Description
Professor Longhair emerged as a force in the New Orleans musical community with his initial recordings for the Star Talent label out of Houston and his series of 78s for Mercury, Atlantic, and Federal Records issued between 1949 and 1953.
This recording is the result of Longhair’s appearance at the Chicago Folk Festival in early 1976 that was recorded by a local radio station and mixed under the supervision of Billy Gregory, who kept his copy of the tape for about 35 years before presenting it to Carlo Ditta at Orleans Records for a listen.
There have been any number of official and semi-official “live” Professor Longhair recordings issued since the piantist’s untimely passing in 1980, but this record offers incontrovertible evidence of the power and drive of the mid-70s edition of Fess’s band with Billy Gregory featured prominently on guitar.
John Sinclair
Reviews
Long-lost Professor Longhair recording to see April release | NOLA.com
The way Carlo Ditta tells the story of how he got his hands on a previously unreleased recording of Professor Longhair, it takes a minute. He starts with an anecdote about…
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Professor Longhair and the Genius of American Synthesis | HuffPost
As the rhythms roll and tumble across the piano keyboard, sometimes it seems the world comes together in the hands of Henry Roeland Byrd, better known as Professor Longhair. Born…
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Bentley’s Bandstand: June 2016 | The Morton Report
Professor Longhair, Live in Chicago. Talk about New Orleans, Roy “Professor Longhair” Byrd might be the ultimate musical ambassador to that fine burg that ever lived. Right up there with Fats Domino…
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Professor Longhair is ‘Live In Chicago’ From 1976 on New Orleans Records Release [REVIEW] | Classicalite
On Feb. 1, 1976, a living legend performed at the University of Chicago Folk Festival. His name was Henry Roeland “Roy” Byrd and he played the piano and sang. Most of the…
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Professor Longhair: Live in Chicago | PopMatters
Henry Roeland Byrd, the New Orleans pianist known to the world as Professor Longhair, has been dead for 35 years. But he’s by no means forgotten. At the recently concluded…
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New Music From Professor Longhair, Who Taught New Orleans How to Play The Piano | Daily Beast
Stardom may have eluded him, but as a newly released recording demonstrates, Professor Longhair set a standard for Crescent City piano that no one will ever top. The superb blues…
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History Sits Down at the Piano – Professor Longhair’s “Live in Chicago” | Stereo Embers Magazine
Does one really review a Professor Longhair live album? I’m not meaning to sound rhetorically cute or anything but the prospect of giving a ‘yay’ or ‘nay’ to the recording now jouncing…
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SONG PREMIERE: Listen to Professor Longhair Perform ‘Big Chief’ In Long-lost Live Recording | Glide Magazine
Though he had been an active presence around the Louisiana music scene for decades and was a well-known character around New Orleans, the great piano legend Professor Longhair, known to most…
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Unreleased live Professor Longhair album made available | Jazz FM
An unreleased live album from one of New Orleans’ greatest musicians, Professor Longhair, is to be released. ‘Live at the University of Chicago Folk Festival – February 1, 1976’ is…
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Unreleased Live Professor Longhair Album Due in April | JazzTimes
Recorded in Chicago in 1976 Orleans Records will release Professor Longhair’s Live at the University of Chicago Folk Festival-February 1, 1976, a previously unreleased live album, on April 12. The show,…
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