Music
The Last Mardi Gras
This two-night 1978 set is an excellent entree to an artist whose live dates were often more vital than his studio ones. The storied New Orleans pianist leads his band through 18 songs that codify blues, jazz, boogie-woogie and rock & roll into a language familiar and yet quintessentially regional. Does the Professor feel pain? Probably, but you'd never know it by the springs in his hands. Essential music of uplift for people suffering from the human condition.