James Carroll Booker - Research Paper Example

(Affiliated James Booker James booker or formally known as James Carroll Booker was the one of the best jazz musician ever truly witnessed by the state of New Orleans. Apart from such feats Booker was also a New Orleans rhythm guitarist and an occasional soul musician in the same state of New Orleans, Louisiana United States that he was born in. Precisely speaking James booker did potentially come from a musical background with his father and grandfather both having been family Baptist ministers who surprisingly played the piano. While growing up listening to them made James booker recognize the art of music playing like never before and although he was pretty talented himself recognition of music at such an early age made that him the musician he was at his prime. Rightfully so music influence in the life of James booker was effectively extended with a saxophone being gifted to him by his mother as a birthday present. He spent greatest of his juvenile age ashore on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, while at the place his father pastored a church. Although receiving a saxophone in in his age his talent with the instrument was somewhat modest but all the while he truly and to the best of his abilities demonstrated a resilient concern in effectively playing the keyboard. It is safe to complement that his first musicals came by performing with a mere organ in his father’s church sermons. The return to his originated birth place the city of New Orleans came in the preliminary rounds of the adolescence age, and he successfully completed his elementary schooling form the prestigious Xavier Academy Institute. He academized many particular fundamentals of the keyboard playing panache from Tuts Washington and Edward Frank. Booker illustrated to become one of the best and utmost masters of classical music and hence was paraded to play Bach and Chopin as one of his ideal composers along the way of his career. He further to such feats he correspondingly become proficient at and committed to memory the more challenging solos of Erroll Garner, and also some enhancing material by Liberace. Booker’s imperative systematic circumstantial upbringing in close to the collected works of many piano masters had fundamentally empowered him to easily and most notoriously create unique, original and conspicuous understandings, implementation and interpretation of jazz and other supplementary American prevalent music. These recitals and performances by booker shared essentials of stride, blues, gospel and Latin keyboard flairs. Booker debuted his recordings the eve of 1954 and continued in the preceding year with the Imperial label, his first hand classical included “Doin the Hambone" and "Thinkin Bout My Baby." While these events unfolding directed towards a number of work sessions with the famous Fats Domino, the exuberant Smiley Lewis, and Lloyd Price. 1958 had a few surprises for this young musician as, Arthur Rubinstein a famous and notorious pianist of that age and time performed a show in New Orleans. While subsequent to this event, the then eighteen-year-old Booker was acquaint by the concert pianist and engaged in recreating numerous additional tunes for him. Rubinstein was flabbergasted, quoting to saying "I could never play that... never at that tempo"(The Times-Picayune, 1958). A cherry figure and joy at most times , Booker also befitted to be excessively recognized for his colorful character, personality and temperament amidst his aristocracies but nevertheless after only recording a few other singles, he registered as an undergraduate in Southern Universitys music department. In 1960, one of Bookers famous and renowned singles “Gonzo" extended to number forty three on the U.S. Billboard chart, and number three on the R&B rankings while the preceding that were followed pertained to some abstemiously moderate popularity. In the 1960s, he resolved to take drugs which were somewhat a dark patch in his esteemed career but while he was at it, this was nevertheless one of the demising factors in his musical career. In 1970 booker served a transitory verdict in Angola Prison for proprietorship while Professor Longhair and Ray Charles were among his imperatively significant inspirations. 1973 and Booker chronicled The Lost Paramount Tapes with many singles at Paramount Studios in Hollywood, California plus he also worked with celebrated members of the Dr. John band which included John Boudreaux on drums, Jessie Hill and Richard "Didymus" Washington on percussion, Alvin Robinson on guitar and vocals, while conclusively David Lastie on sax and Dave Johnson on bass. This album was effectively produced by the former Dr. John and Sweat hog bassist, David L. Johnson and Daniel J. Moore. The principal tapes resulted to become extinct from the Paramount Recording Studios library, but a reproduction duplicate of a number of of the mixes made adjoining the period of the recordings was discovered in 1992, which occasioned in a Compact Disk publication. Bookers presentation at the 1975 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival produced him a recording agreement with the Island Records. His album through Island, Junco Partner, was produced by Joe Boyd, who had beforehand recorded Booker on hearings for the Muldaurs records. During 1976, Booker engage in recreation and explored with the Jerry Garcia Band. Booker chronicled a modest number of albums while touring Europe in 1977, comprising of the New Orleans Piano Wizard: Live! Which was documented at his performance in the Boogie Woogie and Ragtime Piano Contest in Zurich, Switzerland This album effectively won the Grand Prix du Disque, a prestigious musical award pertaining to mostly classical piano and Jazz music. He played at the Nice and Montreux Jazz Festivals in 1978. Fourteen years late a tape recording in Leipzig from his earlier tours became the last record to be produced in the former East Germany. It was titled Lets Make A Better World!. From 1977 to 1982 he was the house pianist at the Maple Leaf Bar in the Carrollton neighborhood of uptown New Orleans. Recordings during this time made by John Parsons were released as Spider on the Keys and Resurrection of the Bayou Maharajah. His final marketable auditory recording, Classified, was completed in 1982 in approximately four hours according to the producer, Scott Belington. However in the 1980s his bodily and psychological situation declined. In the final days of October, 1983, the famous 70s film-maker Jim Gabour seized Bookers ultimate concert show. The videotape on or after the Maple Leaf Bar in New Orleans was transmitted on Cox Cable and a six-and-a-half-minute making do, by "Seagrams Jam," included on Gabours film - All Alone with the Blues. Booker passed away ten days later, on 8th November, 1983, while being seated in a wheelchair, waiting to be examined at the emergency room at New Orleans Charity Hospital. The conclusive cause of death determined was renal failure as established by Orleans Parish Coroners Death Certificate. His passing was grieved by all music lovers, but was predictable to those a few who were conscious of his life-long history of serious drug abuse and chronic alcoholism. Harry Connick Jr., a scholar and close by acquaintance of Booker, is possibly his greatest well-known pupil. Connick, Henry Butler, and Dr. John, with many others individuals and labels, have logged songs with labels, titles and harmonious flairs associating Booker singles. Records by Joshua Paxton of Bookers in live performance are accessible in "The James Booker Collection" and "New Orleans Piano Legends", both circulated by The Hal Leonard Corporation. A little patchwork of organizing a farewell tribute to James Booker is a 2003music publication entailing of a collection of his songs implemented by various other pianist of the recent decade. The most up-to-date Booker album was potentially released in June 2007, which is in replication to the performance given by booker himself in Manchester 77. It consists of a live performance recorded in October 1977 at The Lake Hotel, Belle Vue, Manchester with Norman Beaker playing the lead guitar. It foremost remained wondrous that the song "Gonzo" was from the stimulating motivation for the use of the word gonzo to describe Hunter S. Thompsons editorial panache. A feature-length biography documentary entitled "Bayou Maharajah" is presently being shaped on the life of James Booker, set to be released in spring 2012. References James Booker By: Greg Johnson, James Booker Bio from "Blues Notes", February, 2002, http://www.cascadeblues.org/History/JamesBooker.htm Rubien, David (April 22, 2006). "Bookers Mad Muse". The San Francisco Chronicle. The encyclopedia of popular music 4th edition http://jamesbooker.com/ a b c Russell, Tony (1997). The Blues - From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray. Dubai: Carlton Books Limited. pp. 94. ISBN 1-85868-255-X. 5Allmusic - James Booker credits Read More