This week, the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival will mark the centennial of the birth of the King of Zydeco — Louisiana music great Clifton Chenier. Performers Marcia Ball, Sonny Landreth and Chenier’s son C.J. will lead a tribute to the legendary accordionist at 5:50 p.m. Friday, May 2, on the Sheraton New Orleans Fais Do-Do Stage.
Born June 25, 1925, in Opelousas, Louisiana, Chenier’s father Joseph, also a musician, taught him to play the accordion as a child. According to the National Endowment for the Arts, by the time he was 16, Chenier and his older brother Cleveland (who played the washboard) were regular entertainers at house parties, fais do-do dances and larger clubs and dance halls. Chenier developed his own musical style combining elements of French Creole music, Cajun music and rhythm and blues.
In 1954, recording scout J.R. Fulbright heard the Chenier brothers play and hired them to record “Louisiana Stomp” and “Clifton’s Blues.” These two tracks are among the earliest recorded examples of what is now known as zydeco. Chenier would continue to record and tour the country with his bands the Zydeco Ramblers and Red Hot Louisiana Band…