Professor Longhair

Quick Facts.

Birthname: Henry Roeland Byrd.

Nicknames: Roy, Fess, Professor Longhair.

Born: December 19, 1918.

Died: January 30, 1980.

Birthplace: Bogalusa, Louisiana.




"The very first instrument I played was the bottom of my feet."

"Professor Longhair", a.k.a. Henry Roeland "Roy" Byrd was born in 1918 in Bogalusa, Louisiana. He moved with his family to New Orleans, where he began performing at a young age, tap dancing for tourists in the French Quarter. Many say this is where he picked up his incredible sense of rhythm.

Byrd is most known for his unique piano playing style, creating entire solos on a very limited range of notes. Chalk it up to his early days when he was first learning from his mother on an old broken piano that someone had left out for the garbage man. "My mother started teaching me what few keys they had left on it – I guess that’s why I learned the style that I learned. When I was playing, I had to remember what keys were good and what was bad and skip them and jump ‘em. Some of the guys said I was cross-chording but, whatever it was, I was getting to the right keys. With these good pianos, it’s simple for me to do what I was doing then."

After returning from serving in the Army in 1944, he went through a series of professions, cooking, boxing, and often hustling cards. The first break as a musician came in 1949 at a New Orleans club called the Caledonia. He started playing there every weekend, and gained a large following. The name Professor Longhair was awarded him by the owner of the club – "Professor" being a common term used then to describe anyone who was a great piano player, and "Longhair" because, well, he had long hair. Soon he was in a studio recording tracks, and his first (and only) hit came in 1950 when "Bald Head" reached number five on the R&B charts.

A small tour followed, where he frequently found himself in trouble with promoters and other musicians for being too hard on the pianos. Sax player Lee Allen was also on that tour: "He used to have a little quirk of kicking the piano with his right foot. The man [Fats Domino] happened to have a white baby grand piano onstage, and when he saw Fess do that, he had a fit. He saw little indentations fixing to go into his piano, so he went and got a piece of plywood or something to put up there."

In 1954 he saw a bit more success with "Tipitina", which didn’t hit the charts but did well locally.

At this point some of the details get sketchy. Most accounts say that the he had a stroke, and then disappeared from the music scene for several years after either having trouble with the law or the local musicians’ union. What is known is that he was banned from playing in New Orleans, the place where he was most famous.

Dr. John was such a Professor Longhair fan that he quit a regular gig just to play one night with him. The two became friends, and he later ended up producing the Professor’s New Orleans party classic "Go To The Mardi Gras". Dr. John remembers the musical direction given at the recording: "Fess wanted the band to rawmp [sic] and frolic – just to get what he meant by rawmp and frolic was the whole thing."

Things really didn’t take off, though, until the start of the now famous New Orleans Jazz Festival. In 1971 he was given a place to play, and he played there every year to bigger and bigger crowds. By the late 70s, his early and live albums were starting to get released, and he had just finished recording a new album for Alligator Records. He was even slated to go on tour with The Clash. He died in his sleep on January 30, 1980, the day his best studio album, "Crawfish Fiesta" was released.


Professor Longhair Quotes:

"The very first instrument I played was the bottom of my feet, workin' out rhythms, tap dancing. We used to dance up and down Bourbon Street."

Big Chief (liner notes).



"We had long hair in those days and it was almost against the law. Mike (Tessitore-club owner) said, 'I'm going to keep this band-we'll call you Professor Longhair and the Four Hairs Combo.'"

Big Chief (liner notes).