Forgotten series: Allen Toussaint, "Connected" (1996)

NICK DERISO: I've always been a fan of this pianist/composer. Perhaps never meant to be a star, Toussaint was one of those great working-class, behind-the-scenes talents -- he did session work, produced, helped with A&R, wrote songs -- who made the record business go back in the day.

In this way, Toussaint was the tireless, beating heart of New Orleans music in the early 1960s -- yet still found relevance with the rockers later on. That was him producing the 1973 McCartney album, "Venus and Mars," made in New Orleans ("Listen What the Man Said"); that was him scoring the horns for the Band's gritty and groovy "Last Waltz" performance, filmed by Martin Scorcese in the mid-1970s.

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