Freddy King - Blues Guitar Hero Vol 2

This is my second post of the Federal/King recordings of the "Texas Cannonball" Freddy King, compiled on the quality Ace (UK) label. Here we have more of his best vocal and instrumental recordings and some rare alternate takes from the period 1961 to 1966.
Originally from Texas, Freddy moved to Chicago in 1950 and proceeded to hone his craft in the local club scene. As a young buck he became associated with the Chicago West Side school of blues guitarists along with Magic Sam, Otis Rush, Luther Allison, Eddy Clearwater and others.  At this time, during the late 1950's and early 1960's these artists were seen as the 'new thing' .
He was not signed by the famous Chess Records group as they believed his style was too close to the master B B King. Hence his signing to Federal/King where he would travel to Cincinnatti to make recordings under the supervision of pianist/producer Sonny Thompson,
So here are 24 recordings from that period and the sub-title 'Influential' is no empty claim. Freddie became a Blues hero around the world. Unfortunately Freddy was to have a short life and was dead at age 42 due to acute pancreatitis.
'Freddy' changed the spelling of his first name to 'Freddie' for his next recordings on the Cotillion/Atlantic label and I shall post these in the near future. Meanwhile enjoy the great guitar and wailing vocals of a Blues Master !!!

Freddy King - Blues Guitar Hero : The Influential Early Sessions

Freddie King (September 3, 1934, Gilmer, Texas – December 28, 1976, Dallas. Texas ), thought to have been born as Frederick Christian, originally recording as Freddy King, and nicknamed "The Texas Cannonball", was an influential American blues guitarist and singer. He is often mentioned as one of "the Three Kings" of electric blues guitar, along with Albert King and B.B. King, as well as being the youngest of the three.
Freddie King based his guitar style on Texas and Chicago influences and was one of the first bluesmen to have a multi-racial backing band onstage with him at live performances. He is best known for singles such as "Have You Ever Loved A Woman" (1960) and his Top 40 hit "Hide Away" (1961). He is also known for albums such as the early, instrumental-packed 'Let's 'Hide Away and Dance Away with Freddy King (1961)' and the later album 'Burglar' (1974), which displayed King's mature versatility as both player and singer in a range of blues and funk styles.
King had a twenty-year recording career and became established as an influential guitarist with hits for Federal Records, in the early 1960s. He inspired American musicians such as Jerry Garcia, Stevie Ray Vaughan and his brother Jimmie Vaughan and others. His influence was also felt in UK, through recordings by blues revivalists such as Eric Clapton, Peter Green,and Chicken Shack. 
He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012. (Wikipedia) 

'Freddy' became 'Freddie' King after his recording spell at Federal/King Records between  1960 -66. Originally from Texas, he moved to Chicago at age 16 where he began his Blues apprenticeship in the local bars and clubs.  Chess Records turned down the opportunity to record him as they thought him too similar to B B King. He was eventually signed to the Federal/King label where he made his most well-known recordings, many having a huge influence on the British Blues boom of the 1960's.
Here is an excellent compilation of these early singles and album cuts (as 'Freddy') from the Ace (UK) label, well known for it's high quality reissues. If this proves popular I will post Vol 2 from Ace and then all his subsequent recordings in chronological order - 2 albums on Atlantic/Cotillion, 3 for Shelter and 2 for RSO Records. Unfortunately, his career ended prematurely, after the RSO releases. On 28 December 1976, the Texas Cannonball passed away, aged 42, due to stomach ulcers which led to acute pancreatitis . 
If you like : let me know in the comments. Enjoy.  

Syl Johnson - The Complete Mythology

By far the best collection and best remastering of all the Syl Johnson pre-Hi output, courtesy of Unkie Cliff.

“I wanna be somebody so bad, but you keep on putting your foot on me.”

"To hear him tell it, Syl Johnson could have been as big as James Brown or Al Green. #1 on the charts, top billing on the marquee, Hall of Fame inductions, tearful tributes... all within his reach, and yet never in his hands. Something, someone, and sometimes—if you believe his lyrics—the sole of a shoe was holding him back. Was it because he’s black? Not likely, though his inability to crossover to the pop charts never did him any favors. “I made my opportunities, but I never got the breaks I should have gotten. I was a jack-of-all-trades. More soul than Marvin, more funk than James. If I’d gone pop, you’d be talkin’ about me, not them. I rate right at the top, though I’ve been underrated all my life.”

Laced with that unique brand of bravado, the Syl Johnson interview tends to veer toward harrowing voyages through interruption, correction, and deliberate obfuscation. “Back up, hold on, slow down… Wu Tang, Kid Rock, Michael Jackson… Jimmy Reed, Jimmy Johnson, Jimmy Jones….” Johnson has a habit of insisting that everything printed before—every verbatim transcript read directly back to him—is a blatant misquote or misunderstanding…and sometimes both. His date of birth and place of birth, his surname change from Thompson to Johnson, the murky beginnings of the Twinight record label—Syl Johnson weaves them all into one convoluted narrative, a daunting challenge for historians and fans alike to follow. Resolving his life story for this collection became an exercise in patience and diligence, as we chased the rabbit through even more big-hole 45s than bear his name.

The blues was always a genre riddled with myth and legend—its half-truths muttered on sun-baked Mississippi porches have long-since morphed into biographical foundations. From Robert Johnson’s midnight bargain with the devil at the crossroads near Dockery Plantation to Bo Diddley’s divergent claims about the origin of his name, fabrication is fully ingrained in blues tradition.

Syl Johnson’s apple never fell far from that tree. When this bluesman-at-heart felt his career tapering off early in the 1980s, his tendency toward self-mythologizing gained momentum. If he couldn’t enjoy the successes of an Al Green or a James Brown, he could surely concoct for himself a more mysterious history. Forget hot grits and armed robbery, Syl Johnson’s illegitimate father would be Robert Johnson. Or so he began to claim….

For decades, Johnson has been toeing the edge of a wide chasm that separates soul’s upper and middle classes, overshadowed across his career by the bill-paying stars of the Federal and Hi labels. He’s joined by the likes of Otis Clay and Candi Staton in a pantheon of great soul singers who maintained viable careers over several decades but never achieved that national #1 smash. Consequently, he’s been eschewed by oldies stations and Final Jeopardy questions, never having scattered the cultural detritus that keep even one-hit wonders in the periphery of the national consciousness. The litany of his largely regional hits—“Come On Sock It To Me,” “Different Strokes,” “Is It Because I’m Black,” “We Did It,” “Back For A Taste Of Your Love,” and “Take Me To The River”—is undeniable, a list that dwarfs the tally of winning output in his caste. Even so, Johnson’s reevaluation as a serious artist has yet to arrive.

Beginning in 1986, with Charly’s bootleg Is It Because I’m Black CD, the Syl Johnson story, as told by his work’s compilers, has been boiled down to a few paragraphs gleaned mostly from the pages of Robert Pruter’s Chicago Soul. The predictably atrocious mastering of his material reaching its nadir with Collectables’ 1996 Twilight & Twinight Masters Collection, which presented source 45s transferred at the wrong speed. In 1997, Ace upped the ante with their Dresses Too Short/Is It Because I’m Black CD twofer, but—having never interviewed Johnson—the label settled on including only a woefully slim booklet. Given Syl’s track record with interviewers, it’s hard to blame the reputable UK firm for their decision to go another way. “I love the music business, but it sucks,” Syl has said. “The only thing I can liken it to is the drug business. Everybody’s out to get you, no one’s legit, and the only people getting paid are at the top.”

By sheer quantity of singles issued, Syl Johnson should be an oldies radio staple. He’s issued more than 60 unique 45s, at last count—and that excludes international pressings and what he refers to as “booties.” Of those, 28 are collected here, in addition to extant cuts from his two Twinight LPs and a swath of period outtakes. Johnson’s Hi singles and albums have been compiled comprehensively, and recently, so we’ve chosen to focus on his work prior to joining the Memphis powerhouse in 1971. In cases where no dates could be found, we’ve taken pains to place them within the chronology Syl himself provided over the last four years. But with Syl Johnson, those dates seem to shift every time they’re about to be confirmed. We’ve broken our own Syl Johnson biography into discrete sections, headed by topical quotations even the man himself can’t rightly deny. When grilled, Johnson just shrugs and says, “Gotta keep some mysteries unsolved….”

Hank Ballard And The Midnighters - Dancin' And Twistin'

Hank Ballard (November 18, 1927 – March 2, 2003), born John Henry Kendricks, was a rhythm and blues singer and songwriter, the lead vocalist of Hank Ballard and The Midnighters and one of the first rock 'n' roll artists to emerge in the early 1950s. He played an integral part in the development of the genre, releasing the hit singles "Work With Me, Annie" and answer songs "Annie Had a Baby" and "Annie's Aunt Fannie" with his Midnighters. He later wrote and recorded "The Twist" and invented the dance, which was notably covered by Chubby Checker. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990.

In 1953, Ballard joined doo-wop group The Royals, which had previously been discovered by Johnny Otis and signed to Federal Records, (a division of King Records), in Cincinnati. Ballard joined Henry Booth, Charles Sutton, Sonny Woods and Alonzo Tucker in the group, replacing previous singer Lawson Smith.
The Royals released "Get It" (1953), an R&B song with possibly sexually oriented lyrics, which some radio stations refused to play, although it still made it to number 6 on the Billboard R&B chart.

The group then changed its name to The Midnighters to avoid confusion with The "5" Royales. In 1954, Ballard wrote a song called "Work with Me, Annie" that was drawn from "Get It".  It became The Midnighters' first major R&B hit, spending seven weeks at number 1 on the R&B charts and also selling well in mainstream markets, along with the answer songs "Annie Had a Baby" and "Annie's Aunt Fannie"; all were banned by the FCC from radio air play.  Their third major hit was "Sexy Ways", a song that cemented the band's reputation as one of the most risqué groups of the time.

They had four other R&B chart hits in 1954–55, but no others until 1959, by which time the group was billed as "Hank Ballard and The Midnighters" with their label changed from Federal to King, the parent label. Between 1959 and 1961 they had several more both on the R&B and Pop charts, starting with "Teardrops on Your Letter", a number 4 R&B hit in 1959 that had as its B-side the Ballard-written song "The Twist". A year later, Chubby Checker's cover version of the song went to number 1 on the pop charts. It would return to the top of the charts again in 1962–the only song in the rock'n'roll era to reach number 1 in two different years.

Ballard & the Midnighters had several other hit singles through 1961, including the Grammy-nominated "Finger Poppin' Time" and "Let's Go, Let's Go, Let's Go" which hit number 7 and number 6, respectively, on the Billboard pop charts. They did not reach the charts again after 1962 and dissolved in 1965.

___________________________________________________________

Since Ballard & the Midnighters remain most known for their mid-'50s R&B/early rock & roll hits, it has sometimes been overlooked that they actually reached their crossover pop peak in the early '60s. In 1960 and 1961, they had seven Top 40 hits in the pop charts, and two Top Ten hits with "Finger Poppin' Time" and "Let's Go, Let's Go, Let's Go." All of those hits are on this 24-song anthology, which is devoted almost exclusively to Ballard's 1960s output. Ballard's original version of "The Twist," recorded in 1958 (and a Top Thirty hit in 1960, although Chubby Checker's cover went to #1), is here, and its success laid the foundation for an endless series of dance records over the next few years. "The Coffee Grind," "The Continental Walk," "The Switch-A-Roo," "It's Twistin' Time," "Good Twistin' Tonight," "Do You Know How to Twist?," even "The Float": all are on board. (And how could one resist calling "The Float" a dance bound to be dead on the water, even if it did make #10 R&B?) Ballard may have been more earthy, more funky, and more authentic in every way than Chubby Checker, but in this era he was really pursuing a similar formula: twist and dance records, the themes recycled ad infinitum. And it must be conceded that the formula, in Ballard's hands, wears out its welcome when the singles are heard bang right after each other. It's competent dance rock bridging 1950s R&B and early soul, without nearly enough variation or innovation to sustain interest. Really, "Finger Poppin' Time," "Let's Go, Let's Go, Let's Go," and "The Twist" are all you need to hear from this era, and you can probably find them on various-artists anthologies without breaking too heavy a sweat. - Richie Unterberger/AMG

James Brown - The Federal Years

If you have never heard this early material I think you will be fascinated like I was. James is obviously casting about in many directions looking for his 'sound'. His earliest version of Please, Please, Please shows that he idolized Little Richard at the time but the next track he is in a more Amos Milburn or Charles Brown mood. On track 3 he sounds a bit like Billy Wright as well. I'd definitely put him in that line from Wright thru Esquerita and Little Richard but he is adding pieces from all over. The fourth track is very much in the Roy Brown/Wynonie Harris mode and he handles that really well too. Later on there are even a few Doo Wop songs. In fact the one thing that really stands out on this material is what a fine singer Brown was, so much of his later material required so little actual singing that it is easy to forget what a dynamic voice he had. There are two discs to this first part and to each of the sets to follow as well.

"James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and recording artist. He is the originator of funk music and is a major figure of 20th century popular music and dance.

In a career that spanned six decades, Brown profoundly influenced the development of many different musical genres. Brown moved on a continuum of blues and gospel-based forms and styles to a profoundly "Africanized" approach to music making. Brown performed in concerts, first making his rounds across the Chitlin' Circuit, and then across the country and later around the world, along with appearing in shows on television and in movies. Although he contributed much to the music world through his hitmaking, Brown holds the record as the artist who charted the most singles on the Billboard Hot 100 without ever hitting number one on that chart.

For many years, Brown's touring show was one of the most extravagant productions in American popular music. At the time of Brown's death, his band included three guitarists, two bass guitar players, two drummers, three horns and a percussionist. The bands that he maintained during the late 1960s and 1970s were of comparable size, and the bands also included a three-piece amplified string section that played during ballads. Brown employed between 40 and 50 people for the James Brown Revue, and members of the revue traveled with him in a bus to cities and towns all over the country, performing upwards of 330 shows a year with almost all of the shows as one-nighters. In 1986, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and in 2000 into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Brown died on Christmas Day 2006 from heart failure after becoming ill two days earlier and being hospitalized for hours. James Brown is buried in Beech Island, South Carolina.

James Brown was born in Barnwell, South Carolina on May 3, 1933 to Susie (née Behlings) Brown (August 8, 1916 - February 26, 2004) and Joseph ("Joe") Gardner (March 29, 1911 - July 10, 1993) (who changed his surname to Brown after Mattie Brown who raised him). Although Brown was to be named after his father Joseph, his first and middle names were mistakenly reversed on his birth certificate. He therefore became James Joseph Brown, Jr. As a young child, Brown was called Junior. When he later lived with his aunt and cousin, he was called Little Junior since his cousin's nickname was also Junior. Later as an adult, Brown legally changed his name to remove the "Jr." designation. He was of African American and Native American (Apache) descent through his father, and had Asian ancestry through his mother, who was also half African American.

As a young child, Brown and his family lived in extreme poverty in nearby Elko, South Carolina, which at the time was an impoverished town in Barnwell County. When Brown was two years old, his parents separated after his mother left his father for another man. After his mother abandoned the family, Brown continued to live with his father and his father's live-in girlfriends until he was six years old. His father then sent him to live with an aunt, who ran a house of prostitution. Even though Brown lived with relatives, he spent long stretches of time on his own, hanging out on the streets and hustling to get by. Brown managed to stay in school until he dropped out in the seventh grade. During his childhood, Brown earned money shining shoes, sweeping out stores, selling and trading in old stamps, washing cars and dishes and singing in talent contests. Brown also performed buck dances for change to entertain troops from Camp Gordon at the start of World War II as their convoys traveled over a canal bridge near his aunt's home. Between earning money from these adventures, Brown taught himself to play a harmonica given to him by his father. He learned to play some guitar from Tampa Red, in addition to learning to play piano and drums from others he met during this time. Brown was inspired to become an entertainer after watching Louis Jordan, a popular jazz and R&B performer during the 1940s, and Jordan's Tympany Five performing "Caldonia" in a short film.

Brown began his performing career at the age of 12, forming his first vocal group, the Cremona Trio in 1945, where they won local talent shows at Augusta concert halls such as the Lenox and Harlem theaters. As a result of this success, the group would later gig at several high schools and local army bases.  At the age of sixteen, he was convicted of armed robbery and sent to a juvenile detention center upstate in Toccoa in 1949. While in prison, he formed a gospel quartet with fellow cell mates Johnny Terry, "Hucklebuck" Davis and a person named "Shag", and made homemade instruments - a comb and paper, a washtub bass, a drum kit made from lard tubs and for Brown, what he called "a sort of mandolin [made] out of a wooden box." Due to the latter instrument, Brown was given his first nickname, "Music Box". In 1952, while still in reform school, Brown met future R&B legend Bobby Byrd, who was there playing baseball against the reform school team. Byrd saw Brown perform there and admired his singing and performing talent. As a result of this friendship, Byrd's family helped Brown secure an early release on June 14, 1952 after serving three years of his sentence. The authorities agreed to release Brown on the condition that he would get a job and not return to Augusta or Richmond County and also under the condition he find a decent job and sing for the Lord as he had promised in his parole letter. After stints as a boxer and baseball pitcher in semi-professional baseball (a career move ended by a leg injury), Brown turned his energy toward music.

By 1954, Brown had tried to get a deal with his gospel group, the Ever Ready Gospel Singers after recording a version of "His Eye Is on the Sparrow", but returned to Toccoa when they failed to get a deal. Returning, his friend Bobby Byrd asked Brown to join his R&B group, the Avons, who had went under the previous name, the Gospel Starlighters to avoid controversy with church leaders. Brown replaced another vocalist, Troy Collins, who died in a car crash. The group, which included alongside Byrd and Brown; Sylvester Keels, Doyle Oglesby, Fred Pulliam and Johnny Terry, modeled themselves after the R&B groups of the day including The Orioles, The Five Keys and Billy Ward and His Dominoes. Gigging through Georgia and South Carolina, they again changed their name to the Toccoa Band to avoid confusion with two other groups who shared the Avons moniker. Under this name, Brown recruited guitarist Nafloyd Scott and, under their manager Barry Tremier, added assorted percussion.

While performing in Macon, Georgia having now changed their name to the Flames, a club promoter, Clint Brantley (then agent of one of Brown's idols, Little Richard, suggested the band add "Famous" in front of their name to draw more people to his club. The group began composing their own songs during this time and performing them too including a Brown composition called "Goin' Back to Rome" and a ballad Brown co-wrote with Terry titled "Please, Please, Please". After Little Richard left Macon for Los Angeles after the release of "Tutti Frutti", Brantley included the band at every venue Richard had performed, leading to the growth of the group's success. Before Christmas 1955, Brantley had the group record a demo of "Please, Please, Please" for a local Macon radio station. Different accounts on how "Please, Please, Please" came together vary, one story from Etta James stated that during her first meeting with Brown in Macon, Brown "used to carry around an old tattered napkin with him, because Little Richard had written the words, 'please, please, please' on it and James was determined to make a song out of it...". Another story came the group had gotten inspiration for writing the song after hearing The Orioles' rock'n'roll version of Big Joe Williams' hit, "Baby Please Don't Go", taking its melody from the song.

Federal Records president Ralph Bass signed the Famous Flames to his label in February 1956 and had them record the song in Cincinnati's King Studios. Released the following March, the song became the Famous Flames' first R&B hit, selling over a million copies. Despite the song's success, other songs such as "I Don't Know", "No No No", "Just Won't Do Right" and "Chonnie-On-Chon" failed to chart. By March of 1957 after the release of "Please, Please, Please", most members of the Famous Flames walked out on Brown after the group's new manager, Universal Attractions Agency Chief Ben Bart insisted on the group's billing officially be "James Brown and The Famous Flames". After Little Richard left show business for the ministry, Brown was asked to fill in leftover dates, which led to an increase in his concert success in which afterwards, he recruited members of the vocal group the Dominions to be his replacement Famous Flames. The first single under this new lineup, "That Dood It", failed to chart. In late 1958, Brown financed the demo of the ballad, "Try Me". Released that October, it returned the Famous Flames to the charts, reaching #1 on the R&B chart, the first time it reached that position, in February of 1959, becoming the first of 17 chart-topping hits on the R&B chart, credited to Brown over the next decade and a half, with six of them crediting the Famous Flames.

Bolstered by this success, Brown recruited a new band, consisted of saxophonist J. C. Davis, guitarist Bobby Roach, bassist Bernard Odum, trumpeter Roscoe Patrick, saxophonist Albert Corley, drummer Nat Kendrick and his old band mate Bobby Byrd, who had rejoined Brown's band on organ. This resulted in the next Brown hit, "I Want You So Bad", which peaked at the Billboard R&B top twenty. The newly hailed "James Brown Band" debuted at the Apollo Theater on April 24, 1959, opening for Little Willie John. Following his dismissal of the 1957-58 Famous Flames lineup, he hired "Baby" Lloyd Stallworth, Bobby Bennett as replacements with Byrd and Johnny Terry returning as members. The confusion of the band was that for years, the Famous Flames were often mistaken for Brown's backing band; fellow Famous Flame Byrd was also a member of the backing band at one point. Initially a vocal and instrumental group, the group focused primarily as a vocal act after signing with Federal. In early 1960, Brown's band recorded the top ten R&B hit, "(Do the) Mashed Potatoes" on Dade Records, owned by Henry Stone, under the pseudonym "Nat Kendrick & The Swans" because Brown's label refused to release it. As a result of this, Syd Nathan decided to shift Brown's contract from Federal to Federal's parent label, King Records.

Professor Longhair - New Orleans R&B Founding Father

Professor Longhair (December 19, 1918 – January 30, 1980; born Henry Roeland Byrd, also known as Roy "Bald Head" Byrd and as Fess) was a New Orleans blues singer and pianist. Professor Longhair is noteworthy for having been active in two distinct periods, both in the heyday of early rhythm and blues, and in the resurgence of interest in traditional jazz after the founding of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival.

The journalist Tony Russell, in his book The Blues – From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray, stated "The vivacious rhumba-rhythmed piano blues and choked singing typical of Fess were too weird to sell millions of records; he had to be content with siring musical offspring who were simple enough to manage that, like Fats Domino or Huey "Piano" Smith. But he is also acknowledged as a father figure by subtler players like Allen Toussaint and Dr. John."

Professor Longhair was born on December 19, 1918 in Bogalusa, Louisiana. He made a living as a street hustler until he started to play piano seriously in his thirties. He taught himself how to play on a piano with missing keys so his style became distinct.

He began his career in New Orleans in 1948, earning a gig at the Caldonia Club, where the owner, Mike Tessitore, bestowed Longhair with his stage name (due to Byrd's shaggy coiffure). Longhair first recorded in 1949, creating four songs (including the first version of his signature song, "Mardi Gras in New Orleans," complete with whistled intro) for the Dallas, Texas based Star Talent label. His band was called the Shuffling Hungarians, for reasons lost to time. Union problems curtailed their release, but Longhair's next effort for Mercury Records the same year was a winner. Throughout the 1950s, he recorded for Atlantic Records, Federal Records and other, local, labels. Professor Longhair had only one national commercial hit, "Bald Head" in 1950, credited to Roy Byrd & His Blues Jumpers. He also recorded his pet numbers "Tipitina", "Big Chief" and "Go to the Mardi Gras". However, he lacked the early crossover appeal of Fats Domino for white audiences.

After recuperating from a minor stroke, Professor Longhair came back in 1957 with "No Buts - No Maybes."  He revived his "Go to the Mardi Gras" in 1959; this is the version that surfaces every year at Mardi Gras in New Orleans.

In the 1960s Professor Longhair's career faltered. He became a janitor to support himself, and fell into a gambling habit. (He played weekly 'shows' in his own parlor during this time and spent a lot of time mentoring younger players. kc)

He appeared at the 1971 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival to restore his standing, and played at the 1973 Newport Jazz Festival and the Montreux Jazz Festival. His recorded live set, Live on the Queen Mary (1978) came from a party given by Paul and Linda McCartney. His single visit to the UK, in 1978, was commemorated by The London Concert.

By the 1980s his albums, such as Crawfish Fiesta on Alligator and New Orleans Piano for Atlantic, had become readily available across America.  He appeared on the PBS series Soundstage (with Dr. John, Earl King, and The Meters) and co-starred in the film documentary Piano Players Rarely Ever Play Together.  The latter became a memorial tribute when Longhair died in his sleep from a heart attack in the middle of filming. Footage from his funeral was included.

In 1981 he was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame. He was awarded a posthumous Grammy for his early recordings released as House Party New Orleans Style, and in 1992 was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

In the notes to this set you will find a seemingly incomprehensible dismissal of Byrd's contributions from no less than Earl Palmer. For one blinded by Palmer's giant talent and undeniably colossal contributions of his own, this may seem troubling. One has to consider Palmer's titantic ego and the fact that he clearly didn't understand ANYTHING about Fess' influences or personality. Was Fess an educated man, no, was he a smart man, undeniably yes! What Earl considered him being unconsciously comical was in fact entirely deliberate, and a speech pattern of flowery but incorrect language that was common amongst very intelligent but undereducated black men of the time. Fess knew the difference between 'c minus' and 'c minor' but preferred his own language. Earl was a perfect example of the stratification of black society of the time and the deep prejudices retained within the black and Creole communities. It is a common syndrome; everyone needs to feel superior to someone! History has given Fess his due!  (btw that is his house today) 

Consider this: "In the 1940s Professor Longhair was playing with Caribbean musicians, listening a lot to Perez Prado's mambo records, and absorbing and experimenting with it all. He was especially enamored with Cuban music. Longhair's style was known locally as rumba-boogie. Alexander Stewart states that Longhair was a key figure bridging the worlds of boogiewoogie and the new style of rhythm and blues."[In his composition "Misery," Professor Longhair plays a habanera-like figure in his left hand. The deft use of triplets in the right hand is a characteristic of Longhair's style.
"Misery" by Professor Longhair (1957).

Tresillo, the habanera, and related African-based single-celled figures have long been heard in the left hand part of piano compositions by New Orleans musicians, for example—Louis Moreau Gottschalk ("Souvenirs From Havana" 1859), and Jelly Roll Morton ("The Crave" 1910). One of Longhair's great contributions was the adaptation of Afro-Cuban two-celled, clave-based patterns in New Orleans blues. Michael Campbell states: "Rhythm and blues influenced by Afro-Cuban music first surfaced in New Orleans. Professor Longhair’s influence was . . . far reaching. In several of his early recordings, Professor Longhair blended Afro-Cuban rhythms with rhythm and blues. The most explicit is 'Longhair’s Blues Rhumba,' where he overlays a straightforward blues with a clave rhythm." The guajeo-like piano part for the rumba-boogie "Mardi Gras in New Orleans" (1949), employs the 2-3 clave onbeat/offbeat motif. The 2-3 clave time-line is written above the piano excerpt for reference.

According to Dr. John (Malcolm John "Mac" Rebennack, Jr.), the Professor "put funk into music . . . Longhair's thing had a direct bearing I'd say on a large portion of the funk music that evolved in New Orleans." This is the syncopated, but straight subdivision feel of Cuban music (as opposed to swung subdivisions). Alexander Stewart states that the popular feel was passed along from "New Orleans—through James Brown's music, to the popular music of the 1970s," adding: "The singular style of rhythm & blues that emerged from New Orleans in the years after World War II played an important role in the development of funk. In a related development, the underlying rhythms of American popular music underwent a basic, yet generally unacknowledged transition from triplet or shuffle feel to even or straight eighth notes. Concerning funk motifs, Stewart states: "This model, it should be noted, is different from a time line (such as clave and tresillo) in that it is not an exact pattern, but more of a loose organizing principle."