Dr. John

Physician of the keys Mac Rebennack, who borrowed his more famous moniker from a legendary Crescent City hoodoo practitioner, has hisself (as he is wont to say) achieved iconic status after a half-century or so of casting insidious, spidery spells on the ivories. He was inducted into the Blues Foundation's Hall of Fame last spring. But more important, he and Allen Toussaint are the greatest living representatives of the great, inveterately quirky New Orleans piano tradition, which ranges back through Professor Longhair all the way to Jelly Roll Morton. Mac has thrived on that gris gris spirit, but has also wandered on occasion into stricter jazz and standards territory, releasing fine, gumbo-drizzled tributes to Duke Ellington and, most recently, Johnny Mercer. He's also been an outspoken advocate for New Orleans since it was devastated by Katrina, recording a powerful EP, Sippiana Hericane, almost immediately, and telling it like it is (to borrow from another New Orleanian) in no uncertain terms. Mac will play solo all three nights of his Dakota residency, trickin' out those trademark triplets, invoking the spirits of Fess and Duke, assuredly making it the right place at the right time. $50 at 7:30 p.m.; $35 at 9:30 p.m.
Mondays-Wednesdays. Starts: Nov. 19. Continues through Nov. 21, 2007