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The Lost Paramount Tapes
Description
**The Lost Paramount Tapes** captures a singular, almost clandestine moment in the orbit of the Black Liberace's career-a late-night séance at Paramount Recording Studios in Hollywood, sometime in 1973, where James Booker conjured his most potent blues incantations alongside the very musicians who would become the bedrock of Dr. John's ensemble. Fresh from their sets at New Orleans' hallowed Dirty Pierre's, Booker and his retinue-bassist Dave Johnson, drummer John Boudreaux, saxophonist David Lastie, guitarist Alvin "Shine" Robinson, and the rhythm-section percussionists Richard "Didimus" Washington and Jesse "Ooh Poo Pa Doo" Hill-retreated to the studio's spinet to cut whatever came naturally. The result is a 45-minute masterwork that defies the typical constraints of commercial recording, existing instead as something closer to a spiritual possession.
Released decades later after being spurned by record companies who simply didn't grasp its radical vision, these tapes reveal Booker not merely as a performer but as a sorcerer of the keys, blending New Orleans blues traditions with European classical sensibilities and boogie-woogie rhythms. Allen Toussaint would later declare Booker "an extraordinary musician, both soul-wise and groove-wise," a sentiment this session confirms beyond doubt. The album, originally released in the 1990s and recently reissued with expanded liner notes by Lily Keber, stands as a testament to Booker's enduring mystique.
Few albums capture the tension between genius and marginalization as effectively as this collection. It documents a musician at the height of his powers, hailed as "the Piano Prince of New Orleans" and "the best black, gay, one-eyed junkie piano genius New Orleans has ever produced" (per Dr. John). Yet here, in a sterile Hollywood studio, Booker channels the raw spirit of his hometown while navigating a career that would eventually find him greater acclaim in Europe. A true document of the Black queer experience in American music, it remains essential listening for anyone who understands that authenticity has never been in short supply when the music speaks for itself.
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**Sources:** [Aquarium Drunkard](https://aquariumdrunkard.com/2018/07/26/james-booker-the-lost-paramount-tapes-1973/), [AllMusic](https://www.allmusic.com/album/the-lost-paramount-tapes-mw0000093834)
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