The Allen (Toussaint) half of Willie and Allen

Listen/Download – Willie and Allen – Baby Do Little MP3

Greetings all.

What better way to start the week than with some of that rich, savory, New Orleans ish?

Willie and Allen were (no shock here) Willie Harper and Allen Toussaint.

Harper was a New Orleans singer that was a favorite of Toussaint’s, recording with the master – as a solo artist and as part of this duo and the Rubaiyats – a number of times through the 1960s.

Like many of Toussaint’s favorites, Harper was as talented as he was seemingly doomed to obscurity. Sometimes I wonder of there was some kind of dome over New Orleans, sealing in the talent, like if it leaked out the city would lose some level of artistic potency.

The story of a great singer, making great records that never really got any play outside of the Crescent City is one that pops up over and over again, to the point of being demoralizing.

The one Willie and Allen 45, today’s selection ‘Baby Do Little’ b/w ‘I Don’t Need No One’ was recorded and released in 1967.

It was the second-to-last 45 that Harper would make (with one more release on Tou-Sea before he popped up singing with the Wild Tchoupitoulas in the 70s), and it is, like just about everything else on Sansu, excellent.

With the music pouring out of the grooves like molasses, ‘Baby Do Little’ still manages to pack a little funk into the mix (albeit, a slow, slow variety), with Toussaint and Harper trading lines and working in harmony through the song.

I remember when I first started to get into New Orleans soul, and finding the slower pace somewhat hard to get accustomed to (kind of like finding the groove when I first heard reggae), but over the years coming to dig it a lot.

It’s a special head-space, but one well worth inhabiting.

This track and some previously unreleased Willie Harper cuts were included on the fantastic Sundazed comp ‘Get Low Down! The Soul of New Orleans 65-67’, which I believe is now out of print, but you can find a bunch of the material in iTunes on the compilation ‘Allen Toussaint: Everything I Do Gohn Be Funky’.

It is a groovy tune, and I hope you dig it.

See you on Wednesday.

Keep the faith

Larry

 

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PS Head over to Iron Leg too.