I'm not exactly sure how many singles Oliver Morgan cut. I can count six, but I wouldn't be surprised if there's another couple of rare ones floating around. Anyway, the number is pretty small, which is surprising given that he had one of New Orleans' hottest bands during much of the sixties.
After scoring a fair sized national hit with, Who Shot The La La, the rest of his recordings seem to have been a purely local phenomenon, as most of his output falls into the category of 'Mardi Gras song', usually by design.
A born showman, Morgan's live show was all about having a good time, invariably ending with him leading the audience in a second line parade while twirling the traditional tasseled umbrella of Baron Samedi [yep, the jazz funeral is essentially voudoun in nature].
Funny, but this is starting to sound like a memorial...and I guess that's apropos, as Morgan is missed. He died in Atlanta, where he landed after Katrina, in 2007. Most include his death in the huge statistical spike in 'natural' deaths which occurred after the storm. A spike so large that the leading health authority in New Orleans testified before Congress that as far he was concerned the number of people who died as a result of Katrina should be raised by a factor of four.
Morgan's heart truly was in the 9th Ward....bless him for that.
Normally I'd post both sides of a record like this, but not only is Part 2 very similar to Part 1, it's also true that the very cute horn part in the song will literally drive you up the wall after more than three minutes.
From 1969...
Sad to hear of his death, and to think of all those other unneccessary deaths after Katrina. W.
ReplyDelete