Henry Butler PiaNOLA Live

Henry Butler's newest recording is "PianoNOLA" on Basin Street Records. Co-produced by George Winston, who produced Butler's "Orleans Inspiration", this disc is a collection of live solo performances that include several instrumentals as well his renditions of several blues and R&B classics. The strength of this recording is his piano playing especially on the marvelous renditions of `Basin Street Blues,', his own tour de force `Orleans Inspiration,' and the late Alvin Batiste's "North American Idiosyncrasies.' Even when playing rendions of classics, Butlers style shines thorugh, on such a well-known number as Professor Longhair's `Tipitina,' Butler radically reworks it in his stunning original solo and the piano. A wordless vocal lifts up his rendition of the Ernie K-Doe classic, `Mother-in-Law.' While the rollicking `Let It Roll,' (originally on the marvelous "VU-DU-Menz" album with Corey Harris) picks things up.

According to Basin Street Records:Over the last decade, 6 time WC Handy Blues Award nominee, Henry Butler, has established himself as the finest all-around pianist in New Orleans. Butler's diverse style finds him equally at home in jazz, blues, R&B, and New Orleans funk and he plays each with masterful precision. The virtuosity pianist is also a schooled vocalist, an expressive composer and a fierce performer who can play with as much passion as a soloist as he can with a band. The piano genius continues to push himself in new directions as a musician, continually blending the old with the new.