Musician Allen Toussaint is New Orleans personified. A virtuoso in his own right, you'll usually find him collobrating with others as a producer, composer, songwriter or performer. Some of those others include Elvis Costello, Elton John, Paul McCartney and Wings. So how is the one who is so talented is rarely know outside of New Orleans?
He is known, of course, to those in the music industry where he respected and venerated.
I had only peripherally heard of Toussaint before coming to the full realization of his genius in June 2009. He was on the cover of Offbeat magazine, a magazine devoted to the music of New Orleans. The photographs were so striking and then I realized I had seen him, Toussaint, just a few months prior.
While party with the Krewe of Mystery on Mystery Street in the Faubourg Bayou St. John for Jazz Fest, Toussaint drove by us. Mystery Street on the backside of the Fairgrounds and serves as the musicians' entrance for the New Orleans Heritage and Jazz Fest.
Gary and I stood on the balcony, daiquiris in hand, and watched him drive by in his gold and chocolate colored vintage Rolls Royce with a vanity plate that read simply, "PIANO". I asked Gary who that was and he didn't know.
After looking at the cover of Offbeat, I finally realized who it was in the snazzy car.
(photos by Elsa Hahne)
These photos were taken at Lenny Kravitz's French Quarter home on Dauphine. The lucite Schimmel piano is signature touch of Kravitz's and can be found almost anywhere he has been, including his Paris home in the 16th Arrondissement and the lounges of South Beach like the Delano.
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