Billy Taylor

[David Morris]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professor_Longhair

The journalist Tony Russell, in his book The Blues – From Robert
Johnson to Robert Cray, stated "The vivacious rhumba-rhythmed piano
blues and choked singing typical of Fess [Prof Longhair] were too
weird to sell millions of records; he had to be content with siring
musical offspring who were simple enough to manage that, like Fats
Domino or Huey "Piano" Smith. But he is also acknowledged as a father
figure by subtler players like Allen Toussaint and Dr. John."

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x17q28_professor-longhair-tipitina_music


 <malignd at aol.com> wrote:
> Funny story I heard about Billy Taylor.  He had been hearing about Professor Longhair, but had never heard him, so a friend was playing some of the professor's albums for him.  Taylor listened awhile and said (more or less), "I don't get it; this is just simple stuff."  He then walked over to a piano to play along, tried, and said "I can't play this."  Reason being that the professor's rhythms and sense of the beat were so idiosyncratic and odd.