1980
Professor Longhair's final album was also one of his best. The New Orleans piano legend had simple, sympathetic production and a strong studio band for 1980's Crawfish Fiesta (including some help from Dr. John), and the set list included some well-chosen covers, fine remakes of some of his '50s classics, and plenty of numbers where his joyous, rollicking piano is shown to its best advantage. It's practically impossible to be sad while listening to this.
1962
One of the best albums released by one of Palmieri's best bands, La Perfecta features 12 crisp, uptempo songs ranging from guajiras to pachangas to sones montuno -- with a cha-cha-cha thrown in for good measure. Palmieri sounds inspired on piano, vocalist Ismael Quintana leads the group well, and the stinging brass section includes Joao Donato on trombone and Willie Matos on trumpet.
