Biography
Born on 24 January 1907 in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, and dying in the same city on 5 August 1984, the pianist was raised by his aunt Rosetta Howard amid constant musical exposure from childhood onward. Although thoroughly grounded in barrelhouse-blues traditions, he also absorbed pop, jazz, boogie, and ragtime because his aunt refused to let his skills remain confined to any single style. He maintained that his example had shaped every New Orleans pianist from Professor Longhair to Fats Domino and James Booker, all of whom held him in high regard. Jazz-band work occupied him throughout the 1930s, while the following two decades brought a close musical partnership with Smiley Lewis and, later, membership in the band of Oscar ‘Papa’ Celestin. Only in the period immediately before his death—at a concert—did he finally agree to make recordings after years of reluctance.