What I’m Listening to This Week: New Orleans Piano

This week, I’ve been spending time with two records rooted firmly in the New Orleans piano tradition; music where rhythm, touch, and personality matter as much as notes on the page.

The first is Blues from the Gutter (1958) by Champion Jack Dupree. Dupree’s playing is raw, direct, and unpolished in the best possible way. The piano isn’t trying to be elegant — it’s driving the music forward, locking in with the groove and telling stories. There’s a looseness here that’s worth listening to closely: the timing flexes, the touch varies, and the feel always comes first. It’s a reminder that great piano playing isn’t about perfection, but about commitment to sound and rhythm.

Alongside that, I’ve been listening to Professor Longhair’s Jumpin’ Live (Chicago ’73). If Dupree represents grit, Longhair represents joy and complexity disguised as fun. His playing blends blues, Caribbean rhythms, and rolling left-hand patterns that feel almost orchestral. The grooves are infectious, but underneath them is serious coordination and control. This is piano music that moves; physically and emotionally.

I like sharing records like these with students because they open up a different way of thinking about the piano. You don’t need to play this music to benefit from hearing it. Just listening, to the groove, the touch, the way the piano sits inside a band, can change how you approach any style, classical included.

New Orleans piano reminds us that the instrument is as much about rhythm and feel as it is about harmony and technique. That’s something worth carrying into every kind of playing.