reviewed together with James Booker’s Blues & Ragtime from New Orleans. There are around 15 James Booker albums on the market, but in fact the Piano Prince released only five LPs of music during his lifetime. Four of these five should be considered the very best of his work. The easy-to-find ones are New Orleans [...]
Tag Archives: James Booker
James Booker, Blues and Ragtime from New Orleans (Black Sun Music)
January 1, 2012 – 12:57 am
reviewed together with James Booker’s The Piano Prince of New Orleans. There are around 15 James Booker albums on the market, but in fact the Piano Prince released only five LPs of music during his lifetime. Four of these five should be considered the very best of his work. The easy-to-find ones are New Orleans [...]
Best of the Beat Lifetime Achievement in Music Business Award: Scott Billington
January 1, 2012 – 12:14 am
It’s hard to explain what Scott Billington has meant to New Orleans and Louisiana music in the past two plus decades. These following words must suffice: Classified. Give Him Cornbread. Funk is in the House. Irma Thomas. Tangle Eye. Nathan and the Zydeco Cha-Chas. The Houseman Cometh. Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown. The Dirty Dozen Brass Band [...]
Jazz Fest Day 4: Too Much Bliss?
May 6, 2011 – 12:07 pm
A beautiful day with such good vibes that everybody, bands included, seemed a little blissed out. Do we need a little threatening weather or oppressive heat to generate some urgency? – Cedric Watson and Bijou Creole felt urgent, not just in their performance but conceptually. His exploration of his Creole roots not only includes music [...]
Michael Oliver-Goodwin, Heaven Before I Die (Black Shadow Press)
April 1, 2011 – 12:30 am
In the year 2011, there are still plenty of people around who saw James Booker and Professor Longhair perform on multiple occasions, or who caught the Dirty Dozen 20 times at the Glass House. But not many in this group has the writing chops to equal Michael Oliver-Goodwin. Oliver-Goodwin has been an accomplished journalist for [...]
Ponderosa Stomp’s Clandestine Celluloid Film Series Screening James Booker Documentary
September 21, 2010 – 9:56 am
[UPDATED] The Ponderosa Stomp has been educating and entertaining fans for nine years, and in that time it has spawned not only a music history conference, but also a film series. The Stomp’s Clandestine Celluloid Film Series takes place Friday, September 24 and Saturday September 25 at One Eyed Jacks. The films shown are rarely seen [...]
YouTube du Jour: Tom McDermott
May 11, 2010 – 11:07 am
Writer Dan Baum did us all a service by filming Tom McDermott playing solo piano at home. There are a host of McDermott videos online; here is he performing James Booker’s “Pop’s Dilemma.” McDermott plays Snug Harbor tonight.
Lawrence Sieberth, New New Orleans (Musikbloc)
September 1, 2009 – 12:01 am
Larry Sieberth has been an ace sideman on the local modern jazz scene for decades, rarely drawing attention to himself despite consistently tasty work. In recent years he’s been plumbing traditional jazz waters, most notably with banjoist Don Vappie, and now we have this album of traditional solo piano. All cuts here are from the [...]
February 2009 Letters
February 1, 2009 – 12:01 am
TOP 50 Thanks for the great year-end albums list, but not including Anders Osborne’s Coming Down in the Top 50 seems a serious oversight. I would also try to sneak Renard Poche’s self-released album in there. Overall, I agree that this was a great year for music and a testament to the vibrancy of the [...]
Best of the Beat Posthumous Lifetime Achievement in Music: James Carroll Booker III
January 1, 2009 – 12:01 am
He had the character (or some might say “characters”) and the sheer virtuosity befitting his full name, James Carroll Booker III. But he wasn’t just another New Orleans pianist who acted out of his head and did outlandish things. Booker was the quintessential New Orleans musician. His life, music, and career encompass the good and [...]
