Local piano wunderkind recounts an experience of a lifetime
At 19, classically trained Baton Rouge native Michael McDowell moves deftly from George Winston to Elton John, from the concert hall to the Catholic mass.
The music composition major at LSU recently played his first headlining show at Manship Theatre, but it was a different concert at the downtown venue last fall that became an early career highlight for the Capital City’s promising young piano man.
Toward the end of a rousing show by iconic New Orleans jazz artist Allen Toussaint, the acclaimed Rock and Roll Hall of Famer brought McDowell up on stage to play for a five-minute, completely improvised jam. Side by side. No safety net. Fingers flying across the same set of keys.
McDowell’s solo shows include original compositions and his own vibrant variations on classics from Eric Clapton to Andrew Lloyd Weber. But in his own words, McDowell gives 225 his wide-eyed recollection of a spontaneous performance with a living legend:
“Honestly, I didn’t know too many details about Toussaint’s career before seeing him play, but being that the show was at the Manship and from what I knew of him, I trusted that it was going to be good. I was in the second row, right there. I could throw a paper airplane and hit him.
The style he played really grabbed me. When I play, my right hand—the treble—is my primary melody maker. He was doing stuff with his left hand that I thought, ‘My God, I can’t do that with my right!’ He was blowing away what I could do with my good hand with his ‘bad’ one.
There were two unfilled seats on the front row for most of the concert. Finally two people came in and sat there, and I noticed Toussaint smile at them. I later found out they were friends of his. So during the encore, he looks toward them and says, ‘We have a talented bass guitarist in the front row, would you like to come play a song?’
The woman was very apologetic and gracious in declining his offer, so Toussaint turns and says, ‘Are there any piano players in the house?’
There’s something about being that guy, the guy super eager to get on stage like that, that I try not to be. I was there with my parents, and my mom told me to raise my hand. I was hesitant. But I wasn’t worried it would go badly, so I raised my hand, and he motioned for me to come up.
Michael McDowell plays along jazz artist Allen Toussaint at at Manship Theatre. Courtesy Boyd W. Crochet
They were jamming on a basic 12-bar blues. I asked him what key he was in. ‘C,’ he said.
I sat down, and the crowd was relatively quiet by then. I took off with it, and the crowd got into it. It felt like I was way out of my league—which I was—but at the same time, after 10 seconds, I just thought, ‘I gotta live it up!’
At first I was barely sitting on the edge of this small piano bench. But as we played, I got comfortable and started pushing him over a bit to get more space on the bench.
There were times that, musically, the band could have ended it, but we kept going. Toussaint gave me complete, nice solo sections, which was great. He was a very humble performer, and he guided me through the improvisation.
Then, at the end, he told me to say my name. Now, if you can have expectations for a moment like that, it went way beyond. I think for every musician who goes to see an incredible artist, there’s a little part of you that hopes they’ll say, ‘Is there anyone here who wants to play?’ It was the perfect scenario and the best concert I’d ever been to.
When the band stopped, Toussaint got up and took a bow and gestured for me to do the same. The crowd was loud. And at this point it all hit me at once, and I started shaking.
My toes came up off the ground so I was just standing back on my heels, and when I went to bow it turned into this kind of kneeling bow to Toussaint. I don’t really like doing that, bowing to people, you know, but in that moment it seemed appropriate. The whole thing felt like a godsend. It was definitely a divine experience.”
