WITH panama hat, walking cane, portly gait, and a voice that could sandpaper pebble dash, 55 year old Dr John (known to his mum and dad as Malcolm John Rebbenack Jr looks as if he could deputise for the Sydney Greenstreet role in a projected remake of The Maltese Falcon. Physical similarities aside, Dr John is a one of a master of the New Orleans sound and a generator of enough sexy boogie woogie to keep Mary Whitehouse fretting for years.
Rebbenack's pedigree is superb. He has played with some of the most respected New Orleans piano legends Professor Longhair, Allen Toussaint as well as with a number of the pioneers of soul and pop, including Sam Cooke and Phil Spector. He came into his own when he created the persona of Dr John The Night Tripper, a nom de plume coined in the days of 70s psychedelia and an alter ego that assumed tendencies of the jazz woodbine smoking hipster as well as drawing on Mardi Gras culture.
Playing this character to the hilt on Tuesday night, Dr John rippled out piano rolls that were melodic and extraordinarily agile. The show was like one long extended film soundtrack from frantic and sleazy jazz noir to melancholic Bayou blues. He even played one of his rare "hit" singles, Such A Night. Which, come to think of it, it was.
