 Исполнитель: James BookerНазвание альбома: Live! Год выпуска: 1978 Формат файлов: Mp3, 320 Размер архива: 55 Mb Скачать с: rusfolder
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.
Bruce Boyd Raeburn, AMG
Short but sweet best describes this set from Switzerland, in 1977. It's understandable that the set would be limited as it was part of something billed as The Boogie Woogie and Ragtime Piano Contest. Rarely is Booker so clean and precise as here, getting into and out of the tunes with unusual economy. This is one of the best known of his albums due to the U.S Rounder edition.
James is certainly playing well enough, but he sounds tense when compared to the previous post and his voice is often more strident. Then there is the issue of the beginning and ending applause on each track which appears to have been oddly 'enhanced' in a way that is clearly inappropriate to the flow of the show; it gives the recording a patchwork feel.
Those complaints noted, he is still playing the hell out of that damn piano and the version of 'Let Them Talk' is killer!
Side 1
1. On The Sunny Side Of The Street 3:40
2. Black Night 5:35
3. Keep On Gwine 2:55
4. Come Rain Or Come Shine 3:25
5. Something Stupid 3:00
Side 2
1. Please Send Me Someone To Love 5:20
2. Tell Me How Do You Feel 4:45
3. Let Them Talk 3:55
4. Come In My House
Recorded Live on first Boogie-Woogie and Ragtime Piano Contest in Schutzenhaus Albisguetli in Zurich on November 27th 1977
Label: Gold Records – 11 035, Switzerland, 1978
Piano, vocals - James Booker
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