Customer Reviews
Junco Partner james Booker - By: Pj Townsend, 12 Jan 2007 
Excellent. every household should own a copy of good nite Irene.
The Piano Prince of New Orleans - By: , 22 Jul 2002 People do forget what James Booker was all about sometimes. He was classically trained from an early age & taught himself boogie-woogie etc etc. A piano prodigyin New Orleans is not going to be short of influences & it shows. Art Neville reckons he was the best & who are we to argue.
The Black Minute Waltz is a masterpiece. A remarkable interpretation of the piece, & showing staggering technique. On The Sunny Side of The Street was one of Jools Holland's Desert Island Disks - say no more I think! The medley of Until the Real Thing Comes Along etc is wonderful & surprisingly coherent considering its constituent parts. Pixie suggests that JB had at least three hands working for him & defies beliefin places.
Booker was the best, maybe not the smoothest & not for the faint hearted, but go & get that Russ Conway album if that's what you are after. Buy, Marvel & Love.
A mad preacher let loose on the keys... - By: screaminjames@aol.com, 08 Jul 2001 Two stars for this?! It's frankly hard to believe that anyone could write such a misguided review of a recording as great as this one. Listening to this record for the first time is a truly extraordinary experience as Booker runs the gamut of human experience from all out joy to the depths of despair, all the while his fingers never missing a trick(his modulations on Put Out The Light are truly a wonder to behold). To criticize James Booker for his classical interpretations is to entirely miss the point as his eclectic magpie mind was an integral part of what made him such an extraordinary, individualistic artist. James Booker was possessed of a tremendous depth of feeling & astonishing piano technique;it's amazing that listening to someone who's life was so essentially tragic can make you feel so good but it does & this is one of the best places to hear him. Five stars & a half, mate.
