Customer Reviews

New Orleans Piano: Blues Originals 2

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is one of the handful of albums from the 20th century in any or all genres of music which deserves the description "masterpiece". It is simply fantastic, and hugely influential on much music which followed. Many cuts on this album hit like a thunderbolt. Longhair was an original and a genius, and this is his best stuff. I cannot say enough enthusiastic things about this album--words fail me. Plus, it's a whole lot of fun! If this music doesn't make you tap your feet, check your pulse.

To quibble about the sound quality (as a previous reviewer saw fit to) of these classic tracks is perhaps expecting too much from "modern" sound technology. I can only imagine what opinions would be forthcoming on the Delmark live Magic Sam releases! 6 STARS for the man I would consider to be the father of the New Orleans rock and blues sound !!

This disc, originally released in the early 1970s, has been remastered and expanded to include the good professor's entire early 1950s recorded output for Atlantic.It's great! Includes the classic tracks "Tipitina", "Ball The Wall", "Mardi Gras In New Orleans", "She Walks Right In" and many others. If you love the New Orleans piano sound, it doesn't get much better than this! A wonderful album by the Mardi Gras king of "N'Orleans" that deserves a place in your CD collection.

These recordings date from 1949 and 1953 and are essential recordings for lovers of New Orleans music. Professor Longhair is the Godfather of modern New Orleans Piano and here he is on top form.

Playing with him is a star-studded collection of New Orleans players, some of the better known are:

Lee Allen - Tenor Sax

Red Tyler - Baritone Sax

Earl Palmer - Drums

The recordings were produced by Ahmet Ertegun and Jerry Wexler, the kingpins of Atlantic records. Of course what counts is the music and in this department you are guarenteed a good time. Fess is steaming on "Ball the Wall" and Lee Allens tenor sax solo is blisteringly good. There are no weak tracks on this album and all of Fess's best known songs on here. Enjoy...

For me these Atlantic tracks are by far his best recordings.I have the LP but felt I must purchase the CD as well.Backed by Dave Bartholomews best musicians and produced by the excellent Atlantic Records team of Jerry Wexler,Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson it can't get any better!!What an excellent mix!!!These Atlantic greats should have made more trips to New Orleans (sorry Cosimo!)

This is a GREAT collection of Professor Longhair's piano-dominated songs.... he is just amazing. I can't believe it took me this long to stumble across his work. This CD is perfection.

Wonderful songs here but I think there are a couple things that make this a poor choice if you're only going to own one Fess collection. One is that a couple songs are included in two versions back-to-back. This is interesting to the enthusiast and completist but makes for clunky listening. The other is the sound quality. I'm sure they've done the best they could with the tapes they had but the fact is that the piano can be pretty hard to make out. I'd recommend "Rock'n'Roll Gumbo" as a starting place.

If you're at all interested in the formative influences of blues/rock, then this album is both a wonderful piece of history and a great collection of music that's just bound to make you want to dance. Professor Longhair changed people's perceptions of what you could do with a piano. He strongly influenced a couple of generations of New Orleans musicians, from Fats Domino to Dr John. Listen to this and you'll soon see why.

I have a copy of this CD from BMG and the sound quality is awful. Not sure if this version is re-mastered but I would not take the chance. I recommend Crawfish Feista and Rock and Roll Gumbo as far better examples of Fess's work.