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Fess: The Professor Longhair Anthology |
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Reviews
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Monday, 06 February 2006 23:42 |
Fess
The Professor Longhair Anthology
Rhino R2 71502
By John Sinclair
Fess, Rhino's new boxed-set look at Professor Longhair through the ages, comes just in time for the late pianist's 75th birthday as a present to music-lovers everywhere.
Carefully balanced between the classic 78 and 45 rpm singles cut between 1949 and 1964 (most of Disc One) and the sessions and 'live' dates recorded after Longhair's "comeback" in 1971 (the rest of the collection), Fess: The Professor Longhair Anthology offers contemporary listeners a most welcome introduction to the music of the great New Orleans pianist, composer and bandleader, Henry Roeland Byrd.
For those, however, who--like this writer and, presumably, many OffBeat readers--have been well immersed in Fess' music for some time, the value of this "definitive" compilation is diminished in direct proportion to the wide availability of most of its contents and the absence of several rare or never-released-on-LP-let-alone-CD selections.
Admittedly, the small universe of extant Longhair fanatics is far outweighed by those who have yet to enjoy his music in any format, and this occasion for exposing the world to the genius of Henry Roeland Byrd is a happy one.
Thus neophyte Fess listeners are urged to clasp this handsome 2-CD boxed set to their hearts and let the music enclosed flow through to their minds, bodies and souls, where it shall surely serve as a delightfully refreshing balm indeed. For those with a lot of Fess in their collections, perhaps a more careful look into this package will be useful.
Fess starts with Byrd's only national hit, "Bald Head" (Mercury 8175, 1950), and the withdrawn B-side of Mercury 8184, "Hadacol Bounce," a rollicking, tongue-in-cheek paean to the wonders of a Louisiana-based elixir. The next 10 cuts are from Longhair's Atlantic Records sessions of 1949 and 1953, already widely available on the New Orleans Piano CD, with the alternate take of "Tipitina" substituted for the 78 rpm issue on Atlantic 1020.
On the plus side, every one of the Atlantic cuts is a perfectly realized exemplar of the musical world of Professor Longhair, from the ribald rocking of "In the Night," "Ball the Wall" and "Who's Been Fooling You" to the steady rolling of "Hey Now Baby," "Walk Your Blues Away" and "She Walks Right In."
Four of Fess' Ebb Records sides from 1957 follow, including the essential "No Buts, No Maybes," "Misery" and "Baby Let Me Hold Your Hand." All of them were recently issued on the two Creole Kings of New Orleans compilations from Specialty Records. Finally, track #17 yields a previously unavailable nugget: "Cuttin' Out" (Ron 326, 1959), an extremely hip remake of "Hey Now Baby."
Tracks #18 and 20, the indispensable Carnival anthems "Go to the Mardi Gras" (Ron 329, 1959) and "Big Chief," Pt. 2 (Watch 1900, 1964) are split by another rare gem, Longhair's impassioned reading of the Big Jay McNeely composition, "There Is Something on Your Mind" (Watch 6338, 1963).
Then the erratically programmed 'live' and studio material from 1971-80 begins with two tunes from a 1978 London concert, duet recitals of "Hey Little Girl" and "Hey Now Baby" with Alfred 'Uganda' Roberts on congas, taken from a JSP Records release just issued on CD.
Disc Two doubles back to 1974 for seven tracks from another widely distributed CD, Rock 'N Roll Gumbo, featuring fellow R&B veteran Clarence 'Gatemouth' Brown on guitar (Dancing Cat Records), with the insensitively overdubbed version of "Mardi Gras in New Orleans" leading off. Fess's great Alligator album from late 1979, Crawfish Fiesta, is represented by two of its lesser performances, Solomon Burke's "Cry To Me" and Fats Domino's "Whole Lotta Loving."
Then it's back to February 3-4, 1978 for two blues classics, Memphis Slim's "Everyday (I Have the Blues)" and Muddy Waters' "Got My Mojo Working," recorded at Tipitina's for Albert Goldman and released on the Atlantic/DeLuxe double LP titled The Last Mardi Gras. A third performance from Tipitina's, "Rum & Coca-Cola" (Version Two), appears here as Track #17 and again on one of the two additional CDs containing purportedly unreleased material from these sessions which have just been issued by Rhino/Tomato but were not available for review as OffBeat went to press.
Three pieces from the legendary Fess/Snooks Eaglin demo tapes of 1971-72 ensue: the beautiful Longhair composition "Thank You Pretty Baby" and fresh readings of Chris Kenner's "Sick and Tired" and the T-Bone Walker/Little Walter masterwork "Mean Old World." Again, this is material that's been made available in recent years on Rounder and Rhino CDs--and not the best of it either.
Three real blessings close out the program: 'live' performances of "Tipitina" (backed by The Meters) and "Big Chief" (introduced by Dr. John and sung by Earl King over an all-star aggrevation) as captured by the TV program Soundstage in 1974; and the final track, (Pinetop's) "Boogie Woogie," taken from Stevenson Palfi's wonderful video documentary, Piano Players Rarely Ever Play Together, with Fess heard straightening out the three-piano arrangement for keyboard cohorts Tuts Washington and Allen Toussaint in an exhilarating slice of backstage life recorded just two weeks before Fess left us here.
For historical purposes--and the further edification of Professor Longhair scholars--this anthology would have benefited from the inclusion of more such rarities and less of the Atlantic and Dancing Cat material. All four of Fess' initial recordings for the Star Talent label are absent, for example, as are all four of his Federal sides from December 1951, including the magnificent "Gone So Long" and "Rockin' With Fess." The 1963 remake of "Baldhead" (Watch 6338), not yet reissued, might have been preferable to the Ebb "Look-A No Hair," and either the Mercury (1950) or the Alligator (1979) version of "Her Mind Is Gone" should have been included.
The selections used for Disc Two could be debated all winter long, but it seems fair to say that Fess' great rendition of Little Johnny Taylor's delightfully twisted "It's My Fault Darling" (on the Alligator album) is a glaring exclusion. Likewise "Red Beans," Fess' update of "Mojo Working," from the same album, and "501 Boogie," "Cherry Pie" and "G Jam" from the 1971-72 demo sessions.
But don't let's carp, dear friends--it's good to see the Professor remembered, and no one who listens to it should feel the least bit let down by this edition of The Portable Fess from Rhino Records. Just to hear Byrd eliminate the confusement among the keyboards on the last track is worth the price of admission alone, and the music throughout is such that one may never weary of hearing it.
--New Orleans
1993
(c) 1993, 2006 John Sinclair. All Rights Reserved.
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