Rock 'N' Roll Gumbo
SSC3049 2006-08-01
Track List
Mardi Gras In New Orleans - 2:56
Hey Now Baby - 3:37
Junco Partner - 3:29
Meet Me Tomorrow Night - 3:16
Doin' It - 4:03
How Long Has That Train Been Gone - 3:31
Tipitina - 3:37
Rockin' Pneumonia - 2:41
Jambalaya - 3:12
Mean Ol'World - 3:35
Stag-O-Lee - 2:57
Mess Around - 2:37
Rum And Coke - 3:11
(They Call Me) Dr. Professor Long Hair - 4:16
Musicians
Professor Longhair - vocals and piano
Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown - guitar, violin
Alfred “Uganda” Roberts - congas Julius Farmer - bass
Sheba - drums
Jerry Jumonville - tenor saxophone Steve Madaio - trumpet
Born on December 19, 1918 in Bogalusa, Louisiana, Henry Roeland Byrd got along any ol’how and lived off a few local hits. It was in Bogalusa that he found himself in a brand new recording studio, with a brand new three days old
Blues: his house had just burnt down to the ground. That’s the Blues you live through, just as thick and sticky as molasses, the Blues without diamond rings on your fingers. That is probably why he recorded one of the most invigorating albums since Liberace packed up his banjo!
Gatemouth Brown was there, that flipped out sheriff armed with a guitar and a fiddle.
Uganda hadn’t forgotten his congas and his sidekick Julius Farmer, the “tiny” bass prodigy from the Wild Magnolias sessions, was there too, still starting the day on an eight fried eggs breakfast. As for the incredible Sheba that ageing young man had brought along his battered old drumkit. Once it was set up and working, there was no way to get him out of his seat for the rest of the day. The headphones kept on falling over his eyes when he played the “second line”, that famous rhythm of the New Orleans street parades, but he wouldn’t have left his stool for the world.
When it was over P.R. persuaded the Professor to have one last chat with his piano. Just the two of them. And that’s the way it goes, when you stop thinking about it, you record a real chef d’oeuvre:“Well,all the boys call
me Doctor Professor Longhair, the girls all call me a little ol’ loving man…”
Reviews
Can you imagine encountering for the first time the wildest, wailingestNew Orleans street musicians jamming in the very living room of one of
rock’n’roll’s most legendary piano men? Fess was sitting back in the kitchen with his wife Alice, sipping some local dark roast, wearing an Astrakhan hat and dark shades, greeting everybody that came in. His friendly smile revealed a shiny gold tooth every once in a while.
Aaron Neuville selected this CD as one of his all time favorite music from New Orleans
Aaron Neuville, Wall Street Journal, September 2006 read the full article