The Better Your Left Hand, the Better the Music will Sound

New Orleans – that most unique of American cities – has produced some of the greatest and best-known piano players the Jazz and Blues world has ever seen. From Jelly Roll Morton to Fats Domino to Dr. John to Henry Butler, their influence is as widespread as the Mississippi River. Jazz itself was born out of the sporting houses in New Orleans where the piano players played orchestrated music designed to help promote good patronage.

The 1982 film “Piano Players Rarely Ever Play Together,” directed by Stevenson J. Palfi, introduces us to three of the premier piano players in a lineage. The eldest, then in his 70s Isidore “Tuts” Washington was a mentor to Henry Roe Byrd, aka Professor Longhair (“Fess”).  Fess in turn was a huge inspiration to Allen Toussaint. The film was originally supposed to be about their coming together to perform together, something that Allen Toussaint says in the title, doesn’t’ happen because a) most places have only one piano, and b) most pianists are working on the same nights. That is how the film begins but by the end it takes on a far more deeply personal and intimate tone and texture to its narrative.

From the first frames, we are witness to splendid barrelhouse blues piano playing as each man is introduced and they begin to express their history and regard for one another. Tuts is regal, dressed in a dark suit and fedora, his incredibly long fingers playing fast and precise. Fess is funky in a jean jacket, wool hat and sunglasses, explaining that because he didn’t have the reach of Tuts he had to invent his own way of spreading across the keyboard to reach the notes he wanted. Allen Toussaint is quiet and humble as he describes how both men touched him musically. Throughout the film the camera lingers lovingly on the fingers of these players, taking us up close, over their shoulders, onto to the piano’s hammers and the keys sometimes reflected through their glasses.

Archival footage shows Fess playing with the Meters, Dr. John, as well as Allen rehearsing his band in his studio, and Tuts playing at home. New Orleans piano music has a lot to do with the artist’s ability to blend syncopation, counterpoint, and melody together; and to make it into a kind of funky that can only be found there. At one point Tuts tells the camera, “the better your left hand, the better your music will sound.” All three have extra strong left hands. Much has been written about the genius of Professor Longhair and his utterly original way of playing. It is a rhythmic gumbo of blues, boogie-woogie, calypso, and rhumba cooked up into his own New Orleans funk. Dr. John was so taken with Fess that he and his band quit a 6-night gig with the blues shouter Roy Brown so they could play one night with Fess. Allen Toussaint describes how otherworldly he regarded Fess’ talent. In the film he comes across as a mellow easy-going cat.

We see Allen in his SeaSaint recording studio working out arrangements of some of his greatest hits and discussing how he created them. He is a producer, arranger, songwriter and a behind the scenes guy even as he dresses like a rock star.  The film shows Allen, Fess and Tuts meeting and rehearsing how to play together that is not as easy as it may seem. At one point Allen suggests that beyond any words they can use,“some secret spirit organizers” will be responsible for things coming together. It is fascinating to watch them rehearse and work out how to communicate. Tuts can’t  seem to help himself, his playing is overflowing with ideas. Allen is ever the gentle producer quietly mediating as he sits literally between Tuts and Fess, while Fess in his own way reins in Tuts with just a few words. Needless to say it comes together beautifully.

But the film takes a dramatic turn because Fess, at age 61 dies during the filming and the focus shifts. We learn about his final moments from his wife. We are taken inside his memorial where Allen Toussaint plays one of Fess’ signature tunes ‘Mardi Gras in New Orleans’ as both a groove and a touching lullaby. We also are witness to the traditional New Orleans funeral dirge/party with the Olympic Brass Band leading the mourners and the faithful as they send the great man off.

Tuts and Allen go ahead with the proposed performance, this time as a tribute to Fess, and we see them rocking out on another signature tune ‘Junko Partner.’ The film concludes by taking us back to the three of them in rehearsal, jamming the blues, boogie-woogie, rhumba, rock and roll, showing the complete package that is New Orleans piano music and one of its great gifts to the world.

This week marks the 10^th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and the breach in the levies that almost drowned the great city of New Orleans. It has rebuilt and rebounded, but to this day many of its former inhabitants still cannot come home. There have been pros and cons to the rebuilding process, gains and losses, trade-offs and compromises that ultimately benefit some and disadvantage others. As I have said before, New Orleans is the most unique city in America. Some like Cyril Neville (of the Neville Brothers) makes the case that it is instead the northern most portion of the Caribbean.

No one who has ever been there can argue that the city’s vibe, the smells, tastes and sounds, its funk and second line swing, its hot sauce and holy trinity of onions, celery and pepper don’t make the world a better place. Copies of this film may be hard to find but like so much of what New Orleans has to offer, when you do find it, it’s as satisfying as hot beignets and chicory coffee and the infectious street rhythms that guide the ‘City That Care Forgot’ onwards into this new century.

EDITOR’S NOTE: The video has been found on YouTube, and for sale at Amazon.com.  Music on this feature is by Allan Toussaint, “St. James Infirmary” from the CD “The Bright Mississippik,” and Professor Longhair, “Meet Me Tomorrow Night” from the double-CD set “‘Fess – The Professor Longhair Anthology.”

music by Allen Toussaint and Professor Longhair, review, and clip from film “Piano Players Rarely Ever Play Together”