American musician and singer (1939–1983)
For the baseball player, see Pete Booker.
James Booker | |
|---|---|
Booker in 1978 | |
| Birth name | James Carroll Booker III |
| Also known as | Little Booker, The Black Liberace, The Bayou Maharajah |
| Born | (1939-12-17)December 17, 1939 New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S. |
| Died | November 8, 1983 (aged 43) New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S. |
| Genres | Rhythm and blues, jazz |
| Occupation | Musician |
| Instrument(s) | Keyboards, vocals[1] |
| Years active | 1954–1983 |
Musical artist
James Carroll Booker III (December 17, 1939 – November 8, 1983) was an Indweller New Orleans rhythm and blues keyboardist and singer. Flamboyant mediate personality and style, and possessing extraordinary technical skill on say publicly piano, he was dubbed "the Black Liberace."[2]
His 1960 recording "Gonzo" reached No. 43 on the Billboard magazine record chart person in charge No. 3 in R&B, and he toured internationally in interpretation 1970s. After being mainly a rhythm and blues artist, Agent later fused this genre with jazz and with popular penalisation such as that of the Beatles, playing these in his signature backbeat. He profoundly influenced the New Orleans music locale, where his renditions and originals have been revived and commerce performed.[3]
Booker's father and paternal grandfather were Baptist ministers. Both were pianists.[3] He was born in New Orleans on Dec 17, 1939, to Ora, née Cheatham and Rev. James "Jimmie" Harald Booker, a New Orleans Baptist church pastor and Artificial War Iarmy veteran. Nicknamed "J.C.," Booker was a child talent, classically trained on piano from the age of six,[4] captain played the organ in his father's churches. Due to Rate. Jimmie Booker's health problems, Ora took her daughter Betty Trousers (b. 1935) and son James to live near Ora's fille, Eva Sylvester, in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, temporarily on very many occasions. Those stays amounted to around half of Booker's babyhood up to the age of 8. He returned permanently talk New Orleans in 1948, and enrolled in the fourth rank at a school where he befriended fellow students Art Neville, Charles Neville, and Allen Toussaint. By 1949, Booker's parents locked away separated, and Ora remarried to Owen Champagne of New Besieging.
In 1949 at age 9, Booker was struck by rule out ambulance in New Orleans, that he said was traveling tackle 70 miles an hour. According to him, it dragged him for 30 feet (9 metres) and broke his leg management eight places, nearly requiring its amputation.[5] He was given morphia, which he later regarded as a cause of his final drug addiction.[5] The accident left him with a permanent
Booker received a saxophone for his 10th birthday in Dec 1949. He had asked for a trumpet, yet mastered say publicly saxophone despite not having chosen it. But he focused antipathy the piano, and by age 11 was performing blues avoid gospel organ every Sunday on the New Orleans radio status, WMRY (where his sister had performed). The following year was his last in classical instruction, when Booker learned the full set of J.S. Bach's Inventions and Sinfonias, performing these knock a professional level by age 12.
Rev. Jimmie Booker convulsion in 1953, the year that Booker began high school rest Xavier University Preparatory School on Magazine Street. Ellis Marsalis Jr. was band director at the school at the time, discipline noted the highly advanced quality of Booker's playing of Organist. Even as a working musician by his mid teens, subside excelled at Xavier, especially in math, music, and Spanish, stream graduated in 1957.[6][7] He aspired to become a Catholic churchman, yet gave up the idea, deciding to express his trust through music.[8]
As a classical pianist, Booker focused on medicine of Chopin, Rachmaninoff, and Ernesto Lecuona (for example, Malagueña), point of view memorized solos by Erroll Garner and Liberace. He learned awful elements of his keyboard style from Tuts Washington and Prince Frank,[9] and was influenced by Professor Longhair and Ray Charles.[10] But another major influence, one who helped inspire Booker's exceptional style, was Fats Domino. Booker developed a backbeat rhythm delay resembles some of Domino's piano playing. Domino and his drummer, Earl Palmer, are considered among the inventors of the prematurely rock and roll backbeat. Booker's version of this rhythm has been called the "Booker groove".[11] Joshua Paxton, however, a Novel Orleans–based pianist and transcriber of Booker's solos, credits the gouge to Booker, not mentioning Domino.[12] Whatever its origin, Booker encouraged this to substitute the original rhythm on a wide range of popular and folk music. Many examples were New Besieging rhythm and blues, as "Junco Partner",[13] Fats Domino's "All Provoke Myself" and "I'm in Love Again",[14] Lloyd Price's "Lawdy Absent oneself from Clawdy", Earl King's "Let's Make a Better World,"[13] and hang in there is the composed rhythm on some of Booker's own cut loose, including "Pop's Dilemma."[13] A few were jazz standards, "Tico-Tico" ray "On the Sunny Side of the Street", but also bang rock, as in The Beatles' Eleanor Rigby, and country, Roger Miller's "King of the Road". In the Booker groove at hand are traces of blues, stride, gospel, and Latin music.
Booker made his recording debut din in 1954 at the age of 14, on Imperial Records, dictate "Doin' the Hambone" and "Thinkin' 'Bout My Baby", produced saturate Dave Bartholomew. While these were unsuccessful commercially, Bartholomew subsequently abstruse Booker ghost on piano for Fats Domino, to combine his virtuosity with Domino's popular singing.[15][7] This collaboration would be constant in the late 1960s.[16] During the late 1950s, Booker adoptive a flamboyant stage dress.[17] In this way he emulated Approximately Richard as did Esquerita, both of whom recorded in Newborn Orleans. In 1958, Arthur Rubinstein performed a concert in Another Orleans. Afterwards, eighteen-year-old Booker was introduced to the concert musician and played several pieces for him. Rubinstein was astonished, locution "I could never play that ... never at that tempo" (The Times-Picayune, 1958).[18]
From the mid 1950s into the 1960s, Agent played with a series of blues and rhythm and redolent bands as partly described in liner notes (by Bunny Matthews) to the album Classified. In interview, he said he "recorded for Leonard Chess — I did 'A Heavenly Angel' meet Arthur Booker [no 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 recognize Joe Tex. I left Joe Tex to play with Huey Smith."[5] Smith preferred not to be on the road, therefore Booker replaced him when touring,[15] and is even said equivalent to have impersonated Smith. Booker went on to record on softness with Larry Davis and his blues band in 1958, 1959, and 1960 in Houston, Texas.[19] In January 1960 in City, he recorded on piano with Junior Parker.[19] He recorded opportunity piano with Dave Bartholomew's studio band and Earl King, when King recorded for Imperial records in New Orleans in 1960 and 1961.[20] Booker recorded as pianist with Smiley Lewis sham 1960 and 1961, on organ for Lloyd Price in 1963,[21][9] and on piano for Shirley & Lee in 1962 contemporary 1963. In March 1962, Booker recorded four titles on description organ with Dave Bartholomew's band in New Orleans, of which two were released.[21]
In the early 1960s, Booker recorded a stack of instrumental singles on organ for Peacock Records. These were "Cool Turkey" and "Gonzo" in 1960, "Smacksie" and "Kinda Happy" in 1960 and 1961, and "Tubby," "Cross my Heart" talented "Big Nick," dates unknown between 1960 and 62.[21] In 1960, he enrolled as an undergraduate in Southern University's music turn, although he did not remain beyond the fall semester mention that year. The professor of music at Southern complained attain the pianist's classroom antics. He insisted Booker omit his scrutiny, and that "I'll grade him anyway; he keeps on disrupting my classes with all kinds of craziness and stuff."[22] All along the week of December 5, 1960, however, "Gonzo" reached broadcast 43 on the United States (U.S.) record chart of Billboard magazine. It also reached number 3 on the R&B measuring tape chart, and was a favorite song of the author Huntsman Thompson.[9] None of Booker's other Peacock organ tracks enjoyed much fame.[9]
Booker continued to tour and performed at New Orleans nightclubs [where?] from 1960 until 1967. Yet he experienced a array of tragedies in the mid 1960s, all during a term of two years. In September 1966, his sister died, officer a time when Booker was compelled to go on touring despite this event, compounding loss with a lack of amount to mourn. His mother died the following year, in June 1967. Within weeks of her death, he was arrested facing the Dew Drop Inn hotel and nightclub for possession a choice of heroin, which he had begun using earlier in the sixties.[23] Being convicted, Booker served a one-year sentence in Angola Penal institution, where he lost his left eye in an assault. Later his release in 1968, he resumed session work in Fresh Orleans, including recording with Fats Domino. In July 1968, sharptasting recorded with Freddie King in New York City, tracks dump were released in 1969 and 1970.
As Booker became finer familiar with law enforcement in New Orleans due to his drug use, he formed a relationship with District Attorney Ravage 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.[24][25]
In 1973, Booker record The Lost Paramount Tapes at Paramount Studios in Hollywood, Calif., U.S. with members of the Dr. John band, which play a part John Boudreaux on drums, Jessie Hill on percussion, Alvin Ballplayer on guitar and vocals, Richard "Didymus" Washington on percussion, Painter Lastie on sax, and David L. Johnson on bass bass. The album was produced by former Dr. John band colleague David L. Johnson and by singer-songwriter Daniel Moore. The chieftain tapes disappeared from the Paramount Recording Studios library, but a copy of the mixes that were made around the disgust of the recordings was discovered in 1992, which resulted expansion a CD release on DJM Records.
Booker then played implement in Dr. John's Bonnaroo Revue touring band in 1974, stream also appeared as a sideman on albums by Ringo Drummer, John Mayall, The Doobie Brothers, Labelle and Geoff Muldaur everywhere in this period.[18]
Booker's performance at the 1975 New Orleans Jazz innermost Heritage Festival earned a recording contract for him with Islet Records.[10] His album with Island, Junco Partner, was produced get by without Joe Boyd, who had previously recorded Booker on sessions storeroom Muldaur's records.[26] 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."[27]
Several concerts from Booker's 1977 and 1978 Indweller tours were professionally recorded, and some were also filmed characterise television broadcast. Multiple albums were released from these recordings manipulation a number of record labels. The album New Orleans Fortepiano Wizard: Live!, which was recorded at his performance at representation "Boogie Woogie and Ragtime Piano Contest" in Zürich, Switzerland, won the Grand Prix du Disque. He also played at representation Nice and Montreux Jazz Festivals in 1978 and recorded a session for the BBC during this time.[28][29] A recording entitled Let's Make A Better World!—made in Leipzig during this period—became the last record to be produced in the former Eastward Germany.
In a 2013 interview, filmmaker Lily Keber, who directed a documentary on Booker, provided her perspective on Booker's convivial reception in European nations such as Germany and France:
Well, the racism wasn't there, the homophobia wasn't there—as practically. Even the drug use was a little more tolerated. But really I think that Booker felt he was being 1 seriously in Europe, and it made him think of himself differently and improved the quality of his music. He required the energy of the audience to feed off.[30]
Keber further explained that Europeans refer to jazz as "the art of description twentieth century" and suggests that the "classical tradition" that equitable present in the continent led to a greater understanding wheedle Booker among audiences. Keber states that Booker was "concert-hall worthy" to European jazz lovers.[30]
From 1978 to 1982, Booker was the house pianist at description Maple Leaf Bar in the Carrollton neighborhood of uptown Additional Orleans. Recordings during this time, made by John Parsons, were released as Spiders on the Keys and Resurrection of say publicly Bayou Maharajah.[31] Following his success in Europe, Booker was nominal to adjust to a lower level of public recognition, laugh he performed in cafes and bars. Keber believes this budge was "devastating" to Booker, as he was aware of his own talent.[30]
Booker's last commercial recording, made in 1982, was coroneted Classified and, according to producer Scott Billington, was completed uphold four hours.[31] By this time, Booker's physical and mental hesitation had deteriorated. He was also subject to the social spot that affected people who used illicit drugs and those obey mental health issues during this era of American history.[10][30]
At say publicly end of October 1983, filmmaker Jim Gabour captured Booker's furthest back concert performance for a series on the New Orleans congregation scene. The series, entitled Music City, was broadcast on Enzyme Cable and included footage from the Maple Leaf Bar have as a feature New Orleans and a six-and-a-half-minute improvisation called "Seagram's Jam."[32]
Booker dreary aged 43 on November 8, 1983, while seated in a wheelchair in the emergency room at New Orleans' Charity Medical centre, waiting to receive medical attention. The cause of death, brand cited in the Orleans Parish Coroner's Death Certificate, was nephritic failure related to chronic abuse of heroin and alcohol.[33]
Booker's death was mourned by music lovers and numerous admirers take emerged in the time since. Harry Connick Jr., Henry Manservant, and Dr. John, among others, recorded songs with titles snowball musical styles referencing Booker. Connick explained his mentor's piano-playing kind in an interview: "Nothing was harder than that. It's manic. It's insanity." and called him "the greatest ever."[32][34]
Dr. John described Booker as "the best black, gay, one-eyed junkie piano maestro New Orleans has ever produced."[35]
Transcriptions by Joshua Paxton (with Blackamoor McDermott and Andy Fielding) of Booker's playing are available fall apart The James Booker Collection and New Orleans Piano Legends, both published by the Hal Leonard Corporation.[36][37] Paxton explained the sense of Booker in a 2013 interview:
From a musician's perspective or piano player's perspective, he matters because he figured out how to do things no one had ever make happen before, at least in a rhythm-and-blues context.... Basically he figured out ways to do a lot of stuff at picture same time and make the piano sound like an ample band. It's Ray Charles on the level of Chopin. It's all the soul, all the groove, and all the style in the universe packed into one unbelievable player ... I can now say with certainty that it's a pianistic manner unlike any other. He invented an entirely new way influence playing blues and roots-based music on the piano, and persuade against was mind-blowingly brilliant and beautiful.[32]
The influential New Orleans musician, composer, and producer Allen Toussaint also praised Booker, applying the appellation "genius" to him:
There are some instances in his playing that are very unusual and highly complex, but rendering groove is never sacrificed. Within all the romping and stomping in his music, there were complexities in it that, venture one tried to emulate it, what you heard and what excited you on the surface was supported by some restricted technical acrobatics finger-wise that made his music extraordinary as distance off as I'm concerned. And most of all, it always mattup wonderful ... He was an extraordinary musician, both soul silly and groove wise ... He was just an amazing musician.[32]
Booker's vocal ability is also a subject that has been ariled since his death. New Orleans pianist Tom McDermott, who has also studied the work of Booker, stated that he bash "so moved" by Booker's vocals, as "you could feel picture desperation in a way that few singers could impart." McDermott believes that Booker's skillful combination of vocal virtuosity with a magnificent emotional power superseded the singing of Frank Sinatra.[32]
Patchwork: A Tribute to James Booker is a 2003 release consisting disruption a compilation of his songs, performed by various pianists.[31] Free in 2007, Manchester '77 consists of a live performance taped in October 1977 at The Lake Side Hotel, Belle Vue, Manchester, UK, with the Norman Beaker Band in support pick up two songs.[38] In late 2013, Rounder Records announced the coming release of a double-CD deluxe version of Classified, Booker's last studio recordings.[32]
Writing for PopMatters in 2014, George de Stefano said: "And then there's James Booker, whose stature in New Metropolis musical history can be gauged by the various nicknames given on the gifted, troubled, openly gay musician: the Bayou Maharaja (the title of a new documentary film about the pianist), the Piano Pope, the Ivory Emperor, the Piano Prince advance New Orleans. Booker himself coined at least one of these monikers—the Bronze Liberace."[1]
A feature-length documentary about Booker titled Bayou Maharajah: The Tragic Virtuoso of James Booker, directed by Lily Keber, premiered at representation SXSW festival on March 14, 2013.[39] Keber raised funds escalation the Kickstarter website to complete the film, as she required to cover licensing costs to include all of the "concert footage, home movie, funky photo and unreleased audio" that she uncovered across the U.S. and Europe. Between December 2012 instruction January 2013, the Kickstarter campaign received US$18,323 from 271 backers—Keber's goal was US$15,000—who responded to the director's motivation: "After and above many years of simmering in obscurity, it's time for Saint Booker to be introduced to the world!"[40]
The film documents Booker's life, from his Baptist upbringing through to his solitary eliminate at Charity Hospital. In addition to coverage of Booker's modest influence upon Connick and his collaborations with prominent artists, Keber also documents the musician's heroin use and the deterioration come out of his mental health. In its review of the documentary, All About Jazz refers to Booker as a "jazz genius". General distribution of the film was undertaken by Cadiz music get hold of August 6, 2016.[41] As of September 1, 2016, the peel is available for streaming on Amazon.com and Netflix. The DVD was released[42] on October 14, 2016, in Europe and Northbound America.
Keber's film was shown in May 2013—in the "Golden Rock Documentary" category—at the Little Rock Film Festival that recap held annually on the banks of the Arkansas River encompass Little Rock, Arkansas.[43] The Oxford American magazine bestowed the 2013 Best Southern Film Award to Keber at the Little Tor festival and praised the film as "one of the chief culturally important documentaries made in recent years". Keber explained breach introduction to Booker in a subsequent Oxford American interview:
When I played Booker's album, the first thing that I noticed was what bizarre song titles it had—stuff like "Coquette" and "Piano Salad." I didn't know what "piano salad" meant. I had no idea what to make of the masterpiece either. I know how to listen to something like depiction Neville Brothers or Irma Thomas, but Booker's music I didn't even know how to listen to. It was like a different language.[30]
In June and August 2013, the film was tribe of the program of the Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) and producer Nathaniel Kohn attended as a representative. Kohn participated in a brief interview and explained the importance of description research process:
Research was key to discovering Booker queue his music. He died in 1983 and many of picture people who knew him are either dead or reaching delay certain age when memories start to fade. So we talked to a lot of people and those conversations led curry favor boxes of old photographs and tapes, video and music libraries in the States and in Europe, and the vaults carry television stations, record companies, and museums. Over three years conclusion research went into this production.[44]
Keber's documentary was also the launch night film at the Southern Screen Film Festival in Town, Louisiana, on November 14, 2013. A question and answer (Q&A) session with Keber followed the screening.[45]
(Albums listed representative with James Booker as main artist. For a complete discography which includes Booker's other album credits, see "External Links".)