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81-912: The Hi Rhythm Section was the house band for hit soul albums by several artists, including Al Green and Ann Peebles , on Willie Mitchell 's Hi Records label in the 1970s. The band included the three Hodges brothers, organist Charles Hodges , bassist Leroy Hodges and guitarist Mabon "Teenie" Hodges , together with pianist Archie Turner (or Michael Allen) and drummer Howard Grimes (or Stax Records drummer Al Jackson Jr. , on most singles until his death in 1975). Many recordings also used The Memphis Horns - Wayne Jackson and Andrew Love - of Stax fame, usually with Willie's brother James Mitchell arranging and (Perry) Michael Allen - piano (Alt). The recordings were made at producer Willie Mitchell's Royal Recording Studio in Memphis, Tennessee . The Hodges brothers began playing together in their father's band,

162-423: A late-night talk show fixture, with many of them also serving as straight men for the host's jokes, musically introducing guests, playing in and out of commercials, composing original pieces of music for sketches , and backing up musical guests. The Roots became the first hip hop house band on late-night television when they joined Late Night with Jimmy Fallon in 2009. Record labels have often employed

243-629: A complaint from another company named Satellite Records, which had been in operation in California for some years but was previously unaware of the Memphis-based Satellite label. Accordingly, in September 1961, Satellite permanently changed its name to "Stax Records", a portmanteau of the names of the two owners of the company: Jim St ewart and Estelle Ax ton. By 1962, the pieces were in place that allowed Stax to turn from

324-541: A core group of musicians to serve as a house band or house orchestra, specifically for recording sessions. These groups can come to be regarded as an important component of a label's distinctive "sound". This use of house bands, first popularized in the 1920s, was revived during the 1960s, most notably at Motown and at Stax Records . Some of these house bands, such as Booker T. & the M.G.'s (Stax), had parallel careers as main artists in their own right. Note: Individuals listed may not have performed in some or any of

405-550: A country and pop label for the next year or so. While promoting "Fool in Love", Stewart met with Memphis disc jockey and R&B singer Rufus Thomas , and both parties were impressed by the other. Around the same time, and at the urging of Chips Moman, Stewart moved the company back to Memphis and into an old movie theater , the former Capitol Theatre, at 926 East McLemore Avenue in South Memphis; Stewart recalled that he chose

486-414: A fixed salary of $ 125 a week (US$ 1,174 in 2023 dollars ). This allowed them to quit their night jobs and become full-time professional studio musicians, and from this point on Booker T. and the M.G.'s regularly backed virtually all of the artists who recorded at Stax. Bell also persuaded Jim Stewart to set up a "production pool", in which a small portion of the royalty payments Stax was receiving from Atlantic

567-550: A group that plays sessions for a specific recording studio . House bands on television shows usually play only cover songs instead of originals, and they play during times that commercials would be seen by the home viewing audience. Therefore, only those present in the studio during the show's taping see their full performances. House bands emerged with jazz music in Chicago during the 1920s. The practice of using regular backing musicians during studio sessions became customary as

648-402: A head in early 1966, when Wilson Pickett returned to record new material. Although the session produced two hit songs—"634-5789" and "Ninety-Nine and a Half (Won't Do)"—Pickett's "corrosive" character caused havoc in the studio; the session musicians eventually walked out, and the breaking point came when Pickett followed them outside and offered them $ 100 each (US$ 967 in 2023 dollars ) to complete

729-736: A local instrumental band, the Royal Spades. Changing their name to the Mar-Keys , the band recorded and issued the single "Last Night", which shot to #3 on the US pop charts and #2 on the R&;B charts. "Last Night" was the first single to be nationally distributed on the Satellite label; previous Atlantic issues of Satellite material were issued nationally on the Atlantic or Atco label. This led to

810-424: A means for record companies to save money and add convenience at a time when the music industry had seen increased studio costs and musical specialization. With the advent of television in the 1950s, bands from the swing era of jazz typically performed on variety show programs as house bands, starting a television institution that survives to the present. One of the best-remembered, and longest-running, house bands

891-691: A number of subsidiary labels. Volt, founded in late 1961, was the label home to Otis Redding, the Bar-Kays , and a handful of other artists. Volt releases were initially issued by Atlantic through its subsidiary Atco Records . Other Stax subsidiaries over the years included Enterprise (named after the USS Enterprise from Star Trek , of which Al Bell was a fan), Chalice (a gospel label), Hip, Safice, Magic Touch, and Arch. Redding's first single, "These Arms of Mine", issued in October 1962, hit both

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972-408: A problematic distribution deal with CBS Records , caused the label to slide into insolvency , resulting in its forced closure in late 1975. In 1977, Fantasy Records acquired the post-1968 Stax catalogue and selected pre-1968 recordings. Beginning in 1978, Stax (now owned by Fantasy) began signing new acts and issuing new material, as well as reissuing previously recorded Stax material. However, by

1053-505: A substantial regional hit and was picked up for national distribution by Atlantic Records on its Atco subsidiary. It went on to sell between thirty and forty thousand copies, becoming Satellite's biggest hit to that time. With the success of "Cause I Love You", Stewart made a distribution deal giving Atlantic first choice on releasing Satellite recordings. From this point on, Stewart focused more and more on recording and promoting rhythm and blues acts. Not having really known anything about

1134-414: A successful regional label into (alongside Motown and Atlantic) a national R&B powerhouse. Throughout the rest of the 1960s, the label's operations would be greatly aided by several unique factors, including the label's record store, studio, artist and repertoire (A&R) department and house band, which regularly voted with Stewart on which records would be issued on the label. While Stewart ran

1215-417: A two-track recorder should be installed. The Stax team were appalled at the idea, fearing that the distinctive "Stax sound" would be destroyed. However, Dowd pointed out that stereo albums sold for a higher price, which would mean more income for Stax, so in the summer of 1965 he installed an additional two-track recorder, allowing Stax to record sessions simultaneously in mono and stereo, and in 1966 he upgraded

1296-447: A unit of Gulf+Western ; the sale brought it into direct co-ownership with Dot Records , a pop label Paramount had owned since 1957. Consequently, Stax was forced to move forward without the most desirable portion of its back catalogue and without Sam and Dave, who had been unofficially "on loan" to Stax up to this point, and who were forced to return to Atlantic after the split (although they never scored another major hit). The company

1377-535: A whopping 27 albums (a Rufus Thomas album titled May I Have Your Ticket Please? was to be the 28th album released by the Gulf+Western-owned Stax, but the album was never finished) and 30 singles in mid-1969. Producer and songwriter Isaac Hayes stepped into the spotlight with Hot Buttered Soul . Originally seen just as a solo artistic project for Hayes to make up the numbers, it went on to sell over three million copies in 1969. By 1971, Hayes

1458-460: Is now included on the same tour with the landmark studios of Stax and Sun . House band A house band is a group of musicians, often centrally organized by a band leader, who regularly play at an establishment. It is widely used to refer both to the bands who work on entertainment programs on television or radio, and to bands which are the regular performers at a nightclub, especially jazz and R&B clubs. The term can also refer to

1539-780: The Blue Note label in 2003 and 2005. They also toured with Cat Power , aka Chan Marshall, and featured on her 2006 album The Greatest . In 2016, the group was inducted into the Memphis Music Hall of Fame . Canadian singer Frazey Ford recorded her 2014 album Indian Ocean songs "September Fields" and, "I'm Done", at the Royal Studio, - the Hi Rhythm Section backing her with their unmistakeable signature Memphis sounds. The Royal Recording Studio in Memphis

1620-412: The 1959–1968 Stax material. Stax Records, originally named Satellite Records , was founded in Memphis in 1957 by Jim Stewart , initially operating in a garage. Satellite's early releases were country music , rockabilly records or straight pop numbers, reflecting the tastes of Stewart (a country fiddle player) at the time. In 1958, Stewart's sister Estelle Axton began her financial interest in

1701-516: The 1976 LP On the Loose as Hi Rhythm . The band dissolved after Hi Records was sold in 1977, but regrouped as a touring band in 1979. Through the 1980s and early 1990s, the Hodges brothers toured with singers Albert Collins and Otis Clay , and periodically regrouped with Grimes and Turner. Charles Hodges left in the 1990s, becoming an ordained church minister. In 1994, the album Perfect Gentlemen

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1782-514: The Atlantic label. Her first hit, " Gee Whiz ", was originally issued as Satellite 104, but it was quickly reissued as Atlantic 2086, becoming a hit in early 1961. Her recordings would continue to be issued on Atlantic through mid-1965, though much of her work was recorded in the studios at Satellite (later Stax) or in Nashville under the supervision of the Stax staff. In June 1961, Satellite signed

1863-513: The Dramatics, Frederick Knight and The Soul Children . Even Rufus Thomas , one of the first artists signed to the label, enjoyed a popular resurgence with a string of hits in the late 1960s/early 1970s. However, Stax's record sales were down overall under Paramount, whose management were also trying to exert more control of the operation. In 1970, Stewart and Bell decided to purchase the label back, with financial help from Deutsche Grammophon ,

1944-547: The European record company owned at the time by the giant Grammophon-Philips Group (renamed PolyGram in 1972). The financing on Deutsche Grammophon's end led to Stax's post-Paramount recordings being distributed outside of the United States by DG's pop label, Polydor Records , from 1970 until Stax fell into bankruptcy. By the fall of 1970, both Steve Cropper and Booker T. Jones were frustrated with Stax's treatment of

2025-524: The Germantown Blue Dots, in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Leroy Hodges then formed his own band, The Impalas, and came into contact with Memphis trumpeter and bandleader Willie Mitchell. Younger brother Teenie Hodges, then an aspiring bass player, was unofficially adopted by Mitchell in the mid-1960s, and became a member of his regular band, soon joined by Charles and Leroy. Mitchell also recruited first Al Jackson, and later Howard Grimes, from

2106-677: The M.G.'s, Eddie Floyd , the Bar-Kays , Albert King , and the Mad Lads. In 1966, Floyd recorded a tune named " Knock on Wood ", which he wrote with Steve Cropper; Stewart was initially indifferent to the tune but released it after he was outvoted by the house band on the notion of issuing the record. It became an international smash hit, and Stewart reflected positively on its success afterward. Unlike Motown, which frequently packaged its artists on review tours, Stax only infrequently sponsored concerts to promote its acts. The first of such concerts

2187-590: The M.G.'s. However, despite dozens of other releases, only three other Stax/Volt singles charted during this time, and all just barely: William Bell's " You Don't Miss Your Water " hit #95 in early 1962; the Mar-Keys' "Pop-Eye Stroll" hit #94 in mid-1962 (although it was a big hit in Canada, hitting #1 on Toronto's CHUM Chart ), and Barbara & the Browns' "Big Party" made it to #97 in mid-1964. Beginning in 1965, when

2268-487: The Midnight Hour ", "Don't Fight It", "634-5789" and "Ninety-Nine and a Half (Won't Do)" were Stax songs in all but name, as they were all co-written by Steve Cropper, recorded at Stax, and backed by the Stax house band. Although Wexler was greatly enamoured of Stax's "organic" recording methods, some of the artists they brought in created conflict. A June 1965 session with Don Covay created bad feelings, which came to

2349-544: The R&B and the pop charts. Though the label had enjoyed some early hits with the Mar-Keys and Booker T. & the M.G.'s, Redding became the first Stax/Volt artist to consistently hit the charts with each release—in fact, each of Redding's 17 singles issued during his lifetime charted. (Carla Thomas also charted with some consistency, but her pre-1965 releases were on Atlantic, not Stax or Volt.) Between January 1962 and December 1964, Stax and Volt released several chart hits each by Otis Redding, Rufus Thomas, and Booker T. and

2430-516: The R&B genre prior to having recorded acts such as the Veltones and Rufus & Carla, Stewart likened the situation to that of "a blind man who suddenly gained his sight." From 1961 on, virtually all of the output of Satellite Records (and its successor labels Stax and Volt) would be in the R&B/southern soul style. As part of the deal with Atlantic, Satellite agreed to continue recording Carla Thomas but allowed her recordings to be released on

2511-402: The Stax house band, and used his stepson Archie Turner as an additional keyboard player. In the late 1960s, Mitchell and his band cut back on their touring schedule, to focus more on studio work. The Hi Rhythm Section's distinctive, warm, swirling soul sound was a major ingredient in the success of the label through the 1970s. Three members of the Hodges family played guitar, organ and bass for

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2592-434: The Stax rhythm section as salaried Stax employees. In 1967, Atlantic Records was sold to Warner Bros.-Seven Arts . The sale of Atlantic to Warner activated a "key man" clause (which Jim Stewart had insisted upon) in the distribution contract between Stax and Atlantic. This called for the renegotiation or termination of the distribution deal in the event that Stewart's nominated "key man" at Atlantic— Jerry Wexler —either left

2673-488: The Stax singers never try to embody abject lust. — Robert Christgau in The New York Times (1969) Although Stax had also lost their most valuable artists, they recovered quickly. Johnnie Taylor gave Stax its first big post-Atlantic hit in 1968 with "Who's Making Love", which became the label's best-selling single to that point. To begin rebuilding its catalog, Stax, under orders from Al Bell, released

2754-447: The address. We didn't have any sound equipment or anything else but a small building and a lot of desire." Around this time, Stewart was introduced to rhythm and blues music by staff producer Chips Moman . In the summer of that year, Satellite released its first record by a rhythm and blues act, "Fool in Love", by the Veltones, which was soon picked up for national distribution by Mercury Records . However, Satellite remained primarily

2835-455: The artists went into the studio, they were there for one reason only, and that was to make hit music, some of which had the social consciousness that became a soundtrack for the civil rights movement. On their 1967 tour in Europe, some of the Stax artists were taken aback by the welcome that they received, enjoying a better reception in parts of Europe than in the United States. Although the trip

2916-399: The band's primary bassist, replacing Steinberg in 1964. Jones was frequently absent from Stax over several years in the mid-1960s, while he pursued his musical studies at Indiana University, so during this period Isaac Hayes usually replaced him as the house band's regular pianist, although the two occasionally performed on recordings together when Jones was back in Memphis. Other members of

2997-468: The building because "it was in the area close to where Rufus Thomas (WDIA Radio disk jockey) lived [alongside] several of the other musicians and writers that are still working with the studio today. They drifted in and we got locked in on the rhythm and blues field." In the summer of 1960, Rufus Thomas and his daughter Carla were the first artists to make a recording in this new facility; the record, "Cause I Love You" (credited to Rufus & Carla), became

3078-695: The chart debuts of Stax artists the Astors and Sam & Dave plus Volt artists the Mad Lads . Sam & Dave were technically on the Atlantic roster but were "leased" to Stax by Atlantic, with Stax overseeing their recordings and issuing them on the Stax label. Virtually all of Sam & Dave's Stax material was written and produced by Hayes and Porter. Atlantic's Jerry Wexler also brought Don Covay and Wilson Pickett to record at Stax, though these songs were released directly by Atlantic. Covay's hits "See Saw" and "Sookie Sookie" and Pickett's 1965 and 1966 hits " In

3159-595: The company at the end of 1961 after a royalty dispute with Stewart; he soon opened his own studio across town. Mar-Keys member Steve Cropper replaced Moman as Stewart's assistant and A&R director. Cropper would quickly become a writer, producer and session guitarist on scores of Stax singles. In the first few years at Stax, the house band varied, although Cropper, bassist Lewie Steinberg , drummers Howard Grimes or Curtis Green, and horn players Floyd Newman, Gene "Bowlegs" Miller , and Gilbert Caple were relative constants. By 1962, multi-instrumentalist Booker T. Jones

3240-469: The company or sold his stock in Atlantic. Stax initially hoped to join Atlantic in the Warner buyout, so Jim Stewart, Estelle Axton and Al Bell flew to New York hoping to negotiate a deal, but according to Stewart the figure they were offered was "an insult". Stewart then approached Warner-Seven Arts directly, but their offer was similarly unacceptable to Stax. Unhappy with either offer, Stewart then asked for

3321-548: The company, and disputes between the two executives led to an impasse where Bell made plans to leave the company. Forced to choose between his sister and his vice president, Stewart asked Axton to step down from the company. By 1970, she had sold her shares and would later go on to found Fretone Records, which had a major success in 1976 with the chart-topping " Disco Duck ". After the Atlantic distribution deal expired in May 1968, Atlantic briefly marketed Stax/Volt recordings made after

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3402-504: The company. Taking a considerable financial risk, she mortgaged her family home to invest US$ 2,500 (US$ 26,401 in 2023 dollars ) in the company, enabling Satellite to purchase an Ampex 350 mono console tape recorder. The company set up a small recording studio in a converted garage near National Cemetery in Brunswick, Tennessee , in 1959. In 1970, Stewart recalled this portion of the label's origins, and remarked, "I don't even remember

3483-480: The death of Stax's biggest star, Otis Redding , in 1967, and the severance of the label's distribution deal with Atlantic Records in 1968, Stax continued primarily under the supervision of a new co-owner, Al Bell . Over the next five years, Bell expanded the label's operations significantly, in order to compete with Stax's main rival, Motown Records in Detroit . During the mid-1970s, a number of factors, including

3564-406: The early 1980s, no new material was being issued on the label, and for the next two decades, Stax was strictly a reissue label. After Concord Records acquired Fantasy in 2004, the Stax label was reactivated, and is today used to issue both the 1968–1975 catalog material and new recordings by current R&B and soul performers. Atlantic Records continues to hold the rights to the vast majority of

3645-502: The equipment fixed within two days, and on the Sunday he was able to act as engineer during the creation of a new Rufus Thomas track. He was amazed by the loose, improvisational feel of the session and by the way Thomas and the musicians developed and recorded the song: Thomas simply sang through the new number for the band once or twice, humming suggestions for their parts and sounding the rhythm by clacking his teeth close to their ears. Once

3726-522: The featured vocalist or instrumentalist, and the arranger would write sheet music arrangements for the musicians to work from. Such unionised sessions were run strictly "by the clock" and there was a strict demarcation between the studio and the control room. By contrast, the Stax sessions ran as long as was needed, the musicians moved freely between the control room and the studio floor, and all were free to make suggestions and contributions as they worked up what are known as head arrangements , in which none of

3807-646: The group; their naturally closeknit, familial warmth brought a unique, intuitive groove to the group's sound. Along with contributions by other outstanding contemporary 1960s and 1970s Memphis studio sessions bands, such as The Mar-Keys , the Packers, and Booker T. & the M.G.'s , the Hi Rhythm Section helped define the sounds of the classic Memphis soul music genre. By the mid-1970s, they had appeared on nearly 20 gold and platinum albums and countless chart hits for Al Green , Ann Peebles, Syl Johnson , Otis Clay and others. The Hodges brothers, with Grimes, recorded

3888-413: The groups listed. Stax Records Stax was influential in the creation of Southern soul and Memphis soul music. Stax also released gospel , funk , and blues recordings. Renowned for its output of blues music, the label was founded by two siblings and business partners, Jim Stewart and Estelle Axton (STewart/AXton = Stax). It featured several popular ethnically integrated bands (including

3969-456: The house band included horn players Andrew Love, Joe Arnold, and Wayne Jackson. Hayes had auditioned for Stax in 1962, unsuccessfully, but by 1964 he became a vital part of the Stax house band, along with his songwriting partner, David Porter . Cropper, Dunn, Hayes, Jackson, Jones and Porter were collectively known as the "Big Six" within the walls of Stax and were (either as a group or in various combinations) responsible for producing almost all of

4050-410: The label formalized its distribution agreement with Atlantic, Stax/Volt artists made the charts much more frequently. In 1965, Jim Stewart signed a formal national distribution deal with Atlantic Records, although fatefully he signed the contract without reading it—a decision that would later cost the label dearly. Carla Thomas also formally rejoined the Stax label in 1965. Perhaps more importantly for

4131-600: The label's house band , Booker T. & the M.G.'s ) and a racially integrated team of staff and artists unprecedented in that time of racial strife and tension in Memphis and the South. According to ethnomusicologist Rob Bowman , the label's use of "one studio, one equipment set-up, the same set of musicians and a small group of songwriters led to a readily identifiable sound. It was a sound based in black gospel, blues, country , and earlier forms of rhythm and blues (R&B). It became known as southern soul music." Following

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4212-419: The label's fortunes, the songwriting team of Isaac Hayes and David Porter began to establish themselves as Stax's new team of hit writer/producers. Hayes would also permanently join the Stax house band, often subbing for Booker T. Jones, who was studying music full-time at Indiana University during the mid-1960s. In addition to hits by stalwarts Redding, Booker T. & the M.G.'s, and Carla Thomas, 1965 saw

4293-421: The label's output from about 1963 through 1969. The Stax house band's working methods were unusual for popular music recording at the time, and it was this that attracted the interest of Atlantic Records' Jerry Wexler . For most major recording companies at the time, the standard practice was for the label's staff producer or A&R manager to hire a studio, an arranger and the session musicians who were to back

4374-404: The music that Stax recorded. The store quickly became a popular hangout for local teenagers and was used to test-market potential Stax singles, as acetates of recently recorded Stax music were played to gauge customers' reactions. It also provided regular employment for many of the young hopefuls who later became part of Stax's musical family and provided cash flow in the early years while the label

4455-462: The musicians' parts were written down and nothing was worked out in advance. Stax's unusual working methods first came to Wexler's attention in the fall of 1963. He was expecting a new single from Carla Thomas, but when he contacted Stax he was told that they had been unable to record for two weeks because of faults in the recording equipment, so he immediately flew Atlantic's highly skilled house engineer Tom Dowd down to Memphis that Friday. Dowd had

4536-468: The new head arrangement was established, Dowd started recording, and Thomas and the band nailed the song in just two takes. When Dowd returned to New York the next day he had the tape of Thomas' breakthrough hit " Walking the Dog ", which Jim Stewart lauded as the best-sounding record Stax had yet produced. Wexler later commented: Memphis was a real departure, because Memphis was a return to head arrangements, to

4617-412: The property of Stax; all of the masters delivered to Atlantic between 1960 and 1967 are still wholly owned by Atlantic's current parent company, Warner Music Group . Stewart regarded his original deal with Wexler as a gentleman's agreement, and when the distribution arrangement was formalized with a contract in 1965, he had signed it without reading it, thus missing the fateful ownership clause. Stewart

4698-439: The record distributors. Stax has a reputation for the kind of guttural candor that first attracts many white fans to black music— Johnnie Taylor croaking "Who's making love to your old lady while you're out making love?" But so often it's more subtle. Above all, the Stax sound is mellow, not sweet or cool or otherwise untrue to its roots, but mellow. Horn riffs and bass-lines accent but never dominate, and even at their sexy best

4779-405: The record label was the house band, Booker T. and the M.G.'s, who were breaking boundaries in integration. Two of the band members were black and two were white, which at the time was unheard of, because of racial turmoil in the United States. In contrast to Stax's rapidly rising fortunes at this time, most of the house band were struggling to make a living: the musicians often worked long hours in

4860-419: The recording studio where the auditorium had been, Axton ran the Satellite record shop, which she established in the cinema's old foyer, where the refreshment stand had been. (The store later expanded next door into a vacated barber shop.) The Satellite store sold records from a wide variety of labels, which gave the Stax staff first-hand knowledge of what kind of music was selling—and was subsequently reflected in

4941-405: The return of the Stax masters, but the executives at Warner-Seven Arts refused. It was then that he was informed that Atlantic's lawyer Paul Marshall had included a clause in the 1965 distribution contract that gave Atlantic all right, title and interest, including any rights of reproduction, in all Stax's Atlantic-distributed recordings between 1960 and 1967. Only its unreleased recordings remained

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5022-419: The riots that followed King's murder, many properties in the vicinity of the Stax studio were attacked by rioters, but Stax was left untouched. Stewart remained at the company, and former Stax marketing executive Al Bell became the company's vice president and a co-owner, taking on a more active role as Stewart became less active in Stax's day-to-day operations. Estelle Axton disagreed with Bell's visions for

5103-482: The session. As a result, the furious house band bluntly told Jim Stewart not to bring "that asshole" to the studio again. Also tired of another label capitalizing on the Stax sound, Stewart phoned Wexler soon after the Pickett session and told him that he wanted to do no more Stax productions of non-Stax artists. One Atlantic artist who was thus not able to record at Stax was the newly signed Aretha Franklin . She instead

5184-450: The set rhythm section away from the arranger. It was a return to the symbiosis between the producer and the rhythm section. It was really something new. Another important factor in Stax's success was the studio itself. The recording studio, located at 926 E McLemore Ave in Memphis, was a converted movie theater, which still had the sloped floor where the seats had once been. Because the room was imbalanced, it created an acoustic anomaly that

5265-522: The split. These recordings feature the alternate Stax/Volt logos used on the album covers on their labels, as opposed to the original Atlantic-era logos, such as the "Stax-o-Wax" logo. Stax label recordings were reissued on the Atlantic label, and Volt label material on the Atco label. Gulf+Western-owned Stax/Volt releases used new label designs, new logos (including the recognizable finger snapping logo) and new catalogue numbering systems to avoid confusion among

5346-417: The studio during the day, developing songs and arrangements, but they were paid for recordings only when the actual sessions took place, so most had to play at local venues in the evenings to earn enough to support themselves and their families. To remedy this, in 1966 Al Bell appointed the members of the so-called Big Six (Hayes, Porter and Booker T. & the M.G.'s) as full-time salaried employees of Stax, on

5427-520: The studio further with a four-track recorder. The label's biggest early star, soul singer Otis Redding , also arrived in 1962. Redding, however, technically was not on Stax, but on its sister label Volt. In that era, many radio stations, anxious to avoid even the hint of payola , often refused to play more than one or two new songs from any single record label at one time, so as to not appear to be offering favoritism to any particular label. To circumvent this, Stax, like many other record companies, created

5508-447: The young writers and musicians. Booker T. Jones described Estelle as "an inspirer": She just loved music, loved people. She was always bringing us up there (the record shop), having us listen to records. She kept us in touch with the music industry. I doubt there would have been a Stax Records without Estelle Axton. She encouraged the entire Stax roster from her little perch behind the counter. Original A&R director Chips Moman left

5589-490: Was a huge success for the artists and their label, it also marked another significant change in the political landscape at Stax. At a fraught tour meeting in Al Bell's hotel room, Steve Cropper was summarily removed as Stax's A&R director, and Al Bell took over the position. Following the touring party's return to Memphis, Bell was also promoted to executive vice president, and horn players Wayne Jackson and Andrew Love joined

5670-399: Was a tour of England and France in 1967, which played to sold-out crowds. Stax released several live albums from the tour recordings, including the best-selling Otis Live in Europe . In 1967 Stax was at the height of its fame. Alongside Otis Redding were soul singers Sam and Dave, Carla Thomas and writer Isaac Hayes, who would have a deep impact on funk music in the 1970s. Also signed to

5751-500: Was also a regular session musician at Stax (he was primarily a pianist and organist, but he played sax on "Cause I Love You"), as was bassist Donald "Duck" Dunn . Jones, Steinberg and Cropper were joined in mid-1962 by drummer Al Jackson Jr. to form Booker T. & the M.G.'s , an instrumental combo that would record numerous hit singles in their own right and served as the de facto house band for virtually every recording made at Stax from 1962 through about 1970. Dunn eventually became

5832-413: Was audible on recordings, often giving them a big, deep yet raw sound. Soul music historian Rob Bowman notes that because of the distinctive sound, soul music fans can tell often within the first few notes if a song was recorded at Stax. When Tom Dowd first arrived at Stax in 1963 the studio was still using the veteran Ampex mono recorder it had purchased in the late Fifties. Dowd immediately suggested that

5913-547: Was dealt another crushing blow when its biggest and best-loved artist, Otis Redding , as well as all but two of the members of the Bar-Kays, died in a plane crash on December 10, 1967. In April 1968 Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, the place where many members of the Stax staff regularly met and ate, and where Steve Cropper and Eddie Floyd had written "Knock on Wood". In

5994-515: Was established as the label's biggest star and was particularly noted for his best-selling soundtrack to the 1971 blaxploitation film Shaft . Hayes' recordings were among the releases on a third major Stax label, Enterprise, which had been founded in 1967. The label also enjoyed great success when it had the Staple Singers make a dramatic shift from Gospel music to mainstream R&B. Al Bell began signing many more artists such as

6075-605: Was furious at what he felt was Atlantic's—and Wexler's—betrayal of his trust, although Wexler continued to insist for years that he also had not read the contract and had nothing to do with the ownership clause, and Wexler resented the situation in his 1993 autobiography Rhythm and the Blues : There was no righting this wrong, Jim was screwed, and I feel bad about it to this day. As a result of this turn of events, Stewart did not renew his distribution deal with Atlantic, and, on May 13, 1968, he instead sold Stax to Paramount Pictures ,

6156-607: Was in the summer of 1965, in Los Angeles rather than in Memphis. While the show was a success, the Watts riots began the day afterward, and several Stax artists were trapped in Watts during the violence. Stax also sponsored a Christmas concert in Memphis for several years, the most notorious of which was held in 1968, when special guest Janis Joplin performed drunk and was booed off of the stage. The most successful Stax package revue

6237-737: Was released, featuring a fourth Hodges with the addition of Fred on keyboards as well as Percy Wiggins on vocals, issued on Velvet Recordings of America as by The Hodges Brothers . Other band members still played together, sometimes with Jackson's cousin Steve Potts on percussion, providing their unique backdrops for Syl Johnson on the Delmark Records CD Back in the Game (1994), and the Mitchell-produced Al Green comeback I Can't Stop and its follow-up for

6318-473: Was sent to Rick Hall's FAME studios in Alabama, which had a sound similar to that of Stax. Pickett's subsequent hits were also recorded elsewhere, including at Fame and American Group Productions , Chips Moman's Memphis studio. Through 1966 and 1967, Stax and its subsidiaries hit their stride, regularly scoring hits with artists such as Otis Redding, Sam and Dave, Carla Thomas, William Bell , Booker T. &

6399-474: Was split equally between the Big Six to pay them for their production duties with the artists they backed. Stax was located in Memphis, Tennessee, which was still a segregated city, where Martin Luther King Jr., a leader of the civil rights movement, was assassinated in 1968. While there was much racism around the artists, the Stax recording studio seemed to be an escape from the turmoil of the real world. When

6480-536: Was struggling to establish itself. In his 2013 book Respect Yourself: Stax Records and the Soul Explosion , Robert Gordon highlighted the importance of Estelle Axton to the company. Often addressed as "Miz Axton" or "Lady A.", she was respected by the Stax staff and performers and was regarded as a mother figure in the company. Although she had no formal training or experience in marketing, she had an unerring instinct for music and made many valuable suggestions to

6561-662: Was the NBC Orchestra of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and his predecessors. Late-night television offered security and survival for the big band, led by trumpeter Doc Severinsen , while the trends in popular music continually changed around them. Late Night with David Letterman , which began in 1982, featured Paul Shaffer and The World's Most Dangerous Band , who, unlike previous house bands, incorporated contemporary rhythm and blues and rock music . The band continued that blend with Letterman when he left for CBS to start Late Show in 1993. House bands remain

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