Biography
Henry Butler’s piano work, steeped in blues yet infused with the funk rhythms of New Orleans, never appealed to every admirer of the genre. He enjoyed legendary status inside his hometown yet seldom ventured beyond it, remaining a fixture in the city’s celebrated clubs throughout the year. In truth he stood as an undiscovered virtuoso whose gifts never reached a broad public. The albums he made revealed complete command: original compositions sat beside his fresh arrangements of Professor Longhair classics and other standards, while his solo excursions matched the intensity he brought to ensemble settings. The same restless urge to explore new territory that defined his artistry also made him hard for labels to package; he refused to fit neatly inside blues, jazz, or rock and roll, though each style received from him equal measures of taste, insight, and renewed vitality. Gospel and vintage R&B left audible marks on his approach as well.
Born in New Orleans, Butler first touched a piano at a neighbor’s home at age six. At the Louisiana State School for the Blind in Baton Rouge he began formal lessons and added drums, baritone saxophone, and valve trombone to his studies. Professional work began at fourteen in Baton Rouge clubs, after which he attended Southern University there and later pursued postgraduate study at Michigan State University. Before completing his degree he won a National Endowment for the Arts grant to study with Cannonball Adderley and the saxophonist’s circle of seasoned players, among them pianist George Duke, whose example proved invaluable.
Returning to New Orleans in the mid-1970s, he took a post teaching voice at the New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts. Periods in Los Angeles and New York followed as he sought recording contracts. Jazz clarinetist Alvin Batiste exerted a decisive influence; when Butler’s listening centered on Jimi Hendrix and Chicago, Batiste steered him toward John Coltrane and Charlie Parker, sharpening the improvisational skills that later distinguished his concerts.
A string of recordings appeared under his name, among them Fivin’ Around (1986, MCA/Impulse!), The Village (1988, MCA/Impulse!), Orleans Inspiration (1990, Windham Hill Jazz), Blues & More, Vol. 1 (1992, Windham Hill Jazz), and For All Seasons (1996, Atlantic). In 2000 he joined Corey Harris for Vu-Du Menz. Activity continued into the new century; Basin Street Records issued The Game Has Just Begun in 2002, an outing some found overly reliant on electronics, followed by the more traditional Homeland in 2004 and the solo-piano collection PiaNOLA Live in 2008, drawn from performances spanning two decades. Private teaching and local appearances, including the independently released Live at JazzFest in 2012, sustained him in the Crescent City.
Butler first encountered New York trumpeter and arranger Steven Bernstein (Sexmob, Millennial Territory Orchestra) in 1998 while both played in the band for Robert Altman’s film Kansas City. They reunited in 2011 to present early-twentieth-century blues and jazz at a New York festival, then held an extended engagement at the Jazz Standard in 2012. Producer Joshua Feigenbaum heard the performances, urged them to document the music, and oversaw Viper’s Drag, credited to the duo with the all-star Hot 9. The album became the inaugural release on the reactivated Impulse! label in July 2014. Although colon cancer was diagnosed the next year, Butler kept performing internationally and gave his final concert in New York City in June 2018; he died the following month at age sixty-nine.
Born in New Orleans, Butler first touched a piano at a neighbor’s home at age six. At the Louisiana State School for the Blind in Baton Rouge he began formal lessons and added drums, baritone saxophone, and valve trombone to his studies. Professional work began at fourteen in Baton Rouge clubs, after which he attended Southern University there and later pursued postgraduate study at Michigan State University. Before completing his degree he won a National Endowment for the Arts grant to study with Cannonball Adderley and the saxophonist’s circle of seasoned players, among them pianist George Duke, whose example proved invaluable.
Returning to New Orleans in the mid-1970s, he took a post teaching voice at the New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts. Periods in Los Angeles and New York followed as he sought recording contracts. Jazz clarinetist Alvin Batiste exerted a decisive influence; when Butler’s listening centered on Jimi Hendrix and Chicago, Batiste steered him toward John Coltrane and Charlie Parker, sharpening the improvisational skills that later distinguished his concerts.
A string of recordings appeared under his name, among them Fivin’ Around (1986, MCA/Impulse!), The Village (1988, MCA/Impulse!), Orleans Inspiration (1990, Windham Hill Jazz), Blues & More, Vol. 1 (1992, Windham Hill Jazz), and For All Seasons (1996, Atlantic). In 2000 he joined Corey Harris for Vu-Du Menz. Activity continued into the new century; Basin Street Records issued The Game Has Just Begun in 2002, an outing some found overly reliant on electronics, followed by the more traditional Homeland in 2004 and the solo-piano collection PiaNOLA Live in 2008, drawn from performances spanning two decades. Private teaching and local appearances, including the independently released Live at JazzFest in 2012, sustained him in the Crescent City.
Butler first encountered New York trumpeter and arranger Steven Bernstein (Sexmob, Millennial Territory Orchestra) in 1998 while both played in the band for Robert Altman’s film Kansas City. They reunited in 2011 to present early-twentieth-century blues and jazz at a New York festival, then held an extended engagement at the Jazz Standard in 2012. Producer Joshua Feigenbaum heard the performances, urged them to document the music, and oversaw Viper’s Drag, credited to the duo with the all-star Hot 9. The album became the inaugural release on the reactivated Impulse! label in July 2014. Although colon cancer was diagnosed the next year, Butler kept performing internationally and gave his final concert in New York City in June 2018; he died the following month at age sixty-nine.
Albums
