A Word from the Professor

Coming to the Narrows February 5th is Professor Louie and the Crowmatix, who are performing a gig along with Commander Cody.

Professor Louie (he's the one with the accordion in the photo above) and his crew were one of the first groups to perform at the Narrows way back when, but your humble blogger thinks they don't get the recognition they deserve--this despite the fact that Professor Louie produced several albums for The Band, and has worked with individual members of that fabled ensemble over the years.

The group has a wonderful new CD, called "Whispering Pines," which features an award-winning song "Melody of Peace." I emailed a few questions to the Professor about the new CD and other topics.

Your "Melody of Peace," which you wrote with bandmate Miss Marie, won an international award. Can you tell us how that song came about?

We wrote "Melody Of Peace" for a CBS television holiday special. Professor Louie and The Crowmatix performed the song on the special with The Empire State Orchestra and Choir

How did you ended up recording it in the Czech Republic, and please tell us about the award.

The International Orchestra Arrangement ad Composition Award was given out by the record label ERM Media/Naxos. The prize was to go to Prague and record the song "Melody Of Peace" with The Prague Symphony & Kuhn Choir.

This recording was originally released on ERM/Naxos but is now on our latest CD, "Whispering Pines."

I see you also have been traveling to Russia to teach.

And perform.That has been very exciting and I have now toured Novosibirsk and other parts of Russia four times. This experience has been released as a documentary: "Woodstock To Siberia Blues Express."

I was reading that your music has been featured on MTV--the last place one might think it would appear. How did that come about?

You never know where your music will go and there are music lovers everywhere.

MTV has different episodes of their shows and a few music supervisors are fans of ours. They use bits of our songs behind a few of their shows and episodes.

Whom are you listening to on your IPOD, CD player, or record player these days?

Since I work a lot in the studio I spend most of my time listening to what I am working on.

When I had a chance the other day I listened to The Timex Jazz hour from NYC with Steve Allan as host--a lot of jazz greats on that show. I have been downloading Taj Mahal. I usually scan the radio when I drive.

Your real first name is Aaron--how did the "Professor Louie" come about?

Louis is my middle name. Rick Danko gave me the name Professor Louie when I was playing as a duo with Rick. A very big honor.

What songs can we expect to hear during your upcoming performance at the Narrows?

We mostly perform songs from our seven CDs Check: www.professorlouie.com. You will hear some of our originals, some Band songs, some blues and rock 'n' roll...We try to play songs that we feel the audience and ourselves are in the mood for on the night of a performance.