Search - Craig Brenner :: Live At The Old Mint

Craig Brenner's first CD since 2009, Live At The Old Mint, features Craig playing blues and boogie woogie piano. All tracks were recorded live, including eight featuring Alfred Uganda Roberts on congas recorded at the Old U.S. Mint in New Orleans in April of 2013. Other tracks feature Craig solo at the Old Mint in 2012 and at the Artsgarden in Indianapolis, and one track with Lori Brenner on rubboard. A native of New Orleans, Alfred Uganda Roberts is an in-demand conga-percussion player whose relationship with record producer Allen Toussaint led to Roberts becoming house percussionist at Sea Saint Studios. Roberts played on recordings such as the Meters Afrika and Hey Pocky Way, on Toussaint's Life, Love, and Faith (1972), and on The Wild Magnolias (1974). In 1972, Roberts was introduced to pianist Henry Roland Byrd, better known as Professor Longhair, at the 2nd annual New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival by Jazz Fest producer-founder Quint Davis, and Roberts toured and recorded with Professor Longhair for eight years until Fess death in 1980. Roberts is featured on Professor Longhair's Rock N Roll Gumbo (1977) with Snooks Eaglin and Clarence Gatemouth Brown, and on Fess' last studio album, Crawfish Fiesta (1980). The London Concert (recorded 1978) is a duo performance by Longhair and Roberts. Roberts toured with Willie Tee and the Wild Magnolias from 1980 until 1986, when he took a hiatus from the music industry, occasionally coming out of semi-retirement to tour and record on Dr. John's album Goin' Back to New Orleans (1992), Brenners Play It Again, Professor!(1995) and Man At The Piano (1997), and Dr. Johns Dis, Dat, or D udda (2004). Brenner and Roberts capture some of the same magic found in the collaboration between Fess and Roberts on The London Concert recording, with the addition of Brenner's original boogie woogie tunes that reflect his time working with Bob Seeley and the late Big Joe Duskin. Primary recording engineers for Live At The Old Mint were Danny Kadar at the Old U.S. Mint and Jeff Mountjoy at the Artsgarden, with mixing and mastering by Jacob Belser of Primary Sound Studios, and graphic design by Merridee LaMantia.