THE LOST PARAMOUNT TAPES
Hollywood, CA, 1973
Ref. DJM-CD 10010

Featuring:
Goodnight Irene
Feel So Bad
Junco Partner
African Gumbo
Lah Tee Tah
So Swell When You're Well
Stormy Monday-Hound Dog Medley
Hole In The Wall
Tico Tico
Junco Partner #2

JUNCO PARTNER
New Orleans, February 1976
Ref. HNCD 1359

Featuring:
Black Minute Waltz
Good Night Irene
Pixie
On The Sunny Side of the Street
Make A Better World
Junco Partner
Put Out the Light
Medley: Blues Minuet/Until the Real Thing Comes Along
/Baby Won't You Please Come Home
Pop's Dilemma
I'll Be Seeing You

THE PIANO PRINCE of New Orleans
Hamburg, Germany October 1976
Ref. Aves 69031

Featuring:
Life
One Helluva Nerve
United Our Thing Will Stand
Slowly But Surely
Too Much Blues
Junko Partner
Classified
Stormy Monday
Sixty Minute Man/You Talk Too Much
Please Send Me Someone to Love

BLUES & RAGTIME FROM NEW ORLEANS
Hamburg, Germany, October 1976
Ref. Aves 146.530

Featuring:
Positively Bonnaroo
Right Place Wrong Time
Tico Tico
Wake Up Mr. Moon Man
Save Your Love
Lonely Avenue / All By Myself
I'm In Love Again / Four Winds
Such A Wonderful Feeling
People Get Ready
Besame Mucho / Until The Real Thing Comes Along
Love Monkey / Feel So Bad
Ora
Baby Won't You Please Come Home

BOOGIE WOOGIE & RAGTIME PIANO CONTEST +
Zurich, Switzerland, November 1977
Ref. Gold LP 11035

Featuring:
On The Sunny Side of the Street
Black Night
Keep On Crin'
Come Rain Or Come Shine
Something Stupid
Please Send Me Someone to Love
Tell Me How Do You Feel
Let Them Talk
Come In My House

+ Also released on Rounder Records as New Orleans PIANO WIZARD LIVE
Ref. Rounder 2027

KING OF THE NEW ORLEANS KEYBOARD
Hamburg, Germany, 1977
Ref. Classified JP1

Featuring:
How Do You Feel
One Hell of A Nerve
Blues Rhapsody
Rockin' Pneumonia
Please Send Me Someone to Love
All By Myself
Ain't Nobody's Business
Something You Got
Harlem in Hamburg
Put Out the Light
Ray Charles Medley
Tipitina-Loberta
Junco Partner
Down By the River (Goodnight Irene)
Black Night
Goodnight Sweetheart
Lonely Avenue
Stormy Monday

MR. MYSTERY
Tracks 1-5: Switzerland, July 9, 1978
Tracks 6-11: Liege, Belgium, Nov. 9, 1976
Ref. Sundown 709-09

Featuring:
That's What the People Say
Junco Partner
On The Other Side of the Track
Papa Was A Rascal
Make A Better World
One Helluva Nerve
Rockin' Pneumonia
Basilia Me Wahira
Ain't That Love
So Swell When You're Well
Booker Special

LET'S MAKE A BETTER WORLD
Leipzig, GDR (former East Germany), Oct. 29, 1977
Ref. Amiga 001-91

Featuring:
Life
On The Sunny Side of the Street
Junco Partner
Tico Tico
One Helluva Nerve
Booker's Original
Baby Face
So Swell When You're Well
Since I Fell For You
Black Night Is Falling
Come On In This House
Let's Make A Better World
People Get Ready
Chopin One Minute Waltz
Little Tune For Lefty
Malaguena A La Louisiana

SPIDERS ON THE KEYS, LIVE AT THE MAPLE LEAF BAR
New Orleans, LA, 1977-1983
Ref: Rounder Records CD 2119

Featuring:
On the Sunny Side of the Street
So Swell When You're Well
A Taste of Honey
He's Got The Whole World In His Hands
Gonzo's Blue Dream
Eleanor Rigby
Malaguena
Piano Salad
Little Coquette
Besame Mucho
Tico Tico
Over The Rainbow

CLASSIFIED
New Orleans, LA, 1982
Ref. Rounder Records CD 2036

Featuring:
All Around the World
One for the Highway
King Of the Road
Professor Longhair Medley: Bald Head/Tipitina
Baby Face
Swedish Rhapsody
Classified
Lawdy Miss Clawdy
Angel Eyes
Hound Dog
If You're Lonely
Three Keys

RESURRECTION OF THE BAYOU MAHARAJAH: LIVE AT THE MAPLE LEAF BAR
New Orleans, LA, 1977-1983
Ref. Rounder Records CD 2118

Featuring:
Medley: Slow Down/Bony Maronie/Knock On Wood/I Heard It Through The Grapevine/Classified
Medley: Tico Tico/Papa Was A Rascal
Medley: Lawdy Miss Clawdy/Ballad at The Maple Leaf
Minute Waltz
All By Myself
Save Your Love For Me
Junco Partner
St. James Infirmary
Gitanarias
Medley: Life/Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee/It Should Have Been Me
Pop's Dilemma/Irene Goodnight

POSTSCRIPT:

When I first heard James Booker, I was a jet-lagged passenger in the back seat of a car racing along the motorway north out of London towards Scotland. My Scottish friend John McFarlane was driving. Sitting next to him was American blues legend, Roy Bookbinder. A blues myth in his own right, orphaned on the couches and guest-rooms of the great blues legends, heir to the songs of Pink Davis, adopted son of Rev. Gary Davis, he had a cassette of James Booker, "Let's Make a Better World," recorded in the (then) East German town of Leipzig. It was after midnight, the tires whispering on the wet tarmac, our headlights were cutting through the fog, the atmosphere was hypnotic as Booker launched into On the Sunny Side of the Street and Little Tune for Lefty.

Years later, Rickie told me about her (now legendary) performances with the master keyboard wizard of New Orleans. I can only wish I had been at that right place, at that very right time.

- Pennyhead