Tag Archives: henry butler

Steven Bernstein Explores the Eccentricities of the Late Pianist Henry Butler

Steven Bernstein. Photo by Jacob Blickenstaff.

Bernstein’s back, and he’s taken the lid completely off the pot with Manifesto of Henryisms, the third of four installments in his Community Music project, available on Bandcamp. Dixieland, funk, R&B, contemporary jazz—they’re all here, and they all share a native ground: New Orleans.

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The Transformative Sound of Butler, Bernstein & the Hot 9

Butler-Bernstein-Hot9_color Roots grow, too, you know. So if you think that roots music is something charmingly antique, suspended in the amber of time and space, then Henry Butler, Steven Bernstein & the Hot 9 have one hell of a surprise for you.

Their new release, Viper’s Drag, the first from the resurrected impulse! label, revisits American musical roots in a joyous, ever-surprising romp, making connections that stretch from trad jazz and blues to swing and boogie, from Crescent City Indian chants to Sun Ra and everything in
between. This Friday evening, the multiple award-winners Butler and Bernstein, and friends, will be blowing the roof off the Hiland Theater as part of the New Mexico Jazz Festival.

“Our job is not to make music. Our job is to transform people,” says Bernstein.

They are very good at their job. Continue reading