 |
| James Booker (Photo by Henry Horenstein) |
After I got a taste of Booker's music, live and studio, I understood what the article was saying. I had been on a New Orleans kick for a while, after my first visit to Jazz Fest, grabbing copies of releases from Professor Longhair, the Nevilles, Fats Domino, Tuts Washington, Dr. John, Johnny Adams, Walter "Wolfman" Washington, plus several collections of New Orleans R&B (Rhino had a great three volume set, and Rounder had a few collections). Those two recordings from Booker were jaw-dropping....I had never heard such masterful piano playing, combining blues, jazz, soul, classical, boogie woogie. He could play at a breakneck pace, or he could slow it down and nearly bring you to tears. Combined with his vocals, which were distinctive, to say the least, it was a pretty heady mix.
Booker was born James Carroll Booker III on December 17, 1939 in New Orleans. He was a child prodigy, trained from six years old as a classical pianist and he played the organ in his father's churches. Due to his father's health problems, Booker's mother took him and his sister to Bay Saint Louis, MS to live on several occasions, near his aunt. He returned to New Orleans to stay at the age of eight, befriending several school classmates and future musical collaborators ......Art and Charles Neville, and Allen Toussaint.
When Booker was nine, he was hit by an ambulance in New Orleans. Booker said that it was traveling at a high speed, and he was dragged about thirty feet, breaking his leg in eight places. He spent months in the hospital, his leg was nearly amputated and he was given morphine for the pain. Booker later said that this was the beginning of his lifetime battle with drug addiction.
He also learned to play the saxophone, having been gifted one for his tenth birthday, but continued to focus on the piano and organ, performing blues and gospel every Sunday on New Orleans' WMRY radio station. He continued his classical training mastering Bach's "Inventions and Sinfonias" at the age of 12.
He worked as a musician during his teens and managed to do well in his studies as well, and even recorded several songs during high school, including his first release, "Doing The Hambone" on Imperial Records in 1954 at 14 years old. In 1960, his groovy organ instrumental, "Gonzo," made the charts on Duke Records (where Don Robey got composer credits as "Deadric Malone"). On many of his 45's, he was backed by some of New Orleans' finest musicians - sax masters Lee Allen, Red Tyler, and Robert Parker, drummer Earl Palmer among them.
He also toured and recorded with numerous stars of the time, "ghosting" on piano for Fats Domino occasionally, and performing with Huey "Piano" Smith (sometimes impersonating Smith on the road), Shirley & Lee, Joe Tex, Larry Davis, Junior Parker, Earl King, Smiley Lewis, Lloyd Price, and many others. He also played regularly in New Orleans nightclubs.
In the mid 60's, Booker was hit by two tragedies. His sister died in 1966 and his mother passed away less than a year later in 1967. Not long after his mother's death, he was arrested outside the Dew Drop Inn for possession of heroin. He had begun using the drug in the early 60's and this arrest resulted in a conviction and one-year sentence to Angola Prison (often called "the Ponderosa" in some of Booker's later songs and performances). While in prison, he lost his left eye in an assault (he gave different reasons for this over his lifetime).
 |
| James Booker at 1978 Jazz Fest (photo by Michael P. Smith) |
He continued to play sessions with Fats Domino upon his release, and also recorded with Freddy King. He also became friends with New Orleans D.A. Harry Connick, Sr., who served as his legal counselor occasionally. Booker and Connick had an agreement where a prison sentence for Booker would be nullified in exchange for piano lessons for Connick, Sr.'s son, Harry Jr. The pair formed a musical and personal friendship.
Booker cut a session in 1973 at Paramount Studios in Hollywood with Dr. John's band, but the master tapes mysteriously disappeared. Booker also played during this time with Dr. John on tour and performed on albums by Ringo Starr, John Mayall, The Doobie Brothers, LaBelle, and Geoff Muldaur, and his performance at JazzFest in 1975 earned him a recording deal with Island Records, which resulted in one release, Junco Partner.
Returning to New Orleans in 1978, Booker became the house pianist at the Maple Leaf Bar, but the shift from concert halls to cafes and bars was a bit of a let down to the piano master and he wasn't as widely recognized or appreciated in his home country and even in his hometown. His mental health suffered as a result and his drug use increased.
Booker died on November 8, 1983 at age 43, sitting in a wheelchair in the E.R. at Charity Hospital in New Orleans. No one knew how he got there. The cause of death was renal failure related to chronic heroin and alcohol abuse. He was mourned by all of the New Orleans music scene, especially the piano players. Dr. John called him "the best black, gay, one-eyed junkie piano genius New Orleans has ever produced," but that description, while accurate, really doesn't do him justice. James Booker was a one-of-a-kind piano prodigy whose performances and recordings regularly blew people's minds. Listen to this track and understand that this was an ALTERNATE take that wasn't used on the original Classified release (please check out the expanded release, you can thank me later).....just Booker noodling around on the piano on that last day of recording.
Multiple live recordings have also appeared as well. The standouts include the twin set from Rounder, the previously mentioned Resurrection of the Bayou Maharajah and it's companion, Spiders on the Keys, a collection of Booker's instrumental tunes.
There is also a compilation of Booker's early recordings on Night Train International Records, More Than All The 45s that was released in the 90's. Jasmine Records in the UK has recently repackaged some of those songs as The Ivory Emporer: 1954 - 1962 Sides.
