JAMES BOOKER

Troubled genius James Carroll Booker III first became known as a New Orleans soul r&b organist and later established a reputation as one of the most exciting, mercurial players in a long line of legendary piano professors.  Booker and Professor Longhair are the soul of New Orleans expressing through thier pianos the joy and pain of life in one of America's greatest but poorest cities.  In the post-Second World War era, the city's working class poor, mixed Irish descent dockworkers from New York and Creoles worked side by side on the docks of the then second-largest port in the U.S.  Booker seemed to reach long back in the lexicon of piano men but added delicate subtle and fanciful artistry of his own to create a body of creative work which is still being explored by younger musicians. At the end of October, 1983, film-maker Jim Gabour captured read more...