On May 1, 1991, the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival presented a concert titled “Dew Drop Inn Revisited: The Toussaint Legacy” at Riverboat Hallelujah Concert Hall. Though not all of the New Orleans R&B artists included performed regularly at the famed Dew Drop Inn nightclub, they represented an awesome chunk of New Orleans music history up to that time. They all shared a connection with one of New Orleans’ great musical creators, Allen Toussaint.
The Omega crew was there to record this classic outing featuring Allen Toussaint, Chick Carbo, Jessie Hill, Ernie K-Doe, Earl King, Art Neville and Irma Thomas.
The Dew Drop Inn was a legendary black nightclub in New Orleans on LaSalle Street. It has been closed for 20 years. Allen Toussaint spent a lot of time at the Dew Drop in the late ’50s and early ’60s. One of his major breaks in becoming a session musician occurred when Dave Bartholomew noticed him at the Dew Drop and had him play piano on a Fats Domino session. Here Toussaint fondly recalls his musical alma mater.
“It was a nightclub that had live entertainment. They would have singers and then they would have a shake dancer. There was live music goin’ on, and musicians from around town, wherever they played when they got off they would go to the Dew Drop, because all the other guys would hang out there. They would hang inside and they had a large group of musicians that used to hang out in front of the Dew Drop. All the time. And the young musicians got a chance to meet the older musicians, ’cause they all were guaranteed to be there. If a band was performing like out of town, like the nearby areas, like 50 or 100 miles outside of town and they were gonna come back that evening, they would always stop at the Dew Drop when they come. And all the musicians be waitin’ around and also they would sit in with the entertainment that was goin’ on inside. It was owned by Frank Painia. You could see the natural links of the New Orleans chain right at the Dew Drop.
I was introduced to the Dew Drop by playin’ with Earl King. A gentleman by the name of Bob Caffrey, which we call ‘Catman,’ had heard me play, and he knew I could play a wide variety of music. And one-night Huey Smith could not make the performance out in Pritchard, Alabama. And Catman called me to perform with Earl King. And that’s what introduced me to the Dew Drop set. Of course, I met them there to go on the performance. And when the performance was over, as usual, they went back to the Dew Drop. And it was a great day for me.”
