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Musician Allen Toussaint on the New Orleans Beat

New Orleans songwriter, pianist and singer Allen Toussaint. He has worked with artists like Paul Simon, Ringo Starr, and Elvis Costello. This year, Toussaint recorded "The Ultimate Session" with the New Orleans group Crescent City Gold, and "Rhythm Country and Blues," which received a Grammy Nomination. We replay our 1988 interview with him.

22:20
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Other segments from the episode on August 26, 1994

Fresh Air with Terry Gross, August 26, 1994: Interview with Allen Toussaint; Interview with Vernel Baneris and Morten Gunnar Larson; Review of the film "Natural Born Killers."
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14:24

A Theatrical "Me-Morial" for Jelly Roll Morton

Actor and playwright Vernel Bagneris and pianist Morten Gunnar Larsen perform selections from their show, "Jelly Roll Morton: A Me-morial," with music written by Morton, and a script taken from Library of Congress tapes of Morton from 1938. The New Yorker calls it, "an experimental study, done within a traditional Broadway-musical framework, of the life and death of a black misanthrope. . . a psychomusical." This concert was first broadcast in 1992.

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26:52

Concert with Allen Toussaint.

A live concert with New Orleans songwriter, pianist and singer Allen Toussaint. Tousaint has performed extensively as a session pianist and producer and has written dozens of hits for New Orleans groups like The Nevilles, Irma Thomas, for Paul McCartney, The Wild Tchoupitoulas and The Meters.

Interview
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28:07

New Orleans Musician Allen Toussaint.

Musician Allen Toussaint. For over twenty years he's been a force in New Orleans rhythm and blues as a singer, songwriter and piano player. He wrote hits such as "Working in a Coal Mine," written for Lee Dorsey, and "Mother in Law," written for Ernie K. Doe.

Interview

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