Jimmy Buffett: Allen Toussaint was a friend and a hero
By Lawrence Specker | lspecker@al.com AL.com
Coastal troubadour Jimmy Buffett has added his voice to those praising Allen Toussaint, the legendary New Orleans composer who died Tuesday.
Toussaint, whose work as a composer, songwriter and performer made him a standout on the New Orleans music scene, and an ambassador for the city, suffered a heart attack while on tour in Europe. On Thursday, Buffett posted a tribute on Facebook.
"It is rare in anybody's life that your heroes wind up being your close friends," he began. "More than often those we worship from afar don't quite measure up, the closer you get to them. Allen was simply one of the good guys. "Behind his immense talent, was a mind, a heart and sense of humour few of us are blessed with,"
Buffett wrote. "Sitting here in Jamaica carrying on with my world, I am missing him from afar. My thoughts and prayers are with those who are missing him up close today in his beloved New Orleans. I too will soon miss him close. When I realize I can't text him about the Saints. When I go to New Orleans next week and there realize, that we can't have dinner and talk about new talent in the city or plan fishing trips on Long Island next summer. That is when I will know that he is gone. But as the good nuns and brothers used to tell us, 'The soul lives forever.'
Too many gifted people either squander their talent or never get to see themselves and their work appreciated fully. That was certainly not the case with the 'Maestro.' He has left to the city he loved so much, a legacy, in my humble opinion, equal to Louis Armstrong. The body of work that his soul produced is hard to wrap your head around. Allen went out doing what he loved -playing for people. You can't ask for more than that."
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Buffett went on to say he planned to take Toussaint with him, figuratively speaking, as he went out on the water that day on the north shore of Jamaica. "and when I get far from shore I am gonna sing to the top of my voice to the mountains behind me, the fish below, me and the birds above me" a few lines from Toussaint's "Optimism Blues."
The full text of Buffett's post can be found at www.facebook.com/jimmybuffett.
Buffett and Toussaint had worked together extensively, and Toussaint even wrote a song titled "I'm Gonna Hang with Jimmy Buffett."
Among other significant appearances, Toussaint was prominently featured at a free performance Buffett gave on the public beach in Gulf Shores in July 2010, following the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.