Artist:   Allen Toussaint
Song:   "What Is Success"
Album: The Allen Toussaint Collection
Label:   Reprise
Year:    1971

Known more for his songwriting and production smarts, Allen Toussaint is also one of New Orleans’ most soulful singers, which is really saying something. His voice is an instrument of coolness; he never breaks a sweat while he’s edging out the competition with just a few deft moves here and there. It’s like throwing elbows the referee doesn’t see. Most of Toussaint’s hit songs were made famous by others: Al Hirt’s “Java,” Herb Alpert’s “Whipped Cream,” Lee Dorsey’s “Working in the Coal Mine,” Irma Thomas’ “It’s Raining”-- the list is nearly endless. But once he started singing, he hit the monkey nerve right away, nowhere more mightily than on this track from his self-titled 1971 album. The music starts with some low female moans, sounding like they’re coming from Pirate’s Alley behind St. Louis Cathedral in the French Quarter. The drummer plays around the beat with an easeful finesse, getting back to the one whenever he damn well pleases, while Allen Toussaint reminds us of the nasty lessons of capitalism, all the while pushing the groove right down the middle of Esplanade Avenue asking that age-old question: “What is success?” There is a sweetness to his voice that pulls us close, knowing we can trust the man with even more than our money. Irregular piano embellishments are matched by heavenly horns and a solo section built of more of those lovely moans, matched by an openness big enough for the St. Charles streetcar to slide through.  By the end of the whole affair, Toussaint is moaning right along with the ladies, always a sure sign of success, and guiding listeners to a better way of living courtesy of the Crescent City way of knowledge.