Etta James, Dr. John & Allen Toussaint - Soundstage, WTTW Studios, Chicago, IL, 1982

"Soundstage" was a hour-long concert TV show created by the Chicago TV station WTTW. It ran from 1974 to 1985, then again from 2003 to 2018. It was picked up and shown around the US mainly by PBS, but some other stations too. Whoever picked the artists for this show must have known and loved music, because they made some interesting choices. Occasionally, they had artists join together, such as this show, which has the inspired union of Etta James, Dr. John, and Allen Toussaint.

It you want to know more about them, I've posted individual albums by all three of them. (For Allen Toussaint, he was featured as part of my Covered series.) In short, Etta James was an acclaimed soul and blues singer, while Dr. John and Allen Toussaint were both closely associated with the music of New Orleans.

For this show, the three of them appeared on stage in various combinations, with a band backing them. For the song titles, I've only included those who could be heard singing. But it was often the case that Dr. John or Allen Toussaint were still on stage helping out by playing piano. And on some songs Dr. John played guitar instead, which was unusual for him at this point in his career. I know this because one can watch the video of the whole show on YouTube.

I did a little bit of editing and cutting. For instance, there were some short interview segments crammed in between some of the songs that clearly were filmed at a different place and time. I cut all those out. I'm sure there was more to this concert than what we have here. The makers had to fit it into an hour slot. So, for instance, it seems some of the banter before songs were cut. Even some of the songs were cut, especially the last one, "What I'd Say," which fades out after only a minute. But I figure having some of the concert is better than having none of it.

Unfortunately, it seems the vast majority of the Soundstage shows are not available on the Internet. I only have this one, plus a 2007 one by John Fogerty that I've posted here, and a 1985 one by Aretha Franklin which I have not yet. If anyone has more, let me know so I can share them.

01 Groove Me (Etta James, Dr. John & Allen Toussaint)
02 Such a Night (Dr. John)
03 Right Place, Wrong Time (Dr. John)
04 Something's Got a Hold on Me (Etta James)
05 talk (Etta James)
06 Tell Mama (Etta James)
07 talk (Etta James)
08 Sugar on the Floor (Etta James)
09 I'd Rather Go Blind (Etta James & Dr. John)
10 What Do You Want the Girl to Do (Allen Toussaint)
11 With You in Mind (Allen Toussaint)
12 Life (Dr. John & Allen Toussaint)
13 Amazing Grace (Etta James, Dr. John & Allen Toussaint)
14 What'd I Say (Etta James, Dr. John & Allen Toussaint)

https://www.imagenetz.de/ezuEg

For the cover, I took a screenshot from the YouTube video. From right to left, that's James singing, Toussaint on piano, and John on guitar.