Professor Longhair - The Primo Collection - 2CD (2009)

Justly worshipped a decade and a half after his death as a founding
father of New Orleans R&B, Roy Professor Longhair Byrd was
nevertheless so down-and-out at one point in his long career that he
was reduced to sweeping the floors in a record shop that once could
have moved his platters by the boxful. That Longhair made such a
marvelous comeback testifies to the resiliency of this late legend,
whose Latin-tinged rhumba-rocking piano style and croaking, yodeling
vocals were as singular and spicy as the second-line beats that
power his hometown's musical heartbeat. Longhair brought an
irresistible Caribbean feel to his playing, full of rolling
flourishes that every Crescent City ivories man had to learn inside
out (Fats Domino, Huey Smith, and Allen Toussaint all paid homage
early and often).

Singer/pianist Longhair is the godfather of New Orleans R&B; his
early recordings defined the style, setting the pace not just for
pianists from James Booker to Dr. John, but for countless Crescent
City soul/blues singers. Over the course of its two discs, "The
Primo Collection" offers some of Longhair's most iconic tunes, the
ones that cemented his legend, like the wailing, rollicking
"Tipitina", and the funky "Hadacol Bounce". Second-line rhythms and
pure blues piano licks melded like never before in Longhair's music,
and you can hear it all happen right here.