Booker T. and the M.G.'s
| Booker T. & the M.G.'s | |
|---|---|
| Booker T. & the M.G.'s live in Tunica, Mississippi, 2002 Booker T. & the M.G.'s live in Tunica, Mississippi, 2002
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| Background information | |
| Origin | Memphis, TN, U.S. |
| Genre(s) | Memphis soul, Southern soul, Instrumental rock |
| Years active | 1962–1971, 1977, 1994–present |
| Label(s) | Atlantic, Stax |
| Website | www.bookert.com |
| Members | |
| Booker T. Jones Donald "Duck" Dunn Steve Cropper Steve Potts | |
| Former members | |
| Lewie Steinberg Al Jackson, Jr. | |
Booker T. & the M.G.'s were an instrumental soul band popular in the 1960s and 1970s commonly associated with Stax Records in the subgenre of Memphis soul. Best known for their 1962 hit instrumental "Green Onions," were also key members of the house band for many Stax/Volt stars such as Otis Redding, Sam & Dave, and Wilson Pickett.
Original members of the group were Booker T. Jones (organ, piano), Steve Cropper (guitar), Lewie Steinberg (bass), and Al Jackson Jr. (drums). Donald "Duck" Dunn replaced Steinberg on bass in 1965 and has played with the group ever since. Keyboardist Isaac Hayes often joined the band in its studio work.
Other hits for the group included "Hip Hug-Her" and an instrumental version of The Rascals' "Groovin'.In 1967, the band toured widely with the Stax stars and famously performed with Otis Redding and the Monterey Pop Festival. Following the 1975 death of Al Jackson Jr., drummers Willie Hall, Anton Fig, Steve Jordan and Steve Potts have joined the group for later reunion efforts.
As originators of the unique Stax sound, Booker T. & the M.G.'s was one of the most prolific, respected, and imitated of their era. Two of their members, Steve Cropper and Duck Dunn, went on the form the nucleus of the Blues Brothers Band, and the group has often been invited to back top stars various high-visibility performances. The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992.
History
Fromation
In the summer of 1962, 17-year-old keyboardist Booker T. Jones, 21-old guitarist Steve Cropper, bass-player Lewie Steinberg, and drummer Al Jackson Jr., were in the Memphis studio to back up former Sun Records star Billy Lee Riley. During downtime, the four started playing around with a bluesy organ song reminiscent of Ray Charles. Jim Stewart, the president of Stax Records, liked what he heard and hit the "record" button and decided to release it. Cropper remembered a riff that Jones had come up with at an earlier session, and before long, they had a second song.
Stewart wanted to release the single with the first song, titled "Behave Yourself," as the A-side and the second song as the B-side. Cropper and radio disc jockeys thought otherwise; soon, Stax released Booker T. & the M.G.'s' "Green Onions" backed with "Behave Yourself."
The exact origin of the band's name is a matter of dispute. Booker T. Jones has stated that it was Jackson who named the group after its youngest member. "M.G." is supposed by many to refer to "Memphis Group," not the sports car of the same name. However, musician and record producer Chips Moman, the working with Stax, claims that they were named after his car, and that the label that Stax's publicity department declared that "M.G." stood for "Memphis Group" only after he left the label. Tending to confirm this story is the fact that Moman had played with Jones in an earlier Stax backing group named the Triumphs, named after his car.
The Memphis sound
"Green Onions" went to number one on the R&B charts and number three on the pop charts and its "hook" is now considered one of the most important riffs in rock history. It is featured in many movies/trailers including a pivotal scene in the motion picture American Graffiti. The group soon released an all-instrumental album entitled Green Onions.
Instrumental singles and albums would continue to be issued by Booker T. & The M.G.'s throughout the 1960s. However, the bulk of the work done by the musicians in the band during this era was as the core of the de facto house band at Stax Records. Members of Booker T. & The M.G.'s, often performing as a unit, performed as the studio-backing band for Otis Redding, Sam & Dave, Albert King, Johnnie Taylor, Eddie Floyd, The Staple Singers, Wilson Pickett, Delaney & Bonnie, and many others in the 60s. They played on and produced hundreds of records, including classics like Walking the Dog, Hold On (I'm Comin'), Soul Man, I've Been Loving You Too Long (To Stop Now), Midnight Hour, and Try a Little Tenderness, among others. They are thought to have defined soul music — especially "Southern Soul" — where "the groove" was most important.
As Jones was studying music full time, Stax writer/producer Isaac Hayes usually stepped in on the occasions when Jones was unavailable for session work. On several sessions Jones and Hayes played together, with one playing organ and the other on piano. However, Jones played on all the records credited to "Booker T. & The M.G.'s", and Hayes was never an official member of the group. Bassist Lewie Steinberg recorded with the band through 1965, including their second album 1965's Soul Dressing on which every song but one was an original. Donald "Duck" Dunn, already part of Stax's house band, became the group's full-time bassist in the same year.
Later hits
The group returned to the top 40 with the 1967 instrumental "Hip Hug-Her," the first single released with Jones on a Hammond B-3 organ, the instrument he is most known for playing. They also had a substantial hit with their cover of The Rascals' "Groovin'." Also in 1967, they joined the Stax European tour, dubbed "Hit the Road, Stax!" They performed and backed up the label's stars, and in June of that year, they, along with Otis Redding, appeared at the Monterey Pop Festival, together with performers like Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, The Who, and Jefferson Airplane. They were later invited to play Woodstock, but drummer Al Jackson was worried about the helicopter needed to deliver them to the site, and so they decided not to play.
The Hip Hug-Her album was followed by Doin' Our Thing and Soul Limbo. The title song "Soul Limbo, was a hit and was later used by the BBC as the theme for Test Match Special cricket coverage on both TV and radio. The band's version of "Hang 'em High" was also a hit. In 1969, Booker T. & The M.G.'s scored their second-biggest hit with "Time is Tight," from the soundtrack to the movie Up Tight!, scored by Jones, which reached number six on the Billboard pop charts.
In 1969, Duck Dunn and Booker T. Jones had become deeply impressed by The Beatles, especially their work on Abbey Road. The appreciation was mutual, as John Lennon in particular was a huge Stax fan who fondly called the group, "Book a Table and the Maitre D's." Paul McCartney, like Dunn, played bass melodically, without straying from the rhythm or the groove. Lennon was quoted as saying he always wanted to write an instrumental for the M.G.'s.
In 1970, Lennon's wish was granted, in a manner of speaking, as Jones, Dunn, and Jackson recorded McLemore Avenue, named for the street where Stax was located, from the Abbey Road album. They covered 13 of Abbey Road's songs, condensing 12 of them into three medleys, and included a cover version of George Harrison's "Something."
They followed up in 1971 with what would be their last Stax single, "Melting Pot," and their last Stax album, also called Melting Pot. The song has often been sampled by rappers and techno DJs.
Before the Melting Pot album was recorded, Booker T. Jones had already left Stax, and part of the album was recorded in New York, not the Stax studio. Cropper had also become unhappy with business affairs at Stax and soon left. Dunn and Jackson remained on and did session and production work. Jackson, who had been in Hi Records producer Willie Mitchell's band, played on and wrote many of Al Green's biggest hits.
1970s' reunions
The 1973 album entitled The MG's featured guitarist Bobby Manuel B-3 organ phenom Carson Whitsett replacing Cropper and Jones, respectively. It was not commercially successful, although it was critically well-received. Whitsett would go on to back up Bobby "Blue" Bland, Little Milton, and Kathy Mattea, and have his songs recorded by the likes of Johnnie Taylor, Solomon Burke, B. B. King, Etta James, Conway Twitty, and Lorrie Morgan. Bobby Manuel would become a staple of the Memphis music scene and later founded HighStacks Records in a tribute to Stax and Hi Records.
The MG's project led to band members feeling that there might be interest in a full-fledged reunion. After a promising meeting in late September 1975, Jones and Cropper, now living in Los Angeles, and Jackson and Dunn, still in Memphis, decided to devote three years to what would be renamed Booker T. Jones & the Memphis Group. Nine days later (October 1), Al Jackson, the man Cropper would remember as "the greatest drummer to ever walk the earth," was murdered in his home.
The remaining three members eventually regrouped under the classic name, Booker T. & The MGs. Bringing in drummer Willie Hall from Al Green's backing band as an official member, the group recorded the album Universal Language for Asylum Records in 1977. The album did not succeed, and the band once again dissolved.
Over the next decade, Cropper, Dunn, and Jones remained very active, producing, writing, and playing with other artists. All three joined The Band's drummer Levon Helm as part of his RCO All-Stars.
In 1977, Cropper and Dunn famously became part of The Blues Brothers Band, appearing on the number one album Briefcase Full of Blues. Cropper and Dunn, along with drummer Willie Hall, also appeared in the 1980 movie The Blues Brothers starring Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi. Cropper, Dunn, and Hall later reprised their roles in Blues Brothers 2000.
1980s and 90s
In 1986, former co-owner of Atlantic Records Jerry Wexler asked the group to be the house band for Atlantic Records' fortieth anniversary celebration. The night before the gig, Booker T. Jones came down with food poisoning, so Paul Shaffer stepped in at the last minute. However, the rehearsals had gone so well that the group decided to play some dates together.
Over the next few years, they played together occasionally. In 1992, Bob Dylan asked them to again serve as house band, this time at the concert commemorating his 30 years in the music business. There, they backed up Dylan, Stevie Wonder, Johnny Cash, Eric Clapton, and Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder. While there, Neil Young asked the group to back him up on his world tour the following year. Also in 1992, Booker T. & The M.G.'s were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
In 1994, the group recorded its first album in 17 years, called That's The Way It Should Be. Steve Jordan was the featured drummer on most tracks. In 1995, when the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame opened its museum in Cleveland, Ohio, the M.G.'s served as the house band for the opening ceremonies, playing behind Aretha Franklin, Sam Moore, John Fogerty, and Al Green, as well as performing themselves.
Recent projects
Booker T. Jones, Donald "Duck" Dunn, and Steve Cropper moved into the twenty-first century as active as ever. Jones, Dunn, and Al Jackson Jr.'s cousin, drummer Steve Potts, backed Neil Young on his 2002 album Are You Passionate?. Cropper, along with Isaac Hayes and Sam Moore, welcomed Stax president Jim Stewart into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002. Cropper and Hayes were later inducted in The Songwriters Hall of Fame. Booker T. & The M.G.'s, usually with Potts on drums, still play select dates. They have been called the most influential stylists in modern American music. In early 2008, they all toured with Australian Singer Guy Sebastian in Australia on a sold-out tour.
In 2004, Rolling Stone Magazine ranked the group number 93 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time], and in 2007, the group received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
Discography
Singles
| US Release Date | A-Side | B-Side | Label | Chart Positions | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Hot 100 | US R&B | UK | Notes | ||||
| 08/1962 | Green Onions | Behave Yourself | Volt V-102 | #3 | #1 | Also issued as Stax S-127. See also 1979 UK reissue. | |
| 01/1963 | Jellybread | Aw' Mercy | Stax S-131 | #82 | |||
| 02/1963 | Home Grown | Burnt Biscuits | Stax S-134 | Also issued with "Big Train" as B-side. | |||
| 06/1963 | Chinese Checkers | Plum Nellie | Stax S-137 | #78 | * | ||
| 12/1963 | Mo' Onions | Fannie Mae | Stax S-142 | #97 | * | Also issued with "Tic-Tac-Toe" as B-side. | |
| 07/1964 | Soul Dressing | MG Party | Stax S-153 | #95 | * | ||
| 11/1964 | Can't Be Still | Terrible Thing | Stax S-161 | * | |||
| 04/1965 | Boot-Leg | Outrage | Stax S-169 | #58 | #10 | ||
| 11/1965 | Be My Lady | Red Beans and Rice | Stax S-182 | ||||
| 07/1966 | My Sweet Potato | Stax S-196 | #85 | #18 | |||
| Booker-Loo | Stax S-196 | #37 | |||||
| 12/1966 | Jingle Bells | Winter Wonderland | Stax S-203 | #20 | |||
| 02/1967 | Hip Hug-Her | Summertime | Stax S-211 | #37 | #6 | ||
| 06/1967 | Groovin' | Stax S-224 | #21 | #10 | |||
| Slim Jenkins' Place | Stax S-224 | #70 | |||||
| 12/1967 | Silver Bells | Winter Snow | Stax S-236 | ||||
| 05/1968 | Soul Limbo | Heads or Tails | Stax STA-0001 | #17 | #30 | ||
| 10/1968 | Hang 'Em High | Over Easy | Stax STA-0013 | #9 | #35 | ||
| 02/1969 | Time Is Tight | Johnny, I Love You | Stax STA-0028 | #6 | #7 | #4 | "Johnny I Love You" features vocals by Booker T. Jones. |
| 05/1969 | Mrs. Robinson | Stax STA-0037 | #37 | #35 | |||
| Soul Clap '69 | Stax STA-0037 | #35 | |||||
| 07/1969 | Slum Baby | Meditation | Stax STA-0049 | #88 | #46 | ||
| 06/1970 | Something | Sunday Sermon | Stax STA-0073 | #76 | |||
| 02/1971 | Melting Pot | Kinda Easy Like | Stax STA-0082 | #45 | #21 | ||
| 1973 | Sugarcane | Blackside | Stax STA 0169 | Release credited to The M.G.'s | |||
| 1973 | Neckbone | Breezy | Stax STA 0200 | Release credited to The M.G.'s | |||
| 1977 | Sticky Stuff | Tie Stick | Asylum 45392 | #68 | |||
| 12/1979 | Green Onions | #7 | UK-only reissue of 1962 hit. | ||||
* - Through a period between late 1963 and early 1965, Billboard Magazine did not publish an R&B singles chart.
Albums
- 1962: Green Onions
- 1965: Soul Dressing
- 1966: And Now!
- 1966: In The Christmas Spirit
- 1967: Hip Hug-Her
- 1968: Back To Back (live album)
- 1968: Doin' Our Thing
- 1968: Soul Limbo
- 1969: Uptight (soundtrack)
- 1969: The Booker T Set
- 1970: McLemore Avenue
- 1971: Melting Pot
- 1973: The MG's (released by The MG's)
- 1977: Universal Language
- 1994: That's The Way It Should Be
Audio samples
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ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
- Bowman, Rob. Soulsville USA: The Story of Stax Records. New York: Schirmer Trade Books, 2003. ISBN-13 978-0825672842
- Guralnick, Peter. Sweet Soul Music. Edinburgh: Canongate, 2002. ISBN 978-1-84195-240-6
- The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll. Fireside, 2001. ISBN 978-0743201209
External links
- Booker T and the M.G.s at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
- Booker T. Jones' official homepage
- Steve Cropper's official homepage
- Donald "Duck" Dunn official homepage
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