Professor Longhair is my favorite piano player

and there's only one fess-related thread in the entirety of ILM, it seems. so now there are two.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMugCUDDxL0

i love the close-ups on his hands in that video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gaN3aXu5AM

I am right there with you. The album House Party New Orleans Style-- which is later, and I have no idea of where it stands in his canon-- has brought me so much joy. But I lost it in a move years ago and haven't bought it again. I need to do that.

If you don't like this song, you are dead:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBSN7WOPkQ0

Fess just didn't give a piss what the people who were badmouthing him thought. He knew where he was coming from. He also knew some of them thought his action was raggedy because he smoked that herb, but he came to marijuana from a whole 'nother perspective. He didn't smoke herb to get high. He said he smoked herb to "frolic" with the band. And when he wanted to frolic, he'd tear up a piece of a paper bag and roll a joint about ten inches long, just sit there and roll it until it looked like a cigar. He'd light that up and smoke it to the end. When he got through, you knew the band was going to frolic. Later, when he bought a metronome, he hipped to the word presto, which described the fastest tempo. After that, his cope word was, "Come on, boys. Let's frolic presto." He kept me in stitches with his turns of phrase, but frolicking was serious business for him, and when he dropped the command on you, he meant it.

When he came back into a joint after smoking one of those bomolatchees, you'd better watch out: He'd go into his "over and unders," elaborate playing action with his hands. People ate it up. And that wasn't his only unorthodox maneuver: The club owner had to put a board up under the piano, because Fess kept time with his foot. If you didn't put the board up under one of those old uprights, Fess would kick a hole in it. A lot of times he would play with just a couple of other guys, one playing the maracas, the other a snare drum. Fess's romping foot was the bass drum; it was part of the show.

(from "Under a Hoodoo Moon," Dr. John's autobiography)

(a little more from that book -- which is a hundered percent worth reading)

Fess was experimenting, coming up with tricks and unorthodox figures no one else could touch. One of my favorite things he used to do was a lick he played on a Paul Gayten song, "Hey, Little Girl." He'd get to the five-chord of that song, and in the bass line he'd play a minor note with his left hand against a major chord with his right, which totally reversed what anybody else would be doing. If the bass player turned it around and played major against Fess's minor, Fess would stop the band. He wouldn't point out who'd messed up, but he would make us all go over it till the bass player finally snapped and realized, Oh, God, he's playing that minor. He had a way of letting you know it was you who'd fallen out without coming right out and nailing you and hurting your feelings.

As much as he'd say that his playing came out of Champion Jack Dupree or Little Brother Montgomery, I never could see their influence on Fess. The closest thing I could ever find to his style among the earlier cats was a guy named Joseph Spence, who was a guitar player from the Bahamas who played rhythms like Fess. I've never heard any piano players flow into Fess's groove. Fess was Fess. Before him was the void; after him, we're just whistling in the dark.

I gotta read that book, that's wonderful.

joseph spence is really cool too and i can see what dr. john means. but prof. longhair has the added new orleans bounce and stride.

love fess to death. have only a few of his recordings, but have put a lot of miles on them over the years. the new orleans piano comp on atlantic is good starting point for the early stuff (the old LP i own doubtless now supplanted by an expanded CD version). plus LOVE some of his 80s sets, like house party new orleans style and esp. rock 'n' roll gumbo. so great to read those dr. john excerpts - thanks, tipsy - and yeah, i gotta track that book down.

rules for sure but i think james booker was the real new orleans piano god.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifAXV4LQ9S4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lX7IC3dr7SU&feature=related

The first thing I ever got by him was Crawfish Fiesta, on Alligator, which is fantastic. Then I got New Orleans Piano, mentioned upthread, and the only other thing I have by him is the 2CD Rhino anthology Fess, which may be out of print.

taking nothing away from james booker, who's amazing -- i pretty much love the entire new orleans piano canon -- but he's a bit more of a finesse guy than fess, and a bit less of a romper. (or frolicker.) i incline toward the romp. and like dr. john says, fess has some kind of latin/caribbean influences going on that i think just give him some kind of extra rocket fuel, groove-wise.

http://www.cartwheelart.com/2012/12/28/ike-turner-killed-jfk-a-conversation-with-hudson-marquez/

One of the highlights of EMP New Orleans was listening to author Jason Berry interview Hudson Marquez about his finding Professor Longhair in New Orleans in 1969 or so. Marquez told awesome stories about going to the Dew Drop Inn when he was 13 and seeing r'n'b greats, ranted about Jazz & Heritage Fest founder Quint Davis stealing credit for finding 'Fess and about the NOPD, and much more. Just found this link about this guy who also created the cadillac ranch. His comments about Springsteen on the link are pretty funny too.

― curmudgeon, Wednesday, April 24, 2013 2:33 PM (1

Plus Marquez showed his black and white video footage of Longhair playing with guitarist Snooks Eglin and an unknown drummer at the 1971 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage fest. Great stuff

Snooks Eaglin

good link. is that EMP interview archived anywhere?

Very sadly I think the EMP New Orleans folks did not tape anything but the Senegalese musicians playing on Sunday with the New Orleans Afro-Creole banjoists Don vappie and Carl Leblanc.

I see but have not listened to the audio link about Marquez finding 'Fess on that cartwheelart.com link above. I was scribbling down some notes while listening to Marquez talk and then I got so caught up in listening to his great stories about 'Fess making more money card-playing (but allegedly having a former home burned down in relation to such card-playing), the unidentified comatose looking woman in 'fess's apartment who was never explained to Marquez; Marquez' story of paying the musicians union $800 (he had only $1000 in his bank acct at the time) so Fess could play again and get to use a Union rehearsal space with a piano...

Wow, great stories. Would love to see that Fess/Snooks footage. Guessing the unknown drummer could have been Sheba Kimbrough, Fess played with him a lot around that time. Or is it a bigger mystery?

Not sure. When Marquez told interviewer Berry he didn't remember, Berry just moved on to another question.

I loved how Marquez said something like "After 'Fess start playing the piano beautifully after I gave the union $800 for dues, I thought man, I'd pay $800 anyday to hear a guy like that perform again."

Marquez had loaned Quint Davis his Fess 78s to listen to and Davis was initially unimpressed according to Marquez; until concert promoter George Wein (who worked with Davis in creating Jazzfest) expressed interest

I freaking love the way Fess SINGS.....

i have a special place on my heart for rock n' roll gumbo as that was my introduction to the professor while back in college, played that to death and remember the first time it hit me
even tho i have way more albums by him keep going back to that for the memories

but gawd that man cld play

http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/spirit-of-professor-longhair-alive-at-new-orleans-jazz-and-heritage-festival/2014/04/17/fa5da3e8-be6d-11e3-bcec-b71ee10e9bc3_story.html

Re fixing up his house, a movie doc, and a movie feature

just got back from new orleans, and i really regret not going to see his house. though i did randomly walk by Allen Toussaint's house.

Coincidentally, I just stumbled across this yesterday, don't know if it's been mentioned/linked elsewhere:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PX1vwDe9Z94

That W. Post feature quotes Quint Davis re finding 'Fess, but leaves out Hudson Marquez.