November 12 – Mr. Memphis Sound

Happy birthday to a man who has come to define a whole city’s sound. Think “Memphis music” and you probably soon think Booker T. Booker Taliaferro Jones turns 78 today.

Amazingly, Booker had pretty much made a lasting name for himself before he’d finished high school, as leader (and namesake) of Booker T and the Mgs, who’d scored one of the biggest instrumental hit songs of the ’60s with their first release, “Green Onions.” His schoolmates – including Maurice White, who’d go on to form Earth, Wind & Fire – probably weren’t surprised. Booker was described as a “musical prodigy”, playing piano very well plus almost any horn you could pass to him as well as competent guitar and bass, by the time he arrived in Grade 9. One bio of his says he was quickly recognized as “the most talented musician in the school. He was appointed director of the school band for four years (and) organized the school dance orchestra which played for proms throughout the mid-South.” That with Jones being very Black and it being the beginning of the tumultous Civil Rights issues of the ’60s notwithstanding.

During his high school years, he met Steve Cropper at the Stax Records record shop, and they quickly formed a band and got hired on as house musicians for the now-legendary label. Jones primarily played Hammond organ and helped write for Stax, most noteworthily on Otis Redding’s classic album and song Dock of the Bay. He got to the level of Vice President of Stax, but quit them in 1970, moving to L.A. He said despite his title there, he could make no decisions and was treated as an ordinary hourly employee rather than a creative talent.

Which L.A. soon recognized him as; soon after arriving there he worked on Stephen Stills debut album. He married Rita Coolidge’s sister Priscilla (being married to her for approximately the whole 1970s but not before or after) and helped her with her singing career as well as producing several of Rita’s albums. He produced Bill Withers fine debut record, and did session work for artists like Rod Stewart. Since then, he’s kept busy producing, playing sessions and putting out his own solo records. Among his collaborators have been Willie Nelson (producing his mammoth commercial breakthrough album, Stardust) , Neil Young (who’s also celebrating a birthday today!), playing on a Neil album and having Young return the favor on his 2009 Potato Hole album which was nominated for a Grammy, Sheryl Crow, Elton John and Steve Perry. Pretty good company to keep!

The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inducted Booker T & the MGs in 1992, calling them the “groovy forefathers of Southern soul.” You can find what his thoughts on that are yourself; he recently published a memoir entitled Time Is Tight – My Life, Note by Note.