Dr. John

In 1968, veteran New Orleans-born session musician Mac Rebennack transformed himself professionally into a new musical persona, Dr. John, the Night Tripper, for his debut solo recording on Atlantic, Gris-Gris. An ambassador for NOLA's myriad musical styles, a crack studio pianist who has appeared on many noteworthy LPs (especially during the 1960s and 70s), and a lively personality on stage and television, Dr. John has maintained a formidably long career in American popular music, despite enjoying only limited mass commercial success.

With the 1972 album Dr. John's Gumbo, Rebennack's music became decidedly less oblique, as he paid tribute to his New Orleans ancestors in a raucous set of old rhythm and blues. Many of the songs from this LP were to become staples of Dr. John's live sets ever after, including "Iko Iko" and Professor Longhair's "Tipitina." A much more accessible disc than its predecessors, Gumbo effectively set the stage for one of the major threads of Dr. John's career - namely, his proprietary interest in representing and explaining New Orleans musical history to a national audience. His offstage interviews reveal Rebennack's self-appointed role as an oral historian about the various blues and jazz styles borne from the Crescent City.

While he Dr. John continued his high-profile session work throughout the 1970s, appearing, for instance, on Carly Simon and James Taylor's hit, "Mockingbird," and lending keyboards to Rickie Lee Jones's Grammy-winning debut, his largest commercial success as a solo artist came with Gumbo's follow-up: In the Right Place in 1973. The LP joined Rebennack in a New Orleans funk summit with famed producer-arranger Allen Toussaint and NOLA-funksters The Meters. This combination sped the album's lead single, "Right Place, Wrong Time" up the Top 100, where it peaked at #9. The album's second-biggest single, "Such a Night," never ascended beyond #42, but has remained a recognizable part of the Dr. John repertoire. In all, In the Right Place was to be the biggest-selling LP of Dr. John's career, rising as high as #24 on the Billboard album charts. No Dr. John single or album release has come close to the Top 40 since.