Booker T. Jones
(born November 12 1944) is a multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, record producer and arranger, best known for fronting the band, Booker T. and the MGs. He has also worked in the studios with some of the highest regarded artists of our time, earning him a Grammy Award for lifetime achievement.
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BOOKER T. JONES TICKETS
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Early life and career
Born in
Memphis,
Tennessee, Jones was a child prodigy, playing the
oboe,
saxophone,
trombone, and
piano at school and serving as
organist at his
church. He attended
Booker T. Washington High School, the alma mater of
Rufus Thomas and shared the hallowed halls with future stars like
Isaac Hayes's writing partner
David Porter; saxophonist Andrew Love of
The Memphis Horns;
soul singer/songwriter William Bell and
Earth, Wind, and Fire's
Maurice White.
Jones's first entry into professional
music came at age sixteen, when he played
baritone saxophone on Satellite (soon to be
Stax) Records' first
hit, "Cause I Love You", by
Rufus Thomas and
Carla Thomas.
While hanging around the Satellite Record Shop run by
Estelle Axton, co-owner of Satellite Records with her brother
Jim Stewart, Jones met record clerk
Steve Cropper, who would become one of the MGs when the group formed in 1962. Besides Jones on
organ and Cropper on
guitar, Booker T. and the MGs featured
Lewie Steinberg on
bass guitar and
Al Jackson, Jr. on
drums (
Donald "Duck" Dunn eventually replacing Steinberg). While still in high school, Jones wrote the group's
instrumental "
Green Onions", which not only became a hit in 1962, but remains an enduring classic more than 40 years later.
Bob Altshuler wrote the sleeve notes on the first Booker T. & The M.G.‘s album released by Stax Records in 1962 and also called ‘Green Onions’. He wrote thus: ‘Booker T. Jones’ (his full name) musical talents became apparent at a very early age. By the time he entered high school, Booker was already a semi-professional, and quickly recognized as the most talented musician in his school. He was appointed director of the school band for four years, and in addition, organized the school dance orchestra which played for proms throughout the Mid-South. In the classroom, he concentrated on the studies of music theory and harmony.’ Altshuler continued ‘Booker’s multiple activities earned him a coveted honour, that of being listed in the students’ “Who’s Who of American High Schools”. Booker’s first instrument was the string bass, but he soon switched to the organ. Booker came to the attention of record executive Jim Stewart in Memphis, and while still in high school, he worked as a staff musician for Stax Records, appearing as sideman on many recording dates for that label. It became obvious that one day Booker would be ready to record under his own name and several months later Booker’s first recording session was set.'
Over the next few years, Jones would divide his time between studying classical music composition, composing and transposition at
Indiana University, playing with the MGs on the weekends back in Memphis
[1], serving as a
session musician with other
Stax acts, and writing songs that would become classics. He wrote, with
Eddie Floyd, "I've Never Found a Girl (To Love Me Like You Do)",
Otis Redding's "I Love You More Than Words Can Say", and, with William Bell,
Albert King's "
Born Under a Bad Sign." The latter would later be popularized in the
cover version by
power trio Cream.
In 1970, Jones moved to
California and stopped playing sessions for Stax, after becoming frustrated with Stax's treatment of the MGs as employees rather than musicians. While still under contract to Stax, he appeared on
Stephen Stills' eponymous album (1970). The 1971 album,
Melting Pot
would be the last
Booker T. & the MGs album issued on
Stax.
Jones produced three albums with his former wife, under the name Booker T. & Priscilla, as well as making the charts as a
solo artist in 1981 with "I Want You". He produced Priscilla's sister
Rita Coolidge,
Bill Withers's debut album
Just As I Am
(on which he also played several instruments), and
Willie Nelson's album
Stardust
. He has also lent his trademark keyboards to artists ranging in genre from
Ray Charles to
Neil Young to
Natalie Merchant. Jones currently still plays with
Booker T. & the MGs and his own Booker T. Jones Band.
Jones was inducted into
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992, and was honored with a
Grammy award for lifetime achievement on February 11, 2007.
[2]
In 2009 he released a new solo album,
Potato Hole
, recorded with the
Drive By Truckers,
[3] and featuring
Neil Young. He performed at the
Bonnaroo Festival with
Drive By Truckers on 2009-06-13, with a set including most tracks from
Potato Hole
as well as some Truckers tracks.
He features on the new
Rancid album,
Let The Dominoes Fall
, playing a Hammond B-3 on the track "Up To No Good".
Personal life
Booker's daughter Olivia stars on the
E Channel's
Candy Girls
. She is a hip hop video/magazine model signed with the agency Bella.
References
- [1]
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