The Bayou Maharajah. The Piano Pope. The Ivory Emperor. The Bronze Liberace. Music Magnifico. Gonzo. The Piano Prince of New Orleans. James Booker coined more than a few extravagant nicknames for himself, and he lived up to every one of them. James Carroll Booker III was also an unheralded genius of American music, a New Orleans pianist whose dizzying technique and mastery of the keyboard was matched only by his imagination and his soulfulness. His short and often flamboyant life was also marked by struggle and lost opportunity.

Remixed and remastered and reissued on vinyl LP courtesy of Craft Recordings, the mythical Classified, recorded in October 1982 was one of only two studio albums released during his lifetime. However, Classified his unintended swan song offers one of his greatest commercially-released performances. It is primarily the result of a whirlwind, four-hour session. In addition to several originals, the album includes a jaunty repertoire of mainly local fare, including Fats Domino's "One for the Highway" and Lloyd Price's "Lawdy Miss Clawdy".