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» Add News | Booker T. and The MGs
As the house band at Stax Records in Memphis, Tennessee, Booker T. & the MG's may have been the single greatest factor in
the lasting value of that label's soul music, not to mention Southern soul as a whole. Their tight, impeccable grooves could be
heard on classic hits by Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, Carla Thomas, Albert King, and Sam & Dave, and for that reason alone,
they would deserve their subsequent induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. But in addition to their formidable skills as a
house band, on their own they were one of the top instrumental outfits of the rock era, ...read more
As the house band at Stax Records in Memphis, Tennessee, Booker T. & the MG's may have been the single greatest factor in
the lasting value of that label's soul music, not to mention Southern soul as a whole. Their tight, impeccable grooves could be
heard on classic hits by Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, Carla Thomas, Albert King, and Sam & Dave, and for that reason alone,
they would deserve their subsequent induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. But in addition to their formidable skills as a
house band, on their own they were one of the top instrumental outfits of the rock era, cutting classics like "Green Onions,"
"Time Is Tight," and "Hang 'em High."
The anchors of the Booker T. sound were Steve Cropper, whose slicing, economic riffs influenced many other guitar players,
and Booker T. Jones himself, who provided much of the groove with his floating organ lines. In 1960, Jones started working as
a session man for Stax, where he met Cropper. Cropper had been in the Mar-Keys, famous for the 1961 instrumental hit "Last
Night," which laid out the prototype for much of the MG's (and indeed Memphis soul's) sound with its organ-sax-guitar combo.
With the addition of drummer Al Jackson and bassist Lewis Steinberg, they became Booker T. & the MG's. Within a couple
years, Steinberg was replaced permanently by Donald "Duck" Dunn, who, like Cropper, had also played with the Mar-Keys.
The band's first and biggest hit, "Green Onions" (a number three single in 1962), came about by accident. Jamming in the
studio while fruitlessly waiting for Billy Lee Riley to show up for a session, they came up with a classic minor-key, bluesy soul
instrumental, distinguished by its nervous organ bounce and ferocious bursts of guitar. For the next five years, they'd have
trouble recapturing its commercial success, though the standard of their records remained fairly high, and Stax's dependence
upon them as the house band ensured a decent living.
In the late '60s, the MG's really hit their stride with "Hip Hug-Her," "Groovin'," "Soul-Limbo," "Hang 'em High," and "Time Is
Tight," all of which were Top 40 charters between 1967 and 1969. Since the presence of black and white musicians made
them a biracial band, the MG's set a somewhat under-appreciated example of both how integrated, self-contained bands
could succeed, and how both black and white musicians could play funky soul music. As is the case with most instrumental
rock bands, their singles contained their best material, and the band's music is now best appreciated via anthologies. But
their albums were far from inconsequential, and occasionally veered into ambitious territory (they did an entire instrumental
version of the Beatles' Abbey Road, which they titled McLemore Avenue in honor of the location of Stax's studios).
Though they'd become established stars by the end of the decade, the group began finding it difficult to work together, not
so much because of personnel problems, but because of logistical difficulties. Cropper was often playing sessions in Los
Angeles, and Jones was often absent from Memphis while he finished his music studies at Indiana University. The band
decided to break up in 1971, but were working on a reunion album in 1975 when Al Jackson was tragically shot and killed in
his Memphis home by a burglar. The remaining members were active as recording artists and session musicians in the following
years, with Cropper and Dunn joining the Blues Brothers for a stint in the late '70s.
The MG's got back into the spotlight in early 1992, when they were the house band for an extravagant Bob Dylan tribute at
Madison Square Garden. More significantly, in 1993 they served as the backup band for a Neil Young tour, one which brought
both them (and Young) high critical marks. The following year, they released a comeback album, arranged in much the style
of their vintage '60s sides, which proved that their instrumental skills were still intact. Like most such efforts, though, it
ultimately failed to re-create the spark and spontaneity it so obviously wanted to achieve. Jones continued with his own
musical output through the following decades, often lending his instrumental skills to other artists and occasionally issuing his
own albums, such as the 2009 solo effort Potato Hole. Bassist Dunn, intermittently active with festival and tour appearances
after the turn of the millennium, had been touring with Cropper and Eddie Floyd in Japan during May 2012 when he died in his
sleep in a Tokyo hotel. « hide |
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