Bob French, longtime Original Tuxedo Jazz Band leader and WWOZ deejay, has died
Bob French, the longtime leader and drummer of the Original Tuxedo
Jazz Band and an outspoken, at times controversial, WWOZ-FM deejay, died
on Monday, Nov. 12, after a long illness. He was 74.
Mr. French last performed with the Original Tuxedo Jazz Band in the
summer of 2011. Afflicted with dementia and suffering from
diabetes-related complications, he then moved into an assisted-living
facility.
Mr. French grew up immersed in the traditional sounds of New Orleans.
His father, banjo player Albert "Papa" French, took over the Original
Tuxedo Jazz Band in the 1950s after the death of Oscar "Papa" Celestin,
who founded the group in 1910.
As a young man, Mr. French rejected his father's music in favor of
rhythm and blues. His first gig in 1954 included Art and Charles Neville
and piano wizard James Booker. One day, Papa French recruited his son
to fill in for the Original Tuxedo's ailing drummer. Bob French was so
mortified by his sloppy performance that he committed himself to a
proper study of traditional New Orleans jazz.
When Papa French died in 1977, his son took over the Original Tuxedo
Jazz Band. Under Bob French’s leadership, the band expanded its
repertoire during an itinerant existence around town. He restored the
Original Tuxedo to Bourbon Street in 2009 via a Monday night residency at Irvin Mayfield's Jazz Playhouse in
the Royal Sonesta Hotel. That he would work at a club owned by
Mayfield, whom Mr. French occasionally bashed on the airwaves, caught
some observers by surprise. "I love to play music, and I love
money," Mr. French said by way of explanation. "And I get both of them
there."
After his retirement in 2011, his nephew, Gerald French, took over the drum chair and leadership of the band.
His blunt talk, strong opinions and force of personality earned him
detractors; an altercation with a fellow WWOZ deejay reportedly got him
booted off the air. But he also had his fans, including Harry Connick
Jr. and Branford Marsalis. Both appeared on Mr. French’s 2007 CD,
"Marsalis Music Honors Bob French," issued by Marsalis' namesake record
label. Both stars also joined him for a performance in the Jazz Tent at
that year’s New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival presented by Shell.
Thanks to Connick's and Marsalis' involvement, that CD was the most
prominent of Mr. French’s 50-year career. It was smartly produced and
played, beautifully packaged and distributed around the globe. Across 11
tracks, the drummer and his band revisited well-traveled standards,
including "When the Saints Go Marching In," which Mr. French generally
declined to perform onstage.
In the fall of 2006, Marsalis served as guest editor of the glossy
jazz magazine DownBeat, and put Mr. French on the cover. It was a rare
turn in the national spotlight for a musician who was more familiar
with the six sets a night, six nights a week grind. He spent years at
the now-defunct Crazy Shirley's at the corner of Bourbon and St. Peter
streets in the French Quarter, where patrons included a young Quint
Davis, the future producer of Jazz Fest.
As a bandleader, Mr. French took his father's lessons to heart:
Charge a higher fee than competitors. Dress sharp. Most important, be on
time. None of his father's rules apparently forbade drinking on the
job, as Mr. French liked to sip between songs.
"I'm not an alcoholic," he sometimes joked. "I'm a drunk. There's a difference."
From behind his drums, Mr. French kept a watchful eye. He did not
permit fans to videotape his shows, and he did not tolerate musicians
who made mistakes.
After Hurricane Katrina, he used his position at WWOZ as a bully
pulpit to berate elected officials he believed let the city down. Both
on air and onstage, he returned to similar themes. "In God we trust, all
others pay cash" was a favorite expression. He often referenced red
beans as an indicator of his economic status or as an inducement for
fans to buy CDs.
His radio vocabulary was much milder than his off-air speech, which
he peppered with f-bombs in all their permutations. His broadcasts
functioned like a live-action Blackberry. He'd address the likes of
Charmaine Neville or Dr. John over the airways: "I need a phone number.
Call me back. It's important."
During one two hour-session on the air in the summer of 2007,
he lobbied former WWOZ deejay Michael "Mr. Jazz" Gourrier for a free
lunch; expounded on singer Tricia "Sista Teedy" Boutte's sore throat and
good looks; chatted with in-studio guests Cyril and Gaynielle Neville;
commented on the romantic limitations of advancing age; bashed the Rev.
Jesse Jackson and Mayor Ray Nagin; and spun a diverse program of mostly
traditional, mostly local, jazz. His radio playlists favored the likes
of Louis Armstrong, Dr. John, trumpeter Lionel Ferbos, pianist-composer
Matt Lemmler, hot jazz singer Ingrid Lucia.
"This show gives me the chance to play what I think is cool," Mr.
French once said. "Some people call and say, 'You're not playing any
traditional jazz.' Well, it's my show. I can do whatever the f--- I
want.' "
Mr. French could sometimes work against himself. During a Los Angeles
taping of the now-defunct NBC-TV show "Studio 60 On the Sunset Strip,”
he ran afoul of the show’s producers. He was cut from the scene that
featured Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews and other New Orleanians.
In the mid-2000s, the Original Tuxedo Jazz Band’s Monday night
residency bounced around to several clubs, including Donna's, Ray's Boom
Boom Room, Cafe Brasil and d.b.a., after his relationship with each
club’s proprietor soured.
Privately, Jazz Fest staffers complained about his demands, attitude
and bluster. He was not surprised. "I cuss them out," he once said. "I'm
not afraid of Quint. I have to fight for every dollar I get.
"(Losing) one gig is not going to hurt me. Two gigs is not going to
hurt me. I'm older now. Thank God I get a check every month from Uncle
Sam and from the musicians' union. I live alone. I can cook a pot of red
beans and eat off of it for three days.
"I don't have to kiss nobody's ass. I'm at the point in my life where
I can do what I want. All my children are married and gone, and I'm
home alone. When I've eaten, everybody has eaten."
Of his tenure at WWOZ, he said, "I do a lot I'm not supposed to do,
but nobody stops me. I think it's good that somebody can do something
that's not automatic. I'm not a robot; I'm a human being. And I've
always been opinionated. Ask both of my ex-wives."
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