Monday, July 27, 2020

Lee Dorsey - Riverboat



The gift of time on one's hands! The Internet, properly used, can really take you places. 

That Betty Harris song (below) had very few comments, and most of them were simple exclamations. There was room for a minor controversy about the identity of the drummer on the cut. Long story short, it's James Black, self-proclaimed "Drummer Impossible." He's on this Lee Dorsey cut too, proving that he earned the right to that nickname. 

The comments also led to a web site that would "settle the issue." The blog is defunct now, but the post that was linked was fascinating. You should read it. This is also James Black on Riverboat (1970). Allen Toussaint wasn't getting what he wanted from the drummer he had originally hired for the  session, so he called Black. Black read the part once, and played it through. "Is that what you want?" Why yes, thought Tousaint, that will due nicely.  

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