Wardell Quezergue ‘The Creole Beethoven’ : 1930 – 2011
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The Mighty Wardell Quezergue
Listen/Download – Earl King – Trick Bag (Imperial)
Listen/Download – Professor Longhair – Big Chief Pt2 (Watch)
Listen/Download – Marie Boubarere – I’m Going Home (NOLA)
Listen/Download – Robert Parker – Everybody’s Hip Huggin'(NOLA)
Listen/Download – Willie Tee – Walking Up a One Way Street (Atlantic)
Listen/Download – Willie Harper – A Certain Girl (Tou-Sea)
Greetings all.
I hope that everyone is in a groovy place nearing the end of the week.
It behooves me to remind you all (as it always does) that the Funky16Corners Radio Show will be hitting the airwaves of the interwebs this Friday evening at 9PM at Viva Radio. This week we have an interesting one, with half the show devoted to the funky side of disco, and the other half to the sounds of classic-era soul. I know you’ll dig it, and if you can’t bet there to hear it, you can always drop by on Saturday to pick up the show in MP3 form here at the blog.
Also, if you have yet to check out the DJ Forty Fivan mix from earlier this week, please do so. It is excellent and really worth your time.
It was with great sadness that I heard the news this week of the passing of one of the last giants of New Orleans soul, Mr. Wardell Quezergue.
Working mostly as an arranger (but also in the producers and composers chairs) Wardell was instrumental (pun fully intended) in grafting the New Orleans sound onto the brains of the listening public. It has been said that he created every record he touched from the ground up, applying his talents to best fit the song, and the individual artist, giving his catalog a tremendous amount of stylistic breadth.
Known as the ‘Creole Beethoven’, WQ (his last name was often misspelled – at times by yours truly – as Quezerque) was born in 1930. He served as a musician in military bands during the Korean War, and rejoined Dave Bartholomew’s band upon his return to the Crescent City.
He really started to make his mark in the early 60s, with his work on classic 45s by Earl King (‘Trick Bag’ is included above) and the formation of the storied NOLA label where he would arrange some of the finest R&B, soul and funk to come out of the city in the 1960s.
His first big hit was Robert Parker’s ‘Barefootin’ in 1965 (he arranged all of Parker’s sides for the label), still one of the biggest hits to come out of New Orleans.
His biggest success however would come half a decade later with his work for the Chimneyville/Malaco labels and huge hits like King Floyd’s ‘Groove Me’ and Jean Knight’s ‘Mr Big Stuff’ – both recorded on the same day in 1970 – and Dorothy Moore’s ‘Misty Blue’ in 1976.
The tunes included here are a random sampling of Wardell Quezergue’s work that I’ve covered here at Funky16Corners over the years, whether as individual tracks, or in various and sundry mixes. I’ve tried not to duplicate what I’ve seen in other tributes (make sure to check out Soul Sides).
I mentioned Earl King’s ‘Trick Bag’, but I’ve also included Part Two of Professor Longhair’s 1964 landmark ‘Big Chief’, which was written by King and features his vocal.
There are also two tracks from WQ’s extensive NOLA discography, including Marie Boubarere’s Eddie Bo-penned ‘I’m Going Home’ (a live session) from 1967, and Robert Parker’s funky ‘Everybody’s Hip Huggin’ from 1968.
One of the more interesting, and testimony to WQ’s considerable talent as an arranger (dig the way the trumpets and the saxes play off of each other in the horn chart), is Willie Tee’s ‘Walking Up a One Way Street’.
The last track is one that appeared here last summer, and remains one of my favorite Quezergue-related sides, especially since he produced and arranged it. The record in question is Willie Harper’s version of Ernie K Doe’s (written by Allen Toussaint) ‘A Certain Girl’.
Unlike most covers of the tune, Harper and Quezergue take the song at a slow, New Orleans roll, in one of the great examples of bridging the old-school NOLA feel and then contemporary (1968) soul music. It’s also interesting because it has WQ producing an artist who had worked almost exclusively with Toussaint, on one of Toussaint’s labels, as he also did with Warren Lee’s ‘Underdog Backstreet’, also on Tou-Sea.
I’ve never gotten the whole story on why Toussaint seemed to loosen the reins a bit during this period, but the records that came out of it (including another WQ production/arrangement with Gus ‘The Groove’ Lewis’s ‘Let the Groove Move You’) were consistently excellent.
Unfortunately Wardell Quezergue was stricken in his later years by poor physical health, as well as the being victimized by the destruction of forces natural (Hurricane Katrina) and otherwise (the record industry).
He will always be remembered by fans of the New Orleans sound as one of its greatest geniuses.
He will be missed.
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Don’t forget that I’ll be spinning some tunes during the annual Point Pleasant Lions Seafood 5K and 1 Mile FUN Run/Walk on Saturday, September 17th in Pt Pleasant Beach, NJ. The run benefits the JT Foundation for Autism Awareness and runs right before the Seafood Fest (which starts at 10AM). I’ll be spinning all of the funk soul and disco you’d expect, so if you’re in the area, come on down and run, sit and watch people run while listening to music, or get your groove on before hunting down some delicious seafood. It’s a great cause and there’ll be good music, good people and good food, so what else do you need to know?
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See you on Monday
Peace
Larry
Also, make sure that you check out the POAC link below (click on the logo). It’s a fantastic organization that provides services to our local autism community, with education and recreational events, and any contribution you could make would be greatly appreciated.
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