James Booker was at the very pinnacle of the genre known to some as 'New Orleans Piano'. Classically trained, a road warrior with different artists such as Joe Tex, Lionel Hampton & Ringo Starr, Booker was a man who played any kind of stuff at will. His way of transforming just about any song into his own elaborate creation remains unsurpassed, and his keyboard pyrotechnics continue to baffle and boggle the mind... Booker's recordings are varied, and a lot of people have released obscure tapes of him in various states of mind and degrees of intoxication. Some of this material ought to have remained in the can. This cd, however, seems to catch him in a good laid back mood - in control of the situation, both musically and performance-wise. Booker works his way through his staple repertoir, with a few surprises thrown in here and there. If you can't get your hands on PIANO PRINCE FROM NEW ORLEANS; BLUES AND RAGTIME FROM NEW ORLEANS or JUNCO PARTNER, this one will do nicely, in addition to all the records on Rounder. Enjoy, that's all I can say.