Week 30
Professor Longhair, Fess: The Professor Longhair Anthology
(Rhino 71502)

Since he first recorded in 1949, the music and presence of the late Henry Roeland Byrd (aka Professor Longhair aka Fess) has permeated the air and music of New Orleans. This double CD set collects 40 tracks from the inimitable piano stylist, ranging from the early blues and R&B sides that helped establish his reputation to the sizzling full band sets of his post-1970 "rediscovery."

Henry Byrd began playing music at a young age, when he and a friend rescued a discarded, nearly keyless piano from a New Orleans alley. By his early 20s he was a popular local attraction, drawing crowds with his unique "rumba boogie" style. Based in the blues, this style incorporated everything from Caribbean and Spanish musical traditions to the chants of the Mardi Gras societies and "second line" rhythms of local parade bands.

In drawing so strongly from the cultural milieu of New Orleans, Longhair's "rumba boogie" reflected the city itself, and it continues to be a pervasive influence upon its musicians. Among the Professor's "students" and fellow musicians on this collection are Dr. John, Earl King (author of the famed Fess showcase "Big Chief"), members of the Meters, and the Cosimo Matassa studio band that drove hits by Little Richard and Fats Domino.

If you've been to New Orleans, one spin through these discs is likely to take you back. If you haven't, few discs are so evocative of a place as these, and the good time vibe they create is likely to send you packing for it, chanting "trala oola mala walla" all the while.

Listen: Professor Longhair - "Big Chief (Live)"
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