James Booker “Junco Partner” (1976):<i> Hannibal</i>

This album, released originally only in Europe, finally has been issued domestically. It’s 17 years overdue but still provides a fascinating, unadulterated look at one of the great New Orleans pianists of the century.

Booker never got the attention of such predecessors as Jelly Roll Morton (who Booker claims learned piano from his grandfather) and Professor Longhair or such contemporaries (and admirers) as Allen Toussaint and Dr. John. There were a number of reasons, among them that during much of the ‘60s he was locked away in Louisiana’s Angola State Prison. The same drug and lifestyle problems that landed him in jail also made him a highly unreliable session man, though he did play for Fats Domino, Little Richard, B.B King, Joe Tex, Wilson Pickett and countless others.

This solo performance was recorded in Toussaint’s Sea Saint Studio shortly after Booker started performing again in 1975. Booker runs the bases from slightly twisted Chopin (“Black Minute Waltz”) to the brand of lounge schmaltz that helped earn him the nickname “The Black Liberace” (“I’ll Be Seeing You”) to textbook New Orleans R & B (“Junco Partner”).

He did originals, too. His ebullient “Pixie” sounds like the work of at least four hands. To top it off, he was a soulful vocalist, evidenced by his bittersweet performance on Earl King’s “Make a Better World.”

His death in 1983, at age 43 of general organ failure, seems all the more untimely in light of this joyous workout.