Big Easy Strut: The Essential Professor Longhair

Performer: Professor Longhair
Distributor: Universal Distribution

Notes: Personnel includes: Henry "Professor Longhair" Byrd (vocals, piano); Wardell Quezergue (arranger); Red Tyler (saxophone); Earl Palmer, Charles "Hungry" Williams (drums). Includes liner notes by Bill Dahl. All tracks have been digitally remastered. Liner Note Author: Bill Dahl. Recording information: 12/1979. For starters, the subtitle "The Essential Professor Longhair" is more than a little misleading. This set is a presentation of the great Roy Byrd, performing at a northside Chicago club called Biddy Mulligan's in December of 1979, shortly before his death. While it is far from the "essential" Professor Longhair, this is a smoking live date that fans will no doubt want to own. With the exception of "I Got My Mojo Working," most of his concert staples are in this mix and the sound quality is right up there. This is not the place to start with the Professor -- perhaps New Orleans Piano on Atlantic is the one for that. Nonetheless, for those who dig New Orleans music at its rawest, and Longhair in tear-it-up mode, Big Easy Strut is a nice one to have on the shelf. ~ Thom Jurek

New Orleans pianist Henry Byrd, known to the world at large as Professor Longhair, or just "'Fess," was a vital bridge between jazz, rock & roll, and rhythm & blues in the middle of the 20th century. An interpreter, stylist, and innovator, he's a prime figure in New Orleans's rich musical history. His whooping vocal style and percussive, highly rhythmic piano playing are hallmarks of the New Orleans R&B style, and many of his songs ("Big Chief," "Tipitina") have become standards of the genre.

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