Professor Longhair 'fess

The rhumba-rocking rhythms of Roy "Professor Longhair" Byrd live on throughout Rhino's 40-track retrospective of the New Orleans icon's amazing legacy. Most of the seminal stuff arrives early on: "Bald Head," the rollicking ode cut for Mercury in 1950, is followed by a raft of classics from his 1949 and 1953 Atlantic dates ("Tipitina," "Ball the Wall," "Who's Been Fooling You"), the storming 1957 "No Buts, No Maybes," and "Baby Let Me Hold Your Hand" for Ebb, and his beloved "Go to the Mardi Gras" as waxed for Ron in 1959. The second disc is a hodgepodge of material from the Professor's '70s comeback, all of it wonderful in its own way but not as essential as the early work.

Toweringly influential New Orleans pianist, vocalist, songwriter, and vital bridge between jazz, rock & roll, and R&B.
Justly worshipped a decade and a half after his death as a founding father of New Orleans R&B, Roy "Professor Longhair" Byrd was nevertheless so down-and-out at one point in his long career that he was reduced to sweeping the floors in a record shop that once could have moved his platters by the boxful.
That Longhair made such a marvelous comeback testifies to the resiliency of this late legend, whose Latin-tinged rhumba-rocking piano style and croaking, yodeling vocals were as singular and spicy as the second-line beats that power his hometown's musical heartbeat…

An exciting 2CD collection / 36 Tracks of studio and live recordings. Almost every musical history contains at least one crucial forebear whose inventions were too bold to translate to a broad audience, but who was nonetheless a profound influence on subsequent generations, and therefore changed the culture at an odd remove'a musician's musician". In the nineteen-forties and fifties, that was Fess's stature. Roy Byrd aka Professor Longhair, his legacy looms larger than any other musical figure with the possible exception of Louis Armstrong. On THE BACH OF ROCK, Longhair bounces buoyantly through old favorites while adding some new songs into the mix. Fess's infectious vocals, jaunty ivory-tickling, and funky groove provide the ultimate soundtrack to the Crescent City and show exactly why the city has the reputation that it does.

Professor Longhair - The Last Mardi Gras (1978) {2CD Set Atlantic–Real Gone Music RGM-0222 rel 2014}
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© 1978, 2014 Atlantic / Real Gone Music | RGM-0222
Blues / R&B / Jazz / Rock & Roll / Piano

As the originator of the rhum-boogie, that amalgam of rhumba and boogie-woogie peculiar to New Orleans, Henry Roeland Roy Byrd a.k.a. Professor Longhair was a seminal influence on several generations of Crescent City stars, everybody from Fats Domino to Huey Smith to Allen Toussaint to Dr. John. But, as album producer (and controversial biographer of Elvis, John Lennon and Lenny Bruce) Albert Goldman writes in his liner notes to The Last Mardi Gras, the Professor was was wasting away in comparative obscurity while the record companies either refused to cut him or sat upon the records he had already made. So Goldman, who at the time was music critic for Esquire, campaigned in the magazine s pages for proper recognition of the New Orleans legend, and, lo and behold, Atlantic Records stepped forward with a 16-track mobile recording unit to get the job done.

Professor Longhair - The Primo Collection (2009) {2CD Primo PRMCD 6085 rec 1949-1957}
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© 1949-57, 2009 The Primo Collection | PRMCD 6085
Blues / R&B / Piano Blues / Delta Blues

Singer/pianist Professor Longhair is the godfather of New Orleans R&B; his early recordings defined the style, setting the pace not just for pianists from James Booker to Dr. John, but for countless Crescent City soul/blues singers. Over the course of its two discs, THE PRIMO COLLECTION offers some of Longhair's most iconic tunes, the ones that cemented his legend, like the wailing, rollicking "Tipitina," and the funky "Hadacol Bounce." Second-line rhythms and pure blues piano licks melded like never before in Longhair's music, and you can hear it all happen right here.

1993 collection featuring 14 tracks including 'Everyday I Have The Blues', 'Gone So Long' & 'Hey Now Baby'. Henry Roeland "Roy" Byrd, better known as Professor Longhair or "Fess" for short, was a New Orleans blues singer and pianist. He was active in two distinct periods, first in the heyday of early rhythm and blues from 1949 to 1964 and later in the resurgence of interest in traditional jazz after the founding of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival in 1970. His piano style has been described as "instantly recognizable, combining rumba, mambo, and calypso." Professor Longhair can be considered as the creator of the New Orleans Rhythm & Blues. Inducted into Rock And Roll Hall of Fame in 1992 (Early Influence).

Various Artists - You Talk Too Much: The Ric & Ron Story, Volume 1 (2014) {Ace Records CDCHD 1390 rec 1958-1960}
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© 1958-60, 2014 Ace Records | CDCHD 1390
Rhythm & Blues / New Orleans R&B / Early R&B / Rock & Roll

Ric & Ron are legendary New Orleans labels from the late '50s and early '60s, both founded by Joe Ruffino. Naming his twin labels after his sons, Ruffino didn't draw much of a distinction between his imprints, but Ric arrived first, with the recordman issuing a handful of sides he inherited from Ace before moving into local New Orleans artists he recruited with the assistance of Edgar Blanchard, who was hired as head of A&R. Blanchard didn't stick around long and his replacements Harold Battiste and Mac Rebennack –- later better known as Dr. John – helped Ruffino build a N.O. R&B empire that was the stuff of legend.

If told about a band that consisted of only keyboards and drums, one wouldn’t be faulted for thinking, “Where’s the rest of the group?” But one listen to Amendola Vs. Blades—the funky California-based duo of Wil Blades on Hammond organ and clavinet and Scott Amendola behind the kit—and all fears will be assuaged. Blades’s cutting solos and deep bass lines make for a thick stew of soulful harmony and daring improvisation. And Amendola’s beats are simply unstoppable, simultaneously pushing the duo to heights unknown and sending the listener into a joyful sonic trance. But, in a move away from their debut album, ‘Greatest Hits,’ the new album from Amendola Vs. Blades is bursting not only with creativity, but with personnel. ‘Everybody Wins’ features only three tracks that are exclusively duo. The rest of the album sees contributions from guitarist Jeff Parker (Tortoise), saxophonist Skerik (Les Claypool, Garage A Trois), percussionist Cyro Baptista (Herbie Hancock, Sting), and keyboardist Rob Burger (Tin Hat Trio, Laurie Anderson).

Various Artists - Mark Lamarr's Roc-King Up A Storm (1999) {Westside Records WESA801 rec 1954-1964}
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© 1954-64, 1999 King / Federal / Westside Records WESA 801
Rock and Roll / Rhythm and Blues / Jump / Jive

Original King/Federal recordings, 1954-64! Fantastic swingin' and groovin' compilation! Mark Lamarr currently hosts a weekly hour of rock 'n' roll over the British national airwaves and his style of delivery as caused a fair degree of controversy. Personally his off-hand presentation does not bother myself as I listen in for the music and boy does he play some goodies. This collection culled from the vaults of the King/Federal group of labels is a reasonable facsimile of the varying styles of rock 'n' roll and R&B that one can tune in and hear.