Steve Pistorius: Standard Bearer of New Orleans Jazz

Pianist Steve Pistorius has honored the New Orleans Jazz tradition since the 1970s as a piano soloist, sideman, bandleader, and educator.  Hal Smith: What was the recording, or live performance, which inspired your interest in jazz? Steve Pistorius: I’d love to tell you that I was exposed to New Orleans Jazz from childhood on—given that I was born there—but I grew up in the suburbs of New Orleans, so I heard a little bit of it here and there. I didn’t get to places like Preservation Hall until I was in my later teens. The Revival style of New Orleans Jazz (which at the time was featured every night at the Hall) was my first inspiration to play Jazz. The second was a record of Turk Murphy’s Band called “The Many Faces of Ragtime.” I went nuts over that record. I learned every tune and played them all on the piano. The third was someone playing Joplin on a piano in a dorm lobby at Louisiana State University. I was so taken by the music that I begged the player to tell me everything she could about it. Who are the pianists you admire besides Jelly Roll Morton? Thanks for putting Morton at the top of the list where he belongs! Of the early greats, Eubie Blake is one of my other favorites. His music, while extremely complex and difficult, is absolutely joyful and completely unique among the East Coast players. Other early players I like are Fats Waller, James P. Johnson