Mardi Gras in Worcester--My Professor Longhair Epiphany

Grace Descends Slowly On Our Unconscious Sleepy Heads-
David McComb

I was in college back in my youth, standing in Al Bum's records, looking through the bins for something interesting, maybe the Lynch Mob 7",  maybe Velvet Underground, or some at least some good used punk. I didn't have a lot of money on me that day, so I had to choose wisely. Quite accidentally I stumbled upon this record--- Crawfish Fiesta?? An elderly African American man in a jean jacket with a bunch of cartoon crayfish? What the heck could this be? For some crazy reason I had to own this, even though the $6 price seemed a little steep for a record that was completely unknown to me. Honestly, I bought it for laughs, because of the zany cover, thinking it was some sort of wacky novelty record.

I had no idea what I was getting into. Turns out the laugh was on me. It was a very lucky day for me because I was introduced to someone who would quickly become one of my musical heroes-Mr. Henry Roeland "Roy" Byrd aka Professor Longhair. The "Bach of Rock".

Now I've been playing the piano for a long time, and for me, this record was something of a revelation. I loved music, but most rock and roll keyboard players I didn't get excited about. I always liked the guitar. But this was like the best stuff imaginable, music that never failed to cheer me up when I was down in the dumps. This piano music was an entirely different story. And the Professor was a great piano player, with his own special style, which I think has been imitated but not quite duplicated. I guess one of the distinctive things about his style is the left hand Caribbean rumba cadence that he plays in juxtaposition with the rock and roll, R n B of his right. And he was one of the great originators, who set an example and was a mentor for pianists like Fats Domino, Allen Toussaint, James Booker, and Dr. John. And though he was no longer a young man when this album was recorded, he was in fine form here, giving spirited rendition of classic songs with a crack band behind him, including Mac Rebannack (Dr John) on guitar. And I'm still fruitlessly trying to play like him.

Unfortunately he died the same year as this was released. Though his career revived it was short lived, and apparently he had a tough life. After releasing a number of hit single in the late 40's, early 50's he basically disappeared, though he still played around town for the tourists, house parties for the locals. When people were attempting to market the Mardi Gras celebrations in the 70's, apparently one of the promoters happened to hear "Go to the Mardi Gras" on a juke box. His first impression of the song was that this needed to be the theme song of the whole festival. He was even  more excited to find out that Professor Longhair was alive, and was someone who did odd jobs around town. They set out to find him. It took a while, but they finally met him when he came into a record store at the end of the day to sweep the floor. It's a real shame that he had been living hand to mouth for some time, suffering from physical infirmity and possibly malnutrition.

Listening to this album, nothing could be less evident. This is really an energetic, uptempo, fun party album, played in Longhair's unique style. A top notch New Orleans scorcher that has a real live feel to it. Crawfish Fiesta starts out with the amazing "Big Chief" which has my favorite piano riff of all time running through it, with a horn line contrasting, and of course his trademark whistling. Next song is the funky Her Mind is Gone with some spirited piano solos.

On the third song he switches things up with the melancholy poignant ballad Something On Your Mind, another highlight. Another winning ballad on this disc is the superb Cry To Me with a nice sax solo. He also has two piano instrumentals, the elegant Wille Fugal's Blues, and the closer, Crawfish Fiesta, which sounds like an old traditional New Orleans song. This is an album full of delightful songs. You're Driving Me Crazy, Red Beans, In the Wee Wee Hours, the hilarious Bald Head, Whole Lotta Loving---all dynamite versions here.

The album does not have Tipitina or Mardi Gras in New Orleans on it, so if you like this you will probably need to seek out more of his music. There was the Rhino anthology "Fess" out, plus there are discs of his precomeback recordings like Mardi Gras in New Orleans and include some good saxophone work from Lee Allen. Of note also is the Rock n Roll Gumbo album which he recorded with guitarist Charles "Gatemouth" Brown.

Taking Us To School

But Crawfish Fiesta is one of my favorite records of all time, and with this album in your collection, you can make every day Mardi Gras.