Ske-Dat-De-Dat: The Spirit of Satch

Ske-Dat-De-Dat: The Spirit of Satch is a tribute album by American musician Dr. John, composed of thirteen songs from Louis "Satch" Armstrong's repertoire. It was released on August 19, 2014 via Proper/Concord Records, making it his final studio album before his death from a heart attack in 2019.

The album was primarily recorded at Esplanade Studios in Dr. John's hometown of New Orleans from December 10 to 13 in 2013 and January 2 to 3 in 2014, with additional recording on February 24, 2014. Recording sessions also took place at World Alert Music in New York, The Village Studios in Los Angeles, G Studios Digital in Studio City and Sugar Hill Studios in Houston for several featured artists. Production was handled by Sarah Morrow and Dr. John himself.

It features guest appearances from Arturo Sandoval, Nicholas Payton, The Blind Boys of Alabama, The McCrary Sisters, Terence Blanchard, Anthony Hamilton, Bonnie Raitt, Dirty Dozen Brass Band, James "12" Andrews, Ledisi, Mike Ladd, Shemekia Copeland, Telmary Diaz and Wendell Brunious.

In the United States, the album peaked at number 84 on the Billboard 200 and atop of both the Jazz Albums and Contemporary Jazz Albums charts.

Critical reception

Ske-Dat-De-Dat: The Spirit of Satch was met with generally favourable reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 72, based on eleven reviews.

Hal Horowitz of American Songwriter praised the album, calling it "a feisty, dynamic hour long set that does what it sets out to: captures Armstrong's indefatigable spirit and keeps his music alive for a new generation". Terry Staunton of Record Collector wrote: "though billed as a salute to Armstrong, Ske-Dat-De-Dat… could more accurately be described as a celebration of Crescent City, the magic and wonder of the burg embraced to the max on a gloriously heartwarming 'That's My Home'". AllMusic's Thom Jurek stated: "though a couple of cuts fall short of the mark, and the set may have a few too many guests, Ske-Dat-De-Dat is a solid tribute to Armstrong. It does take chances and almost always pulls them off thanks to Dr. John's signature blend of musical imagination, wit, and savvy cool". George de Stefano of PopMatters wrote: "none of them is a complete dud--Sandoval's red-hot soloing saves "Tight Like That"--they just feel like they belong on different albums. Had they been pruned, Ske-Dat-De-Dat really would have been a dream tribute to Satchmo".

In his mixed review for Drowned in Sound, Jack Doherty concluded: "there's no doubt that Skee-Dat-De-Dat...Spirit of Satch is a project of love, but by the closing stages there's no getting away from it; the album is a bit of a... drag".

Randy Lewis of the Los Angeles Times wrote that tribute albums come and go, "but it's a real rarity that can snap a listener to attention like Dr. John's new salute to jazz founding father Louis Armstrong. Ske-Dat-De-Dat turns many of the songs Armstrong recorded inside out and upside down, fast-forwarding them to 2014 with hip-hop beats, funk grooves and wildly inventive horn arrangements that are the work of John and his co-producer and arranger for the project, trombonist Sarah Morrow". Robert H. Cataliotti's review in Living Blues magazine underlines that Sarah Morrow's "dynamic, textured, and swinging horn charts play a big part in shaping all the different stylistic approaches into a unified soundscape".

Mojo ranked the album at No. 50 on its '50 Best Albums of 2014' list. It was selected as a DownBeat editor's pick.

Track listing

Personnel

Mac "Dr. John" Rebennack, Jr. – vocals (tracks: 1-5, 7, 9-13), piano, guitar (track 4), RMI keyboards (tracks: 6, 11), arrangement (tracks: 1, 5, 7, 9-11, 13), horns arrangement (track 10), producer