Dr. John: New Orleans in 10 Fingers

Six album releases in the past seven years define Mac Rebennack

In 2014, I flew down to New Orleans to interview Dr. John for The Wall Street Journal. Mac Rebennack (his real name) lived in a place called St. Tammany Parish. To reach that community, you have to cross Lake Pontchartrain. Unfamiliar with the lake? You take the Causeway Bridge from metro New Orleans to Mandeville on the Northshore.

The causeway consists of two parallel spans with two lanes each and runs for 24 miles. Yep, a half hour on a bridge if you drive at 55 mph. The lake is astonishingly massive. About halfway across, you feel as if you’re driving across the Atlantic Ocean to Europe, You can’t see New Orleans behind you and you can’t see Mandeville in front. Just water for 360 degrees. It’s like a Twilight Zone episode, where there’s no end and the people in the car eventually go mad.

I had the good fortune to have Mac’s publicist, Karen Dalton-Beninato, and her husband, Jeff, a musician-photographer, drive me there. Along the way there, I was warned to keep an eye on the woods around Mac’s house in case a gator wandered out.

At Mac’s place, every available shelf was filled with voodoo dolls, gris-gris, candles, and spiritual artifacts. Mac wanted to chat outside (watch for the gators!), so out we went onto his patio. He then began smoking thin, brown cigarillos. Mac knew I wrote on jazz and began talking about his days in West Coast recording studios in the early 1960s. Mac would say, “Yeah, I remember playing with this crazy trombonist.” “Frank Rosolino?,” I said. “Yeah, yeah, him. And this amazing alto saxophonist and flutist.” “Bud Shank?” “Yeah-yeah-yeah.”

This went on for about 15 minutes, with me finishing his sentences. Mac was most impressed and opened up on his life for my piece. After about 40 minutes, he asked if I had what I needed. I did. In his crackly voice, he said, “Great, let’s go inside. I want to play you something.”

Inside, he perched on a piano bench in front of his baby grand with a nice heavy sound. For the next half hour, Mac played me the history of New Orleans piano, explaining what made each style special—multiple boogie-woogie styles, including the butterfly; traditional Crescent City grooves; blues; R&B; stride and more. His sound was dazzling and the impact was like the taste of a great cup of coffee—each sip made you want another and another.

Not until a day later did I learn that Jeff—equally stunned—had the good sense to take some video of me sitting next to Mac as he performed. Here’s the clip:

Over the past seven years, six of Dr. John’s albums have been released thanks to the Estate of Malcolm John Rebennack, Jr. The estate is overseen by his daughter, Karla Rebennack Pratt, who serves as the executrix. The entity actively manages Dr. John’s posthumous album releases, merchandise and authorized usage of his legacy through its official Dr. John site here.

In celebration of Dr. John’s music, here’s a taste of the six releases:

Dr. John—Gris-Gris Gumbo Ya Ya: The Singles 1968-1974 (Omnivore). This double-album release was originally produced for Record Store Day in 2024 on purple vinyl and features 26 tracks culled from five different Dr. John albums. To buy on CD or LP, go here.

Here’s Stack-a-Lee…

Dr. John: The Montreux Years (BMG). This double album features 14 live tracks recorded at the Montreux Jazz Festival between 1986 and 2012, and released in 2023. To buy, go here.

Here’s a medley of In a Sentimental Mood, Mississippi Mud and Happy Hard Times…

Dr. John: Solo Piano, Live in New Orleans 1984 (Record Club). If you want the solo experience I encountered, your closest bet is this one, featuring seven tracks. To buy, go here for vinyl and here for digital download.

Here’s Dr. John covering Professor Longhair’s Tipitina, with original lyrics by Roy Byrd…

Dr. John: Live at the Village Gate (Omnivore). Recorded at the famed club in New York’s Greenwich Village on March 5, 1988, the 12-song double album captures Dr. John taking on a range of interesting material and the reactions by a loving audience. To buy, go here.

Here’s Georgia on My Mind…

Dr. John: Live at Rockpalast 1999 (MIG). This live performance took place on the German music TV show Rockpalast that appeared on German television station Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR). It was broadcast during a concert at the Loreley Open-Air Theatre in St. Goarshausen, Germany. The CD/DVD set can be purchased here.

Here’s the full concert…

Dr. John: Things Happen That Way (Rounder). This was the last studio album by Dr. John, recorded between 2017 and 2019, the year of his passing, and then released in 2022. To buy, go here.

Here’s Funny How Time Slips Away…