James Booker
Wikimp3 information about the music of James Booker. On our website we have 32 albums and 52 collections of artist James Booker. You can find useful information and download songs of this artist. We also know that James Booker represents Blues genres.
Biography
[Edit]Certainly one of the most flamboyant New Orleans pianists in recent memory, James Carroll Booker III was a major influence on the local rhythm & blues scene in the '50s and '60s. Booker's training included classical instruction until age 12, by which time he had already begun to gain recognition as a blues and gospel organist on radio station WMRY every Sunday. By the time he was out of high school he had recorded on several occasions, including his own first release, "Doing the Hambone," in 1953. In 1960, he made the national charts with "Gonzo," an organ instrumental, and over the course of the next two decades played and recorded with artists as varied as Lloyd Price, Aretha Franklin, Ringo Starr, the Doobie Brothers, and B.B. King. In 1967, he was convicted of possession of heroin and served a one-year sentence at Angola Penitentiary (referred to as the "Ponderosa"), which took the momentum out of an otherwise promising career. The rediscovery of "roots" music by college students during the '70s (focusing primarily on "Fess" by Professor Longhair) provided the opportunity for a comeback by 1974, with numerous engagements at local clubs like Tipitina's, The Maple Leaf, and Snug Harbor. As with "Fess," Booker's performances at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festivals took on the trappings of legendary "happenings," and he often spent his festival earnings to arrive in style, pulling up to the stage in a rented Rolls Royce and attired in costumes befitting the "Piano Prince of New Orleans," complete with a cape. Such performances tended to be unpredictable: he might easily plant some Chopin into a blues tune or launch into a jeremiad on the CIA with all the fervor of a "Reverend Ike-meets-Moms Mabley" tag-team match.
Booker's left hand was simply phenomenal, often a problem for bass players who found themselves running for cover in an attempt to stay out of the way; with it he successfully amalgamated the jazz and rhythm & blues idioms of New Orleans, adding more than a touch of gospel thrown in for good measure. His playing was also highly improvisational, reinventing a progression (usually his own) so that a single piece would evolve into a medley of itself. In addition, he had a plaintive and seering vocal style which was equally comfortable with gospel, jazz standards, blues, or popular songs. Despite his personal eccentricities, Booker had the respect of New Orleans' best musicians, and elements of his influence are still very much apparent in the playing of pianists like Henry Butler and Harry Connick, Jr.
Title: King of the New Orleans Keyboard
Artist: James Booker
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Soul, Blues, Jazz, Acoustic
Title: At Onkel Pö's Carnegie Hall 1976 / At Onkel Po's Carnegie Hall 1976
Artist: James Booker
Genre: Blues
Title: The Lost Paramount Tapes
Artist: James Booker
Title: Resurrection Of The Bayou Maharajah: Live At The Maple Leaf Bar
Artist: James Booker
Genre: Jazz
Title: Resurrection of the Bayou Maharajah - Live at the Maple Leaf Bar
Artist: James Booker
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Soul, Blues, Jazz, Acoustic
Title: Spiders On the Keys - Live At the Maple Leaf Bar
Artist: James Booker
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Soul, Blues, Jazz, Acoustic
Title: United, Our Thing Will Stand Vol. 1
Artist: James Booker
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Soul, Blues, Jazz, Acoustic
Title: New Orleans Piano Wizard: Live!
Artist: James Booker
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Soul, Blues, Jazz, Acoustic
Collections
Title: Northern Soul '60s Mod
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Soul
Title: Mad Men - A Musical Companion (1960-1965)
Genre: Pop, Theatre/Soundtrack
Title: Rampart Street Rumba - Hannibal In New Orleans
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Soul, Blues, World Music
Title: City of Dreams: A Collection of New Orleans Music
Genre: Jazz, World Music
Title: Rock 'N Roll Instrumentals - Gold Edition
Genre: Rock
Title: The Rounder Records Story
Genre: Alternative, Songwriter/Lyricist
Title: Gonzo (Music from the Film)
Genre: Theatre/Soundtrack
Title: Greatest R & B Hits of 1960, Vol. 4
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Soul, Pop
Title: Greatest Hits of 1960, Vol. 19
Genre: Pop
Title: Hit Instrumentals of 1960, Vol. 2
Genre: Pop, Instrumental
Title: Still Spicy Gumbo Stew
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Soul
Title: Fats Domino & The New Orleans '50s Sound
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Soul
Title: New Orleans Jazz & Mardi Gras Music
Genre: Jazz
Title: The R&B Singles Collection, Volume 1
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B
Title: The Backbeat Of Rock And Roll (CD2)
Genre: Rock, Rock & Roll, Rockabilly
Title: The Rebellious Jukebox Plays Northern Soul Stormers (CD1)
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Soul, Funk
Title: 25 Years Of Rounder Records Louisiana Spice (CD1)
Genre: Blues, World Music, Country, Folk
Title: Twisted Wheel Forever
Title: Simply Rock'n'Roll
Genre: Rock & Roll
Title: Battle Of The Blues (CD1)
Genre: Blues
Title: Ready Steady Go, Vol. 11 Shout (CD1)
Genre: Rock & Roll, Rockabilly
Title: Bayou To Basin Street - Rhythm & Blues
Genre: Blues
Title: Mighty Instrumentals R&B-Style 1959-1960-1961
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Soul, Funk, Instrumental, Instrumental
Title: Rhapsody In Bronze
Genre: Blues
Title: Mighty Instrumentals R&B Style 1963-1964 (CD2)
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Soul, Funk
Title: Takin' My Time: Southern Blues Legends
Genre: Blues
Title: Blues After Hours: Boogie Woogie And Jump Blues 2020
Genre: Blues
Title: Louisiana Swamp Blues And Soul 2020
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Blues, Blues Rock
Title: Instrumental Soul Grooves Vol. 1
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Soul, Funk
Title: New Orleans Party: Soul, Cajun And Zydeco 2021
Genre: Soul
Title: Mighty Instrumentals R&B-Style 1962 Vol. 1 (CD2)
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Blues
Title: New Orleans R&B Essentials
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Pop
Title: New Orleans R&B And Soul
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Soul
Featuring albums
Title: City of Dreams: A Collection of New Orleans Music
Artist: Various Artists
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Blues, Jazz
Title: Keep It Rollin': The Blues Piano Collection
Artist: Various Artists
Genre: Blues, Jazz, World Music, Latin, Acoustic
Title: Louisiana Spice: 25 Years of Louisiana Music on Rounder Records
Artist: Various Artists
Genre: Blues, World Music, Acoustic, Folk
Title: DJ O. G. ONE Presents... VIBEz VOL. 1 (INSTRUMENTALS)
Artist: DJ O. G. ONE
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B