Song:Viper's Drag
Album:Viper's Drag
Pianist Henry Butler was a New Orleans staple for years. But he didn't tour so he wasn't known outside New Orleans. This 2014 album with trumpeter Steven Bernstein was Butler's final album before his 2018 death. It also relaunched Impulse Records. Butler was born Sept. 21, 1949 in New Orleans. Glaucoma blinded him during childhood. He learned to play piano at the Louisiana State School for the Blind in Baton Rouge. He started playing clubs as a teen. He studied at Southern University and Michigan State and he got an NEA grant to study with Cannonball Adderley and George Duke. Though Butler plays mostly in the traditional New Orleans style, clarinetist Alvin Batiste got him to listen to different kinds of jazz so he could improvise better. Butler finally got a record deal with Impulse and recorded two albums in the mid 80s. He also recorded for Windham Hill, Atlantic, Basin Street and the blues label Black Top. And he recorded an album with bluesman Corey Harris for Alligator. Trumpeter Steven Bernstein leads the group Sexmob. He is part of New York's Jewish Jazz community led by John Zorn. He has recorded for Zorn's label Tzadik. He met Butler when they worked on the music for Robert Altman's 1996 film Kansas City. When Butler's house was destroyed by Katrina, he was forced to move to New York. And after Butler and Bernstein played some 2011 shows together, producer Joshua Feigenbaum suggested they record an album. Viper's Drag is a Fats Waller standard. The album is a mix of standards and Butler originals. Bernstein wrote the arrangements. Musicians include Reggie Veal on bass and Herlin Riley on drums and a horn section. The album got a lot of attention because it relaunched Impulse. You can get it as a digital download. Butler continued to perform despite a colon cancer diagnosis. He died on July 2, 2018 at age 69. Here is Henry Butler, Steven Bernstein and The Hot 9 performing and discussing Viper's Drag.
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