Booker T. Jones (born November 12, 1944) – Life Is Funky (1975)

The musical genius who helped shape the Stax sound as leader of Booker T. and the M.G.'s wrote, produced, and sang on this superb funky jam, a rare non-LP single.

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Booker T. Jones is a genius multi-instrumentalist, singer/songwriter, arranger, producer, and the former leader of Stax Records’ house band Booker T. & the M.G.’s.

Born in Memphis, Tennessee, Booker Taliaferro Jones Jr. was a musical prodigy as a child, learning the saxophone, trombone, double bass, oboe, and piano at school. He also played the organ at his church. In grade school, he became best friends with his classmate, future Earth, Wind & Fire leader Maurice White. The two of them started a jazz group in high school with Isaac Hayes’ future writing partner David Porter. White played drums and Jones was on guitar.

After White moved away to live with his mother and stepfather in Chicago, Jones was hired by Memphis producer Willie Mitchell to play sax for his band (in which Jones later played bass) alongside drummer Al Jackson, Jr. His first recording session was at age 16. He played baritone sax on the first song to be recorded at Satellite Records' new studio in the former Capitol Theatre in South Memphis, “Cause I Love You” by Carla and Rufus Thomas. It was a regional hit, and although it did not chart nationally, helped lead to a national distribution deal with Atlantic Records for the label’s future releases.

In a 2007 interview, Jones recalled that period:

“I started in the tenth grade; I’d go after school. My first session was for Rufus and Carla Thomas. A writer would have a song idea and team up with a lyricist or musician; then the band would record it. Sessions went until six or seven, when the musicians left for their club gigs. Once [Stax] became successful, we quit our club gigs and sessions ran later, sometimes most of the night.”

Satellite opened a record store in the Capitol Theatre’s former lobby, which quickly turned into an essential hangout for Memphis musicians. There, Jones met guitarist Steve Cropper, who had been hired as a record clerk. Jones and Jackson became session musicians for the label, re-named Stax Records in 1961, playing on sessions together with members of Cropper’s group the Mar-Keys, Stax’s first house band.

In the spring of 1962, Jones, Jackson, Cropper, and Mar-Keys bassist Lewie Steinberg (later replaced by Donald “Duck” Dunn) formed a new group, christened Booker T. & the M.G.’s. Their first hit was the all-time R&B classic “Green Onions,” a blazing instrumental based on an organ riff Jones had come up with. According to Jones:

“The song was almost an afterthought. We arrived at the studio to back up an artist that didn’t show. We started jamming on a riff that I had been playing around with on piano, which turned out to be “Green Onions.” I played it on a Hammond organ to match another song we had recorded.”

See our earlier post on Steve Cropper for more on the recording of “Green Onions” and the group’s subsequent career as the core of Stax’s expanded house band, backing hundreds of records by the label’s artists.

Their last album for Stax was the amazing LP Melting Pot, recorded in 1970 and released that December. Virtually every track was golden, including the funky cut “Fuquawi,” the laid-back jam “Kinda Easy Like,” the hypnotic “L.A. Jazz Song” with the Pepper Singers on background vocals (ignorantly panned by Robert Christgau in the Village Voice as “Vegas jazz”) and the album’s epic closing cut “Sunny Monday.”

In 1971, Jones produced, arranged, and played keyboards and guitar on Bill Withers’ acclaimed debut album Just as I Am on Clarence Avant’s Sussex Records. Its hit single “Ain’t No Sunshine” featured M.G.’s Dunn on bass and Jackson on drums, plus guitarist Stephen Stills of Crosby, Stills and Nash, with strings arranged by Jones. It went to #6 R&B and #3 on the Billboard Hot 100, going gold and establishing Withers’ musical career.

Jones produced and played on numerous albums for other artists over the next decade, and released four of his own solo LPs. The first was Evergreen (1974) on Epic Records, and during its recording sessions he wrote and produced the superb jam “Life Is Funky.”

It was released the following year as a non-LP single, with the stellar “Tennessee Voodoo” from the album on the flip. Besides Jones on keyboards, guitar and bass, the tracks featured Bobbye Hall Porter on congas, Sammy Creason on drums, and David T. Walker on guitar. Both sides spotlighted Jones’ own powerful vocals, which came as a surprise to many, since the M.G.’s were an instrumental band.

Jones released his fourth solo studio LP I Want You in 1981, the last of three issued by A&M Records. It was propelled by two hit singles, the smooth funk title track that peaked at #35 R&B, and the epic dancefloor jam “Don’t Stop Your Love” (h/t DJ A-Ski aka @mrunique74), which went to #10 R&B and #11 on dance charts, becoming his biggest-ever solo hit.

Happy 79th Birthday to the great Booker T. Jones.

Further info:

“Booker T. Jones: With Friends Like These,” interview by Hays Davis, Under The Radar Magazine, May 26, 2011.

“Booker T. Jones, Soul's Ultimate Sideman, Takes the Lead,” The New York Times, October 17, 2019.

“Booker T. Jones Reflects On His Life in Music,” NPR, October 25, 2019.

“Booker T. Jones Interview: Stax Myths, New Book 'Time Is Tight',” Rolling Stone, November 6, 2019.

#soul #funk #Stax #BookerT&theMGs #BookerTJones