Bad Boy Unleashed

Mac Rebennack, who would gain fame under the pseudonym Dr. John, had become a valued composer, as well as a skilled keybordist and guitarist by his late teens. He played with bands in his home ity of New Orleans, cooking up a gumbo of rhythm & blues, boogie, and rock & roll peppered with unleashed horns and a Creole flavor. His work was influenced greatly by pianist/songwriter Professor Longhair, who is regarded as a trailblazing pioneer of New Orleans-style R&B.

"What fans heard in these four {Lyceum} shows was both a history of the Dead and a survey of their unique vision of American music, from folk to rock, with blues and R&B and country-and-western and Bakersfield all included, all melded together by the improvisational spirit of American jazz in a small-group format that owed much to European classical music."