Professor Longhair & The Blues Scholars
Stage 4
New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival
New Orleans Fair Grounds
New Orleans, La.
May 6, 1979


01. instrumental (intro cut) :35 *
02. star time - Professor Longhair intro 1:36
03. instrumental 5:35
04. Mess Around 4:31
05. Every Day I Have the Blues 9:09
06. Big Chief (cut in middle) 3:14
07. Tipitina 4:03
08. Go to the Mardi Gras 3:02
09. How Long Has That Train Been Gone 6:30
10. Got My Mojo Working 5:03

Encore
11. Hey Little Girl 3:27
12. stage outro and band intro :33

Total: 47:24

* Track 1 is by the Blues Scholars before being joined by Professor Longhair



Source info: unknown mics > unknown cassette deck > Scotch Dynarange 45 cassette master (labeled #12/79)

Transfer to DAT (circa mid-2000): Tommy Stevenson's cassette master > Nakamichi CR7A (with head aximuth optimized) > Tascam DA-P1 DAT > Digidesign Audiomedia III card > Macintosh computer > Bias Peak 2.5.2 > Tascam DA-P1 > DAT

Transfer to flac (Aug. 18, 2023): DAT > Sony PCM-R500 DAT > spdif > Focusrite Scarlett 6i6 (2nd generation) audio interface > USB > MacBook Air M1 > SoX (Sound eXchange) software v14.4.2 (capture) > one large flac file > iZotope RX 10 Advanced v10.4.0.1926 (see editing notes) > X Audio Compression Toolkit 2.55 (sector boundaries corrected, tagged) > flac


Editing notes (July 13, 2024)
* During the recording, the record levels dropped at 4:03; I reduced the volume of the first 4:03 by 3db to match, gradually increasing until the point of change;
* The volume dropped again at 4:15 into Track 5 then rose back up slightly about 13 seconds later; I smoothed out the transition. I reduced the volume of the first 16:34 about 2 db;
* I normalized the entire recording by 1.2 db and then another 1.7 db in the left channel;
* Beginning at 5:19 into Track 3 for about a half-second, I used an EQ notch filter to address feedback at 5140 Hz and 6015 Hz, -30db, 25Q;
* About 7:20 into Track 5 and extending for about 30 seconds, I used iZotope's Spectral Repair tool to manually select and repair numerous instances of feedback over several different frequencies;
* I used the same process to resolve feedback about 1:31 into Track 8 and again at 1:43 into the song (about a half-second per instance);
* The same process was used to resolve feedback about 3:00 into Track 8;
* Prior to applying EQ, I reduceed the volume of the entire recording by 0.5 db to prevent clipping;
* In order to boost the high end a bit, I applied 1.5db of EQ at 1000 Hz with a 1Q high shelf curve;
* Finally, I boosted the left channel 0.37 db.


Notes
Professor Longhair was scheduled to close out Stage 4 at 6:30 p.m. on May 6, 1979, one of two performances he gave at the festival that year (not counting a Jazzfest evening show on the S/S President).

This was Professor Longhair's final Jazzfest appearance. He died a little less than nine months later.

Transfer and editing by Richard Russell (nolataper): From one of Tommy Stevenson's master cassettes loaned to me by Ben Windham, circa mid-2000.


Professor Longhair, vocals, piano
wtth The Blues Scholars:
Dave Watson, bass
Earl Gordon, drums
Alfred "Uganda" Roberts, percussion
Andy Kaslow, sax
Tony Dagradi, sax
Stanley John, steel drums
Ron Johnson, guitar