The Silver Spring Penguin

Photo: Allen Toussaint. Courtesy of Flickr user dsb nola.

Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Allen Toussaint has been booked as the headlining act at this year’s jazz festival, Silver Spring’s special events coordinator announced.

The New Orleans native gets major props for overseeing the transition of ragtime jazz and Delta blues into contemporary R&B, according to the Hall of Fame’s website. In the early 1960s, the pianist (pronounced PEE-an-ist) penned early rock hits like Ernie K-Doe’s slinky “Mother-in-Law” and Lee Dorsey’s huffing and puffing “Working in the Coal Mine”.

Later, Toussaint produced Dr John’s funky “Right Place, Wrong Time” and the song to end all songs, Labelle’s “Lady Marmalade” (below). His contribution to the 2005 benefit album “Our New Orleans” inspired him to drop his latest album, “The Bright Mississippi” (2009), a throwback to his ragtime roots.

Preceding Touissant onstage will be Anacostia’s Madison Sweet Heaven Kings, coordinator Susan Hoffmann told Silver Spring’s urban-district advisory committee in July. The brass ensemble has grown from 16 to 22 members and has performed in Silver Spring before — they were the opening night act at the 2007 SilverDocs film festival, Hoffmann said.

Local dudes The Unified Jazz Ensemble and Marcus Johnson are also booked to perform, Hoffmann added.

One act that won’t be at this year’s festival is the Dixieland-style parade that opened the entire show. Pulling together floats was getting too expensive, Hoffmann explained. Also, the annual competition between local jazz ensembles will go down on a smaller stage. That’ll make the festival’s pace run more smoothly, she said.

The Silver Spring jazz festival hits town on Saturday, Sep 12, starting at 3:30 p.m. Because of ongoing construction at its usual spot on Fenton Street and Ellsworth Drive, the festival must rock another, still undisclosed part of downtown Silver Spring. Last year, music lovers kicked it in a parking lot along Georgia Avenue, just north of Colesville Road.