Earlier this year we reported that a previously unreleased Professor Longhair album, Live at the University of Chicago Folk Festival – February 1, 1976, is scheduled for release on April 12 via Orleans Records.

However, fans of the New Orleans icon no longer have to wait for a taste of the record, which finds Professor Longhair performing with a quintet that includes Billy Gregory (lead guitar), Will Harvey (rhythm guitar), Julius Farmer (bass guitar) and Earl Gordon (drums).

Glide Magazine premiered the album’s version of Earl King’s “Big Chief” yesterday, and the recording is something that any Fess fan will savor. You can give the track a listen below.

The liner notes for Live at the University of Chicago Folk Festival – February 1, 1976 were written by poet, political activist and longtime WWOZ DJ John Sinclair. An excerpt reads:

The recording under hand is the result of Longhair’s appearance at the Chicago Folk Festival in early 1976 that was recorded by a local radio station and mixed under the supervision of Billy Gregory, who kept his copy of the tape for about 25 years before presenting it to Carlo Ditta at Orleans Records for a listen. There have been any number of official and semi-official “live” Professor Longhair recordings issued since the pianist’s untimely passing in 1980, but this record offers incontrovertible evidence of the power and drive of the mid-70s edition of Fess’s band with Billy Gregory featured prominently on guitar.

Live at the University of Chicago Folk Festival – February 1, 1976

SIDE A
1. “Intro” (0:19)
2. “Doin’ It” (4:54) written by Roland Byrd
3. “Big Chief” (3:49) written by Earl King
4. “Every Day I Have The Blues” (4:48) written by Peter Chatman

SIDE B
1. “Mess Around” (4:52) written by Ahmet Ertegun
2.”Mardi Gras In New Orleans” (3:01) written by Roland Byrd
3. “Got My Mojo Working” (4:36) written by Preston Foster
4. “FeSS’s Boogie” (2:49) written by Roland Byrd