“We had a lot of the same rhythm structures in our genes,” conga player Alfred “Uganda” Roberts says of the legendary pianist/vocalist Professor Longhair with whom he played from 1972 until Fess’ death in 1980. Roberts will be among the many musicians and fans who will celebrate Longhair’s birthday at an event called Fess Fest at Tipitina’s on Saturday, December 18, 2011. (Born Henry Roland Byrd, Longhair’s actual birth date is December 19, 1918.) Saxophonist Donald Harrison will lead an all-star band featuring a number of pianists and special guests.

“He had a little rhumba, mambo kind of sound with the way he played the piano,” explains Roberts, who throughout his career has specialized in calypso, Afro-Cuban and Caribbean styles that first attracted his attention as a youngster growing up in Tremé.

“I got introduced to the Cuban/Caribbean sound because a lot of merchant marines used to live in that area. They would have jam sessions whenever they came into port and had time off,” Roberts remembers. “After hearing those drums, I said I like the way that sounds.”

As a teenager, Roberts, who began playing bongos, headed to a club on St. Bernard Avenue, La Havana Cuba, which was owned by a Cuban woman known for her well-stocked jukebox. “Me and some friends of mine would go to the club on the weekends and bring our bongos and cowbells and stuff like that and play with all the music on the box. The seamen would bring her the hits of Havana and the music would just go on all day long, all night long.”

Percussion was a natural for the young Roberts as his father, Alfred Roberts Sr., played spoons, bongos and piano though just for the enjoyment of friends and family. His mother, Doris Riley, was a dancer.

Surprisingly, Roberts’ first professional gig as a bongo player was with Chris Owens & the Maracas Girls. The famous Bourbon Street nightclub owner headed and danced with the group. In this setting, Roberts was dubbed Jamaican Joe and wore a calypso shirt complete with puffy sleeves.

When Roberts was still a teenager he realized that the bongos weren’t going to cut it if he wanted to play in the local jazz clubs. That’s when he added congas to his repertoire and began sitting in at spots like Holly’s on Basin and North Villere streets. There he’d get to play with the likes of drumming greats Smokey Johnson and James Black. Also, he says, a lot of top, national jazz musicians would stop in to jam after their regular gigs.

During this time, he did employ the bongos at French Quarter coffee shops with small ensembles that would back poetry readings.

Roberts got his initial break as a conga player when a Caribbean revue came through town. The conga drummer had to leave the troupe and Roberts auditioned for and took his position. They traveled by bus primarily through the central United States stopping often at military bases to perform at the officers’ supper clubs.

In the late 1960s, Roberts was among the first Blacks hired as city bus drivers. Throughout the 1970s, he acted as the house percussionist at SeaSaint studios. Roberts would join the house band, which was made up of the members of the Meters, whenever owner/producer Allen Toussaint needed some congas or bongos. His congas are heard on the Meters “Afrika” and “Hey Pocky Way.”

In 1972, New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival producer Quint Davis introduced Roberts to Professor Longhair. “Quint Davis liked my playing,” says Roberts who performed at Jazz Fest with his own group, Afro Calypso Band. “And he said to me, ‘The way the way you play those drums with those dancers I bet you and Professor Longhair ought to sound pretty good.’ That was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”

Roberts’ and Fess’ first gig together was at a house party. Then they did Jazz Fest and soon they were hitting the road often times as a duo. The conga player spent eight years by Longhair’s side and is heard on Fess’ albums Rock ‘n Roll Gumbo, Crawfish Fiesta and as a duo on The London Concert.

“Musically speaking he taught me a lot about being disciplined,” Roberts offers. “You have to create a foundation for someone to build upon. I would come up with a certain beat – most musicians might call it a groove – and I would stick with the groove and that would give him the freedom to do the little riffs that he wanted to do on piano. In the past, he kinda had a problem with that with drummers. He couldn’t get them to stand still long enough for him to do what he wanted to do.

“He had quite a sense of humor and I enjoyed being with him, you know,” he continues. “I would always sit very close to him at the piano. If there was something extra he would want me to do, then he’d give me a little nod. But other than that, I would stick with him like gravy on rice.”

Roberts was nicknamed by a friend in reference to a drummer who performed with a Ugandan dance troupe the two saw perform at Southern University. The particular percussionist played three drums so when Roberts began utilizing three congas his friend exclaimed, “That sounds like Uganda on the conga. “It just picked up from there and people started saying, ‘Hey, Uganda on the conga!’”

As a freelance musician, diversity has marked Roberts career. He was a regular at the legendary Lou & Charlie’s jazz club performing with Earl Turbinton, Willie Tee and James Black. He is heard on Dr. John’s albums Goin’ Back to New Orleans and Dis, Dat or D’udder and performed with the pianist at this year’s Voodoo Fest. Presently he works with guitarist John Mooney and is a member of the JoJo & His Mojo Mardi Gras Band, headed by Widespread Panic keyboardist JoJo Hermann. Roberts was cast as himself for an episode, “That’s What Lovers Do,” in the HBO series “Treme.”

Roberts says he enjoys performing at events like the Fess Fest and Piano Night when folks celebrate Professor Longhair.

“You get a chance to play with a lot of cats you haven’t seen for a long time. And also, you play a lot of those songs you haven’t played in a long time that Fess was famous for. It feels good playing all those old songs like “Tipitina” and “Her Mind Is Gone” once again.

Cosimo Matassa To Be Inducted Into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

It’s difficult to imagine what recordings of New Orleans musicians like Fats Domino, Dave Bartholomew, Ernie K-Doe, Sugar Boy Crawford and so many, many others would have sounded like if Cosimo Matassa had become a chemist instead of a recording studio owner and sound engineer. While attending Tulane University, he realized that chemistry bored him so he dropped out of school and started working at his family’s record and appliance store, J&M Music Shop on North Rampart Street. He then set up a recording studio in the back, J&M Recording Studio and the rest is, literally, history – rock ‘n roll history.

Matassa’s accomplishments and significant contributions to the genre are at last being recognized by his upcoming induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame that will take place on April 14, 2011. As a non-performer, Matassa, 85, will be honored in the Award for Musical Excellence category. Previous Louisiana inductees include many of those who recorded at J&M including Domino Bartholomew, Toussaint, Lloyd Price, Earl Palmer, Professor Longhair and Mac Rebennack. Louis Armstrong, Jelly Roll Morton and Mahalia Jackson are also inductees.

Matassa has always remained modest about his work behind the controls giving the credit to all the talented musicians with whom he was working. But his big ears, technical expertise, respect for the musicians and the music and laid-back attitude made for an artistic and fun – Cos has a million jokes – environment in which to work. The resulting sound also drew out-of-town musicians to Matassa’s studio including greats like Little Richard, who recorded his monster hit “Tutti Frutti” at J&M. It was there that Fats Domino recorded his 1949 debut, “The Fat Man,” a song that changed musical history.

It’s important to note that the J&M heydays took place primarily during the 1950s and 1960s, decades of deep segregation. Those artists who recorded there, most of whom were Black, always talk of J&M as more than just a studio but a place to feel free and hang. Matassa, who is proudly of Italian descent, created that atmosphere and it’s heard in the groove of the music. It’s a true New Orleans groove that evolved into rock ‘n roll, which, like jazz, was born here and nurtured in part by Cosimo Matassa. Rock on Cos.

This article was originally published in the December 12, 2011 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper