'Saint of Soul

Legendary New Orleans tunesmith Allen Toussaint has enjoyed a well-deserved career resurgence of late, crafting a critically acclaimed post-Katrina protest record with Elvis Costello a few years back (2006's The River in Reverse) and seeing his 1971 classic "Sweet Touch of Love" resurrected in a surprisingly charming ad for Axe body spray--you know, the one with the guy made out of chocolate. His current tour brings him to Bass Hall this Friday, where he'll perform selections from his newest record, The Bright Mississippi--a collection of jazz standards recorded with noted producer Joe Henry--and hopefully a smattering of songs from his woefully underappreciated '70s solo albums (Allen Toussaint, Southern Nights, and Life, Love and Faith) and '60s productions with Lee Dorsey and the Meters (Sing it with me now: "Working in a coal mine/Goin' down, down, down/Workin' in a coal mine/Whoop, about to slip down.") The show kicks off at 8 p.m. Friday with a set from Texas blues belter Marcia Ball. Tickets are $25 to $35. Bass Hall is located at Fourth and Calhoun Streets in Fort Worth. Call 1-877-212-4280 or visit basshall.com.
Fri., Sept. 11, 8 p.m., 2009