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Friday May 16th 2008 |
a non-profit education organization | |
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Friday May 16th 2008 |
a non-profit education organization | |
December 19
Born Henry Roeland Byrd in Bogalusa, Louisiana, he lived in New Orleans from the age of two onward. As a child, he learned how to play on an old piano that had been left in an alley. He seriously began to master the instrument while working at a Civilian Conservation Corps camp in 1937. After a stint in the service during World War II, he returned to New Orleans and began playing at clubs like the Caledonia bar just outside the French Quarter. It was here that he was called Professor Longhair, the "professor" part being an honorary nickname bestowed on New Orleans piano wizards. He first recorded in 1949 and scored his one and only R&B chart hit Bald Head, released on Mercury Records, a year later he was signed to Atlantic Records. As a vocalist, Professor Longhair was a classic blues shouter. As a pianist, he was a unique force of New Orleans. It was a city whose sense of festivity he celebrated with such anthems as Tipitina (now the name of the city's most fabled music club), Mardi Gras in New Orleans and Big Chief. Longhair remained locally popular as a working musician from the late 1940s to the early 1960s, rarely venturing off his home turf. He abandoned the music business in 1964 to work odd jobs and deal cards for a living. After languishing in obscurity Professor Longhair was rediscovered and enlisted to play at the second New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival in 1971. His reappearance included tours of Europe and albums for major labels as a new generation discovered his inimitable "mambo-rumba-boogie" style. All the while he remained the patron saint of his cities Jazz-fest, closing out the final show each year until his death in 1980. Reference: Heart & Soul A Celebration of Black Music Style in America 1930-1975 by Merlis Davin Seay, Forward by Etta james Copyright 2002, Billboard Books ISBN 0-8230-8314-4
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The African American Registry®, The African American Registry® Copyright 2005, 2006
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