News & Updates — Memphis

Happy birthday to the great blues pianist/singer/songwriter icon John Chatman aka Memphis Slim. With his permanent move to France in 1963 he may very well have been the first truly international blues superstar. The son of a musician in Memphis, he made his first records at 25 for Okeh under his father's name Pete Chatman. He toured around the South before hitting Chicago in '39, hooking up in a duo with Big Bill Broonzy and working as a session pianist for Bluebird Records. In the mid '40s he started using saxophone and drumkit in his band, now called The House...

Born today in 1942: a true soul man, Isaac Hayes! Before his multi-platinum singing career as a psychedelic gospel-soul-jazz artist who would bring Burt Bacharach songs into the extended length stetched-out mind-trip format, he was a crucial foundational member of the Stax operation. He wrote or co-wrote, produced and/or played on many '60s hits for Sam & Dave, Carla Thomas, Johnnie Taylor, The Soul Children, Judy Clay, Rufus Thomas, Otis Redding, The Mar-Keys, William Bell and others, often times in collaboration with David Porter and Booker T & the MGs. Of particular note are "Soul Man", "Hold On I'm Coming",...

An unsung name in the world of soul music, Homer Banks was a singer, songwriter and producer who wrote a lot of great tunes for the Stax stable of artists. His twin brother James Banks is also a songwriter. Memphis-born, he started touring in a gospel group in the late '50s and cut some soul records for the Genie label starting in '64. It was working there that he met future Stax chums Isaac Hayes and David Porter. He cut "A Lot Of Love" (later stolen by Spencer Davis Group for "Gimme Some Lovin"), one of five singles he did for...

Happy birthday shout to one of the unsung tenor men of the second wave of US free jazz, "Freedom" Frank Lowe. His lyricism was not limited to the avant-garde as he cut some great, swinging records that touched upon free, post-bop, R&B and other influences. Memphis born and reared, he took lessons from Stax Records' saxophonist Packy Axton, as well as working in the label's record shop and studio. After school he moved to San Francisco for further studies with Bert Wilson and Sonny Simmons. Some encouragement from Ornette Coleman persuaded Lowe to move to NYC in the late '60s...

I first heard Johnny Ace in key scenes in flicks by Abel Ferrara and Martin Scorsese, that lamenting ballad "Pledging My Love" that underscores the wastes of life depicted for Harvey Keitel's character in Bad Lieutenant. It was the Memphis singer's biggest hit AFTER a game of Russian Roulette found a victim before his Christmas day show, dead at 25. He was a Beale Streeter with BB King and Bobby "Blue" Bland and signed to Duke in '52. By 1954 he was one of the best-selling artists in the country, with a string of hits like "The Clock", "My Song",...