''Classified'' is a studio album by the New Orleans pianist

James Booker James Carroll Booker III (December 17, 1939 – November 8, 1983) was a New Orleans rhythm and blues keyboardist born in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. Booker's unique style combined rhythm and blues with jazz standards. Musician Dr. J ...

, released in 1982. It was reissued in an expanded edition in 2013.

Production

The album was produced by

Scott Billington Scott Billington (born October 27, 1951 in Melrose, Massachusetts) is an American record producer, songwriter, record company executive and blues musician. Biography Billington's career began in Boston in the early 1970s, when he managed the N ...

, who recorded several sessions with Booker in 1982. The sessions were at times interrupted by Booker's odd behavior or his stints in jail. ''Classified'' captures both solo and quartet recordings; Booker's Maple Leaf Bar band included bassist James Singleton, saxophonist

Alvin Tyler Alvin Owen "Red" Tyler (December 5, 1925 – April 3, 1998) was an American R&B and neo-bop jazz saxophonist, composer and arranger, regarded as "one of the most important figures in New Orleans R&B". Biography Born and raised in New Orleans, Ty ...

, and drummer

Johnny Vidacovich John Joseph Vidacovich Jr. (born June 27, 1949) is an American jazz drummer and a member of the band Astral Project with James Singleton, Tony Dagradi, and Steve Masakowski. He has also worked with Bobby McFerrin, Stanton Moore, Charlie H ...

. The Professor Longhair medley came to an abrupt end when Booker left mid-song in order to cash a check.

Critical reception

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...

wrote that "in general there's too much reliance on the left hand, with the consequent loss of dynamic subtlety compounded by a klutzy drum mix." The ''

Philadelphia Daily News ''Philadelphia Daily News'' is a tabloid newspaper that serves Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The newspaper is owned by The Philadelphia Inquirer, LLC, which also owns Philadelphia's other major newspaper ''The Philadelphia Inquirer''. The ''Dail ...

'' praised Booker's "great stomping piano,

hich is Ij ( fa, ايج, also Romanized as Īj; also known as Hich and Īch) is a village in Golabar Rural District, in the Central District of Ijrud County, Zanjan Province, Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also ...

not quite as fervent as Fats Domino or as idiosyncratic as Professor Longhair, but mightily infectious all the same."

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

called the album "one of the great blues albums of the early '80s."

Track listing

Personnel

- piano * James Singleton - bass *

- saxophone *

- drums

References

{{reflist 1982 albums Rounder Records albums