Rocking @ the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame or, the second line comes to Cleveland!

I have just returned from a weekend @ the R&R Hall of Fame in beautiful Cleveland, Ohio, the occasion was their 15th annual Music Master’s series which was honoring New Orleans legends Antoine “Fats” Domino and Dave Bartholomew. The week offered a variety of events highlighting the careers of these seminal musician’s but I chose to attend the 2 main events on Saturday.


The first was the all-day conference @ Case Western followed by an evening concert that showcased the magnificent music of New Orleans. The week was co-sponsored by my friend Ira “Dr. Ike” Padnos and the Ponderosa Stomp Foundation and the keynote speaker at the conference was my buddy and Fats Domino biographer Rick Coleman.

The 2 honorees are the godfathers of New Orleans R&B; Fats Domino and his band leader & arranger Dave Bartholomew. Dave is a lesser known name but he and Fat’s had an almost Lennon/McCartney kind of symbiotic creative partnership. Fat’s was the performer but Dave was the band leader, arranger and trumpet player. Even outside of his work with Fats’ Dave is one of New Orleans greatest arrangers, musicians and talent scouts and directly responsible for many, many groundbreaking recordings coming out of that great city from the mid-1940’s right thru the 1950’s and beyond. By the way, the 3rd element of this holy trinity of New Orleans music was also present at the conference and that was engineer and the owner of J&M Recording Studio Cosimo Matassa.

The conferences were similar to the ones run by the Ponderosa Stomp in New Orleans but not as focused on direct oral histories, and a bit more of an expert “talking heads” approach. The day started with an excellent and informative keynote address by Rick Coleman, his deep love of the music always enthusiastically apparent – Rick wears his musical heart firmly on his sleeve. New Orleans writer Jeff Hannusch’s interview Lloyd Price was superb as was Dr. Ike’s extraordinary panel with all the surviving original members of the great Dave Bartholomew band that backed Fats on so many hits (the youngest being in his 70’s, the oldest in his 90’s!); Billy Diamond, tenor sax man Herb Hardesty, drummer Bob French, guitarist Ernest McLean, and songwriter/producer Eddie Ray. The day was capped with music historian John Brovan’s insightful interview with honoree Dave Bartholomew.

After a quick dinner we arrived at the gorgeous Palace Theatre for the VIP reception and the evening’s concert. The show was emceed by Hall of Fame president Terry Stewart and actor Wendell Peirce and started out on a perfect note when the Rebirth Brass Band marched into the grand theatre playing Professor Longhair’s “Mardi Gras in New Orleans.” One of the most exciting aspects of the show for me was the house band; Mac “Dr. John’’ Rebennack and his Lower 9-11. Many years ago I was privileged to see Mac back up an entire roster of performers during the Newport R&B festival and he was a stunning combination of restrained taste and subtlety and I knew he was going to provide the perfect backing for this evening of (mostly) aging performers.

Most of the evenings performers did a tune made famous by Fat’s and Dave and then performed one of their own signature songs. The Dixie Cups did a rollicking “I’m Walking” followed by their own hit “Chapel of Love.” Robert Parker did “I Hear you Knocking” followed by his smash “Barefootin’.” Irma Thomas lent her molasses smooth voice to a bluesy “Blueberry Hill” and followed it with her seminal hit “Time is on my Side” (move over Mick!). Lloyd Price romped thru “Ain’t That a Shame” followed by his 1952 chartbuster “Lawdy Miss Clawdy.” Reggae masters Toots and the Maytals highlighted the deep influence that Fat’s and New Orleans R&B had on Jamaican music with smoking versions of “Be My Guest” and “Let the Four Winds Blow.” Dave Bartholomew at almost 90 then took the stage with the “Blues in B Flat” that clearly proved he still had his trumpet chops, this was followed by his definitive “The Monkey (speaks his mind).” There was a wonderful duet with Irma and Lloyd Price on the Fats Domino signature tune “Walking to New Orleans.”

The night was capped by a brilliant set with the good Dr. doing 5 Domino classics including Fat’s first hit from 1949 (and arguably the first Rock and Roll record) “The Fat Man” with original guitarist Ernest McLean playing along!

The joyous 3 hour concert came to a close with the entire cast on stage doing (what else!) “When the Saints go Marching In.” Led by the ebullient Rebirth Brass Band the party spilled out down the aisles and into the grand lobby in a Cleveland style second line and the band continued its impromptu lobby concert for about 15 minutes to the ecstatic audience that lined the lobby stairs and up into the balcony.

A fitting and joyous end to a well-deserved week that hopefully began to shine a light on the importance of Fats Domino, Dave Bartholomew and all the great music that has come out of New Orleans.