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. John described Booker as "the best black, gay, one-eyed junkie piano genius New Orleans has ever produced." Flamboyant in personality and having an extraordinary technical facility, he was known as "the Black Liberace".

Biography

Early life

Booker was the son and grandson of Baptist ministers, both of whom played the piano.Martin Chilton, "James Booker: revival of a genius"
''The Telegraph'', November 30, 2013. He spent most of his childhood on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, where his father was a church pastor. Booker received a saxophone as a gift from his mother when he was 10. He had wanted a trumpet, but mastered the saxophone even though it was bought by mistake. Booker's proficiency on the saxophone and piano gave him a local reputation as a child prodigy. Yet he focused on the piano and mastered Bach's Inventions and Sinfonias, performing such pieces at a professional level by the age of 12. He also played the organ in his father's churches. He aspired, however, to become a Catholic priest. He decided against this path with the idea that music would be his means of spiritual expression.

In 1949 at age 9, Booker was struck by an ambulance that he said was traveling about 70 miles an hour. According to Booker, it dragged him for 30 feet and broke his leg in eight places, nearly requiring its amputation. He was given morphine, to which he attributed to some extent his eventual drug addiction. The accident left him with a permanent limp.

Returning to New Orleans in 1953, Booker attended the Xavier University Preparatory School on Magazine Street. At Xavier he was an excellent student, especially in math, music, and Spanish, and graduated from the high school in 1957.
He learned some elements of his keyboard style from Tuts Washington and Edward Frank, and was later influenced by Professor Longhair and Ray Charles.
Booker also mastered piano music of Chopin, Rachmaninoff, and Ernesto Lecuona (especially Malaguena which he often performed), and memorized solos by Erroll Garner and Liberace. His interpretations of jazz and popular songs combined elements of stride, blues, gospel and Latin piano styles.

1954 to 1976: Recording and touring

Booker made his recording debut in 1954 on the Imperial Records label, with "Doin' the Hambone" and "Thinkin' 'Bout My Baby", produced by Dave Bartholomew. Bartholomew also soon chose to substitute Booker on piano for Fats Domino, to combine the younger pianist's virtuosity with Domino's popular singing. Yet Booker also played many other collaborations after the Imperial recordings, as described in liner notes (by Bunny Matthews) to the album '' Classified''. He is quoted saying he "recorded for Leonard Chess — I did 'A Heavenly Angel' with Arthur Booker o relation After that, I recorded for Johnny Vincent's Ace Records. I played with Huey Smith and Shirley and Lee. When I graduated high school, I played with Joe Tex. I left Joe Tex to play with Huey Smith." In the early 1960s, he performed on keyboard for Smiley Lewis and Lloyd Price.

In 1958, Arthur Rubinstein performed a concert in New Orleans. Afterwards, eighteen-year-old Booker was introduced to the concert pianist and played several pieces for him. Rubinstein was astonished, saying "I could never play that ... never at that tempo" (''The Times-Picayune'', 1958). During this period, Booker also became known for his flamboyant personality among his peers.

After recording a few other singles, he enrolled as an undergraduate in Southern University's music department. In 1960, Booker's "Gonzo", for Peacock Records, reached number 43 on the United States (U.S.) record chart of '' Billboard'' magazine and number 3 on the R&B record chart. Following "Gonzo", Booker released some moderately successful singles. In the 1960s, he started using illicit drugs, and in 1970 served a brief sentence in Angola Prison for drug possession.

As Booker became more familiar to law enforcement in New Orleans due to his drug use, he formed a relationship with District Attorney Harry Connick Sr., who was occasionally Booker's legal counsel. Connick would discuss law with Booker during his visits to the Connick home and made an arrangement with the musician whereby a prison sentence would be nullified in exchange for piano lessons for Connick Sr.'s son Harry Connick Jr.

In 1973, Booker recorded ''The Lost Paramount Tapes'' at Paramount Studios in Hollywood, California, U.S. with members of the Dr. John band, which included John Boudreaux on drums, Jessie Hill on percussion, Alvin Robinson on guitar and vocals, Richard "Didymus" Washington on percussion, David Lastie on sax, and David L. Johnson on bass guitar. The album was produced by former Dr. John band member David L. Johnson and by singer/songwriter Daniel Moore. The master tapes disappeared from the Paramount Recording Studios library, but a copy of the mixes that were made around the time of the recordings was discovered in 1992, which resulted in a CD release on DJM Records.

Booker then played organ in Dr. John's Bonnaroo Revue touring band in 1974, and also appeared as a sideman on albums by Ringo Starr, John Mayall, The Doobie Brothers, Labelle and Geoff Muldaur throughout this period.

Booker's performance at the 1975 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival earned a recording contract for him with Island Records. His album with Island, ''Junco Partner'', was produced by Joe Boyd, who had previously recorded Booker on sessions for Muldaur's records. In January 1976, Booker briefly joined the Jerry Garcia Band, playing two Palo Alto, California shows where Garcia was "backing up ... Booker on most numbers."

1976 to 1978: Success in Europe

Several concerts from Booker's 1977 and 1978 European tours were professionally recorded, and some were also filmed for television broadcast. Multiple albums were released from these recordings on a number of record labels. The album ''New Orleans Piano Wizard: Live!'', which was recorded at his performance at the "Boogie Woogie and Ragtime Piano Contest" in Zurich, Switzerland, won the Grand Prix du Disque. He also played at the Nice and Montreux Jazz Festivals in 1978 and recorded a session for the BBC
...