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Dr. JOHN

“RIGHT PLACE, WRONG TIME”

(Mac “DR. JOHN” Rebennack)

Atco 6914

No. 9   June 30, 1973

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Malcolm “Mac” John Rebennack, Jr. (b. Nov. 21, 1940, New Orleans) grew up in a world full of music.”There

was this white baby grand Kimball piano in our house;’ Mac recalled in an exclusive interview. “My sister,

who was, like, 10 years older, would have musicians over rehearsing. My uncle John could play, and the

family was near always getting together for these jam sessions. Then there was my aunt named Odetta who

used to play the boogie-woogie piano; I learned some from her as a little kid.

 

“I also had some friends that used to work around my father’s [appliance] store, like AI Johnson. He taught

me how to play another kinda boogie. I took guitar lessons formally.I studied maybe two, three years under

studio cats like Walter [“Papoose”] Nelson, Ralph Montell, and Paul and AI Bowman.I think that’s what got

me accidentally working as a studio cat. Now with the piano, I  learned more from watchin’ people like

Professor Longhair and HuEY “PIANo” SMITH.”

 

By the mid-’50s, Mac was doing sessions for Ace, Edd, Ric, and Specialty, among other New Orleans labels.He

toured in the back-up bands for Jerry Byrne, Professor Longhair, Joe Tex, and for his second cousin,

FRANKIE FoRD.He also began producing and arranging sessions for other recording acts. In 1962, Mac moved

to the West Coast and studio activity with SoNNY Bono, B. BARNUM, and Phil Spector. His    work with Spector

included some of the legendary “wall-of-sound”sessions. “I liked that they were using a lot of New Orleans cats

and that they’d com­ bine some funk with their sound. But when I first saw this deal of using five piano players

and six guitarists-even though they added echo and stuff to get a new sound-I was under the impres­ sion they

was paddin’the payroll.I did­ n’t realize they was doin’ this ’cause it was the sound they dug”.

 

While working a Sonny Bono ses­ sion, Mac got the chance to book for himself some otherwise unused studio

time.With the help of producer Harold Battiste, JESSIE HILL, and others, Reben­ nack came up with a heady

musical concoction and a voodoo persona that he called “Dr. John Creaux, The Night Tripper.” Bono heard

the tracks and sold Atco on issuing the Gris Gris album in 1968 as a one-off deal. The music was a mix of

Creole chants and West Coast psychedelia; the visuals were equally offbeat. Mac’s Night Trip­ per was a self-

proclaimed “Grand Zorn bie;’complete with witch-doctor robes, weirdly feathered headdresses, and­ later

airbrushed from   the cover photo.

 

Two more similarly styled LPs­ Babylon (1969) and Remedies (1970)­ followed before the good doctor, aided by

Mick Jagger and Eric Clapton, recorded The Sun, the Moon & Herbs (1971). The next year’s Gumbo-a more

straightforward affair and a salute of sorts to his New Orleans roots–sold even better. Gradually, the Grand

Zombie was accruing a following; all he needed was a hit single to consolidate his base. With “Right Place,

Wrong Time”-a funky track cut with the Meters/Neville Brothers as accompanists-Dr. John found it.

 

“After we did the Right Place album [1973], they more or less demanded that I do something real com­ mercial.

We tried to do a couple of tracks commercial for ’em, but we really wanted to do something fresh that no one

else was doin:So we got into experimentin’, so they weren’t knocked out with it when it wasn’t super-

commercial.”

 

The Doctor went on to make a number of largely one-off albums for Columbia (Triumvirate, a 1973 col­

laboration with Mike Bloomfield and John Hammond), United Artists, DJM, Horizon, and Street Wise. He

appeared at the Band’s 1976 farewell concert (The Last Waltz) and recorded two albums of solo piano music

for the Demon (1982) and Clean Cuts (1988) labels.

 

Mac Rebennack was involved in a serious car crash late in 1988. Ribs were broken, but the Doctor is now back

on the road-and back on the record racks. His In a Sentimental Mood (1989) topped Billboard’s Tradition­ al

Jazz album chart; winning the “Best Jazz Vocal Perfor­ mance, Duo or Group” category of the 32nd Annual

Grammy Awards. Three years later, his Gain’ to New Orleans garnered the “Best Traditional Jazz” Grammy.

 

The hyper Doc appeared on tribute albums for THE GRATEFUL DEAD (Dedicated ) and tunesmith Doc Pomus

(Till the Night Is Gone ), contributed to Put on Your Green Shoes, for the Earth Island Institute and Save the

Children, and provided piano for The Simpson‘s Sing the Blues. In 1990, Bluesiana Triangle, a jazz set with

David “Fathead” Newman and Art Blakeley was issued; followed by a live set with CHRIS BARBER (On a

Mardi Gras Day) and in 1995, by Afterglow,a big band tribute to music of the ’40s.

 

No longer is he clad in robes and glittery whatnot. It’s tweed suits, or tuxedos and top hats, but the sounds

remain as fresh as ever. Under a Hoodoo Moon, John’s autobiography, co-written with Jack Runnell, was

pub­ lished in 1994.