Whenever a legend comes to town, one wants to be able to pay the proper respect. And there's no better way to do that than to pronounce correctly said legend's surname.

Anyone that knows anything about R&B, especially of the New Orleans variety, knows it's no stretch to describe Allen Toussaint -- who performs at Summerfest Thursday night with Elvis Costello & the Imposters -- as a legend. His production skills, his writing skills and his piano chops are all over New Orleans music of the past 40-odd years.

We've been hearing a lot of people pronouncing Toussaint's last name a little to literally and we think that it requires a subtler approach.

Tou-saint? Not really. Our experts -- Paul Cebar and Eric Blowtorch, two musicians passionate about R&B -- suggest paying less attention to that "i."

"Funny you should ask us two," says Blowtorch, a long-time Cebar friend. "I bet Cebar will give you the opposite answer. I say 'too-SAHNT,' but I suspect the French 'too-SANT' would be OK, too. Remember, his debut album had him billed as 'Tousan.'"

But Blowtorch spoke too soon. Cebar, perhaps the most trusted New Orleans music fan resident in Brew City, agrees with him.

"I think the 'sant' method is the way to go," says Cebar.

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