Wardell Quezergue, a New Orleans composer, arranger, bandleader, producer and teacher who arranged "Chapel of Love" for the Dixie Cups and was dubbed the "Creole Beethoven" by fellow musician Allen Toussaint, died Tuesday in Metairie, La. The cause was congestive heart failure. He was 81.
"What a mark he made. In fact, what several marks he made," Toussaint said. "He was just a magnificent man in every way. He was a superb musician and bandleader. He always inspired the best out of people who were playing with him."
Hits arranged by Quezergue include "Iko Iko" for the Dixie Cups, "Big Chief" for Professor Longhair, "Mr. Big Stuff" for Jean Knight and "Groove Me" for King Floyd — the last two recorded the same day in 1971 at Quezergue's Malaco Records in Jackson, Miss.
Quezergue also worked with artists as diverse as B.B. King, the Meters, Paul Simon, Stevie Wonder, Willie Nelson and the Dameans — a quintet of New Orleans priests whose folky liturgical songs were popular after the Vatican decided the Mass should be in local languages rather than Latin.
Quezergue lost his house and his collection of musical scores to Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and his sight to diabetes in about 2003.
A New Orleans native, Quezergue left high school in his junior year and joined the Army, serving during the Korean War, then returned to Louisiana.
