Citation :
PLAY IT STEVE!
GROOVE WITH: STEVE CROPPER
By Mark T. Gould
The groove.
Be it with Otis Redding, the Blues Brothers, or even Bob Dylan and Neil Young, the one constant in the music of Booker T and the MGs has always been about one thing.
The groove.
While Motown icon Berry Gordy positioned his acts, which including the Supremes, the Four Tops, the Temptations, Stevie Wonder and others, toward mainstream pop (read: white) audiences in the early to mid Sixties, another sound, less middle of the road, more gritty, and yes, perhaps, more soulful, was brewing in Memphis, Tennessee. Stax Records, formed in 1960 by Jim Stewart and Estellse Axton, originally called Satellite Records, fostered the "Memphis sound," about as "down and dirty" as you could get.
"Where Berry Gordy sent his acts to etiquette school, taught them all the dance moves, that choreography, together, where he was reaching for the pop audience, Stax was definitely after the black market. It was very obvious that Berry Gordy wanted the pop market," said Steve Cropper, longtime guitarist/songwriter/producer/arranger for the MGs and Stax, at his Norwich hotel, in an interview between two recent weekend shows at the Mohegan Sun Wolf Den..
"He sent the girls to etiquette school, to teach him how to walk, talk, dress all that, he was after that pop market. He sent them to choreography school to learn dance steps, all of that sort of stuff," Cropper said. "We just sort of did it naturally, we were after the ear of the buying public in the R&B world. If we crossed over into the pop market, that was fine, and it was usually with the instrumental stuff. Green Onions was a major pop record, but that was not what we were shooting for. It was much more difficult to do that. But, we knew our place. We knew our limitations. That was basically the difference. Our music wasnt quite as slick as Motown."
Booker T and the MGs came together around 1960, when, ironically, guitarist Cropper, drummer Al Jackson, Jr. and bassist Lewis Steinberg (later replaced by Donald "Duck" Dunn) were looking for a keyboard player.
"Booker had been to Stax and had played baritone (sax) on a song, and I wasnt around the day he did that," Cropper recalled."We were looking for a keyboard player, and, at the time, it was very difficult to find a good keyboard player. We were using a local guy, Robert Talley, who was working seven nights a week, and it was very difficult to fill his time like that. Everybody worked two gigs like that (sessions during the day and live shows at night). I even had to go wait up Al (Jackson) sometimes, after he got in at four in the morning and tell him he had a session. So, it was tough.
"I was talking to (sax player) Floyd Newman one day, and I said, man, weve got to find a keyboard player. And he said, man, theres this young guy, Booker T, who plays in the church and such, and hes really a good keyboard player," he said."So, I got a number, made the call, and asked him to come down and play a session with us."
It was the beginning of an incredible, lengthy, tasty musical trip for the quartet, simultaneously backing some of the greatest artists of that time period, like Rufus and Carla Thomas, Wilson Pickett, Sam & Dave, the list goes on and on, while also recording their own tight, sparse instrumental music at the same time. "Green Onions," recorded in 1962, and still a crowd pleaser in 1999, judging by the dancing in the aisles of the Wolf Den during both nights of the MGs shows, was a huge national hit. Interestingly, though, the hallmark of the MGs sound was subtlety and restraint, not flash and fire. In later years, Cropper was quoted , in discussing the MGs sound, that "flash dont make cash."
"What I meant by that was, in the middle to late Sixties, being a musician, out there, trying to impress people, thats not what the record public wants," Cropper, now 57, explained. "You didnt see flash on wax then. You do now, because you can play a video, you can pop it up on your screen and watch. They were predicting that in the Sixties, but nobody ever thought it would happen."
"What I meant by flash was trying to be cute, trying to be an overachiever, trying to impress people, thats not what makes hit records."
And, some 40 years later, would he do it any different, in todays video age?
No way, says Cropper.
"If anything, Id go right back to what we used to do," he said."The only thing keeping us from doing that is radio. Thats basically the problem."
The groups live shows at the Wolf Den proved this, each lasting only about 75 minutes with no encore, comparatively short for a live performance these days, but, with all instrumentals, feeling just about right. The set ranged from the opener of Dylans "Gotta Serve Somebody," to the gorgeous "Sarasota Sunset," through the crowd pleasers of "Green Onions," "Time is Tight," and "Hip Hug Her," to "Hang em High" and "Groovin." Every song tight. Every solo taut. And, Cropper said, thats by design.
"You can only play instrumental music for so long, before people stop listening," he said. "I know some guys who could play for five hours, but thats not how we think about it. Just do what you came to do, and get out of there."
With that limitation, has Booker T & the MGs ever considered a fulltime vocalist?
"Why should we?" asked Cropper. "We dont need one."
After so many, many years in the studio, Cropper started to say, during the interview, that he couldnt pinpoint any one particular artist or session that really stood out. Then, he thought for another minute, and reminesced a bit about the too short career of perhaps Stax most monumental artist.
"All of the Otis Redding sessions stand out. They were phenomenal," he said. "It really started out as a 10 minute audition, he had been unloading amps and stuff, we thought he was the roadie. Otis had asked Al Jackson if, when we got done with the sesssion, would we take the time to listen to him. But, the minute he began to sing These Arms of Mine,we went holy mackerel, get the tape rolling. We went crazy."
"We had to send somebody out to get Lewis Steinbergs bass out of the truck," he remembered."Booker T had already gone. So, I wound up playing piano on the first cut. And, that was the first of about 17 hit singles in row."
Redding, of course, died in an airplane crash on December 10, 1967, just before what turned out to be his biggest hit, "(Sittin On) The Dock of the Bay," was even released. Everyone in the industry knew he was cut short of superstardom, and Cropper remembers that as turning point for Stax. and for everyone connected with it. The loss of Redding, as well as the murder of Al Jackson, Jr. on the streets of Memphis a few years later, showed in Croppers face as he talked briefly about it during the interview.
"I dont think anybody or anything was ever the same after that," he said," nor was Stax. That was very unfortunate for everybody."
"Al Jackson was simply the greatest drummer who ever walked the Earth." Cropper said. "He was the most inspiring drummer, could read an audience, read a song. He knew exactly what pocket to put a song in. Him and Otis. What a combination."
"Our drummer now, Steve Potts, being a direct blood cousin of Al Jackson, having seen and played on a number of those sessions, having it in his blood, makes it a little easier."
Despite the twin tragedies, Cropper and the rest of band continued, although Stax, like much of the music world, was changing. The elder statesmen of the label, who had been in those original "house bands" like the MGs, were becoming label executives, and newer, younger session musicians didnt get that same, tight, cohesive sound. By the mid 1970s, the label had all but collapsed, and its publishing subsidiary was being auctioned to a local bank.
Still, Booker T and the MGs has continued, and their mastery, bolstered by a musical and personal friendship over time, has enabled them to command their place as the "house band" for a number of projects, working with artists as diverse as Boz Scaggs, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, and, yes, most likely introducing themselves to a whole new audience when Cropper and Dunn backed John Belushi and Dan Aykroyds "Blues Brothers" in the late 1970s, recreating licks from a number of R&B hits, including a remake of the classic "Soul Man," first recorded by Sam & Dave.
A sellout? A lack of authenticity? Cropper reacts strongly to that characterization.
"People tried to say that initially, when we came out with Briefcase Full of Blues, Cropper said, "There were some mixed reviews, like who are these guys from Saturday Night Live, who are these two clowns, who do they think they are? I felt a little insulted by it, but when they finally read the liner notes, and didnt jump to conclusions, they went these are the same guys who played on the originals, so how could it be an imitation?"
"The real motivation behind that was not a whim," he added. "Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi did not do that because they thought it would be a cute thing to do. They did it because they love R&B as much as anybody. I mean, John Belushi had one of the biggest collections of blues music that Ive ever seen. Dan Aykroyd is a complete wizard about it. He comes up with guys that Ive never heard of. Hes a walking historian on it. And, he plays some pretty good blues harp."
"He cant sing, and John couldnt either, but it doesnt mean their heart isnt in it," Cropper said," and the music is legit. I mean, weve been doing it all our lives. They had fun trying, and they pulled it off."
Cropper and the group have spent so many years, in sessions and on the road, with so many artists that he has a unique perspective about many of them. So, during the Sound Waves interview, we asked him to comment specifically on a few.
Neil Young: "Hes a far better musician than I expected him to be. Hes an extremely sensitive man who writes great songs with great lyrics. He plays within his means. When we went on the road (a 1993 summer tour of Europe), I had to learn about 40 of his songs, and there was some stuff that was so great, and having been the studio cutting R&B when he was making a name for himself, I didnt know he had written all those. During rehearsals, I kept thinking damn, I didnt know he wrote that one. Hes almost another Bob Dylan."
Bob Dylan: "You tell me. I dont know (laughing). There must be more to it than having a great voice (laughing). Its pretty bizarre working with him. You just roll with the flow. You dont know what to expect next, and if you expect something, you probably wont get it. But, if you are around him enough, you find out that the man is an absolute genius. Without any fabrication. The man is brilliant. Hes also a brilliant businessman. He is very up on his career, very well up and educated on his audience. Hes not some freak of nature who is driven by someone who knows how to promote. Hes not led around on a string like a windup toy. He initiates a lot of his own projects. He makes everyone else work, he whips them into shape."
Albert King: "He was one of the greatest guys of all time. Albert was a little stubborn, difficult to work with. Albert didnt know how to read and write, and not too many people knew that. So, he constantly had this wall up and he didnt trust a whole lot of people. He grew up in a circle where you feared for your life when you went to play a gig, and he kinda carried that with him. He didnt trust a whole lot of people. If he didnt like you, hed pull the bus over, didnt matter where you were, and you were off it. If he liked you, there wasnt anybody better. It took some time, we had to convince him, look, we are here to help you, nobody is here to steal a thing from you. Let us help you become successful. He learned right away to trust us. We were looking out for his best interests."
However, Cropper reserves some of his most heartfelt comments for those fellow band members, Booker T. Jones and "Duck" Dunn, who have accompanied him on this long musical journey.
"Duck is one of the best friends Ive ever had, weve been together since the sixth grade," he said."He probably loves this music more than anybody. He respects it more than anybody. For a white man, he probably respects rhythm and blues music more than anyone I know, and hes very, very protective of it. He doesnt like people screwing with it. He keeps it the real deal, the real way all the time. Everybody has a real respect for him,, and I think its more than just Ducks playing. Everybody wants to use him. It goes much deeper than his choice of notes on a session."
"Bookers the genius in the band. He was the guy who had the knowledge of the music and had the grip on all of that," Cropper said. "He can play any instrument, hes extremely creative. Very good producer and a very good songwriter. Very easy to work with. Hes got all the stops, Id say. Hes a very giving guy with a very big heart."
And, after 40 some odd years, what about Steve Cropper?
"Eh," he laughed."The kid will never make it. No talent. No personality. What can I tell you?"
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![[:magic_poussin]](https://forum-images.hardware.fr/images/perso/magic_poussin.gif "[:magic_poussin]")
La bonne, c'est que plusieurs albums jamais réédités en CD viennent de ressortir. La mauvaise, c'est que ce sont des "online downloads" only, pas des CD. 
Les deux premiers batchs :
La date de sortie est déjà fixée ?
C'est un auteur/journaliste sympathique, passionné et érudit, et le public présent a beaucoup apprécié cette soirée.
As-tu un visuel de la pochette 2007 dans ton press kit ?
![[:bozocarzu]](https://forum-images.hardware.fr/images/perso/bozocarzu.gif "[:bozocarzu]")
damned!
![[:bien]](https://forum-images.hardware.fr/images/perso/bien.gif "[:bien]")
![[:cerveau lent]](https://forum-images.hardware.fr/images/perso/cerveau lent.gif "[:cerveau lent]")
![[:kapukapu]](https://forum-images.hardware.fr/images/perso/kapukapu.gif "[:kapukapu]")
![[:klemo]](https://forum-images.hardware.fr/images/perso/klemo.gif "[:klemo]")