Henry Butler

Henry Butler, the extraordinary New Orleans pianist, arranger and composer, died Monday of cancer. Butler, blind from infancy, began studying piano as a child, playing classical music. He said he switched to jazz because it relied less on printed notes - though he was fluent in every piano style. He studied with musician Alvin Batiste, whom he considered a mentor, and was also a student of two pioneer New Orleans pianists: Henry Roeland Byrd, known as "Professor Longhair," and James Booker, known as the "Bayou Maharajah" - but Butler developed a complex, rhythmic "three-handed" piano sound that was completely his own. Henry Butler lived in New Orleans until Hurricane Katrina, after which he relocated to Denver, and later Brooklyn. He was 69.

In the year before Katrina, WNYC's Sara Fishko traveled to New Orleans along with engineer Edward Haber for a long interview with Butler, who was seated at the piano throughout. (Produced in 2005)

Sara Fishko's hour-long special on Henry Butler can be heard here.

Fishko Files with Sara Fishko

Assistant Producer: Olivia Briley
Recording Engineer: Ed Haber
Mix Engineer: Wayne Shulmister
Editor: Karen Frillmann