Once upon a time, being in a rock band meant, ipso facto, being in a cover band. There are still plenty of cover bands, of course, but the Beatles and especially punk helped move it from being the default. Still, mastering other people’s material before embarking upon one’s own presents …
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Sly and the Family Stone rip through a rendition of Otis Redding’s “I Can’t Turn You Loose” in the latest offering from the upcoming album, The First Family: Live at Winchester Cathedral 1967. The First Family contains the earliest known live recording of Sly and the Family Stone. It was …
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Seated behind his organ at Stax Records’ recording studio in Memphis in the Sixties, Booker T. Jones was a first-hand witness to musical history. As part of Booker T. and the MG’s, Stax’s house band, Jones played on soul landmarks by Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, Carla Thomas and especially Sam …
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Stax: Soulsville U.S.A., Jamila Wignot’s four-part HBO documentary about the legendary Memphis record label that produced Otis Redding, Isaac Hayes, and others, offers incredible first-person stories. At one point, Booker T. Jones sits at a piano and shows exactly how he stumbled on the chords that became the 1962 chart-topper …
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You don’t have to be an expert on classic soul and R&B to recognize the American music monuments that emerged from Stax Records in the Sixties and Seventies. Sam & Dave’s “Soul Man,” Otis Redding’s “Respect” and “(Sittin’ on) The Dock of the Bay,” Isaac Hayes’ “Theme From Shaft,” and …
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When Jake Johnson applied to Tisch, he submitted a play about a gorilla handler at the zoo whose life and marriage fell apart once his beloved gorilla passed away. He describes it as “wacky but funny” and says he’s been trying to recapture its unique tone ever since. With his …
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