The Fat Man, and we never turned around.” (From an interview with Bartholomew housed at the Hogan Jazz Archive at Tulane University.)
It’s not that Domino had invented something new. He was playing Rhythm and Blues, which—after the torch songs and ballads of war time—was a return to shaking it on the dance floor.
Fats Domino passed away Tuesday, October 25 at his home in Harvey, LA, on the West Bank of the Mississippi River, not far from New Orleans. He was 89 years old. Fans in New Orleans and around the world have been mourning the loss of the musical genius and commemorating his life in music.
Music in the Time of Covid
From Music Inside Out | Part of the Music Inside Out series | 51:58
The Covid pandemic of 2020 challenged musicians, artists and performers like nothing before, ever -- and they adapted, in all different ways. "Music Inside Out" adapted, too, in this most unusual show. Gwen Thompkins asked a dozen New Orleans musicians to speak about their experience over the last several months, and their expectations for the future.
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- Music in the Time of Covid
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- Music Inside Out
The Covid pandemic of 2020 challenged musicians, artists and performers like nothing before, ever-- and they adapted, in all different ways. "Music Inside Out" adapted, too, in this most unusual show. Gwen Thompkins asked a dozen New Orleans musicians to speak about their experience over the last several months, and their expectations for the future. What results is a collection of intimate, even vulnerable stories on the state of music, performance, livelihood, inspiration - and ordinary life. Hear moments from Johnny Vidacovich, Don Vappie, Jason Marsalis, Courtney Bryan, Glen David Andrews, Quiana Lynell, Leroy Jones and Katja Toivola, Joy Clark, Washboard Chaz, Haruka Kikuchi, Dr. Michael White, and Meschiya Lake. (Visual images of all musicians by artist Emilie Rhys can be seen in her exhibit “New Orleans Musicians Observed” at the New Orleans Jazz Museum - Dec. 2020).
For more program information and playlist, go to the Music Inside Out website
The Look of Music: Of Beatle Boots, High Heels, and Blue Tuxedos
From Music Inside Out | Part of the Music Inside Out series | 52:00
As live music venues open up, Gwen talks to New Orleans performers about the look of music in their shows -- and their earliest concert memories.
As stages open once again for live performance, post-pandemic, musicians tell us about the look of music in their shows — and in their memories. We asked New Orleans performers about the earliest concert they attended, their impressions, and if it informed how they look on stage now. The legendary New Orleans musician Danny Barker once observed “The audience listens first with its eyes”. That sparked our conversation; some of the musicians we talked to agreed with Barker, and some did not. But everyone had a story to tell. Gwen speaks with drummer Johnny Vidacovich; trumpeter Leroy Jones and trombonist Katja Toivola; clarinetist Dr. Michael White; pianist and composer Courtney Bryan; guitar and banjo player Don Vappie; singer/guitarist Joy Clark; trombonist/singer Glen David Andrews; and trombonist Haruka Kikuchi. For more program information and playlist, go to the Music Inside Out website