event details

Allen Toussaint and The Hot Seats

Monday 19th January 2009, 8.00pm

Old Fruitmarket :

Please Note: This is a past event event.

One of the most influential figures in New Orleans rhythm and blues, many of Allen Toussaint’s songs have become familiar through their numerous cover versions, including Working in the Coalmine, Ride Your Pony, Brickyard Blues, Get Out Of My Life Woman, Southern Nights and Everything I Do Gonna Be Funky.

Although better known as a hugely influential hitmaker for other artists – including Lee Dorsey, Otis Redding, Bonnie Raitt and our own Frankie Miller, among umpteen others, he makes a rare live appearance here singing his own material, accompanied by the peerless piano-playing learned from his legendary mentor, Professor Longhair.

Formerly trading as Special Ed & the Shortbus, Virginia quintet The Hot Seats have been described by The Herald as “the love-children of Bill Monroe and Frank Zappa”. Their exuberantly high-octane performances, cooking up bluegrass, skiffle, vaudeville, blues and jug-band flavours, won a Herald Angel award at last summer’s Edinburgh Fringe.