C.J. CHENIER and the Red Hot Louisiana Band

Description

C.J. CHENIER and the Red Hot Louisiana Band

June 02, 2012

Son of the "King of Zydeco"

SAT. 8pm $24 / 10pm $20

Clayton Joseph Chenier, the son of the great King of Zydeco, Clifton Chenier. C.J.'s father was the first Creole musician to win a Grammy Award. His earliest musical influences were an eclectic mix of funk, soul, jazz and Motown, and his first musical instruments were piano, tenor saxophone and flute.

On the road his father showed him how to front a world class touring band - teaching C.J. how to run the family business and how to develop his lifelong passion for music into a career. When Clifton died in 1987 his son adopted the Red Hot Louisiana Band and recorded his debut album for the great American independent label Arhoolie Records. As he told a journalist at the time, he does not try to imitate his father's playing: "I play it the way I play it. All my father really told me was to do the best I could do with my own style." In the following years C.J. would record albums Slash Records and the legendary Chicago label Alligator Records.

Harking back to the deep southern roots of Creole music - C.J. has recorded a collection of some of the most urgent and heartfelt songs of his career. He tapped deep into his father's songbook starting with the smitten sing-along hit Rosemary to the barbed wire blues of “Ain't No Need of Cryin'” (Everyday is the Same) and haunting “Black Snake Blues”.The southern gothic images of Hank Williams penned “Lost on the River” and the devastating P.J. Harvey ballad “The Desperate Kingdom of Love” complete the somber canvas - a metaphor of the recent carnage in New Orleans.

But a C.J. Chenier recording, like a traditional New Orlean's funeral, would not be complete without a tremor of hope for the future and a few great dance tunes. C.J. composed several classic songs for the album including the plaintive “I've Been Good To You Baby” and the swinging mea culpa “Who's Cheatin' Who?”. One of the album highlights is the Fender Rhodes driven - Living To Learn. Sans accordion and rubboard, Living To Learn highlights C.J.'s sixties soul and Motown influences. "As a teenager I played the Fender Rhodes in a top 40 cover band, practicing Soul Ray Charles, and Motown songs for 10 hours a day" recalls C.J.. Next C.J. leads the entire band through a Clifton Chenier tune “Bogalusa Boogie” as a tribute to the late great Clarence Gatemouth Brown. Gatemouth had died just days after Hurricane Katrina decimated his home in southwest Louisiana. The album ends fittingly with Van Morrison's “Comfort You”, his great waltz-poem of healing and forgiveness, a fitting end to a stormy night.

More Info

Link

http://www.yoshis.com

Call

415.655.5600 (Box Office)