When it comes to New Orleans, there’s something about a piano.  The Louisiana city has been home to some of the most famous players of that 88-keyed instrument: think Allen Toussaint, Dr. John, Jelly Roll Morton, Professor Longhair, Harry Connick, Jr. or Fats Domino.  But ask Dr. John or Connick to single out one N’awlins piano influence, and either might be likely to name one James Booker.  The good Doctor – a.k.a. Mac Rebennack – described Booker as “the best black, gay, one-eyed junkie piano genius New Orleans has ever produced.”  Booker tutored Rebennack and Connick, who absorbed his style into their own.  The so-called Bayou Maharajah (a.k.a. The Bronze Liberace, The Piano Prince of New Orleans, The Ivory Emperor, or The Piano Pope – to name a few of his illustrious nicknames) led a tumultuous life before passing away at the age of 43 in 1983.  He’s being celebrated in 2013 with filmmaker Lily Keber’s documentary film Bayou Maharajah: The Tragic Genius of James Booker as well as with a newly expanded reissue on the Rounder label of his 1983 studio album Classified.

James Booker was one in a line of pianists; both his father and grandfather played the instrument.  After spending much of his early childhood on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, Booker returned to his native New Orleans as an adolescent.  By the age of fifteen, the piano prodigy had already recorded for the Imperial label (home to Fats Domino) and done session work with Domino and others.  At home with classical music as well as jazz, Booker even impressed the great concert pianist Arthur Rubinstein.  Though addiction to drugs plagued him, Booker played with his piano disciple Dr. John as well as with The Jerry Garcia Band, The Doobie Brothers, Maria Muldaur, and even Ringo Starr.  He also maintained a residency as the house pianist at New Orleans’ Maple Leaf Bar from 1977 to 1982.

There's more on Classified after the jump including the track listing and order links!

Classified was one of only two studio albums released in Booker’s lifetime, with his legacy largely reliant upon live recordings.  Rounder Records had licensed Booker’s New Orleans Piano Wizard: Live! from Swiss Gold Records in 1981 when Rounder’s Scott Billington seized upon the notion of taking him into the studio.  In new liner notes penned for this reissue, Billington recounts the difficult process of its creation, with Booker indulging in volatile and offbeat behavior while the producer struggled to keep the October 1982 sessions on track.  Booker – on piano as well as Hammond B3 organ – was joined by Alvin “Red” Tyler on tenor saxophone, James Singleton on bass, and Johnny Vidacovich on drums.

Singing as well as tickling the ivories, Booker tackled a wide range of material during the Classified sessions, including Lloyd Price’s “Lawdy Miss Clawdy,” Doc Pomus’ “Lonely Avenue,” Roger Miller’s “King of the Road,” Nino Rota’s famous Godfather theme, Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller’s “Hound Dog,” Allen Toussaint’s “All These Things,” and standards like “Yes Sir, That’s My Baby,” “Baby Face” and “Angel Eyes.”  All, however, were played in the virtuosic James Booker style fusing blues, classical, R&B, gospel, boogie-woogie, Latin and stride techniques.  Harry Connick, Jr. described Booker’s inimitable style to NPR: “There was nobody that could even remotely come close to his piano playing ability. I've played Chopin etudes, I've done the whole thing - there's nothing harder than James.  He used to play "[The] Sunny Side [of the Street]" and that was kind of his arrangement. And I remember him showing me the bassline to that. At the time I couldn't play it.  He would play, like, stride piano, which is note-chord-note-chord, but he had a different way of doing it...James would go one, and this is two and three, four and one...So, that's the basic bassline he had for ‘Sunny Side.’ And then when he played the melody, he would put notes in the middle. Instead of playing right on the melody, he would put rolls in and stuff.”

The album was finally released in May 1983, and the hard-living Booker was dead just months later.  Renal failure claimed his life on November 8, 1983, but not before he accepted a job at the New Orleans City Hall, working in the Office of Economic Analysis!  Billington amusingly recounts this story – his supervisor apparently found the great piano player “one hell of a typist!” - and many other equally-colorful ones in his notes.

The All Music Guide’s Ron Wynn found Classified “[arguably his] best release,” but it’s been upgraded substantially for Rounder’s new reissue.  The original 12-track LP has been expanded to 22 tracks, with nine of the ten additions previously unreleased.  The album has also been resequenced and remixed from the original 24-track analog tapes by David Farrell.  Paul Blakemore has remastered.  In addition to Billington’s new essay, the booklet also reprints the original LP sleeve notes by Bunny Matthews.

Classified: Remixed and Expanded is available on both CD and double-LP vinyl.  Both editions can be ordered at the links below!

James Booker, Classified: Remixed and Expanded (Rounder CD 11661-9175-2, 2013) (CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

1. Classified
2. If You’re Lonely
3. Warsaw Concerto
4. Lawdy Miss Clawdy (Solo Piano Alternate Take)
5. Medley: Tico Tico/Papa Was a Rascal/So Swell When You’re Well
6. All Around the World
7. Angel Eyes
8. Lonely Avenue
9. Professor Longhair Medley: Tipitina/Bald Head
10. King of the Road
11. Theme from The Godfather
12. Lawdy Miss Clawdy
13. I’m Not Sayin’
14. Hound Dog
15. All These Things
16. Yes Sir, That’s My Baby
17. Baby Face
18. If You’re Lonely (Solo Piano Alternate Take)
19. Madame X (originally titled Swedish Rhapsody)
20. One for the Highway
21. Three Keys
22. Amen

Tracks 1, 6-7, 9-10, 12, 14, 17, 18-21 from Classified, Rounder LP 2036, 1983
Tracks 2, 3-5, 8, 11, 13, 15-16 previously unreleased
Track 22 first issued on Rounder promotional sampler, 1988