Diz & The Doormen

Led by Uk pianist/vocalist Diz Watson, Diz as well as the Doomen brought in the seems of New Orleans-style R&B and rock and roll to the uk within the early-1980s. Their 1981 debut recording, Bluecoat Man presented guest looks by New Orleans-born saxophonist Lee Allen and trumpeter Roger Lewis from the Dirty Dozen Brass Band and included such traditional New Orleans music as “Blow Blowing wind Blow”, “Mardi Gras In New Orleans” and “Ill And Exhausted”. An early on contributor towards the music group, Charlie Hart, bass participant for the Ronnie Street Band, explained the group’s exclusive strategy as “not the same as the average English R&B Rings playing lumpy shuffles. The music was rhumba-based, rhythmically complicated and echoed Africa.”