The Australian
Legends of New Orleans: Allen Toussaint, Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Jon Cleary and the Philthy Phew. Sydney Opera House. September 28.

"Jelly Roll and Huey get the party started"
By Iain Shedden

ENGLISHMAN Jon Cleary has immersed himself in the musical gumbo of New Orleans for many years. On several visits to Australia he has enthralled with his mastery of the piano and ability to channel his adopted city's most famous jazz, blues and ragtime innovators.

In this collaboration, a rare presentation in Australia of New Orleans talent, he was more limited in time and repertoire, but his opening set, with accompaniment from drums and stand-up bass, offered a delightful taste of Jelly Roll Morton, Huey Smith and Professor Longhair among others, with enough swagger to whet the appetite for a three-hour celebration of the Crescent City's music, past and present.

The aim, Cleary says, was to turn the Opera House into the best party you could ever imagine in a New Orleans bar room. That prospect gained weight with the arrival of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band. My Feet Can't Fail Me Now is one of the seven-piece outfit's signature songs and getting the audience on its feet was its mission.

On paper the line-up of drums, sousaphone, two saxes, two trumpets and guitar doesn't say "party band", but when these guys roll there's a vibe coming off stage that is impossible to ignore.

Baritone saxophonist Roger Lewis, three days short of his 70th birthday, was the coolest cat in the room (although not the oldest) and his solos and equally adept ones by his colleagues, set to a fiery mix of jazz, R&B and funk, indeed brought an air of Bourbon Street into the Opera House's rarefied space.

It's remarkable that it has taken Allen Toussaint this long to make his Australian debut. Much of the 73-year-old veteran's music, such as Sneaking Sally Through the Alley, Fortune Teller and Southern Nights, got an airing, delivered effortlessly at the keys by the man dressed in a sparkly denim suit who seemed a little awed by his surroundings.

The Legends of New Orleans national tour continues until October 9. Some shows do not feature all three acts. Tonight, Newcastle; tomorrow and Sunday, Bellingen (Dirty Dozen & Jon Cleary); October 5, Melbourne; October 6, Adelaide; October 7, Mullumbimby (Dirty Dozen only); October 7, Fremantle (Allen Toussaint & Jon Cleary); October 8 and 9, Caloundra.