New Orleans Filmmaker Palfi Kills Himself (Katrina Depression)

Filmmaker Stevenson J. Palfi, whose documentary "Piano Players Rarely Ever Play Together" chronicled the lives of three New Orleans jazzmen, shot himself to death, his family said. He had been severely depressed after Hurricane Katrina damaged most of his property and possessions, they said.

Palfi, 53, shot himself Dec. 14 at his home, relatives family told The Times-Picayune.

He had been living with his former wife and co-producer, Polly Waring, whose home was one of the few still habitable in the Mid-City area where both lived.

Palfi grew up in Chicago, where he graduated from the University of Chicago Laboratory School. He received a bachelor's degree in philosophy from Clark University in Worcester, Mass.

The 1982 documentary for which he was best known features three generations of New Orleans pianists: Isidore "Tuts" Washington, Henry Roeland "Professor Longhair" Byrd and Allen Toussaint, composer of such hits as "Workin' in a Coal Mine,""Mother-in-Law" and "Southern Nights." The film is still in distribution.

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