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Wardell Quezergue

Born in New Orleans, LA

Died in Metairie, LA

Wardell Quezergue's Genre:

Funk, R&B, New Orleans R&B, Early R&B, Regional Blues, Pop-Soul, Soul, Blues, Modern Electric Blues

Biography

The thronging masses will claim not to have heard of this man, will not be able to pronounce his name, and will have heard his music countless times. Among New Orleans musicians, Wardell Quezergue was known as the "Creole Beethoven," but the behind-the-scenes nature of his work means his name was invariably not the one out in front in big lights. As one of the first-choice arrangers on New Orleans recording sessions, Quezergue was the man who made classic records for performers such as Fats Domino, Professor Longhair, Dr. John, and many others. His most famous records include "Iko Iko" and "Chapel of Love," both originally cut by the Dixie Cups, and the entertaining "Barefootin'" by Robert Parker, the latter a summer hit sporting a blasting horn arrangement that, like a piece of Mayan sculpture, might be described as "definitively Quezerguian." Other fine tracks in his discography include "Trick Bag" by Earl King, "Big Chief" by Professor Longhair, "It Ain't My Fault" by Smokey Johnson, "Mr. Big Stuff" by Jean Knight, "Groove Me" by King Floyd, "Mojo Hannah" by Tami Lynn, and the Grammy Award-winning Dr. John album Goin' Back to New Orleans. The strong respect for history and tradition in New Orleans has meant that this artist never went out of demand.

After growing up in a 7th Ward home filled with musicians, he began playing trumpet at professional gigs in the mid-'40s and emerged as a bandleader in the mid-'50s with his Royal Dukes of Rhythm. (Some 50 years went by before he was finally presented with an opportunity to make recordings in front of his own aggregation entitled Wardell & His Slammin' Big Band.) Much of his career was spent making arrangements for others and he was known for getting results. The best example is his association with Malaco, a local studio and label that was a few cents short of going broke before Quezergue became involved. He borrowed a school bus in order to transport all the needed participants to a marathon recording session that resulted in two blockbuster hits, the demanding and relaxing "Groove Me" and the swaggering, self-important "Mr. Big Stuff." The next chapter is one typical of the record business. The Stax and Atlantic labels, constantly hyped as being crucial in the history of soul music, rejected these records as being uncommercial. Malaco had to put out King Floyd's "Groove Me" on its own Chimneyville label, but this was not a release that went up in smoke. Instead, Atlantic was forced to come begging when the record took off in one region of the country after another.

As a result of this and subsequent hits produced by Quezergue, Malaco's studio, production, and session musicians became the "in" things. The Pointer Sisters, Rufus Thomas, and Paul Simon all worked in the facility, the latter artist recording tunes for his popular 1973 album There Goes Rhymin' Simon. The following year, though, Quezergue was temporarily seen as having "lost it" and Malaco finally went under. For the label it was the grand finale indeed, but for the producer it was only a few years before he was once again working in the studios with big names such as Willie Nelson, the Supremes, B.B. King, and the Staple Singers. Productions from the contemporary New Orleans perspective include the Orchid in the Storm album by Aaron Neville. He also was behind two excellent big-band albums by Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown. Quezergue also created an extended composition entitled "A Creole Mass." A much-anticipated anthology of some of his work, Strung Out, was finally issued in 2006 by Grapevine Records. Quezergue had, by that time, been wiped out financially by the effects of Hurricane Katrina, although benefit concerts led by Dr. John and others helped him stabilize. He was also the subject of a tribute show in 2009 at the Lincoln Center in New York, featuring appearances from Dr. John, Robert Parker, Jean Knight, the Dixie Cups, Zigaboo Modeliste, and others. He died in Metairie, Louisiana in September 2011 at the age of 81, a victim of congestive heart failure. ~ Eugene Chadbourne

AOL Radio Stations Wardell Quezergue is Featured on (1)

Wardell Quezergue

This station plays the best music from and music from related artists like The Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Joe Saulsbury, Jr., Roderick Paulin, Earl King, Brass Monkey, New Birth Brass Band, Motor City Street Band, Johnny Adams, Tommy Ridgley, Johnny "Guitar" Watson and more.

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Wardell Quezergue's Selected Discography (5)

After the Math: the St. Agnes Sessions

13 Songs

Music for Children Ages 3 to 103

12 Songs

Strung Out

COLLECTION200620 Songs

Don't Be No Square, Get Hip to Quezerque

COLLECTION200523 Songs

Sixty Smokin' Soul Senders

COLLECTION200560 Songs

All Albums

Artists Related to Wardell Quezergue (50)

	The Dirty Dozen Brass Band	In their prime, the Dirty Dozen Brass Band successfully mixed together R&B with the instrumentation of a New Orleans brass band.
	Joe Saulsbury, Jr.
	Roderick Paulin
	Earl King	Highly respected around his Crescent City home base as both a performer and a songwriter, guitarist Earl King was a prime New Orleans R&B force for more than four decades.
	Brass Monkey
	New Birth Brass Band	The New Birth Brass Band are part of a long line in the New Orleans brass band tradition, but their relative youth means their music yields an eclectic set of musical genres.
	Motor City Street Band
	Johnny Adams	Renowned around his Crescent City home base as "the Tan Canary" for his extraordinary set of soulfully soaring pipes, veteran R&B vocalist Johnny Adams tackled an exceptionally wide variety of material for Rounder in his later years; elegantly rendered tribute albums to legendary songwriters Doc Pomus and Percy Mayfield preceded forays into mellow, jazzier pastures.
	Tommy Ridgley	Tommy Ridgley was on the Crescent City R&B scene when it first caught fire, and he remained a proud part of that same scene until his death in 1999.
	Johnny "Guitar" Watson	"Reinvention" could just as easily have been Johnny "Guitar" Watson's middle name. The multi-talented performer parlayed his stunning guitar skills into a vaunted reputation as one of the hottest blues axemen on the West Coast during the 1950s.
	Eddie Jones
	The Soul Rebels	The New Orleans group the Soul Rebels, which combines elements of hip-hop with a traditional brass band sound, was formed by former drum majors from the marching bands of Southern, Grambling, and Texas Southern University.
	Robert Parker	Saxman and singer Robert Parker is one of the originals in postwar New Orleans R&B and rock & roll, his career starting out right alongside the likes of Fats Domino and Dave Bartholomew.
	Dave Bartholomew	Dave Bartholomew is the multi-talented figure behind a majority of classic New Orleans R&B of the '50s and the self-proclaimed inventor of the "Big Beat.
	James Booker	Certainly one of the most flamboyant New Orleans pianists in recent memory, James Carroll Booker III was a major influence on the local rhythm & blues scene in the '50s and '60s.
	Barbara George	With her lone hit "I Know (You Don't Love Me No More)," singer Barbara George recorded one of New Orleans R&B's definitive crossover smashes.
	Treme Brass Band	The Treme Brass Band is one of the nouveau brass bands in New Orleans that owes a musical debt to both the late, great Danny Barker, who jump-started the dying brass band tradition with his Fairview Baptist Church School for Brass Bands, and the innovative Dirty Dozen Brass Band.
	Billy Preston	It's advantageous to get an early start on your chosen career, but Billy Preston took the concept to extremes.
	Professor Longhair	Justly worshipped a decade and a half after his death as a founding father of New Orleans R&B, Roy "Professor Longhair" Byrd was nevertheless so down-and-out at one point in his long career that he was reduced to sweeping the floors in a record shop that once could have moved his platters by the boxful.
	Guitar Slim	No 1950s blues guitarist even came close to equaling the flamboyant Guitar Slim in the showmanship department.
	Smiley Lewis	Dave Bartholomew has often been quoted to the effect that Smiley Lewis was a "bad luck singer," because he never sold more than 100,000 copies of his Imperial singles.
	Diz & The Doormen	Led by British pianist/vocalist Diz Watson, Diz and the Doomen imported the sounds of New Orleans-style R&B and rock to the United Kingdom in the early-1980s.
	Barbara Lynn	Singer/guitarist Barbara Lynn was a rare commodity during her heyday. Not only was she a female instrumentalist (one of the very first to hit the charts), but she also played left-handed -- quite well at that -- and even wrote some of her own material.
	Rufus Thomas	Few of rock & roll's founding figures are as likable as Rufus Thomas. From the 1940s onward, he has personified Memphis music; his small but witty cameo role in Jim Jarmusch's Mystery Train, a film which satirizes and enshrines the city's role in popular culture, was entirely appropriate.
	Papa Mali	Guitarist, singer, songwriter, and producer Papa Mali certainly puts his own distinctive spin on American vernacular music and it shows in his live performances and on several of his excellent solo albums.
	Bob French	The son of New Orleans banjo player Albert "Papa" French, drummer/vocalist Bob French is a journeyman New Orleans musician who has played with a variety of artists including New Orleans R&B legends Dave Bartholomew and James "Sugarboy" Crawford as well as rock & roll icon Fats Domino and many others.
	Ike & Tina Turner	As husband and wife, Ike & Tina Turner headed up one of the most potent live acts on the R&B circuit during the '60s and early '70s.
	Rebirth Brass Band	As New Orleans music became more popular in the Northeast and festivals around the U.S. in the 1980s, two prominent brass bands from New Orleans took their music on the road: the Rebirth Brass Band and the Dirty Dozen Brass Band.
	The Excello Legends
	Snooks Eaglin	When they referred to consistently amazing guitarist Snooks Eaglin as a human jukebox in his New Orleans hometown, they weren't dissing him in the slightest.
	Duster Bennett	Duster Bennett was a British blues singer and harmonica player. He signed to Mike Vernon's Blue Horizon label in 1967 and was backed on his debut album, Smiling Like I'm Happy (1968), by members of Fleetwood Mac.
	Betty Harris	Renowned in deep soul circles for the devastating ballad "Cry to Me," singer Betty Harris was born in Orlando, FL, in 1941 and raised primarily in Alabama.
	Henry Butler	Henry Butler's blues-based, New Orleans funk-style piano playing is not for every blues fan, to be sure.
	Bluesiana Triangle	This group was formed by Dr. John (keyboards, guitar, vocals), David Newman (sax, flute), and Art Blakey (drums).
	Esther Phillips	Esther Phillips was perhaps too versatile for her own good, at least commercially speaking; while she was adept at singing blues, early R&B, gritty soul, jazz, straight-up pop, disco, and even country, her record companies often lacked a clear idea of how to market her, which prevented her from reaching as wide an audience as she otherwise might have.
	Al Johnson	Al Johnson's "Carnival Time" is as much a part of the Mardi Gras tradition in New Orleans as parades, floats, and masked revelers.
	Aaron Neville	Although Aaron Neville is often compared to singer Sam Cooke in terms of sheer vocal refinement, he has a voice and style uniquely his own.
	Maxine Brown	Although she never had many hits, Maxine Brown was one of the most underrated soul and R&B vocalists of the '60s.
	Neville Brothers	Throughout their long careers as both solo performers and as members of the group that bore their family name, the Neville Brothers proudly carried the torch of their native New Orleans' rich R&B legacy.
	The Showmen	The Showmen were one of the R&B groups to bridge the gap between doo wop and soul in the early '60s, creating a buoyant, energetic fusion of harmonies and propulsive R&B beats.
	Shrimp City Slim	Shrimp City Slim, whose real name is Gary Erwin, was born in Chicago, IL, in 1953. He learned to play piano as a teenager, and soon found himself drawn to the blues.
	Michael Coleman	Before becoming one of Chicago's hottest electric blues guitarists, Michael Coleman began his career playing alongside James Cotton for nearly a decade.
	Marvin Gaye	One of the most gifted, visionary, and enduring talents ever launched into orbit by the Motown hit machine, Marvin Gaye blazed the trail for the continued evolution of popular black music.
	Suzanne Couch	Suzanne Couch is a singer, pianist, and songwriter who writes wonderfully nuanced songs of love in the contemporary world, and although the lilt and rhythms of her native Jamaica are defintely present in her work, she is first and foremost an R&B singer with a pop reach and a jazz range.
	The Tymes	The Tymes began as the Latineers in 1956. This Philadelphia ensemble's founding members were Donald Banks, Albert Berry, Norman Burnett, and George Hilliard.
	B.B. King	Universally hailed as the reigning king of the blues, the legendary B.B. King is without a doubt the single most important electric guitarist of the last half century.
	B.B. King Blues Band
	The Wild Magnolias	Though more a ceremonial group than a performing or touring band, the New Orleans Mardi Gras "Indian Tribe" the Wild Magnolias issued a critically acclaimed LP for Polydor in 1974.
	Chuck Jackson	He's relatively forgotten today, and his brand of uptown soul is dismissed by the relatively vocal clique of critics who prefer their soul deep and down-home.
	Robert Solomon