Blues & Ragtime from New Orleans

Blues & Ragtime from New Orleans

Blues & Ragtime from New Orleans is one of several issues of James Booker’s performance in Hamburg on Oct. 29th and Oct. 30th of 1976. While each issue features a slightly different track listing, this might be the best, if only for the inclusion of a Dr. John medley. Dr. John was always quick to give credit to Booker, whom he regarded as the finest pianist New Orleans ever produced (save for Professor Longhair, but Booker was more versatile). Yet Booker was forever in John’s shadow, especially among white audiences. Booker’s version of “Desitively Bannaroo/Right Place, Wrong Time” shows that Booker had something John couldn’t touch. When Booker sings “your champagne ain’t no better than my soda pop,” it could be an epigram for his entire musical career. Other rarely heard gems include “Wake Up Mr. Moon Man,” a slow, malt liquor–smooth instrumental that confirms Booker’s ability to make his boxy piano sing like Ray Charles.

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