I was recently asked to write an article on why I like teaching jazz and blues for my upcoming residency in the Quad Cities area.

INTRO:

Blind since birth, Henry Butler has always been passionate about jazz and blues, but his passion manifests itself best through performing and teaching. The singer-pianist will serve as a featured artist-in-residence for "Blues in the Schools" program from October 13 through October 17. His latest release, "The Game Has Just Begun," is now available on Basin Street Records.

ARTICLE:

My love of music has spanned across most of my life. I was born in New Orleans and started playing a neighbor's piano when I was six years old. My neighbor said I had "good ears," but I later learned I had perfect pitch when I started taking formal lessons at the Louisiana State School for the Blind. During high school, I played in a couple of R&B, blues and funk bands where I learned to arrange and orchestrate. Soon I started playing in nightclubs -- and earning quite a bit of money. Through those club gigs, I realized how much I thoroughly enjoyed being a musician.

During my years of college at Southern University in Baton Rouge, I began teaching voice and piano lessons to students. After graduation, I maintained my teaching practice while completing a master's degree at Michigan State University. But it wasn't until I returned home and was teaching at the New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts that I had an epiphany -- part of my mission in this life had to be sharing my knowledge with others.

I've taught music workshops throughout the country and initiated a number of different educational initiatives, including a residential jazz camp at Missouri State School for the Blind and a program for blind and visually impaired students at the University of New Orleans.

Over the past decade, I've initiated several workshops and residencies on blues, jazz and other forms of folk music. It's a joy to see people respond so enthusiastically while they become more aware of American culture and their roots.

I'm honored to be in the Quad Cities celebrating the Year of the Blues and mostly speaking about some of the personalities who have shaped the musical genre's history for more than 100 years. I'm hoping to spark more interest not only in contemporary blues, but also for the older artists who were responsible for giving birth to urban blues including Big Mama Thornton, Bessie Smith, John Jackson and John Lee Hooker.

I'll also be talking about my mentors and my personal contributions to the New Orleans piano style. One mentor, Professor Longhair, was a unique New Orleans pianist because he started the whole style of more percussive playing. Tuts Washington, Huey "Piano" Smith and Esquirita were his contemporaries, but none exhibited that percussion sound on the rhythm. What I've done follows those lines of taking rhythmic structure to a different level of melodic proficiency.

Performing jazz and blues allows me to express important things which are often nonverbal and I often use my entire body as my instrument. I also respond to each individual audience's "vibe" -- whether teaching or playing music, my listeners students have as much impact on me as I hope I have on them. Through teaching I truly get to see -- if only symbolically - -how peoples' eyes can open when something I've said reaches them and the light goes on.

Thank you for allowing me to share my sounds. Let's get busy.