11/1/2003

Mark Jordan

Though few people heard and even fewer saw it, the highlight of the recent Soul-A-Thon to benefit the Stax Music Academy was an impromptu performance toward the end of a chilly Friday night.

That was when Isaac Hayes, who'd been around most of the night talking on the radio simulcast, got up to jam with the Bo-Keys, a retro soul outfit in the mode of Booker T. & the MGs that features Hayes's longtime guitarist Charles 'Skip' Pitts. (That's Pitts's wah-wah work all over "Shaft.")

Performing just feet from the front door of the rebuilt Stax, the ad hoc lineup ran through a version of the Jerry Butler soul standard "I Stand Accused." It was a chilling reminder of the power of live soul music and a key reason why the Bo-Keys, one of the only regularly performing classic soul acts in town, may be one of the music's most vital resources.

In the tradition of the MGs and the Mar-Keys, the Bo-Keys merge white and black, young and old in a recreation of the classic Memphis instrumental soul sound. Besides Pitts, the group includes veteran Stax session players Ronnie Williams (the Bar-Kays, David Porter) and Willie Hall (Hayes, the Blues Brothers). Rounding out the group are bassist Scott Bomar and the horn section of trumpeter Marc Franklin and saxophonist Jim Spake.

As the title implies, the band's debut disc was cut at Willie Mitchell's Royal Studios with Williams, Hall, and Bomar producing. The studio almost certainly played a role in creating the familiar ambiance of the record. Though I'm sure the folks at Yellow Dog would like to avoid the retro tag, it is impossible to escape. "The Royal Sessions" is a remarkably faithful recreation of that instrumental Stax sound (with a little James Brown and Stevie Wonder thrown in for good measure). What is worth noting, however, is how timeless the sound is. Not overly evocative of the '60s, "The Royal Sessions" is simply an example of great players grooving.

The Bo-Keys will mark the release of "The Royal Sessions" with a special performance featuring Carla Thomas at the Blue Monkey (2012 Madison) on Nov. 8 at 9 p.m.