Hardly Anonymous

Every so often we Baganauts juggle ideas about new content & features. Tinkerings & monkeyings designed to keep the site ‘cutting-edge’ while still remaining streamlined & web-worthy. Awhile back I hatched the hare-brained idea of a section devoted to the trumpeting of unsung maestros from each of our personal pantheons of ‘artists.’ Basically brief biographic blurbs and more intimate musings on why a particular so-and-so matters. The idea was wisely torpedoed by my comrades, but I’ve found myself mulling over again and again the folks on my own ballot that don’t ever seem to get the fair slice of consideration they deserve.

Chief among them for me, at least today, is the guy in the photo above: Cleveland Chenier. Next month marks what would be his 83rd birthday as well as the 13th anniversary of his death. Cleveland spent essentially his entire career hunched in the shadow of his younger brother Clifton, the widely touted King of Zydeco. He even played ‘second-fiddle’ to Clifton’s son C.J. when the lad took over leadership of his dad’s Red Hot Louisiana Band. Frottoir just wasn’t deemed a lead instrument, I guess.

Clifton might have held the marquee name, but to my ears Cleveland was every bit as important to the band’s success and longevity. His raw hypnotic rhythms shaped from thimble hooks scraped in syncopated patterns across his corrugated metal vest are one of the signature elements of Zydeco by my estimation. Instantly recognizable and transfixing in their precise, yet loose-sounding ability to braid around whatever’s going on in the band. Arhoolie holds the rights to a huge chunk of his recorded work (just like that of his brother) and on the dozen or so discs on which he appears, I’ve always been inspired by the quality and consistency of his contributions. In a walnut shell, he set the standard by which all other rubboards players would be and are judged. Much the same way that Jerome Green revolutionized the role of maraca playing in rock music on Bo Diddley’s early records for Chess/Checker.

I realize that in the larger scheme none of this really means a damn, but Cleveland, wherever you are, thank you for the music! As in so many other cases, Jackie McLean’s old adage: “give them their flowers while they’re still with is” seems apropos here. By extension, I’m still curious what sorts of picks others might come up with. Care to share?