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5/31/2004

Jason Miles

Savin’ Souls With Some New/Old Memphis Bling Bling

The Memphis Sound. Books have been written about it, CD’s issued, documentaries made, but what is it? Funky, greasy, gritty like sandpaper yet smooth like maple syrup. Soulful; from the soul, made for the soul, music designed to speak to the soul, bands like Booker T. & the MG’s, Al Green, Otis Redding, The Mar-keys, James Caar, Isaac Hayes, Rufus & Carla Thomas. That’s who I think of when I think of the Memphis Sound, certainly not that other guy, you know the one I’m thinking of, that guy in the sequined jumpsuit, practicing kung-fu on stage while wearing sunglasses bigger than softballs. Some say that Memphis is dead, shot it’s load and went bust, kaputz, belly up like a Beached Boy playing the summer fair ground tour to geezers with beer coolers, big bellies and Dodge Caravan’s. Obviously these folks haven’t heard of The Bo-Keys. Yeah, that’s right, The Bo-Keys.

Despite the fact that their name rekindles the burning fire of that great instrumental funk band, The Bar-Kays, don’t be confused. There were other brothers cut from the same cloth, bands like The Mar-Keys, Booker T. & the MG’s, The Packers, and now….The Bo-Keys. Funky doesn’t even describe them; this band will have you side steppin’ and short strokin’ before you know it. Take the best of the best, the cream of the crop of Memphis session musicians, lock them in Willie Mitchell’s famed Royal Studios (yes, the very same place where Al Green and just about ever other artist who ever graced a Hi Records release recorded) and this is what you get. Excellence, pure unadulterated smoky soul like you thought you’d never hear again; back from the swamps, back from the chicken shack, The City of Memphis strikes back!

The Bo-Keys are both living, and making history. The return to the glorious sound of Memphis Soul could only be accomplished by a select few. Namely, Charles “Skip” Pitts, the legendary guitar player who played behind Wilson Pickett as a Midnight Mover, The Isley Brothers, Gene Chandler and of course The Black Moses: Isaac Hayes. He recorded one particular tune with Isaac that you’ve undoubtedly heard; it’s called “The Theme From Shaft”. Yep, that’s him, strutting through that unmistakable wah-wah groove, providing a generation with a soundtrack of the day.

But Skip isn’t the only legend on this session; we’ve also got Willie Hall, the drummer from The Bar-Kays, the original Blues Brothers, and Isaac Hayes’ Hot Buttered Soul sessions. Organist Ronnie Williams has been around the block a few times as well, laying down that soulful groove that only he can play behind such heavyweights as David Porter, The Soul Children, and Mr. Funky Chicken himself, Rufus Thomas.

Now that the air is nice and thick with the cigar smoke of history, let’s give a nod to some of the younger guys who helped to make this album what it is. Trumpeter Marc Franklin has backed up Carla Thomas, Ann Peebles, and Don Bryant. Saxophonist Jim Spake has made a name for himself backing up such legends as Levon Helm, Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry, Al Green and Ike Turner, but the real leader of this soul powerhouse is twenty-eight year old bassist Scott Bomar.

The story goes that young Bomar was teaching a summer camp session at the Stax Music Academy when he met and struck up a friendship with Skip Pitts and Willie Hall. Bomar told the two about his band, The Bo-Keys, that he had started as a back up group for the likes of Sir Mack Rice and pianist Rosco Gordon. The two elders were so interested in young Bomar that they decided to enter the studio together, eventually recording The Royal Sessions.

Solid and tightly coiled like a rattlesnake ready to strike, a platter of near-perfection. That’s how I would best describe the sound these guys create together. To say that they’re soulful is an obvious understatement, and although they don’t sound like that old school sound, they do build from the same frame as the others in a form of musical evolution. No sir, these boys aren’t mimicking greatness by any stretch, they’re creating it with something new, something challenging and provocative for the senses to feast upon. Latin tinged at times, way more jazzy than any of their now defunct contemporaries, but certainly not lacking any of that down home funkiness which has been missing from much of today’s music. It’s good to hear Memphis making a comeback; it’s good to hear Soul making a comeback. If I were you, I wouldn’t rule this one out as a fluke; this is but the beginning of a resurgence, the very tip of the tsunami which will flood the landscape of popular music before you know it. Soul & Funk will return to the charts, just watch, learn and listen.

ESSENTIAL LISTENING: 4.5 STARS