Wacky doctor performs surgically on the black & whites

One of those wacky doctors was wailing away on a Steinway & Sons, tinkling ivories in a rather unorthodox version of Swanee River opening a rather interesting show on PBS Friday night.

That “wacky doctor”? None other than Hugh Laurie of Fox’s House committing bluesy renditions of standards on Hugh Laurie: Let Them Talk – A Celebration of New Orleans Blues.

Throughout the program, we got to witness a very different side of Laurie (different to quite a few people, I imagine) while he was on a mission of discovery trotting around spots in the southern states. New Orleans was his ultimate goal and it was a treat to see him reach his dream’s culmination of stepping through the door of The Big Easy and, ultimately, jamming and recording with some pretty profound names in its fabled history. Along the way, we witnessed Laurie playing, singing and swooning in local dives and in The Quarter proper with Allen Toussant, Tom Jones (damned straight Jones does blues, bottom video below) and even The Soul Queen of New Orleans Irma Thomas.

Did Laurie have the chops to jam with these icons of renown? Absolutely. His voice is hit and miss tune to tune (as was evidence of his duet with Irma — he just didn’t measure up in the vocal department during that stint), but there’s no doubt he can pound a piano, no doubt he feels the music. Hearing his take on St. James Infirmary (below) was rather swoony as was his performance with Toussant, Jones and Thomas on Baby Please Make A Change.

Upon entering New Orleans in a loaned bright red Ford Galaxy 500 ragtop, Laurie sniffs the air and mentions to the camera he can “smell the funk” of New Orleans.

There is no question Laurie’s got a lot of that funk inside him, English though he may be.

Laurie Quotes:

“There’s really only two categories of music that matter: Good and bad. Everything else is just indexing.”

“Life is the major key and death is the minor key.”

Clacked by Michael Noble
on Oct 01, 2011 @ 10:53 EST5EDT