Professor Longhair - Baton Rouge & Memphis 1971-72

In earlier posts, I am fairly certain we have covered all the material from Professor Longhair's first heyday back in 1948-53. So popular was he was back in that first era of record men from the north coming to New Orleans, that he was recorded by at least 5 different labels in those years, Jerry Wexler and Atlantic actually recorded him 3 different times, once in NY and twice here. Both Mercury and Atlantic soon ran into an obstacle with Fess, however, like many New Orleans artists he was unwilling to tour in support of records. He didn't like leaving New Orleans. Not long after his final Atlantic session, Byrd had a what is described as a mild stroke which shelved his career throughout the next wave of record producers like Imperial and Specialty who passed over Fess and his mentor Archibald in favor of their students and proteges like Fats Domino, Mac Rebennack, Art Neville and Allen Toussaint.

Fess had sufficiently recovered to resume his career by 1957 as evidenced by an excellent session for Barbara Rupe's Ebb records which yielded 6 songs but no career traction and Byrd still wouldn't travel far from home. He managed only sporadic singles for labels like Rip, Ron and Watch over the next 7 years (yielding only local hits) and then after 1964, nothing. The gigs had apparently dried up and while I've heard somewhere that he would occasionally host rent parties and Indian practices in his front parlor, he essentially drops out of sight.

By 1970 Fess was destitute, depressed, and chronically ill from a life of malnutrition. He was completely out of music; he reportedly swept the floor of a music distributor on Rampart hoping to pick up some 'royalties' on sales around Mardi Gras. He was weak and his legs shook so badly he couldn't stand for long. Chances are pretty good he would not have survived much longer. Fortunately help was on the way, first in the form of some blues freak Englishmen from Blues Unlimited who came looking for the author of those earlier great recordings. They claim to have found him in a flop house next to a jukejoint on Rampart Street, this was before either of his Uptown homes, but that sounds like a fabricated tale that made good print. Those guys did, however, help a pair of crazy Tulane kids locate Fess for their budding New Orleans Jazz Festival. Once they had found him Alison Minor and Quint Davis helped this frail, starving artist, turned to an old man well before his time (he was only 50!) by extreme poverty, to revive his career and, more importantly, his life. Alison describes Fess as having dropped more than ten years from his apparent age in a matter of months. He morphed into the incredibly hip and vital dude that I remember. With a new audience, a new purpose and a new home club in Tipitina's, his health rebounded and the final decade of that life was spent playing and recording both here and around the world to at least some portion of the sort of adulation he so justly deserved.

The two sessions represented here were the first made by Roy 'Professor Longhair' Byrd in nearly two decades. The Baton Rouge session in September 1971 was done at Deep South Recorders with Snooks Eaglin on guitar, Will Harvey on bass, and Fess' dear friend Shiba (Edwin Kimbrough) on drums. The session was a 17 (18?) track demo to shop him to labels for a new recording contract...no one bit at that point. Somehow Davis managed to get Fess to travel all the way to Memphis for a second attempt. The Memphis session of June 1972 also included Snooks, but this time bassist George Davis and Meters drummer Zigaboo Modeliste were on board for 15 more tracks. Meanwhile Albert Grossman's Bearsville Records in Woodstock, NY (Todd Rundgren's label) became interested in producing a Professor Longhair record but the result was a disastrous session with rock musicians who knew nothing of Fess' music. In the hurry to leave Davis would leave both masters (which had been sent ahead for the session musicians to learn from) behind with the understanding they would be sent back to New Orleans. Grossman never returned them and pulled the classic 'money owed us for the unsuccessful session' dodge in an attempt to steal the recordings. It would be two more years before the same brilliant Frenchman who brought us the first Wild Magnolias albums (Phillipe Rault of Barcaly Records) would produce Fess' first album, 'Rock 'N' Roll Gumbo' with Gatemouth Brown. (bizarrely enough the co-producer was George Winston)

When these two sessions finally came to light after Fess' and Grossman's deaths, Rounder seems to have been given first choice of tracks and Rhino released the rest. (House Party is the Rounder issue, Mardi Gras in Baton Rouge is the Rhino issue.)

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."