James Booker - Gonzo: James Booker Live 1976 (2014)

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. 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.

TRACKLIST

CD 1:

01. Tubby Part 1
02. Cool Turkey
03. Gonzo (Studio Version)
04. Gonzo
05. Baby Won't You Please Come Home
06. Hound Dog
07. Baby Face
08. Let Them Talk
09. Tipatina
10. Let's Make A Better World
11. Rockin' Pneumonia & The Boogie Woogie Flu
12. I'll Be Seeing You
13. Classified
14. People Get Ready
15. Junco Partner
16. Slowly But Surely

CD 2:

01. Am I Getting Thru To You/Night Place, Wrong Time
02. Please Send Me Someone To Love
03. Sixty Minute Man/You Talk Too Much
04. Baby Won't You Please Come Home
05. Ora
06. All By Myself/Let The Four Winds Blow
07. Besame Mucho
08. Love Monkey/Feel So Bad
09. Save Your Love/Lonely Avenue
10. Tico Tico
11. Desitively Bannaroo/Right Place, Wrong Time
12. Please Send Me Someone To Love
13. Sixty Minute Man/You Talk Too Much
14. Stormy Monday
15. Classified
16. Junko Partner
17. Too Much Blues
18. Slowly But Surely
19. United Our Thing Will Stand
20. One Helluva Nerve
21. Life