Piano Players Rarely Play Together. 1982. USA. Directed by Stevenson J. Palfi. With Professor Longhair, Allen Toussaint, Isodore 'Tuts' Washington. DCP. 60 min.
Despite knowing, studying, and influencing each other, piano legends Isidore “Tuts” Washington, Henry “Professor Longhair” Byrd, and Allen Toussaint had never played a concert together, making the joint event at the center of Piano Players Rarely Ever Play Together a historic confluence of three generations of homegrown musical greatness. Smartly edited interviews lay out the players’ histories and styles, and each is given ample room to relate their lives and personalities through their music. Stevenson Palfi’s documentary gives us a front seat to the soul of a shared New Orleans musical tradition—one that takes a sad and inspiring turn when Professor Longhair dies and the three-man show becomes a two-man tribute. A sense of community suffuses the film, reminding us, amid mourning, that jazz and R&B are not a historical footnote, but are rather at the heart of Black popular expression and innovation. This is an entertaining, bittersweet, and incredibly wise study of an essential corner of American musical history.