While the hairlines of both men have steadily traveled north, this performance demonstrated that their skills haven't gone south.
OVER his enduring career, Elvis Costello has been a genre-jumping pied piper who has led his fans on musical sojourns as diverse as new wave, classical, country and opera.
At the Beacon Theatre on Monday, the first of his two-show engagement, Costello bowed low to old-fashioned New Orleans R&B with Crescent City piano icon Allen Toussaint as his guide and muse. While the hairlines of both men have steadily traveled north, this performance demonstrated that their skills haven't gone south.
For a point of reference to the music, forget about the kind of soul and R&B that's infused into contemporary hip-hop. Instead, travel back to the rolling piano work and earthy vocals of a young Fats Domino singing songs that weren't quite country, blues or rock, but a little of each.
Over the course of the 21/2-hour concert, the pair traded licks on their individual hits and the songs they penned together for their recent CD "The River in Reverse," inspired by Hurricane Katrina.
These men have very different styles - Costello's tenor is nimble, reaching both highs and lows, but it has an abrasive quality. Toussaint is always smooth, his tones are soulful, and his delivery has an unexpected sincerity and humbleness.
During some of the songs, like Toussaint's "Freedom for the Stallion," the pair complemented one another. And then there were songs where they seemed at odds, as on "Ascension Day," a stripped-down retooling of the bright New Orleans standard "Tipitina" disguised in a solemn minor key.
When Costello laid down one of his own classics, such as the concert opener "(What's So Funny About) Peace, Love and Understanding," or the late show rave "Pump It Up," the crowd matched his performance energy, but it was mostly an easy, relaxed night of music that the audience members enjoyed from their seats.
Still, there was no doubt about whom the crowd was there to hear.
At this show, Costello dominated the fans' attention, strumming and humming center stage. Toussaint's soul and R&B production served as the concert's glue, and he seemed content to be the pianist for Costello's band.
Toussaint did do a bit of lead vocal work, the best of which was on a cover of Paul Simon's "American Tune" and his own "Yes We Can Can," which was made popular by the Pointer Sisters back in the '70s.
The Costello songs that fared best with this old-school soul treatment were the midset rendering of "Poison Rose" and the encore song, "Alison." Each demonstrated how a stylistic shift can make you hear a time-tested oldie in a new way.
New York Times -
(extract)
The unusually sympathetic rapport between the two headliners was the evening’s finest feature. It worked beautifully on “Ascension Day,” an apocalyptic tone poem by Mr. Costello based on Mr. Toussaint’s minor-key translation of Professor Longhair’s New Orleans classic “Tipitina.” And it worked again on the next number, a cover of Paul Simon’s “American Tune,” with Mr. Toussaint on lead vocal.
“I don’t know a soul who’s not been battered,” he sang in a quiet voice, accompanied only by Steve Nieve on Hammond organ and Mr. Costello on acoustic guitar. Mr. Toussaint carried the line, and the rest of the song, with masterly understatement. When he repeated the phrase “I’m all right,” it came with a complex and subtly powerful mixture of emotions.
Hollywoodd Reporter -
(extract)
Costello was the perfect foil for Toussaint's cool and hammed it up as ringmaster and emcee, serving as a street barker slyly beckoning listeners to consider the gravity of the lyrics beneath the horn-driven romps. The new songs "On Your Way Down" and "Tears, Tears and More Tears" were lively, piano-driven compositions that Costello crooned over, pleasantly masking the aching inspiration the New Orleans-based Toussaint must have felt when he wrote them. Imposter Steve Nieve slammed out a groove on a Hammond B3 alongside Toussaint's piano while Costello sang "Broken Promise Land"; the audience could not help but sway along.
New York Times
July 12, 2006
Music Review
Elvis Costello and Allen Toussaint: A Bouncy Take on the Grim
By NATE CHINEN
“There must be something better than this,” Elvis Costello sang on Monday night at the Beacon Theater, “ ’cause I don’t see how it can get much worse.” Mr. Costello was belting the chorus to “The River in Reverse,” the acerbic and topical title track from the recent album he made with the venerable New Orleans pianist, producer and songwriter Allen Toussaint.
A moment earlier Mr. Costello had recounted his collaborative history with Mr. Toussaint, beginning with a couple of scattered album tracks in the 1980’s and skipping ahead to the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina less than a year ago. During one frenzied week in New York last September, the two reconnected onstage at a series of benefit concerts. By week’s end, Mr. Costello had written “The River in Reverse,” performed it with Mr. Toussaint and discussed plans for an album with Verve Forecast executives.
Like the recording, Monday’s concert featured Mr. Costello and his band the Imposters alongside Mr. Toussaint on piano, Anthony Brown on rhythm guitar and the four-piece Crescent City Horns. The chief tone of this ensemble, over the course of nearly three hours and more than 30 songs, was an unflagging warmth and exuberance, even when the subject matter was grim.
Some of the evening’s most buoyant moments involved vintage songs by Mr. Toussaint, like “Who’s Gonna Help a Brother Get Further?,” which he wrote for the New Orleans rhythm and blues singer Lee Dorsey. Mr. Toussaint sang lead, his relaxed, conversational baritone providing a contrast to Mr. Costello’s plangent and slightly adenoidal vocal style.
But Mr. Costello, a well-tested musical chameleon, managed to sound at home in Mr. Toussaint’s world. He sang the hymnlike plea “Freedom for the Stallion” with sensitivity and authority, stamping one aside — “it’s a doggone sin” — with a definitive sense of exasperation. He did nearly as well with “Tears, Tears and More Tears,” a lovelorn plaint that has acquired a double meaning since the devastation in New Orleans.
Mr. Toussaint’s influence reached well beyond his own material; his arrangements were incorporated throughout the concert: not only on “Deep Dark Truthful Mirror,” one of his early collaborations with Mr. Costello, but also on a host of other Costello originals. So “(I Don’t Want to Go to) Chelsea” was retrofitted around a meaty horn part, while “Poisoned Rose” heeded a stately gospel cadence. Mr. Toussaint’s ebullient pianism was often as central as Mr. Costello’s tightly controlled guitar playing.
The unusually sympathetic rapport between the two headliners was the evening’s finest feature. It worked beautifully on “Ascension Day,” an apocalyptic tone poem by Mr. Costello based on Mr. Toussaint’s minor-key translation of Professor Longhair’s New Orleans classic “Tipitina.” And it worked again on the next number, a cover of Paul Simon’s “American Tune,” with Mr. Toussaint on lead vocal.
“I don’t know a soul who’s not been battered,” he sang in a quiet voice, accompanied only by Steve Nieve on Hammond organ and Mr. Costello on acoustic guitar. Mr. Toussaint carried the line, and the rest of the song, with masterly understatement. When he repeated the phrase “I’m all right,” it came with a complex and subtly powerful mixture of emotions.
The River in Reverse Tour stops tonight in Boston and concludes next Tuesday in New Orleans.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Costello, Toussaint bring Bourbon St. to NYC
Tue Jul 11, 2006
By Mick Stingley
NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - Allen Toussaint and Elvis Costello brought their collaborative talent and charm to the first of two sold-out shows here to celebrate the spirit of the city of New Orleans.
It was a joyous evening mitigated only by the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina, which led Costello and Toussaint to write their new album, "The River In Reverse" (Verve), which the legendary songwriters performed during the course of three hours.
Opening the show with his band, the Imposters, Costello set the tone with a smoldering version of Nick Lowe's "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding." Loud, angry and in excellent voice, Costello asked the question, "Is all hope lost?"
Costello then was joined by Toussaint, the Crescent City Horns and guitarist Anthony "AB" Brown. The formidable presence of the ensemble brought the mirth and pathos of a Bourbon Street juke joint as the group ranged through songs from the new album and trinkets from Costello's and Toussaint's catalogs.
Costello was the perfect foil for Toussaint's cool and hammed it up as ringmaster and emcee, serving as a street barker slyly beckoning listeners to consider the gravity of the lyrics beneath the horn-driven romps. The new songs "On Your Way Down" and "Tears, Tears and More Tears" were lively, piano-driven compositions that Costello crooned over, pleasantly masking the aching inspiration the New Orleans-based Toussaint must have felt when he wrote them. Imposter Steve Nieve slammed out a groove on a Hammond B3 alongside Toussaint's piano while Costello sang "Broken Promise Land"; the audience could not help but sway along.
Costello did not disappoint his fans, fleshing out a few of his old songs with the horn section. The gentle reggae skank of "Watching the Detectives" was remade as a hot jazz waltz; "Pump It Up" became more buoyant; befitting the evening, "Alison" was bittersweet. Costello and Toussaint closed with "The Sharpest Thorn," leading the audience through its mournful chorus.
It would seem that all hope is not lost, but, like the New Orleans about which the two men wrote and sang so passionately, merely mired in mud and bureaucracy.
Reuters/Hollywood Reporter
PAIRED WITH PIANIST, COSTELLO'S AIM STILL TRUE
By DAN AQUILANTE
July 12, 2006 -- ELVIS COSTELLO with ALLEN TOUSSAINT
OVER his enduring ca reer, Elvis Costello has been a genre-jumping pied piper who has led his fans on musical sojourns as diverse as new wave, classical, country and opera.
At the Beacon Theatre on Monday, the first of his two-show engagement, Costello bowed low to old-fashioned New Orleans R&B with Crescent City piano icon Allen Toussaint as his guide and muse. While the hairlines of both men have steadily traveled north, this performance demonstrated that their skills haven't gone south.
For a point of reference to the music, forget about the kind of soul and R&B that's infused into contemporary hip-hop. Instead, travel back to the rolling piano work and earthy vocals of a young Fats Domino singing songs that weren't quite country, blues or rock, but a little of each.
Over the course of the 21/2-hour concert, the pair traded licks on their individual hits and the songs they penned together for their recent CD "The River in Reverse," inspired by Hurricane Katrina.
These men have very different styles - Costello's tenor is nimble, reaching both highs and lows, but it has an abrasive quality. Toussaint is always smooth, his tones are soulful, and his delivery has an unexpected sincerity and humbleness.
During some of the songs, like Toussaint's "Freedom for the Stallion," the pair complemented one another. And then there were songs where they seemed at odds, as on "Ascension Day," a stripped-down retooling of the bright New Orleans standard "Tipitina" disguised in a solemn minor key.
When Costello laid down one of his own classics, such as the concert opener "(What's So Funny About) Peace, Love and Understanding," or the late show rave "Pump It Up," the crowd matched his performance energy, but it was mostly an easy, relaxed night of music that the audience members enjoyed from their seats.
Still, there was no doubt about whom the crowd was there to hear.
At this show, Costello dominated the fans' attention, strumming and humming center stage. Toussaint's soul and R&B production served as the concert's glue, and he seemed content to be the pianist for Costello's band.
Toussaint did do a bit of lead vocal work, the best of which was on a cover of Paul Simon's "American Tune" and his own "Yes We Can Can," which was made popular by the Pointer Sisters back in the '70s.
The Costello songs that fared best with this old-school soul treatment were the midset rendering of "Poison Rose" and the encore song, "Alison." Each demonstrated how a stylistic shift can make you hear a time-tested oldie in a new way.
dan.aquilante@nypost.com