CITYFOLK MONTHLY - February 2006

If ever there were a match made in heaven between an American city and a musical instrument, it would be the love affair between New Orleans and the piano. It's a long-standing affair, dating back to the middle of the 1800s, and one that cuts across racial, cultural and economic boundaries. By the early 1900s, the piano was a ubiquitous fixture throughout the Crescent City, from upper-class parlors to bottom-of-the barrel waterfront dives.

No one ever really "throws away" a piano. As the instruments in New Orleans got older and more decrepit, they simply changed hands, moving a rung or two lower on the socio-economic ladder with each transfer. The most beat-up pianos eventually ended up in the country, in the rural areas around New Orleans and the lumber and turpentine "camps," makeshift towns that invariably had one or more "barrelhouses" to serve the thirsty workers. The pianos here took a pounding from local bluesmen like Little Brother Montgomery and Champion Jack Dupree and scores of their itinerant brethren.

Within the city, the piano was the center of black musical life. "You take the poorest family, they would have a piano," said Dave "Fat Man" Williams, an obscure pianist who played for decades in New Orleans. "That's what was happening back then. That's all anyone did, was go to other people's houses playing pianos, pianos, pianos."

One of the key incubators of New Orleans piano styles was Storyville, the city's officially designated red-light area that flourished between 1895 and 1917. Virtually every "sporting house" had a pianist to entertain the patrons, as did the countless bars, gambling parlors and hash houses in the district. If you could play piano, the work was steady in Storyville.

The first major New Orleans pianist to be thoroughly documented on recordings was Jelly Roll Morton (1885-1941), a key figure in the transition from ragtime to Jazz and one of the first great composers in Jazz. Morton is underrated as a pianist, perhaps because of his obsessive (and off-putting) self-promotion, but his solo recordings of 1923-1924 (recorded in Richmond, Indiana) and his late 1920s recordings with his band the Red Hot Peppers are some of the most exciting in early Jazz.

Though he was never as successful or well known as Morton, the spiritual godfather of New Orleans piano was Henry Roeland Byrd, better known as Professor Longhair (1918-1980). By his early teens, Longhair was absorbing the music around Rampart Street, particularly the boogie-woogie piano playing of veteran honky-tonkers Kid Stormy Weather and Isidore "Tuts" Washington, and older players Sullivan Rock and Archibald. Longhair first performed as a dancer and it was a dancer's interpretation of the city's percolating polyrhythms that gave his piano playing much of its distinctive bounce.

Longhair's main musical innovation was incorporating the rhythms of the Caribbean islands, what he called "the rhumba, mambo and Calypso," into the Jazz and blues fusion of New Orleans. He recorded for such prestigious labels as Mercury and Atlantic in the 1940s and 1950s, and Alligator late in life, but his records never made much of a national splash, in part because he wouldn't tour. In New Orleans, however, his songs became standards that other pianists regularly performed; some of Longhair's records, most notably "Go To the Mardi Gras" and "Big Chief" are still played every year at Carnival time.

Professor Longhair's influence upon such subsequent New Orleans players as James Booker, Allen Toussaint, Huey "Piano" Smith, Fats Domino, Art Neville, and Dr. John is almost impossible to overstate. To a man, they spoke of "Fess" with reverence, almost awe, and all credit him as their main inspiration. Toussaint calls him "the Bach of rock." This influence is perhaps most obvious listening to Booker, a troubled soul who could match Longhair's eccentricity and then some.

James Booker (1939-1983) is arguably the most technically brilliant pianist to emerge from the New Orleans tradition. His career his derailed by heroin addiction and a stint in prison, but Booker had the respect of his contemporaries. A highly improvisational player with a phenomenal left hand--he didn't need a bass player when he played--Booker brought a good bit of gospel influence to the keyboard to augment the blues, Jazz and R&B he seamlessly blended. The complexity of his playing is evident in the explanation of one critic who describes Booker's improvisation as "reinventing a progression (usually his own) so that a single piece would evolve into a medley of itself."

Singing piano players Huey "Piano" Smith and Fats Domino took New Orleans piano to the top of the R&B and pop charts in the 1950s. Many of Smith's records bear the stamp of Professor Longhair's patented rhumba-boogie blend, including his two biggest hits, "Rocking Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu" (1957) and "Don't You Just Know It" (1958).

Rock & Roll Hall of Fame member Fats Domino was New Orleans' biggest star in the early rock years. Domino had more than 50 R&B hits between 1950 and 1960 and virtually all of them featured his rollicking boogie-woogie piano work, heavy on the triplets and a left hand made of thunder--"Ain't That A Shame," "Blueberry Hill," "I'm In Love Again," "Blue Monday, "I'm Walkin'," "I Want To Walk You Home" and "Walking To New Orleans." Domino was the first black R&B artist from New Orleans to make the Billboard pop charts.

Allen Toussaint, Art Neville and Dr. John are all about the same age, born between 1937 and 1940, and have known each other for decades. Better known as a producer, talent scout and the composer of the Al Hirt hit "Java," Allen Toussaint is a gifted pianist. He's preferred a back-stage role during much of his career, but his albums Southern Nights and Motion from the 1970s are classics.

The oldest brother in a musical family, Art Neville brought the Longhair sound into the funk era. Neville formed a band in the mid-1960s called Art Neville & the Neville Sound, which had evolved by 1968 into an instrumental quartet called the Meters, hailed by Rolling Stone at one time as "the best performing band in America." The Meters had two big hits in 1969, "Sophisticated Cissy" and "Cissy Strut" and also recorded such popular albums as Fire on the Bayou, Rejuvenation and Cabbage Alley. Art has also toured and recorded with brothers Aaron, Charles and Cyrille as the Neville Brothers.

Mac Rebennack, aka Dr. John, has been a rock star since the late 1960s and an acknowledged master of New Orleans piano traditions since the early 1980s, when he recorded a pair of solo piano albums, Dr. John Plays Mac Rebennack and The Brightest Smile in Town. He is today the foremost living repository of the history, music and legacy of all New Orleans piano players, not only of the major players mentioned here, but also of such forgotten, unrecorded pianists as Salvador Doucette, Herbert Santina and a character named Boogus, who reportedly would play only the black keys.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, predictions about New Orleans music aren't worth much on the open market, but it seems safe to say that the piano will be part of the city's musical future. The current generation of players includes blues-Jazz virtuoso Henry Butler, Harry Connick Jr. (who's much better known now as a singer), David Torkanowskyi and others who will help pass the torch. The next generation will include a few taught by Ellis Marsalis, eminent Jazz pianist, respected music educator and the patriarch of another great New Orleans family.

One other prediction seems safe: the music of Professor Longhair will always be part of the New Orleans sound. Dr. John calls Longhair "the guardian angel of the roots of New Orleans music...the guru, godfather and spiritual root doctor of all that came under him." Not even a storm can wash that legacy away.

Irish fiddler Liz Carroll hit the Irish music scene with a bang, winning all sorts of awards as a teen. Mick Moloney chose her to be one of the original members of Cherish the Ladies. She eventually took a break from performing to raise her family. When Liz returned to performing, she had lost none of the skill and fire that made her a sensation in those early days. If anything, those years of experience had only deepened the expressive nature of her playing. But I bet you don't know that she's also a Prince-loving, bee-owning sports nut!

RECORDING I'M LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW: This morning I was listening to Mollie O'Brien (Tim's sis), and then a CD of young fiddlers from Canada called The MacLeod Fiddlers (they recorded a tune of mine on their CD). The last CD I bought was on Super Bowl Sunday - The Very Best of Prince.

LAST THREE BOOKS I'VE READ: Dance of Death by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child (scarrrryyyy), Stradivari's Genius by Toby Faber (not scary), and A Book of Bees by Sue Hubbell (we actually have 2 hives).

FAVORITE LIVE MUSIC EXPERIENCE: Favorite live music experiences are too numerous... I do fondly recall, however, the Saturday night lineup at the Winnepeg Folk Festival in 1980, which was James Cotton Blues Band followed by Stephane Grappelli followed by Silly Wizard. Also, loved La Bottine Souriante the first time I saw them with the horn section at the Champlain Valley Folk Festival in Vermont--just when you thought it couldn't get any better, it did.

FAVORITE COMFORT FOOD: Food? Dark Chocolate, of course. Comfort, though, I might have to say curry.

FAVORITE PASSTIMES: Following sports; local teams, national sports, Olympics--I love it all.

DREAM VACATION: I'm living it every day! Good friends, great family, good music, the occasional glass of Scotch...well, not that occasional!

MATERIAL CULTURE: METAL WORKING

The year's Material Culture exhibit at the Cityfolk Festival focuses on metal working. We have a rich tradition of metal working here--they didn't call Dayton the Precision City for nothing. One of the more outstanding metalworkers of the area was Bob Zeller, of Medway.

I am one of many people who learned blacksmithing from Bob Zeller. Born in 1910, Zeller was trained as blacksmith as a youth. As the horse era passed, he worked on automobiles, school buses and farm equipment, and was well known as someone who could fix just about anything mechanical. To me, that is what a mechanic is--someone who can actually fix things.

This kind of hit home when I recently spent an afternoon in the old shop with his son, Bob Jr. Much of the shop remains as it was when the elder Zeller passed away in 1995.

Now I spent a fair amount of time in that shop, but usually for blacksmithing or steam engine projects. So it was a revelation to me when Bob Jr. showed me what some of the equipment in the shop was actually for. There are all sorts of machinery for rebuilding and fine tuning engines. A motor runs an overhead line shaft that powers drill presses and a lathe. There's a valve grinding machine, a pressure chamber for testing spark plugs, and any number of jigs, fixtures, and machinery that facilitate the rebuilding of engines. These machines date from the days before modular and electronic components turned automobiles into something akin to large, expensive Legos. Bob Jr. pointed out that a good mechanic could work to very close tolerances by developing a feel for how things should fit and work with each other.

In his later years Bob tapered off on repairing automobiles and farm equipment, and became very active in blacksmithing and steam engine operation and maintenance. He taught some of the first classes in blacksmithing and steam engine maintenance in the Miami Valley. He was one of the founders of the Southern Ohio Forge and Anvil group in the early 1980's. SOFA is thriving today--they have a building at the Miami County Fairgrounds where they teach classes, build blacksmithing equipment, and gather to exchange information (also known as swapping lies!).

Bob Zeller's name comes up often in conversations about smithing and steam engine work. Several of the artists who will be at the material culture exhibit were strongly influenced by him. We will explore some memories of Bob Zeller during workshops on the Material Culture Stage.

PROFILE: LOCAL JAZZ TEACHERS JOY JONES AND GEORGE BALOG

It's not very often that a young musician in school gets to rub shoulders with top-notch musicians, but students at several local schools got just such a chance. And it's not just the students who are learning from such an experience. You're never finished learning, even when you're a teacher, and one of the best ways to learn is to learn from a professional.

Miguel Zenón is considered one of the most talented saxophonists in the current Jazz scene, and through Cityfolk, Miguel and his Jazz quartet have made their way to Dayton area schools and inspired young musicians. As a Cityfolk Artist-in-Residence, Miguel--along with quartet pianist/composer Luis Perdomo--visited a range of students from as young as elementary students through college-level musicians.

Miguel and Luis' first stop for the residency was Lincoln School for the Arts. On February 8, the Jazz ensemble at Lincoln was fortunate enough to have Miguel visit and offer the elementary students some guidance in their music. Joy Jones has been the director of bands and Jazz studies at Lincoln for 19 years, the last six of which Lincoln has participated in Cityfolk artist residencies. The 2005-2006 Jazz ensemble at Lincoln consists of 19 students ranging from 4th to 7th grade and is one of the best Jazz bands in its age group.

"You can see their eyes light up when they see the professionals play," said Ms. Jones. Talking to Ms. Jones, the impact these workshops have on the students is unmistakable. You can tell how the residencies help encourage the young students and provide valuable insight toward their Jazz. With each of the residencies comes motivation for the students to achieve a higher standard in their music. The students aren't the only ones motivated by the experience. "It keeps me going knowing there's encouragement," said Jones. "It's great for me because I'm trying to learn as much as I can about Jazz; I'm a classical flute player. So I'm learning at the same time I'm teaching the students." Ms. Jones also expressed her gratitude toward Cityfolk for making these residencies possible. "Cityfolk made it possible for artists of this caliber to come here. Each time Cityfolk sets [the residencies] up differently, but they're all fantastic."

During the residency, Miguel and Luis also visited Stivers School for the Arts, an arts-focused high school in Dayton. George Balog is currently teaching Jazz history at Stivers School. He has been teaching at Stivers for over 30 years, more than 20 of which were spent teaching 7th and 8th grade social studies. Mr. Balog currently teaches approximately 100 students enrolled in several different Jazz classes. The Stivers Jazz Band (pictured here) won the national championship at Berklee College of Music in Boston. Stivers has also participated in Cityfolk artist residencies for six years.

"It was an amazing experience, which was largely due to the intense submersion of everything it takes to play Jazz and do it artfully. When the students get to rub shoulders with top notch New York musicians, it encourages them to play better and work as an ensemble, which is a valuable experience when playing in Jazz Band," said Mr. Balog. "You can't learn Jazz in a Jazz club, or just jamming anymore, it's really been moved to the institutions." The ability to interact with professional musicians creates an intense learning experience the students would otherwise be lacking were it not for the residency program at Stivers. "No matter how good the director is, one person can only take kids so far, and kids are going to relate to someone who's not their teachers in a whole different way," said Balog.

The best part for Mr. Balog is being able to see the student's reactions when they get to play with and learn from such high-caliber musicians. "I'm convinced that these kids were spurred to accelerate their learning where they can actually snag scholarships and consider a career in music," he said. "They [Cityfolk] always manage to pick people who are not just good musicians--and there are a lot of tremendous Jazz musicians--but it takes that rare bird that plays well and can teach kids, and not everyone can teach kids and approach them at their own level and spur them to play above and beyond themselves."

Ms. Jones and Mr. Balog were both expressed a great deal of gratitude toward Cityfolk for hosting these residencies. "I'd like to give a big thanks to Cityfolk and its sponsors," said Ms. Jones. Mr. Balog showed how much he valued the residencies by saying, "It would be a sad day for our schools, a sad day for our Jazz program, if for some reason, Cityfolk wouldn't be able to continue these residencies."

Several years ago, I browsed through the CD collection of a musician friend of mine, and found a CD called Chansons A Cappella by Les Charbonniers de l'Enfer (literally 'Coalmen of Hell'). A closer look revealed names familiar to me: Michel Bordeleau and André Marchand from La Bottine Souriante and Normand Miron from another Quebecois band. I love the music and song (and dance) of Quebec , and the thought of hearing such strong voices sing a cappella was too good to pass up! So I popped it in the CD player, and quickly cranked the sound as high as being a good neighbor allows so the sound filled the space around me.

The five men in this band achieve a vocal blend that is a complete delight. Their harmonies are as tight as brothers, their voices strong and solid. And there's nothing to distract from them: at most, they are accompanied by the food percussion that is so common in French Canadian music. In fact, many times the song and the relentless rhythm of the foot percussion drive each other onward, while still managing to leave you wanting more. Some of the songs were written by the men in the group, but they all sound traditional.

Another thing that had me quickly hooked on the CD is the combination of printed lyrics and clear singing. I studied French for several years, and with that combination I was able to (mostly) understand what they were singing about, and even sing along. Particular favorites are "Ce Sont les Gens de Par Chez Nous", about the return home of local boys who had abruptly joined the army while drunk, and the sad "Les Trois Gentilhommes" about three brothers in King Louis' court who are sentenced to death after being too free with some girls in the country. The stories are rich, and the variety of rhythms and song styles (call-and-response, all men singing in unison, etc) makes the album very enjoyable to listen to.

To my delight, the group has a new album out, called Wo. You can hear samples of every track (and by the album Itunes-style) on Calabash Music. The CD is on its way to my mailbox now. I can't wait to pop it in, crank the volume, and let their strong voices fill my house with their joyful noise!

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