James Booker

I am content when I write happy stories: where my heroes enjoy either professional success or personal fulfillment (or preferably both). There has only been one person so far that belonged in neither category: Steven Grossman. Today we get to meet the second.

James Booker was born in New Orleans in 1939. He was the son and grandson of Baptist ministers, both of whom played the piano. As a young boy he too demonstrated a strong interest in the keyboard. Booker attended the Xavier Academy Preparatory School and was highly skilled in classical music and played Bach and Chopin and others. He also mastered and memorized solos by Erroll Garner and Liberace.

He made his first recording in 1954, not yet 15. One of the first tunes that he recorded was Doin' the Hambone:

In 1958, 18-year-old Booker was introduced to the famous concert pianist Arthur Rubinstein and played several tunes for him. Rubinstein was astonished, saying "I could never play that ... never at that tempo."

In 1960, Booker released Gonzo. It was to be his most succesful single, peaking at #3 in the US R&B chart and #43 in The Hot 100.

In the 60s Booker began using drugs regularly. His flamboyant behaviour on and off stage became more extreme as his addiction took hold, and he increasingly suffered from severe depression and extreme paranoia. The musician Charles Neville links his mental decline to the deaths of his mother and sister in 1970, and remembers Booker becoming increasingly obsessed with "plots" and "threats" against him at that time. Soon after, he was arrested for heroin possession and sent to jail. As Booker became more familiar to law enforcement in New Orleans due to his illicit drug use, he formed a relationship with Harry Connick Sr., who was occasionally Booker's legal counsel. Connick Sr. 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 with Connick Sr.'s son Harry Connick Jr..

Here's Junco Partner, a song that he wrote about his time in jail:

The song was included in the album The Lost Paramount Tapes which he recorded in 1973 with members of the Dr. John band. 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.

Also in the album was his version of the classic Stormy Monday:

Booker played organ in Dr. John's Bonnaroo Revue touring band in 1974, and also appeared as a sideman on albums by Ringo Starr, the Doobie Brothers, Labelle, John Mayall, Maria Muldaur and Jerry Garcia.

Booker recorded a number of albums while successfully touring Europe between 1976 and 1978. In a 2013 interview, filmmaker Lily Keber, who directed a documentary on Booker, provided her perspective on Booker's warm reception in European nations such as Germany and France: "Well, the racism wasn't there, the homophobia wasn't there—as much. Even the drug use was a little more tolerated. But really I think that Booker felt he was being taken seriously in Europe, and it made him think of himself differently and improved the quality of his music. He needed the energy of the audience to feed off."

Here's On The Sunny Side Of The Street, from a 1977 live show:

Upon his return to the US, he was forced to adjust to a lower level of public recognition, as he performed in cafes and bars. Keber believes this shift was "devastating" to Booker, as he was aware of his own talent. His last commercial recording came in 1982 and was called Classified. Here's the title track:

Booker died aged 43 on November 8, 1983, while seated in a wheelchair in the emergency room at New Orleans' Charity Hospital, waiting to receive medical attention. The cause of death, as cited in the Coroner's Death Certificate, was renal failure that was related to his chronic history of heroin and alcohol use.

Dr. John described Booker as "the best black, gay, one-eyed junkie piano genius New Orleans has ever produced." Harry Connick Jr. said of his piano style "Nothing was harder than that. It's insane. It's insanity." and called him "the greatest ever."

Influential New Orleans musician, composer, and producer Allen Toussaint said of him: "There are some instances in his playing that are very unusual and highly complex, but the groove is never sacrificed. Within all the romping and stomping in his music, there were complexities in it that, if one tried to emulate it, what you heard and what excited you on the surface was supported by some extreme technical acrobatics finger-wise that made his music extraordinary as far as I’m concerned. And most of all, it always felt wonderful ... He was an extraordinary musician, both soul wise and groove wise ... He was just an amazing musician."

James Booker had the talent and the personality of a star. But his personal demons and the prejudice of his time did not allow this to happen. At least, his talent was recognized by his peers. It wasn't all for nothing.