Juini Booth

Arthur Edward Booth, better known as Juini Booth, is a world-touring jazz double-bassist who has lived for many years in New York. He was born in Buffalo, NY on February 12, 1948, and began playing music as a child. Booth began to play piano around the age of eight, but picked up the bass at twelve and continues to play jazz music as a bassist. His early career was spent playing with Chuck Mangione in Buffalo between 1964-65, and then moved to New York City around 1966, continuing his musical career with the likes of Eddie Harris, Art Blakey, and many others.

The 1970s were a time of great activity for Booth, who recorded music with Larry Young in 1973, as well as Takehiro Honda and Masabumi Kikichu while on a tour of Tokyo in 1974. He returned to Buffalo after a short time, though he continued working with Chico Freeman in Los Angeles and Junior Cook in New York City.

During the early 1980s, he played in Cleveland with Ernie Krivda as well as locally in Buffalo. He recorded as a freelance artist with Beaver Harris, Steve Grossman and Joe Chambers, and Franklin Kiermyer, among many others. Juini Booth even worked as an electric bassist in 1989 with Sun Ra, which led to his playing both upright and electric bass with the Arkestra in 1996. [1]

He received the Mingus-Zimmerman Award sponsored by ISB (International Society of Bassists) for Most Imaginative Performance in the Free Choice Category. He was Music Curator at Hallwalls in Buffalo, New York (1981-82) and at Niagara Arts Council (NAC) in St. Catherine's, Ontario (1991). An NEA composer grant (CAPS) and Meet the Composer have supported his compositional work. Booth is currently focusing on composing new works for contrabass, as well as working on collaborative projects with artists in other disciplines, in addition to teaching and recording. [2]

In June, 2014, Juini Booth was one of many musicians who took place in the Buffalo Jazz Celebrations of 2014, which coincided with his 50^th year as a jazz artist. During this show, he played an hour-long bass solo before being joined by George Caldwell on the piano and Carmen Intorre on the drums. He was then joined by Buffalo jazz bassist Sabu Adeyola for a duet called “Two Bass Hit”.

Juini Booth continues to live and play in New York, and has recently celebrated his birthday in February with a solo performance at a local club in Buffalo, New York.

[1] Information taken from Arthur Edward Booth’s Wikipedia page

[2] “Biography”, Juini Booth, taken from www.juinibooth.com