Wardell Quezergue died today, at the age of 81. Amongst the giants of NOLA’s R&B/funk community, Wardell wasn’t necessarily as influential as Allen Toussaint nor as prolific as Eddie Bo but he was as quintessential a shaper of NOLA’s R&B sound as anyone, and easily one of the most successful, based on a handful of mega-hits he had his hand in.1
Some of my favorite songs out of NOLA have the Wardell touch upon them, so much so that it was ridiculously easy to just pull them immediately out of my mental rolodex in order to whip the following together:
Wardell Quezergue Tribute Mix2
- Smokey Johnson: It Ain’t My Fault Pt. 1 (W,A)
(NOLA, 1965)
Professor Longhair: Big Chief Pt. 1 (W,A)
(NOLA, 1964)
Gus “The Groove” Lewis: Let the Groove Move You (A,P)
(Tou-Sea, 1967)
Robert Parker: I Caught You In a Lie (A)
(NOLA, 1967)
King Floyd: Groove Me (A)
(Chimneyville, 1970)
Jean Knight: Mr. Big Stuff (A,P)
(Stax, 1971)
Bonnie and Shelia: You Keep Me Hanging On (P)
(King, 1971)
This only scratches the surface of his greatness; explore away.
Wow – thanks for posting!
I’m listening to this while working on a business trip in China, daydreaming while plugging away at some CAD drawings, and WHAM! – One of my favorite Prof. Longhair songs comes on(track 2). Put a smile on my face.
Per usual, you turn me on to LOTS of great tunes, and now I’ve got MORE stuff to look for when I go crate digging….