Fact: During his four decade reign as the undisputed king of zydeco, Clifton Chenier recorded live albums all over the world—Norway, Denmark, Switzerland, France, Canada, to name a few.
In California, live sites included Berkeley, San Francisco, Richmond, and Long Beach. Fact: As prolific as Chenier was when the tape was rolling, oddly enough, it wasn’t until 1981 when Chenier recorded his only live album in his native Louisiana at Lafayette’s Grant Street.
Yet, the story of why this album was never available until now is a perplexing one. Chenier arranged and financed the whole affair himself but never availed this recording to the public during his lifetime. Eight years later (1989) and two years after his death, Chenier’s widow Margaret Chenier sold the master tapes to Arhoolie, the record company for whom he recorded during the ’60s and the ’70s.
Yet, the fact remains that Live! At Grant Street also happens to be among the best of Chenier’s live recordings. Joined by brother Cleveland on rubboard, son C.J. on sax and Robert Peter on drums (the guitar and bass players are listed as “unknown”), Chenier hits the ground running from the opening number “Mon Fait Mon L’ide” and carries that momentum through the encore track “‘Tit Mama’s Zydeco.”
Chenier plays every flavor of zydeco imaginable, spirited stomp-down zydeco; swing, quasi big band style zydeco and slow groovin’ zydeco. There’s also hard drivin’ blues, shuffling blues and the occasional touching ballad like the inspired rendition of blues shouter Chuck Willis’ “What Am I Living For?” As drummer Peter whips the beat into next week, the elder and the younger Cheniers weave their accordion and sax ceremoniously together, in essence communicating on another plane.
No matter how many times you may heard Chenier before, his showmanship, instrumental prowess and his unmistakable voice that could mimic the tenor notes of the accordion never resemble a second-hand listen. He was a master of countless things but rarely could another accordionist emulate those shrill notes that screamed like those from the king of zydeco.
Fact: Released nearly two decades later, Live! At Grant Street was well worth the wait. The world can never be reminded enough of the legacy of Clifton Chenier.
