The Stax Sound: A Musicological Analysis Author(s): Rob Bowman Source: Popular Music, Vol. 14, No. 3 (Oct., 1995), pp. 285-320 Published by: Cambridge University Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/853127 Accessed: 15/05/2009 07:15

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http://www.jstor.org Popular Music (1995) Volume 14/3. Copyright © 1995 Cambridge University Press

The Slax sound: a musicological analysis

ROB BOWMAN

In recent times there has been an encouraging increase in the musicological study of Western popular music by members of the academy. Both Richard Middleton and Alan Moore have published important books that are emphatic about the need for such study (Middleton 1990; Moore 1993). Also there have been a number of articles in a variety of journals over the past several years that have either addressed the need for, suggested various approaches to, or actually taken a musi­ cological approach to one or another aspect of popular music (Foret 1991; Brackett 1992; Hawkins 1992; Moore 1992; Taylor 1992; Walser 1992; Middleton 1993). Des­ pite this flurry of activity, as far as this author is aware, there has been no academic musicological work, other than Robert Walser's recent study of heavy metal (Walser 1993), that has attempted to ferret out the component parts of a given genre through an analysis of a sizable body of repertoire. There is an acute need for such work if popular music scholars are going to begin to understand in con­ crete terms what is meant by terms such as rock, soul, funk, Merseybeat and so on. This essay is an attempt to begin such a study for the genre of southern soul music as it was manifested by Stax Records in Memphis, Tennessee. Stax Records was a recording company in operation from 1959 to 1976. Although eventually issuing recordings in a number of divergent genres, including country, rock, pop, gospel, jazz, comedy and spoken word, Stax and its subsidiary labels, such as Volt and Enterprise, were primarily engaged in the recording of a style of rhythm and blues that came to be known as soul. Some of the more popular artists that recorded for Stax include Otis Redding, Booker T. and the MGs, Sam and Dave, Isaac Hayes, Johnnie Taylor, Rufus Thomas, Carla Thomas, William Bell, Eddie Floyd, the Staple Singers and the Soul Children. In the broadest terms one can speak of two periods with regard to the musical construction of Stax rhythm and blues recordings. The first period extends from 1961 to 196911970. During these years the vast majority of the company's releases were recorded in Memphis, primarily at the McLemore Avenue studio with Booker T. and the MGs and the Mar-Key horns as the 'house' band. Songs were primarily written by four songwriting teams: Isaac Hayes and David Porter, William Bell and Booker T. Jones, Eddie Floyd and Steve Cropper, and Otis Redding, either by himself or in tandem with Cropper. In addition, a few singers, such as Rufus and Carla Thomas, were also quite capable songwriters. Using one studio, one equipment set-up, the same set of musicians and a small group of songwriters led to a readily identifiable sound. It was a sound

285 286 Rob Bowman

based in black gospel, blues, country and earlier forms of rhythm and blues. It became known as southern soul music. The second period, extending from 1971/1972 through the label's bankruptcy in January 1976, was a result of a number of changes for the company that had large-scale ramifications. These included the death of Otis Redding, the cessation of the Atlantic and Stax distribution agreement, the dissolution of the company's house band, and co-owner Al Bell's expansion-driven outreach to artists, produ­ cers, and studios in Muscle Shoals, Detroit, Chicago and Los Angeles. In fact, if one had to pinpoint the moment of transition, it would be May 1969, when Al Bell decided that Stax needed to manufacture an 'instant' back catalogue (as Stax a year previously had lost to Atlantic the rights to distribute their earlier recordings) and elected to record and issue twenty-eight albums in one mammoth release. Such a task necessitated hiring outside musicians and using outside stu­ dios. Bell never looked back, and Stax was never the same. During the second period one cannot speak of a 'Stax sound' per se. The label no longer had a single identity, as records were produced in various cities by non-Memphis-based producers, writers, musicians and singers. Also, Stax as a corporation made considerable efforts to release records in a number of genres in addition to soul music. With such diffuse efforts it was no longer possible to identify a release by sound alone as emanating from StaxNolt. This article is primarily concerned with the 'Stax sound' as manifested in Memphis-based recordings. By definition, then, the focus will be on performances issued during the 1960s, although it needs to be stated that there are some records issued by Stax in the 1970s that were recorded in Memphis and Muscle Shoals, albeit without the original house band, that replicate in many respects the 'Stax sound'. Such second period recordings will also be considered. The number of single and LP recordings that arguably could be included as part of the 'Stax sound' is over 1,000. For analysis purposes ninety-five songs that were released as singles have been selected as representative (see Table 1). The analysis sample includes: (1) every Top 20 rhythm and blues or pop chart hit released by Stax Records or any of its subsidiaries that was recorded and written by a Memphis-based artist (Otis Redding, as one of the earliest and most important StaxNolt artists, for the purposes of this analysis is included as a Memphis-based artist. Even though he lived in Macon, Georgia, all of his Stax releases were recorded in Memphis with the Stax house band and many were co-written with a Memphis-based writer); (2) every Top 20 rhythm and blues or pop chart hit released by Stax Records and any of its subsidiaries that was recorded by a non-Memphis-based artist but was written by a Memphis-based Stax staff writer; (3) non-Top 20 hits written and/or recorded by Memphis-based artists that are historically important, such as Rufus and Carla Thomas' 'Cause I Love You' and William Bell's 'You Don't Miss Your Water'; (4) several non-hits written and/or recorded by Memphis-based artists. Examples by every important Memphis-based Stax artist are included. All but the five Staple Singers recordings were recorded in Memphis at the McLemore Avenue studio. The Staple Singers were recorded in Muscle Shoals with Memphis­ based Al Bell and Terry Manning producing and engineering. The Staples' record­ ings very closely approximate the Memphis-generated 'Stax sound'. In fact, some of the second period Memphis studio musicians resented the Muscle Shoals musi­ cians appropriating their sound. A musicological analysis 287

Table 1. Analysis sample 1. Rufus and Carla Thomas Cause I Love You 9-1960 2. Carla Thomas Gee Whiz 11-1960 3. The Mar-Keys Last Night 6-1961 4. William Bell You Don't Miss Your Water 11-1961 5. Booker T. and the MGs Green Onions 8-1962 6. Otis Redding These Arms of Mine 10-1962 7. Rufus Thomas The Dog 1-1963 8. Rufus Thomas Walking The Dog 9-1963 9. Otis Redding Pain In My Heart 9-1963 10. Booker T. and the MGs Soul Dressing 7-1964 11. Otis Redding Chained And Bound 9-1964 12. Otis Redding That's How Strong My Love Is 12-1964 13. Otis Redding Mr. Pitiful 12-1964 14. Booker T. and the MGs Bootleg 4-1965 15. Otis Redding I've Been Loving You Too Long 4-1965 16. The Astors Candy 5-1965 17. The Mad Lads Don't Have To Shop Around 7-1965 18. Otis Redding Respect 8-1965 19. Sam and Dave You Don't Know Like I Know 11-1965 20. The Mar-Keys Grab This Thing 11-1965 21. Otis Redding I Can't Turn You Loose 12-1965 22. The Mad Lads I Want Someone 1-1966 23. The Mar-Keys Philly Dog 1-1966 24. Johnnie Taylor I Had A Dream 2-1966 25. Ruby Johnson I'll Run Your Hurt Away 3-1966 26. Sam and Dave Hold On! I'm Comin' 3-1966 27. Albert King Laundromat Blues 4-1966 28. William Bell Share What You Got (But Keep What You Need) 5-1966 29. Otis Redding My Lover's Prayer 5-1966 30. Mable John You Good Thing (Is About To End) 5-1966 31. Johnnie Taylor I Got To Love Somebody's Baby 6-1966 32. Eddie Floyd Knock On Wood 7-1966 33. Carla Thomas B-A-B-Y 7-1966 34. Booker T. and the MGs My Sweet Potato 7-1966 35. Sam and Dave Said I Wasn't Gonna Tell Nobody 8-1966 36. William Bell Never Like This Before 9-1966 37. Otis Redding Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa (Sad Song) 9-1966 38. Johnnie Taylor Little Bluebird 11-1966 39. Sam and Dave You Got Me Hummin' 11-1966 40. Eddie Floyd Raise Your Hand 1-1967 41. Johnnie Taylor Ain't That Loving You (For More Reasons Than 1-1967 One) 42. Sam and Dave When Something Is Wrong With My Baby 1-1967 43. Booker T. and the MGs Hip Hug-Her 2-1967 44. William Bell Everybody Loves A Winner 3-1967 45. Otis Redding I Love You More Than Words Can Say 3-1967 46. The Bar-Kays Soul Finger 4-1967 47. Albert King Born Under A Bad Sign 5-1967 48. Rufus Thomas Sophisticated Sissy 6-1967 49. Booker T. and the MGs Slim Jenkin's Place 6-1967 50. William Bell Eloise (Hang On In There) 7-1967 51. Sam and Dave Soul Man 8-1967 52. The Astors Daddy Didn't Tell Me 9-1967 53. Johnnie Taylor Somebody's Sleeping In My Bed 11-1967 54. William Bell Everyday Will Be Like A Holiday 11-1967 55. Sam and Dave I Thank You 1-1968 288 Rob Bowman

Table 1. cant. 56. Otis Redding (Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay 1-1968 57. Ollie & The Nightingales I Got A Sure Thing 2-1968 58. Eddie Floyd Big Bird 2-1968 59. William Bell Tribute To A King 3-1968 60. William Bell Every Man Oughta Have A Woman 3-1968 61. Rufus Thomas The Memphis Train 3-1968 62. Booker T. and the MGs Soul Limbo 5-1968 63. Eddie Floyd I Never Found A Girl 5-1968 64. William BelllJudy Clay Private Number 7-1968 65. The Soul Children Give Him Love 8-1968 66. Johnnie Taylor Who's Making Love 9-1968 67. Booker T. and the MGs Hang 'Em High 10-1968 68. William Bell I Forgot To Be Your Lover 10-1968 69. William BelllJudy Clay My Baby Specializes 11-1968 70. The Soul Children I'll Understand 11-1968 71. Johnnie Taylor Take Care Of Your Homework 12-1968 72. Carla Thomas I Like What You're Doing 1-1969 73. Booker T. and the MGs Time Is Tight 2-1969 74. The Soul Children Tighten Up My Thang 3-1969 75. Johnnie Taylor (I Wanna) Testify 4-1969 76. Johnnie Taylor I Could Never Be President 6-1969 77. The Soul Children The Sweeter He Is 7-1969 78. Johnnie Taylor Love Bones 10-1969 79. The Staple Singers When Will We Be Paid 10-1969 80. Rufus Thomas Do The Funky Chicken 11-1969 81. Eddie Floyd California Girl 1-1970 82. Rufus Thomas (Do The) Push And Pull Part 1 10-1970 83. Rufus Thomas The Breakdown (Part 1) 7-1971 84. The Staple Singers Respect Yourself 8-1971 85. Rufus Thomas Do The Funky Penguin (Part 1) 11-1971 86. The Soul Children Hearsay 1-1972 87. The Staple Singers I'll Take You There 3-1972 88. The Soul Children Don't Take My Kindness For Weakness 6-1972 89. The Soul Children It Ain't Always What You Do (It's Who You 11-1972 Let See You Do It) 90. Little Milton Walkin' The Back Streets 3-1973 91. Johnnie Taylor Cheaper To Keep Her 9-1973 92. The Staple Singers If You're Ready (Come Go With Me) 9-1973 93. The Soul Children I'll Be The Other Woman 11-1973 94. The Staple Singers Touch A Hand, Make A Friend 1-1974 95. Shirley Brown Woman To Woman 8-1974

Included in the analysis sample are the most important hit singles as well as a number of non-hits recorded at McLemore. Hit singles for any rhythm and blues-oriented company are arguably the most important and most influential releases. The non-hits were included in the sample as a check to see if there truly was a consistent label sound irrespective of whether a record was a commercially quantified success. All four songwriting teams are represented in the sample, as are a few additional second period writers such as Homer Banks, Raymond Jack­ son, Betty Crutcher and Randall Stewart. In addition to concentrated analysis of the ninety-five song sample, results were randomly checked against a number of other releases recorded at the company's McLemore studios. Occasionally such additional songs from outside the analysis sample will be referred to in the follow­ ing discussion. A musicological analysis 289

Booker T. & The MG 's. From left to right: Booker T. Jones, Duck Dunn, Al Jackson and Steve Cropper. Photograph reproduced by permission of Stax Records (Fanta sy Inc.)

In attempting to construct a musical exegesis of the 'Stax sound', nine basic areas of inquiry will be looked at: instrumentation; repertoire; structure; keys; aspects of harmonic construction; aspects of time including tempo, pulse and the arrangement and organisation in time of the vocalists, the horns, drum patterns, bass lines and chordal instruments; melodic construction; ornamentation; and timbre/production considerations. They will be discussed in that order. Dividing musical behaviour into discrete categories is helpful in facilitating discussion but by nature is artificial. Consequently, areas of discussion by necessity often overlap. Before discussing the analysis, a brief passage on personnel would be appro­ priate. As stated above, the 'Stax sound' was partially the product of a stable house band. The Stax house band consisted of a rhythm section, Booker T. and the MGs, and a horn section, known originally as the Mar-Keys and later as the Memphis Horns. Booker T. and the MGs initially consisted of Booker T. Jones on keyboards, Steve Cropper on guitar, Lewis Steinberg on bass and AI Jackson on drums. Donald 'Duck' Dunn replaced Steinberg on bass in 1964. Prior to the formation of the MGs in 1962, a number of Memphis musicians filled these various roles. On piano Joe Hall, Robert Talley and Marvell Thomas played a number of early dates. In the 1970s Thomas would return as a semi-regular Stax session musician. Isaac Hayes came to Stax as a keyboard session musician to replace Booker T. Jones while the latter was in college. Hayes, of course, developed into first an important songwriter and later a recording artist in his own right. For much of 1964 to 1969 he shared the keyboard duties at Stax with Jones. Chips Moman played guitar 290 Rob Bowman

and handled A & R on the earliest Satellite and Stax dates, while Howard Grimes, Curtis Green and future engineer Ron Capone shared the drum chair. The core of the Mar-Key and Memphis Horns are Wayne Jackson on trumpet and Andrew Love on tenor saxophone. On the earliest sides tenor saxophone players Packy Axton and Gilbert Caples as well as baritone saxophone player Floyd Newman can be heard. By 1963 Gene Parker had replaced Caples, who had left for Texas to work in the Duke/Peacock studio band led by Joe Scott. Joe Arnold replaced Parker after the latter became mentally unstable in late 1965 or early 1966. Arnold was to leave after the spring 1967 European tour. In 1965, after a series of disagreements with owner Jim Stewart, Floyd Newman stopped playing dates at Stax. One other baritone player, Tommy Lee Williams, was used for a short period of time. Wayne Jackson was the trumpet player from the beginning, but at various times Gene 'Bowlegs' Miller and Bar-Kay member Ben Cauley would also play trumpet on sessions.

Instrumentation Instrumentation is perhaps the simplest parameter to discuss. Starting with the first rhythm and blues recordings made by Stax, the standard instrumental line-up on the label's recordings consisted of drums, bass, one guitar primarily playing rhythm and/or fills, piano and/or organ plus a horn section comprised of trumpet, one or two tenor saxophones and at various times a baritone saxophone. Very rarely a trombone or tuba was added, in both cases usually played by keyboardist Booker T. Jones with someone else, such as Isaac Hayes, taking over keyboard duties. The number of occasions where this occurs can be counted on one hand. Additional instruments can be heard on a few recordings. For example Booker T. Jones adds harmonica to the Bar-Kays' 1967 recording of 'Knucklehead'. Terry Manning plays marimba on Booker T. and the MGs 1969 hit 'Soul Limbo' and the Staple Singers' 1974 hit 'Touch a Hand, Make a Friend'. A xylophone is included on William Bell's 1968 'Every Man Oughta Have a Woman'. The Mad Lads' recordings of 'Don't Have to Shop Around' and 'I Want Someone' in 1965 and 1966 respectively feature vibraphone, and Isaac Hayes plays clarinet on Sam and Dave's 1968 hit 'I Thank You'. Strings appear on a few of Carla Thomas's early hits including the seminal 1961 recording 'Gee Whiz (Look At His Eyes)', but it is not until late 1967/early 1968 that strings begin to appear on other artists' recordings. Isaac Hayes and David Porter experimented with them on a few cuts on Sam and Dave's final LP, I Thank You (1968). William Bell would also occasionally use strings to dress up one of his ballads, such as 'Everybody Loves a Winner', 'Tribute to a King' and 'Every Man Oughta Have a Woman' in 1967 and 1968, and even Otis Redding included them on his recording of Eddie Floyd and Booker T. Jones's 'I Love You More Than Words Can Say'. String sections appear with greater frequency from 1969 onwards, but even then they are used sporadically on the Memphis-based recordings, appearing on only eight of the thirty-seven songs looked at from this period. According to Isaac Hayes, strings were not used more often because of 'budgets and Jim [Stewart's] restrictions. He wanted to keep that raw funky sound'.l Jones concurred, 'We were restricted by money. If we hired cellos, it was one; if we hired violas, it was one.' Jones arranged most of the earliest uses of strings at Stax, including the William Bell and Otis Redding examples cited above. 'My string arrangements A musicological analysis 291 were a basic concept,' stated Jones, 'springing out of what I had learned about theory. I would just find what I thought was the optimum range for the strings according to where the vocal was, and then just write pretty much basic quiet arrangements.' Significantly, a much larger proportion of Stax releases recorded outside of Memphis featured string sections, often arranged by Detroit musicians such as Dale Warren and Johnny Allen. In the later period Isaac Hayes and Marvell Thomas often arranged strings for Memphis sessions. Most Stax artists were solo vocalists. (For the purposes of this article Sam and Dave are considered as solo vocalists as opposed to a vocal group, as their performances are not constructed around lead and background singers.) Vocal group releases by the label were few and far between. In the 1960s the Mad Lads were the only vocal group signed to the label who achieved any significant level of success. Ollie and the Nightingales and the Astors also charted but only infre­ quently. In the 1970s the company was much stronger in this area, charting with a number of vocal group recordings, but most were recorded outside of Memphis and were not part of what is understood as the 'Stax sound'. Background vocals were used sparingly on Stax recordings. Of Otis Redding's one hundred plus recordings a background chorus appears only a couple of times. Similarly, Sam and Dave did not use background vocals until the 1968 recording 'I Thank You', where Ollie and the Nightingales did the honours. Carla Thomas, who, as mentioned above, used strings on many of her early record­ ings, also generally employed background vocalists, but she was the company's major exception in this regard. Eddie Floyd, Rufus Thomas and William Bell all used background vocalists occasionally, but, in general, on Stax recordings the horn section took the place of background vocals. 'The horn is like a voice,' emphasised trumpeter Wayne Jackson, 'I always think of the horns as a second set of background singers, but you're limited as to what you can do. You don't have syllables, so you have to use dynamics tastefully. That's the one way you have of getting across your breath without having a syllable to say. "I've Been Loving You Too Long" has great horn parts. You can almost hear the horns saying words in that record. They're also used like a rhythm instru­ ment as the stop line [sings a call and response passage between Otis and the horns] - definite punctuation.' When background vocalists were employed, they were often heard on one word or one phrase only, usually centred around the title of the song. They were also usually fairly low in the mix, and it was not uncommon for one vocalist only to be used. An example of the latter occurs on Otis Redding's 'Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa (Sad Song)', where David Porter joins Redding on the 'fa-fa-fa-fa-fa' part. It is argued below that one of the governing aesthetics of the 'Stax sound' was a preference for sparse textures. Such an aesthetic naturally would severely limit the use of strings and background vocalists on most of the label's Memphis­ based recordings. The recordings bear this out.

Repertoire The vast majority of recordings at Stax were of original compositions authored by one or another of the label's artists and/or in-house songwriting teams. Of the ninety-five song sample looked at here only three songs, 'That's How Strong My Love Is', 'Hang 'Em High' and 'Testify' were written by outsiders. 292 Rob Bowman

Isaac Hayes and Vincent DeFrank. Photograph reproduced by permission of Stax Records (Falltasy 111C.)

As discussed below under' Aspects of time', there were two basic types of songs recorded as part of the 'Stax sound' - slow and mid-tempo. This division was ultimately rooted in social behaviour, namely dance. 'Duck' Dunn said basically the same thing in a more circuitous way: 'I was one of those people that, if you couldn't dance to it or it didn't make you want to hug a girl [i.e., slow dance], it wasn't worth a shit. A lot of times I could almost shut my eyes and see a bunch of warriors around a dance fire - war paint and shit on.' A musicological analysis 293

With a typology consisting of two broad tempo areas, the question becomes how does one create variation within these parameters? At Stax a number of means were used to create variation, prime among them being six discernable different textures. On Memphis-based Stax recordings there were basically four types of ballads and two types of mid-tempo songs. The four types of ballads can be characterised as: (1) 1950s-style 12/8 structures where the time is delineated by arpeggiation (e.g., Carla Thomas's 'Gee Whiz'); (2) 1950s-style ballads where the time is delineated by triplet diads (e.g., Otis Redding's 'Chained and Bound'); (3) gospel-style ballads marked by the piano playing any number of gospel piano rhythmic figures as well as substantial upper and lower neighbour note activity around the stable pitches of triads (e.g., William Bell's 'You Don't Miss Your Water'); (4) blues ballads, usually guitar centred, which maintain a fluid texture (e.g., Albert King's 'Laundromat Blues' and any number of Johnnie Taylor's early blues recordings). The two types of mid-tempo songs are: (1) monophonic riff textures where guitar, bass, the left hand of the piano and even some­ times one or another part of the drum kit hammers out the same basic riff, such as on Otis Redding's 'I Can't Turn You Loose', and (2) polyphonic ensemble textures consisting of interlocked rhythm patterns, such as Sam and Dave's 'Soul Man'. The former comes straight out of the blues tradition, particularly the riff-based blues of the mid-south via older riff-based folk music such as that of fife and drum ensembles. There are also what could be termed hybrid structures, such as Sam and Dave's 1967 recording 'When Something Is Wrong With My Baby', written by Isaac Hayes and David Porter. On this record the verses are set with the 1950s-style arpeggiations while the bridge shifts to the gospel ballad style.

Structure Structurally, as might be expected, virtually every song follows a blues, AABA, verse/chorus or chorus/verse pattern. Seventy-nine of the ninety-five songs ana­ lysed fit one of these patterns. Of the sixteen songs that did not fit one of these patterns, nine were instrumental records by Booker T. and the MGs or the Bar­ Kays where terms such as verse, chorus and bridge are not really applicable. Of the remaining seven songs, two, Otis Redding's '1 Can't Turn You Loose' and Rufus Thomas's 'Do the Funky Chicken', alternated verse and instrumental sec­ tions, while the other five songs, William Bell's 'You Don't Miss Your Water' and '1 Forgot To Be Your Lover', Redding's 'My Lover's Prayer', Mable John's 'Your Good Thing (Is About To End)', and Shirley Brown's 'Woman To Woman', consist of a strophic string of successive verses, each following the same harmonic and melodic pattern. Initially blues patterns were quite common, particularly in the recordings of Rufus Thomas and Booker T. and the MGs, but this form ceased to be used by the majority of Stax artists after the first few years of the label's existence. Excep­ tions were recordings by straight blues artists such as Albert King and Little Milton, Johnnie Taylor in 1966 and 1967, as well as the occasional instrumental record such as the Mar-Keys' 'Grab This Thing' and 'Philly Dog'. 294 Rob Bowman

Verse/chorus structures without a bridge are more common within the Stax repertoire than chorus/verse without a bridge patterns. Only three of the latter occurred in my analysis sample as opposed to fourteen of the former. Much more common than either were compositions structured verse/chorus/bridge. Twenty­ six of the ninety-five songs analysed, or 27 per cent, followed this pattern. There were seven similarly structured chorus/verse/bridge records. In either case, when­ ever compositions included a verse, a chorus and a bridge, they tended towards an AABA grouping. For example 'Candy', a 1965 hit by the Astors, is structured as follows: A A B A V C V C Inst B Gtr V C Instr ClFade Length in bars 2 16 4 16 4 4 10 8 16 4 4 5 It is also extremely common for a formally arranged pre-planned horn section 'solo' or interlude to take the place of a vocal bridge. Obviously, the function of the horn ensemble or vocal bridge is the same - to create variety within a repeating strophic structure. Eddie Floyd's hit, 'Knock On Wood', from the summer of 1966 provides a good example of this: A A B A I V C V C Horns V C OutrolFade 4 16 5 16 5 4 16 5 8+ Stax artists recorded very few straight 32-bar AABA Tin-Pan Alley structures. The few examples of this structure that do occur, Carla Thomas's 'Gee Whiz', and Otis Redding's 'Pain In My Heart' and 'Chained and Bound', were recorded in the label's very first years and are obviously throwbacks to earlier forms of popular music. The verse/chorus/bridge structure maintains the 'state something, repeat it, have something new for variety and then repeat the first material' structure of the AABA pattern with the additional element of repetition of a chorus structure that repeats the lyrics as well as the music within each'A' section. Solos, as we tend to think of them, where a given individual instrument 'improvises', are generally not common within the Stax repertoire. Of the eighty­ two songs which were analysed that were not instrumental, solos were found on only nine records. Two of these were by blues guitarist Albert King, who would be expected to take a solo on every recording he made. Two more were on Rufus Thomas's 1963 blues-based dance hits, 'The Dog' and 'Walking the Dog', while a further four show up on Eddie Floyd's 'Never Like This Before' and 'Never Found A Girl' and the Staple Singers' 'I'll Take You There' and 'Touch a Hand, Make a Friend'. The remaining solo occurs on the Astors' 'Candy'. In contrast, fourteen of the eighty-two non-instrumental songs analysed con­ tained formally arranged pre-planned horn 'solos' or interludes. Thirteen of these occurred in recordings made between 1965 and 1968, arguably the apex of the 'Stax sound'. Four bar 'vamps' or connecting sections are not uncommon, and, as might be expected, virtually every recording contains a short instrumental introduction, the only exceptions being a few of the very early 12/8 AABA ballads, such as Carla Thomas's 'Gee Whiz', Otis Redding's 'These Arms of Mine' and 'Chained and Bound' and the occasional later ballad such as Redding's 'I've Been Loving You Too Long' and Albert King's 'Laundromat Blues'. Most introductions are two or A musicological analysis 295

Stax's Staple Singers. From left to right: Roebuck 'Pop' Staples and daughters Cleo, Yvonne and Mavis. Photograph reproduced by permission of Stax Records (Fantasy Inc.> four bars long, but within the analysis sample examples that were twelve, ten, eight, seven, six, five, four and a half, one, and three-quarter bars long were found. The material heard in the introduction is often heard later as an integral part of either the verse or the chorus, thereby serving a double function. It is interesting to note that all but three songs in the ninety-five song analysis sample end by fading out. The non-instrumental recordings end with an 'ad lib' fade where the vocalists extemporise on the lyric material from the chorus or refrain, although often over a different chord progression. This structural norm provides a context for catharsis, as it is during these ad lib fades where all para­ meters are intensified, driving the song to emotional climax. The length of individual verses, choruses, bridges, etc., leans toward binary groups of eight or sixteen bars, although in the ninety-five song sample under discussion here four-bar sections are not uncommon. Twelve-bar blues structures are, of course, also quite common. One and a half, three, five, five and a half, six, seven, nine, nine and a half, ten, fourteen, fifteen, eighteen, nineteen and twenty­ bar sections do occur, but they are nothing more than occasional exceptions to the rule. The length of the songs analysed ranged from 2:03 to 5:00 minutes, although only four songs were longer than 3:34 minutes. Two of these, Little Milton's 'Walk­ ing the Back Streets and Crying' and Shirley Brown's 'Woman to Woman', were released in 1973 and 1974 respectively. Sixty-six of the ninety-five songs (69.5 per cent) clocked in between 2:20 and 3:00 minutes. Overall there is a gradual tendency over time towards lengthening records released in the single 45 r.p.m. configuration. Most of the seven recordings that 296 Rob Bowman

were shorter than 2:20 minutes were released in the early 1960s. Conversely, only seven of the twenty-two songs that were longer than 3:00 minutes were released before 1970, and not one of the songs 3:00 minutes or longer was issued prior to 1966. One can actually see a significant increase in length beginning in the spring of 1966, with the majority of songs longer than 2:40 minutes being released from that juncture forward. These restrictions on the length of records released by Stax are a factor of commercial AM radio play considerations, and they are completely consistent with popular music forty-fives being released by other record companies at the time.

Keys It is impossible to state anything definitive with regard to keys. I tend to think that within the genre of soul music preference for keys would simply depend on the vocal range of the featured vocalist. The most dramatic example of this mani­ fests itself in the Rufus Thomas recordings included in my analysis sample. Of the nine Rufus Thomas songs looked at here, seven were in the key of Eb major. Only three additional songs in the whole ninety-five song sample were in Eb major. Similarly Otis Redding seems to have preferred the key of Bb major, while Johnnie Taylor leaned heavily towards C major. Worth noting with respect to the Rufus Thomas tunes in Eb is that most of them are riff based. Eb is a difficult key for the guitar to play chord changes in (unless, of course, a capo is used), while riffs, of course, can be designed so that they are easily transposed anywhere on the neck of the instrument, making them 'user friendly' in any key. Only ten examples in the ninety-five song sample were in the minor, four of those being instrumental recordings. The six vocal recordings in the minor mode were all cut in 1967 or later. Equally interesting is the fact that the thirteen instrumental cuts analysed were in ten different keys. Three recordings, 'My Sweet Potato', 'Soul Limbo' and 'Time is Tight', were in C major, but other than this slight statistical anomaly there is absolutely no preference or pattern for the key of instrumental recordings at Stax. Three of the four instrumental recordings in the minor mode were cut in 1965 or earlier. The fourth, 'Hang 'Em High', cut in 1968, is one of the few non-Stax written songs included in the sample. Whereas in the earlier years instrumental recordings were virtually the only outlet at Stax for writing and playing in the minor mode, in later years when such activity became possible in vocal recordings, the MGs seemed to concentrate on the major mode for their solo recordings. Finally, it was interesting to find that seventy-three of the seventy-four vocal pieces looked at which were in the major mode were in the keys of Eb, Bb, F, C, G, D, A and E. All of these, with the exception of Eb and Bb, are relatively easy guitar keys. Eb and Bb are easy keys for the horn players.

Aspects of harmonic construction The discussion of harmonic construction is broken down into two areas of inquiry: (1) chord progressions and (2) voicing of chords. A musicological analysis 297

From left to right: AI Bell, Jim Stewart and 'Pop' Staples. Photograph reproduced by permission of Stax Records (Fantasy Inc.)

Chord progressions A significant tendency with regard to harmonic movement of the ninety-five song analysis sample is the common occurrence of root movement by chains of thirds. In most popular music before and after World War Two the cycle of fifths was used predominantly to generate harmonic movement. At Stax and in soul music in general, the cycle of thirds was also often employed to the point where one could label chains of thirds as a signature sound for Memphis-based recordings at 298 Rob Bowman

Stax Records. Forty-five of the ninety-five song analysis sample (47 per cent) con­ tained examples of movement by thirds. The harmonic construction on the verses of Otis Redding's '(Sittin' on the) Dock of the Bay' is a good example of this: I III IV II I III IV II. Relationships of a third exist between the chords I and III, and IV and II. Eddie Floyd's 1970 hit 'California Girl' contains a progression almost entirely modelled on movement by thirds: vi vi7 IV II IV II I. Overall, the harmonic language at Stax was relatively simple. The repertoire can be divided into five large categories: (1) songs that use primary chords exclusively (i.e., I, IV, V); (2) songs that use primary chords plus secondary minors (i.e., ii, iii, vi and vii); (3) songs that use the primary chords plus secondary majors (i.e., II, III, VI, VII); (4) songs that use chromatic chords; (5) songs that use a mixture of the above. It is not surprising to find that the bulk of material examined is based on a circumscribed harmonic vocabulary consisting largely of triadic primary diatonic chords. A third of the tunes examined used the primary I IV and V chords exclusively. I had been told by a number of Stax musicians that minor chords were avoided due to the aesthetic whims of owner and producer Jim Stewart. 'We'd playa chord in a session,' recalled a bemused Isaac Hayes, 'and Jim would say, "I don't want to hear that chord." Jim's ears were just tuned into one, four and five. I mean, just simple changes. He didn't like minor chords. Me and Marvell fought all the time [about] that. Booker wanted change as well.' That said, it should be pointed out that there is moderate use of secondary minor chords. Thirty-nine tunes in the analysis sample, including Otis Redding's 'Pain In My Heart', Sam and Dave's 'When Something Is Wrong With My Baby' and Johnnie Taylor's 'Who's Making Love', fall into this category. In many of these cases, particularly in the case of ballads, the minor chords would appear in the bridge only. There were very few songs that used primary and secondary major chords exclusively. The few examples that occurred included Redding's '(Sittin' on the) Dock of the Bay', Booker T. and the MGs 'Time Is Tight' and Sam and Dave's 'Said I Wasn't Gonna Tell Nobody' and 'Hold On! I'm Comin' '. On the other hand, there were several songs that used chromatic harmony in combination with the primary chords. Most such cases, including Redding's 'Respect' and Sam and Dave's 'Soul Man', are recordings made in 1965 or later, and nearly all use either the major III, bVI or bVII chords. Isaac Hayes seems to have been particularly fond of using chromatic harmony, especially in the bridges. For example the horn ensemble bridge in 'You Don't Know Like I Know' resolves in its last five bars through Ab, G, Gb and F which sets up a cadence on Bb, the dominant of the home key of Eb. Similarly the second half of the verse moves from C minor through B major and then Bb major setting up a cadence at the beginning of the subsequent verse on Eb. Over fifteen songs analysed used chords from two or more of the above categories. Quite common was the use of the minor iii with the major bVII. Examples of this include Carla Thomas's 'B-A-B-Y' and the Astors' 'Candy'. The bIll was also a popular chord used in juxtaposition with other minor chords. Eddie Floyd used such a combination on both 'Knock On Wood' and 'Raise Your Hand'. A number of Otis Redding tracks, such as 'I've Been Loving You Too Long', A musicological analysis 299

'Respect' and 'My Lover's Prayer' used secondary majors and/or major chromatic chords omitting the minor entirely. Steve Cropper explained to me that this was a result of Redding writing on guitar using open E 'Vastopol' tuning. With this tuning the six strings of the guitar are tuned so that when the instrument is strummed without depressing the strings on the neck, a major chord is sounded. One can then play major chords (and only major chords) on any scale degree by simply barring the guitar at any fret position. This tuning is commonly used by country blues guitarists throughout the Deep South as well as gospel guitarists from a number of regions. The former tend to restrict themselves to barring the fifth and seventh fret (the IV and V chords) while the latter tend to barre on other frets as well. There is very limited use of extended chords. When they do occur they are typically 17 chords. Johnnie Taylor's early blues ballads are an exception, being constructed around a number of ninth chords, a trait typical of post-war urban blues in general. Very few other altered chords turned up in the analysis sample. The Soul Children's 'I'll Understand' and Carla Thomas's 'Gee Whiz' both used an augmented one chord, Rufus Thomas's 'Sophisticated Sissy' has a iv chord and Mable John's 'Your Good Thing (Is About To End)' has an augmented fifth chord, but such examples are few and far between and of little overall significance. Quite striking was the very important role of the IV chord. In many examples it was much more prominent than the V chord. For instance, in Eddie Floyd's 1966 hit 'Knock On Wood' the V chord does not appear in the verse or outro and is used for two beats only on the horn interlude. The outro simply alternates the I and IV chords. Similarly the V chord is used for two beats only in the verse and bridge of Johnnie Taylor's 1967 recording of 'Ain't That Lovin' You', whereas the IV chord takes up five bars of the verse and one and a half bars of the bridge. This prominence of the IV chord and relative unimportance in a number of record­ ings of the V chord most likely comes straight out of gospel music. Another finding was that by the early 1970s chord progressions were being simplified. A number of Rufus Thomas's early 1970s hits, such as 'Do the Funky Chicken', '(Do the) Push and Pull' and 'The Breakdown', are one chord songs. Less dramatic is the Soul Children's 'Hearsay', which has an A section based exclusively on the I chord and a B section which uses the IV and V chords. Sim­ ilarly, the Staple Singers' 'Respect Yourself' uses just the I and V chords, while 'I'll Take You There' is based on just the I and IV chords. In Thomas's case this simplification is undoubtedly a direct result of intensify­ ing the rhythm in what was then a new style called 'funk', originally pioneered by James Brown in 1967 and 1968. As one parameter becomes more complex (e.g., rhythm), another parameter is simplified (e.g., harmony). This was probably for the benefit of both the musicians and the listener, as both are limited in the amount of information they can process at anyone moment. The Soul Children and Staple Singers' records are not as funk-orientated, but I would contend that James Brown's drastic reduction in harmonic movement influenced virtually all black music at the time. It is worth noting here that, as Stax moved forward in time and harmonic progressions were simplified and rhythm intensified, records were also gradually increasing in length, and structures were becoming more amorphous and idiosyncratic. In generat harmonic rhythm (the rate of chord changes) is greater on the ballads. This is not surprising, given the slower tempo of ballads. Most ballads 300 Rob Bowman

Rufus and Carla Thomas promoting Rufus' 'Do the Funky Penguin'. Photograph reproduced by permission of Stax Records (Fanta sy Il1 c.) have chord changes marking every bar with the occasional bar containing two chords. Many mid-tempo tunes do this as well, but a number of the faster record­ ings tend to start the verse by sitting on the same chord (usually the I chord) for a number of bars. Otis Redding's 1965 recording '{ Can't Turn You Loose' is an example of this, where the verse starts with eight bars on the { chord. William Bell's 'Never Like This Before' from 1966 and Rufus Thomas's 'Sophisticated Sissy' from 1967 do exactly the same thing. There is no such pattern for the choruses, A musicological analysis 301 and the harmonic rhythm of the bridges, horn ensembles and ad-lib fades is most often one chord per bar. Also common is an eight-bar structure with a four-bar chord progression that simply repeats itself. Redding's 1966 recording of 'My Lover's Prayer' can serve as an example of this, where the verse is made up of I IV V I I IV V I with each chord taking up one full bar. Repeated two-bar patterns can also occur, more commonly in the second period when harmonic progressions in general became simplified. A device employed occasionally at Stax was the upward modulation of a half step. This occurs on William Bell's 'Everybody Loves A Winner' and 'Everyday Will Be Like A Holiday', Bell and Judy Clay's 'Private Number', Rufus Thomas's 'Sophisticated Sissy', the Staple Singers' 'When Will We Be Paid' and Eddie Floyd's 'California Girl'.

Voicing of chords At Stax there seems to have been a definite sense of an appropriate voicing for the horns, but how it was executed was quite fluid. Much of the time the trumpet would play the root of a chord. When a baritone saxophone was present during the first half of the 1960s, it would often double the trumpet line on the root. The tenor saxophone in the middle would either play the third or the flat seventh, while the fifth of the chord would generally be absent. When the label switched to a line-up of two tenor saxophones and trumpet in late 1965, the trumpet continued playing the root the majority of the time with one tenor playing the third and the other the flat seventh. Tenor saxophone player Andrew Love stated, 'I always like to play the third or the seventh. I always liked to play right in the middle of my horn and get that fat sound around E, 0, Eb. I wanted to get on tape!' That said, there was no hard and fast rule as to who would play what partial of the chord. Parts were often the product of prudent voice leading by whole tones or semitones. Tenor saxophone player Joe Arnold stated, 'We played close harmony. If you were playing a harmony part, when you made a chord change, you would go to the note that was closest to the original note you started on. Whereas with Blood, Sweat and Tears or some other horn sections, if they had a harmony part here, [they] might switch and jump up. 'That's what made it so easy for us to get the lines down fast and have harmony parts on it. We had a close harmony style. We could go anywhere. Most of the horn players around in that period that worked for those studios used those type of harmony parts. It made it a lot simpler and, to me, if you jump around those spreads with three or four horns, you're not gonna get the fatness you will if you have less movement.' Following this precept led to many parallel harmonies, a technique one hears in a lot of gospel quartet singing. Trumpeter Wayne Jackson'S statement noted above about conceiving the horn lines as background vocal parts may have some relevance here. Keyboardist Booker T. Jones often served as the liaison between the rhythm section and the horns. Not surprisingly, the voicing of horn lines was partially determined by what was going on in the rhythm section. 'A lot of times: explained Jones, 'the horn lines were just moving through chords I was playing. What they 302 Rob Bowman

Example 1. Horn ensemble from 'You Got Me Hummin' , J F I ~r would play would have to move through the basic chord structure that I had set up when I hit a chord. Their line would be really closely related to it tonally.' Baritone saxophonist Floyd Newman concurred: 'A lot of time it would have something to do with the way the piano player was voicing his chord or what the guitar player was playing.' Many of the horn lines at Stax were in unison octaves. 'We had a small section, and unison works real well,' explained Wayne Jackson. 'Unison is more powerful. Two horns can play in unison and be real powerful.' Andrew Love had another explanation: 'A lot of times we'd be in a hurry and everybody's playing at the same time and you don't want to make a mistake. Somebody's got to go to work [in the clubs] and you'll say, "Hell, what's the chord?" "I don't know what the chord is; let's play in unison, man." [That's the way it was] at first! Then people started looking for it all the time, and we started doing it. We started to be identified with it.' Floyd Newman recalls Jim Stewart asking for unison lines. He also felt that 'the immaturity of all of our tones and the sound that we were getting out of those horns helped those unison lines, made them sound a little different. We weren't doing anything that nobody else was doing.' Unison octave lines would often diverge into harmony at the end, creating a powerful effect which could be seen to parallel, in a different parameter, the additive textural technique commonly employed at Stax (see Example 1). Booker T. Jones's concept of keyboard voicings is consistent with what I believe to be the general precept operative at Stax, simply that 'less is more'. 'I finally came up with what I call my own sound, voicing-wise. The rule of thumb was sparseness, making as much sound as you could with few notes. My game plan was to get largeness out of sparseness. For instance, two notes can sound really large if they're the right ones. If you want a simple sound, you just work with fifths. A lot of times that's all you need if you're working with a singer or if the melody's happening. You don't need the other notes, because they're implied in the melody. If you want to thicken it up some, that's where the thirds and sevenths come in.' Jones pointed out the MGs 1962 hit 'Green Onions' as an example where he played open fifths for the whole song. It is interesting to note in light of what Jones says about 'largeness' that this open fifth sound is what is used by heavy metal bands for power chords. Jones completed a Bachelor of Music degree at the University of Indiana in the mid-1960s and consequently can discuss music theoretically. The rest of the band did not have this advantage, but, according to Booker, that did not present a problem. 'I don't think Steve [Cropper] was conscious in music theory terms of what was going on,' exclaimed Jones. 'He didn't know the numbers of the notes, but he felt it and he knew what to do on his guitar. Steve and I learned to voice chords together by growing up together. I'm sure I could sit down now and playa certain A musicological analysis 303

Example 2. Typical Steve Cropper voicing of a G major chord in first inversion omitting the fifth

chord and Steve would just hit the same thing basically without knowing what it is.' Guitarist Cropper has basically three different types of voicing: (1) the standard first position chords on ballads; (2) the standard barre chords played over all six strings using the A, E or C positions; (3) partial voicings where he is playing diads or triads on any two or three of the top four strings of the guitar.

Favourite constructions for the latter are triads consisting of the third, sev­ enth and root notes of a chord, open seventh diads, and diads outlining the interval of a sixth where he is playing the third and root note of a chord in first inversion (see Example 2). These partial chords gave flexibility for Cropper to play harmonised fills in and around the vocal line. It is often claimed that soul music and the 'Stax sound' are in one way or another influenced by country music (Miller 1980; Guralnick 1986; Hoskyns 1987), but how this is manifested is addressed nowhere in the literature. I contend that one way a country and western influence comes into play is through these har­ monised fills on the high end of the guitar. One can hear examples of this type of playing using diads at the interval of a sixth in any number of Chet Atkins or Jerry Reed sessions. The sixth is also, of course, a favourite interval in black and white gospel music. Its prominent role in the sound of Stax Records, therefore, is not surprising.

Time Tempo and pulse Analysis of the ninety-five song sample reveals that there were two basic concep­ tions of tempo at Stax, one used for what could be termed ballads or slow songs, the other for mid-tempo material. Ultimately both categories are rooted in social behaviour, namely dance. Early Stax recordings, such a the Mar-Keys' 'Last Night' and Rufus Thomas's 'The Dog', were explicitly modelled after the twist and the popeye, current dances of the day. Extreme nptempo songs, as one finds in a number of rock and roll records, were not part of the label's or soul music's aesthetic. This preference is most likely a direct result of the prevailing black dance styles of the time. Thirty-one (32.6 per cent) of the ninety-five songs analysed could be classified as ballads, as their tempo falls between 48 and 78 beats per minute. All other songs could be classified as mid-tempo, with fifty-eight records (61.1 per cent) in the analysis sample lying between 102 and 132 beats per minute. A further six songs fall on the outer reaches of the mid-tempo category, five of them lying in a 'no man's land' at 90 and 96 beats per minute, while the Astors' 'Candy' was set at a tempo of 138 beats per minute. 304 Rob Bowman

All of the thirteen instrumental songs would be classified as mid-tempo. This is also consistent with the vast majority of the instrumental recordings released by Stax that were not part of the analysis sample.

Arrangement and organisation of time of the various instruments I have divided the area of arrangement and organisation of aspects of time into three subsections: vocals, horns and the rhythm section. I have further subdivided the rhythm section into drums, bass and chordal instruments, the latter of which include piano, organ and guitar. Before examining the rhythmic activity of these component parts I should state that every rhythm and blues song recorded at Stax is in 4/4 time. On slow ballads in the 1960s a triplet grid is often superimposed on the four crotchet beats creating what is commonly referred to as 12/8 time. Twenty of the ninety-five songs examined here are in 12/8. Only one of those, Little Mil­ ton's 'Walking the Back Streets and Crying', was recorded after the autumn of 1968. It is worth noting that seven of these 12/8 ballads are Otis Redding record­ ings. His very first release, recorded in 1962, 'These Arms of Mine', was a pleading AABA 12/8 ballad, and it remained a prototype that he would often return to throughout his career.

Vocals It is hard to go beyond generalisation with respect to the singing at Stax due to the sheer number of vocalists involved. As can be expected, each has his or her own idiosyncracies, which serve to characterise their various styles. For example, writer/producers Isaac Hayes and David Porter had worked out an arrangement formula very early on for the records they produced on Sam and Dave. Sam's higher and stronger voice would be given the first verse, Dave's thinner, lower and rougher timbre took the second, and the third verse would be either split between the two or be Sam's alone. If there was a bridge, it was most often split between Dave and Sam, in that order. The first verse was often reprised at the end with Sam singing lead. Behind each other's solo vocals the other partner would inject cries and shouts of urging and affirmation. Connections would be seamless, and the choruses would be in unison, harmony, or some combination of unison, solo and harmony. When the two do sing in unison or harmony, they are not overly concerned about being perfectly synchronised rhythmically, either with each other or with the pulse. They have a much more fluid conception of time, with Sam generally being slightly ahead of the beat while Dave lags slightly behind. I maintain that most music revolves around an ever-continuing cycle of tension and release. The tension created by the different conceptions of the beat by Sam and Dave is one of the central aesthetic components of their records. This is a technique that is also common within gospel music. The vocal lines of Stax vocalists commonly exhibit a marked tendency to phrase across the beat, studiously avoiding regular articulations on all four onbeats (see Example 3). That stated, Sam and Dave often rhythmically accentuate beat one of a bar while avoiding all other onbeats (see Example 4). There are other examples where vocalists will begin a phrase accentuating onbeats and then switch mid-way through to the offbeats (see Example 5). And, A musicological analysis 305

Example 3. First two bars of Carla Thomas's 'B-A-B-Y' tcEa I J a J Ba by oh Ba by ah oh

Example 4. Sam and Dave's 'Said I Wasn't Conna Tell Nobody'

... I*·@~ ~ J1 J 1 J 1> I You arc so much wo -

Example 5. Staple Singers' 'If You're Ready, Come Co With Me'

Vv v • Pcaa: and love ov uh uh uh

Example 6. Rufus Thomas's 'Walking The Dog'

~Ik" I - V",,;c 2 I : ktQ)·' : I ~J J j) "1 • ~ Mar- y Mack drcsscU in black I~ : I ~J J ) "1 - l2iJ]@ ~ Sil- vcr bullllns all down her back of course, there are examples, especially on uptempo dance tunes, where onbeats are very dramatically accented (see Example 6). Contrasts are often set up by alternating onbeat and offbeat accentuation. The first four bars of the Soul Children's 1969 rhythm and blues hit 'Tighten Up My Thang' provide a good example of this. Vocalist J. Blackfoot hits every onbeat for the first one and a quarter bars, then pauses at the end of the lyric line for two and a half beats, hits the highest note of the whole first verse on the offbeat after four in bar two, holds it over the bar, rests for two more quavers before finishing the second lyric line, hitting the offbeats after beats two, three and four (see Example 7). It is a simple but brilliant piece of rhythmic phrasing. Vocalists also often shift the rhythmic positioning of syllables when they repeat a line, creating interest through juxtaposition (see Example 8). It is also typical to end a lyric line by slowing down vocal movement (see Example 9). Repeated rhythmic patterns within an otherwise shifting time construct are also employed (see Example 10). On Stax recordings vocalists tend overwhelmingly to use crotchets and qua­ vers with the occasional dotted crotchet. Small numbers of semiquavers appear 306 Rob Bowman

Example 7. The Soul Children's 'Tighten Up My Thang'

'I J J I J 1) ! y kpd Dm'l wanl no - bod - y (0 I..ke (l - vcr * where 141 p 't 'I I'm 100-

Example 8. Carla Thomas's 'B-A-B-Y'

.) Oh l3a by ah oh JPJ Oh l3a by - e I love

Example 9. Staple Singers' 'If You're Ready, Come Go With Me'

~f. 2 . \'LN' I \, - -

will be tol - cr - a - ted

Example 10. Otis Redding's 'Pain In My Heart' 3 "t JJdS "; !.

And now the days_ have be- gan 10 get rough

come back come back: come bad; come back

on slow ballads (see Example 11). In general, the greater the tempo, the less complex the vocal line will be rhythmically and vice versa.

Horns As stated above, the horns are often used in the same fashion as background vocals are used in other forms of rhythm and blues and popular music. They generally either underscore the lead vocal line, serving a harmonic function by A musicological analysis 307

Example 11. Mable John's 'Your Good Thing (Is About To End)' l~w.1 . Vcr"" I ._1_ :> rr r f g ! :'I P it tr 9 I*~ Yuu uun't have In luve me when I wanl it playing chords in long swelling notes, or they answer the vocals in a call and response fashion by playing short, syncopated, repeating riffs or single and/or double note 'shots'. Tenor saxophone player Andrew Love commented on the latter function: 'Sometimes we'd be on a funny beat just to stay off the voice. We did it so much, it started being a certain style. It sounded funny at first, but then it started being identifiable. We tried to fill up the holes, stay off the voice, kick the punch parts, emphasise the hook line and on the fadeout try to get exciting to take 'em on out. 'Otis Redding had a lot to do with that horn sound: continued Love, 'because he hummed a lot of horn lines to us. [Love sings a series of quavers with offbeat accents.] We took it from there, and they turned out to be Memphis horn lines. He would put the horns in some funny places too. Sometimes it would be hard to feel them where he's sing them. We'd come in sometimes and we hadn't heard the song before, but he would have been sitting up all night working on it, and he would feel the horns in a certain place. We'd say, "Now wait a minute," but after you played it through, it all came together. It was right.' Wayne Jackson echoed Love's sentiments: 'Otis was a good teacher. He taught us a lot about rhythm. He loved the horns. He'd be shaking his fist at you and be singing those parts and it was just electrifying.' 'Otis always had the hardest head arrangements: added Floyd Newman. 'They were different and super difficult. He would have all these things in his head. He knew every line and every hole in every place. He knew where he was going on every song, what beat he wanted the lines to fall on. There's not a lot of words on Otis' records, but there are a lot of horn lines. James Brown did the same thing, but Otis' horn lines were entirely different from what James was doing. They were more difficult, rhythmically and harmonically. He would always say, "Floyd, if you listen to the song and your shoulders don't move, there's no groove to it." , Most commonly the horns fulfil a harmonic role on the vocal bridges, while there is a tendency for the horns to treat the verse and chorus in dissimilar fashion (i.e., if they drone chords on the verse, they will playa response riff or shots in the chorus or vice versa). Often the horns will play in the intro and then sit out the first verse, beginning to play in the song proper starting with the second verse or the chorus. This additive technique of building the song over time by the grad­ ual introduction of instruments and increased activity by those instruments already in use is quite common in this music. In fact, it is one of the music's basic building devices. For example, six of the introductions in Sam and Dave's seven Top 10 rhythm and blues hits written by Isaac Hayes and David Porter were structured in such an additive fashion.

Bass and drums The rhythm section is very commonly aligned with the prevalent pattern in most rhythm and blues and popular music, where a constant dialectic is maintained 308 Rob Bowman between the bass guitar and bass drum, emphasising beats one and three while a back beat on beats two and four is being hammered out by the snare drum, often in consort with a tambourine, guitar, piano and/or organ. Over this, drummer Al Jackson usually plays a quaver ride pattern (sometimes with a slight swing) on a dosed hi-hat. One section, usually the bridge, commonly has a much flatter four-to-the-bar sound with the snare often actually playing all four beats. The latter is a technique which commonly turns up in the 1980s in the music of the Eurythmics. The use of the dosed hi-hat for virtually all the cymbal work is significant. As mentioned earlier, the one overall phrase that best categorises this music might be that 'less is more'. If the suspended crash or ride cymbals were used instead of the dosed hi-hat, their acoustic properties would fill up a much larger portion of the pitch spectrum and duration continuum. As such, they would be out of place in a music where a governing aesthetic is quite dearly a sparse, open texture. To complement this aesthetic further, the hi-hat was often played so quietly that its presence was nearly subliminal. Steve Cropper has an interesting comment about the lack of crash and ride cymbals on Stax recordings: We didn't use cymbals that much; it was almost taboo to use a lot of cymbals. We didn't like the high end; we thought it offended the female buyer. It's true! Women bought more records than men, and they were offended by high end. They would hear that bright, sizzling high end, and they just wouldn't want to know about it. In their cars, almost inevitably, they would have the tone knob turned down so it was all bassy. That's one of the tricks of the trade! (Wittet 1987, p. 86) Similarly, drummer Al Jackson by using a wooden shell snare drum and by tuning his batter head (top) loosely achieves very little of the taut, metallic proper­ ties that many drummers strive for. Instead, Jackson opts for a deadened sound using very tight snares to dampen the bottom head of the drum. Also to deaden the sound further, Jackson would tape his wallet to the top head of his snare drum. At the same time that he was altering the snare's timbre, he played very hard, hitting the rim and the skin of the snare at exactly the same moment with the heavy end of the stick. The net result was a sound that truly packed a wallop. Writer T. Bruce Wittet has commented that by doing this Jackson 'got a perfect blend of highs (from the rim), mids (by activating the shell of the drum), and snare response' (Wittet 1987, p. 86). It is a readily identifiable sound. The actual snare he used was a Rogers Powertone with a wood shell. The floor tom was also a Rogers with a wood shell, while the single small tom and bass drum were Ludwigs. One of the points made most often about the Stax sound concerns the use of the delayed back beat that first appeared on the May 1965 recording of Wilson Pickett's 'In The Midnight Hour', Jackson would usually play that in conjunction with Steve Cropper's rhythm guitar. Cropper had an addendum to the time-honored tale. Apparently there was some delay in the playing of the Stax house band from the beginning. 'It was an accident when it first started. It just came out of the way the studio was set up. It was such a big room, and we were so spread out - that was before the days of headphones - so there was a certain room delay. What I got in a habit of doing is, I had an eye contact with [AI Jackson's] left hand. I started anticipating, when he was coming down I'd come down with him. Rather than wait on the A musicological analysis 309 sound to get over to me, I'd go with his hands. It just turned out to be very tight. 'The other thing is the way that the singers had to set up, obviously a good way behind the baffle to keep the drums out of their microphone. Then it became a very delayed thing by the time Al heard the singers singing, by the time he hit it and we hit it. Except when we hit it, there wasn't this big splatter. There was this very tight backbeat. , "Midnight Hour" was the first time where it was real obvious. What hap­ pened later was [that] we wound up developing something that we realised we were doing. What we started being more conscious of when we started being a tighter unit is putting the kick drum beat dead on and delaying the "two, four" which became an actual physical thing, not room delay at that point.' Cropper also took pains to point out that after a drum fill at the end of a section they would very deliberately play the two dead on to synchronise the groove again before delaying the backbeat on each subsequent bar. Al Jackson lay even further behind the beat when he would play on sessions for Willie Mitchell at Hi Records. When I suggested this to 'Duck' Dunn, he laughed, 'It just don't sound like the stick's gonna get there.' Due to the relatively archaic recording equipment used by Stax (owner Jim Stewart's theory was not to replace what has given you success), it is often difficult to detect a bass drum on many of these recordings in the ensemble passages. Where it is audible, Jackson is generally playing it on beats one and three; on one, the off beat before three and beat three; on one, the off beat after one, on three and the off beat after three; on beats one, two, three, the off beat after three and four; or on straight crotchets on all four beats. He generally left both heads on the bass drum and would often dampen the sound by putting a pillow inside of it. On record Jackson was a simple drummer. He generally avoided embellish­ ments of all kinds, including drum fills typically found at the end of four- and eight-bar patterns in much popular music. When they did occur, they often were part of an interlocked pattern worked out with bass, guitar and keyboards. The exceptions to the above were Booker T. and the MGs records where Jackson gener­ ally played much more complex and flashy parts, often utilising added timbres such as a cowbell. One final point about Al Jackson concerns his absolute metronomic sense of time. 'He was the best timekeeper I've ever played with,' asserts Stax guitarist Steve Cropper. ' ... If we made forty takes of a song - if we cut it all day long - you could edit the intro of the first take with the fade out of the last take, and the tempo would be identical' (Wittet 1987, p. 88). Jackson was pretty well in control of setting the tempo for most Stax record­ ings, often setting them a little slower than some might have preferred. 'Duck' Dunn recalled that, Ninety per cent of the time, Al was right. 1'd get a little irritated sometimes, but I would keep it to myself. His tendency would be to take the tempos slower than I could feel them. I can give you a perfect example: 'I Thank You', by Sam and Dave. I always felt that song could have been more ball-of-fire. There again, that's an example of how creative he could be. (Wittet 1987, p. 90) Dunn told me basically the same thing but added, 'Either you played with Al or you didn't cut it. Either you played AI's feel or there was no feel at all. He communicated to the whole band that way - with his playing and with his eyes.' Stax recordings are 'groove' -orientated, and although Jackson could be absolutely 310 Rob Bowman

Example 12. Rhythm guitar pattern during the verses of 'Soul Man' I! J nJ J J metronomical, he was so much more than a glorified human click track, often allowing a given performance to 'breathe' by changing the groove either without changing the tempo or by deliberate subtle tempo adjustments as a piece moves from one section to another. Otis Redding's late 1966 recording of the Tin-Pan Alley standard 'Try a Little Tenderness' is probably the finest example of the latter. Perhaps one could describe this as employing a concept of a 'flexible pulse'. Overall 'Duck' Dunn's bass lines tend to be functional. 'It's simplicity, [but] simple can be complicated,' asserted Dunn. On ballads he opts for a minimalist approach, while on the mid-tempo numbers he often employs a shuffle rhythm. Like the vocalists, he often plays significant accents on the off beats. 'Isaac Hayes had a lot to do with that,' explained Dunn. 'We called it the up beat, a lot of people call it the "and". I'd never played on the "and" before. Like [Sam and Dave's] "You Got Me Hummin' ", man, I had fits with that. Once I got into it and learned it, then I started affiliating it a little bit with the down beats. Then I could go a little bit both ways.' It was stated above that Dunn generally emphasised beats one and three. That is statistically true, but there are several significant deviations from this where he avoids playing on beat three altogether. Examples include the B section of Sam and Dave's 1966 recording "You Don't Know Like I Know' and the intro and verse of their 'You Got Me Hummin' , recorded the same year. Many of the mid-tempo songs are structured around extremely tight rhythmic riffs built from the bottom up. In other words, the bass is arguably the most important instrument, as it plays the bedrock riff that every other instrument's part is conceived around. This is nicely illustrated by the fact that in most of the additive introductions discussed earlier the first instrument heard (usually in conjunction with one or two other instruments) is the bass.

Guitar and keyboards The piano and guitar most commonly play one-bar repeated rhythm patterns, which also obviously double in function by laying out a given song's chord changes. The guitar often doubles the bass line an octave higher. The left hand of the piano also often duplicates the bass line, while the right hand often duplicates the guitar part. The duplication at various points in various permutations of guitar, bass and piano parts is consistent with the aesthetic cited above as 'less is more'. The overall effect is a reduction of parts and a sparse texture. In general on the mid-tempo tunes, both piano and guitar play one or another pattern that emphasises all four beats, with quaver and semiquaver subdivisions occurring after beats two, three and/or four. It is extremely common for some kind of semiquaver subdivision to occur between beats two and three on the mid-tempo examples (see Example 12). Cropper also commonly plays variations on the Baion rhythm 0 "I x~) or 1 + 3) when he is not emphasising the back beat in tandem with the snare drum. A musicological analysis 311

Example 13. Piano from William Bell's 'You Don't Miss Your Water'

f\ !l

.J ...... Piano r W J ..F.f1 I

In general Cropper maintains a fluid conception of his role within the ensemble, at times locking in with the drums, at other times locking in with the horns or doubling the piano and/or bass lines. On the slower 12/8 ballads either the guitar or piano often arpeggiates the chords in triplets and/or the piano lays out the time, playing block chords in triplets. In this context the piano also often plays a pattern taken straight out of gospel music involving semiquaver triplets over a triplet quaver grid (see Example 13). As with Dunn and Jackson above, simplicity was a guiding principle for all the MGs. Guitarist Cropper, while discussing players who had influenced him, had this to say: 'Les Paul was too fast for me. "How High The Moon" racing at jet speed was a little bit past my roots. I was more church, down home, swamp music, slow. What got my hair standing up was the Five Royales, the feel on some of those old Little Richard records - that big old simplicity feel.' The composite whole of all these intersecting rhythmic parts referred to above can be termed a 'groove'. The key to much of this music is that it is groove-based. The primary focus of the mid-tempo songs is this rhythmic groove coupled with the emotive capabilities of the vocalist(s}.

Melodic construction There are not many surprises with respect to melodic construction. Most melodies consist largely of pendulum-like movement between the tonic and the third or the tonic and the fifth. Ranges of any given section can be as small as a third (usually tonic up to the third, occasionally the sixth up to the tonic and sometimes, over the V chord, the dominant up to the seventh) or as large as an octave or a ninth. The latter case is most commonly a result of employing the upper second degree of the scale as an upper neighbour note of the tonic. The leading note to the lower tonic is also commonly used. Most melodies are constructed from the tonic upwards (e.g., if the range is a fifth in G major, the lowest note is G, the highest note D), but there are examples of pia gal ranges. For example, the chorus of 'I Thank You' goes from the lower dominant up a seventh to a fourth above the tonic, and the second phrase of 'You Got Me Hummin' , has the dominant as its lowest note and the leading tone, three scale degrees higher, as its highest note. A number of songs omit the fourth, and some, such as Otis Redding's 'That's What My Heart Needs', are pentatonic, omitting the fourth and the seventh. Many pieces exhibit variable treatment of the third and the seventh (i.e., using both the major and the minor), while very few have a variable fifth. 312 Rob Bowman

Example 14. Bar 8 of the first A section from Otis Redding's 'Pain In My Heart' J2 J 4 II I had c - nough

It is common, although by no means a rule, for sections of songs to end with a descending major second movement to the tonic (see Example 14). Instrumental solos, although rare, tend to be melodically based as, of course, are the formally planned pre-arranged horn interludes, discussed above under structure. The presence of the occasional melodic-based guitar solo is perhaps another manifestation of the country influence in this music. With regard to linear instrumental accompaniment, I have already quoted tenor player Andrew Love saying that staying out of the way of the vocal was a priority. Bass player 'Duck' Dunn told me that he conceived his bass lines with reference to the vocal line as well. 'I thought sometimes I tried to playa lot of melody. I follow the vocal pretty good. Like with Otis, even though it may not be the right note, I could bend up with him and I might make him do something the next time to make his vocal change. 'That's why I had a had time in Los Angeles [as a session player] just making tracks without a vocal. If you can't hear the song, how can you play it? They can give you all the chords they want to, but if you don't hear the melody and hear what the singer is doing, you don't know what the fuck to play.' Dunn very rarely played the typical lines that bass players who conceive of their parts harmonically are liable to come up with. One rarely hears Dunn play a walking line or stick to the roots. Instead Dunn tends to move in conjunct motion, although, unlike Motown bassist James Jamerson, he does not play many chromatic notes. Beatie Paul McCartney's bass playing had a large impact on Dunn, making the MG bassist even more melodic as time went on. Although it is beyond the scope of this particular work to delve into the detail necessary to prove this, I think that Dunn's 'melodic' style (and the style of the MGs in general) had a substantial influence on Jamaican reggae. One of the key points implicit in Dunn's statement cited above is the fact that virtually all this music was cut 'live' on the floor with the vocalist. It would seem that at Stax the musicians felt that to create a part properly one needed to hear every other player's lines. All the Stax musicians stressed repeatedly the importance of integrated parts. As stated earlier, this music is a product of a groove-oriented aesthetic, consisting of musical interaction between all partici­ pants including the vocalist. It can be argued that this notion of integrated parts and a groove-oriented aesthetic exists in much older Memphis music as well. Floyd Newman felt that the sound of the label was largely a consequence of cutting live in the studio. 'We came up with a lot of good head arrangements. A lot of times these kind of licks would have more feeling than ones that were written. You would have a tendency to playa lot of things that were written out like they were written - with no feeling. They were always written in the North.' A musicological analysis 313

Finally, with regard to melodic activity, it needs to be mentioned that just as the horns often played in unison, the guitar and the bass regularly doubled their parts, sometimes in tandem with the piano. This type of texture was possibly indirectly influenced by the country practice in Nashville in the late 1950s of doub­ ling bass with baritone guitar to, in Steve Cropper's words, 'get that popping effect before finger nails and electric Fender basses came into the picture'. In fact, some of Steve Cropper's very first sessions were playing a baritone guitar doubling the bass for sessions engineered by Scotty Moore at Sun Records. Cropper also thought that the doubling of bass and guitar was partially influenced by the Bill Doggett Band, which cut a number of rhythm and blues hits for King Records in the second half of the 1950s.

Ornamentation As important as elements such as melodic range, rhythm and choice of individual notes are, the real magic of many of the vocal performances has to do with orna­ mentation, what folklorists and ethnomusicologists often refer to as 'playful voic­ edness'. Sam Moore (of Sam and Dave) and Otis Redding were especially adept at this, constantly decorating the melody with small, at times almost imperceptible but nevertheless real, melismas, scoops into and off notes, and various degrees of vibrato. All of these devices are commonly heard in black church music and, of course, are prevalent in most forms of sub-Saharan African and African-American music. In soul music, as in black church music, these techniques are given extreme emphasis to the point where it can be argued that they can be viewed as defining characteristics. Certain instrumental techniques/ornaments utilised at Stax parallel or replic­ ate this 'playful voicedness'. One finds this in Cropper's guitar hammer-ons and in Booker T. Jones's keyboard predilection for approaching the lowest note in a chord via a lightning quick semi-tone grace note below. 'Duck' Dunn was quoted earlier discussing how he conceived his lines in relation to the vocal melody. Steve Cropper saw part of his role as guitarist as ornamenting the vocal melody and guitarist Lowman Pauling of the Five Royales was quite influential in this regard, 'I think it was his attack at the licks - short, quick, in and out things in between the lyrics. A lot of guitar players play more like piano players. They play the whole picture all the way. Then they throw in a riff here and there. Pauling mainly noodled rhythm, and then where there was a hole, he'd just come out loud and just give you this big sling shot. I think that really influenced me. I think that's probably what developed my style in doing sessions, listening for holes in the singer so the licks I play are as important to the melody as the melody is to the licks I play, where one flows into the other, rather than me sitting there trying to play guitar and stepping all over the singer.'

Timbral and production considerations The discussion of timbral and production considerations will be divided into two areas of inquiry: (1) the equipment used by, and aesthetic conception of, the house band at Stax, and (2) the recording equipment and acoustic properties of the Stax studio itself. 314 Rob Bowman

Equipment used and aesthetic conception of the house band This is an area that is not normally considered in academic analysis of musical performance. With post-war popular music this type of analysis is absolutely essential to understand timbral and textural considerations. As mentioned earlier, the Stax sound was bass heavy. On most of the Stax material recorded during the 1960s Dunn played a Fender Precision bass through an Ampeg B-15 amplifier. He set the volume setting at four, the treble all the way open, the bass at about six and the middle at about four. 'I found the more treble you used on the Ampeg amp,' explained Dunn, 'the more bass you got.' Dunn was also a stickler for using flat wound strings. 'That's another differ­ ence,' continued the bassist. 'Today it's all round wound. As the flat wound strings get older they get more of a thud. They match the kick drum with more of a thud than a tone.' The latter comment indicates a couple of interesting things, firstly, a concern again for a highly integrated sound among the Stax house band, and secondly, the importance of rhythm (i.e., 'groove') over melodic and harmonic considerations. Finally, Dunn plays with his finger nails whenever he desires a popping sound. Cropper was just as particular about the sound of his guitar. He would always leave his Fender Telecaster guitar wide open, using his amplifier to set the levels. He steadfastly refused ever to use the bass pickup on his guitar, instead opting for the middle position with both pickups on or just the rear treble pickup activated. This partially accounts for the trebly sound he so obviously preferred. The Fender Telecaster that he used for most of his years at Stax had a rosewood neck, which he felt helped to give him a 'real nice biting sound'. Cropper preferred big, heavy gauge Gibson Sonoma tic strings. One particu­ larly characteristic aspect of his style referred to above is the playing of two note slides (diads) on his top two strings, the B and the E. He told me that he generally used ten and eleven gauge or eleven and eleven gauge strings rather than the more typical spread of nine and twelve gauge strings, 'It sounds better when they're closer matched.' 'I hate new strings on a guitar,' he emphasised. 'There are guys I love and respect that change strings after every solo. Mine, I change them when they break. I even put chap stick, lip balm, on my strings when I put them on. I just rub them into the strings. It sort of gives you the effect of two or three days of playing them where you get the grease in there and the dirt.' That grease Cropper refers to helped to give him his characteristic clipped rhythm sound. 'A lot of the clipped sound just comes from my style of playing. I play right over the bridge. A lot of the muting things, a lot of guys, the only way they can get it is just play it backwards which is an up stroke. I play it with a down stroke. The mute comes within the fingers 'cause all of a sudden my hand isn't on the bridge anymore. I hit the string with a pick and the finger at the same time. The mute is coming out of the finger. [With the left hand] I finger the chord but I don't press it down all the way so it rings. I let up just enough where they all have the same amount of deadness. 'When I'm playing "chinks" like that, I don't play dead in the middle of the fret. I play closer to the fret so it's this bright [Cropper sings] ... I can almost playa wrong chord and nobody would know the difference. That's how unmelodic it is. It's more percussive.' A musicological analysis 315

As with Dunn, Cropper's aesthetic ideal often led him to value rhythmic impetus over melodic and harmonic considerations. Cropper refers to a 'bright' sound, and as previously mentioned I feel that his style is characterised by a trebly sound ideal. In addition, much of his playing is performed on the top four strings of the instrument. With that in mind, I think it is important to mention the high degree of congruence between his sound and that of the horn section. Any number of songs could be cited in this regard. Floyd Newman tells an interesting story where Jim Stewart stopped a take because he heard a wrong note. Stewart began to chastise the horns until Newman pointed out that the horns were not even playing, as they had yet to work out their part. Cropper was the guilty party, but as Stewart heard it, it was the horns. In Newman's words, 'For some strange reason, [Cropper] would blend right on to the horns.' This idea of congruence was not lost on Booker T. Jones either. There are a number of examples where the piano blends into, gets lost inside of, or simply seems to become 'one' with the guitar. When Jones plays organ, he is equally adept at blending with the horns. Jones generally played piano when accompanying a vocalist, while on instru­ mental tracks by Booker T. and the MGs he almost invariably played organ, 'It just became so definitive with the MGs. When I think of Steve, "Duck" and Al and those songs, I think of organ. But if I walk into a studio with whoever, a Rodney Crowell or a Percy Sledge, I would walk over to the piano. I see my basic instrument as being piano. The organ [with the MGs] was a fun diversion.' The grand piano at Stax was only tuned once a month. Being slightly out of tune became a Stax piano trademark. Timbre was a very important component of the MGs records. 'That was the thing that fascinated me about the organ,' exclaimed Jones. 'You could have one thing going here [the lower keyboard], and nobody knows how you can change so quickly. You go to the upper keyboard, and it's a totally different sound. Also, while you're playing on one keyboard, you can be changing things to get a new sound on the other. That's what made me fall in love with the Hammond organ. You could change sounds! 'We were writing sounds too, especially Steve. He's very sound conscious, and he's got a lot of different sounds out of a Telecaster without changing any settings - just by using his fingers, his picks and his amp. One thing that made me enjoy playing so much with Steve being the only other lead instrument player was that the two of us on stage could get so many sounds happening that we sounded like a big group. We thought a lot about sound.' The primary way of changing the sound on the organ was through the instru­ ment's drawbar system, which, in effect, manipulates the overtones present in the instrument's timbre. Jones's favourite setting involved using the first four draw­ bars. The second and fourth drawbars add the higher partials. '[The first and third] don't have any dissonance,' mused Jones, 'so that's where the second and the fourth come in. They add those notes that aren't really in the note that make it sound kind of full and fat and give it the edge. The only rule I had was I seldom used all the drawbars, because they complicated the sound a little too much. I liked the idea of a simple sound made out of just a few harmon­ ics. So usually I ended up using no more than four drawbars. 'Sometimes I'd pull out the first one, the third and the fourth and then the last one, which gave me a little bit of a bright sound but also darkened it up a little bit at the same time on the low end by taking that first fifth out.' 316 Rob Bowman

For background sounds Jones sometimes used the fourth drawbar alone. Jones's Hammond B-3 organ was played through a revolving two-speed Leslie speaker. By hitting the faster speed, Jones employed a dramatic tremolo sound. A big part of his organ style was tied into his ability to conceive and execute organ lines that would change tremolo lightning quick any number of times within a phrase. Timbre change became, like volume, pitch, harmony and rhythm, a parameter that could and would be used to shape any given line. The horn players were also interested in a simple but fat sound. I asked Joe Arnold what was the aesthetic ideal of the Stax horn sound, To get as fat sounding as we could with the amount of horns we had. If we didn't feel like it was coming out as fat as it should, we would just drop one harmony part and have one tenor and trumpet double and the other tenor play harmony. Arnold tells an interesting story which indicates just how sound conscious the Stax house band was. He had been with the label a few months when Wayne Jackson called him and said that Steve Cropper wanted to talk to the horns at the studio. 'I hadn't been there very long, and at that time I was playing with a metal mouth piece. Gene, Andrew and Floyd all used a hard rubber mouth piece. Steve called us into the control room, and he played some tapes back of some of the stuff that had been recorded before I was there and some of the stuff that had been recorded after. Some of it didn't sound as full. 'He was trying, in a nice way, to get around to a point. He said, "It just don't seem like it's as fat as it should be." I thought I was fixing to lose my job. Wayne said, "No man, ain't no way, don't worry about that." 'See, a metal mouth piece pinpoints the sound. That's the reason people use the metal mouth piece to get a sharp edge, whereas a hard rubber mouth piece rounds it out. I said, "Well I'll get a hard rubber mouth piece and we'll start from there." From then on no problem. I never heard any more about it.' Jones claims that the Stax house band was not that conscious of constructing a Stax sound: 'No idea, no hint at all. It came from outside. I heard about the Memphis sound. I heard we were creating the Memphis sound. We didn't con­ sciously generate that. The sound had been created [by the time we] realised we were creating a sound.'

Recording equipment and acoustic characteristics of the Stax studio When Jim Stewart first rented the building at 926 McLemore Avenue, he was taking over an old neighbourhood movie theatre. Stewart and Chips Moman con­ verted the theatre portion of the building into a recording studio by ripping out the seats, hanging curtains on the wall, and glassing in the stage at the front of the theatre to create a control room. The initial equipment consisted of a single-track mono board. In the spring of 1965 Atlantic's engineer Tom Dowd flew down from New York to install a four-track board, giving Stax stereo capability. Stax's first full time engineer, Ron Capone, said, Tom had it fixed so that Jim Stewart could not get distortion. He padded it down so that if Jim opened it wide and the meters would be cranked, there would be no way that Jim or any­ body else could get any distortion out of that board. Tom told me he did this A musicological analysis 317 because Jim didn't care what went to the four track. He only cared about what the mono sounded like.' Jim Stewart cared little for stereo, feeling correctly that the profitability of his company at the time lay in monaural forty-fives that were being broadcast on AM radio and, for the most part, being received on cheap inferior transistor and car radios. Those who purchased Stax recordings were largely black and teenaged, meaning that the playback equipment used for most home consumption of Stax forty-fives was relatively 'low fi'. A solid, powerful mono sound was Stewart's goal. Stereo had little meaning for him. This would change for the company as a whole in the early 1970s as Stax began to issue many more LPs. Of course, by this point a significant portion of Stax recording was being carried out in locales other than Memphis. As has been stated a number of times above, recording was done 'live' with all musicians, including vocalists, performing their parts simultaneously as they went down on tape. Overdubbing did not occur with any regularity at Stax until the late 1960s, and it did not become the norm until well into the 1970s. Con­ sequently all mixing was done by Jim Stewart as the musicians actually played. Stewart would 'ride' the faders up and down, depending on which instrument needed to be louder or softer at any given moment. For the most part Stewart eschewed limiters, 'I always hated limiters because I felt they are nothing but compressors. [They] squeeze a lot of that natural rise and fall and inflections out of the voice.' Microphone technique remained the same for most of the 1960s. An RCA 44 microphone was used for the bass amplifier, while an RCA 77DX was used for the guitar. Both were placed directly in front and as close to the amplifiers as possible. A single RCA 77DX was also used over the open grand piano. In the early 1970s two AKG 451s would be used inside of the piano. The earliest organ recordings at Stax, including 'Green Onions', were done on an old Hammond A-100 spinet model with a single speaker. A single micro­ phone was used on this organ. After 'Green Onions' became a bona fide hit, Jones purchased a Hammond B-3 organ with the Leslie speaker cabinet. Three microphones would be used on this: a Shure 56 pointing down at the bottom of the cabinet to capture the bass sound and two Neuman 47s or 87s facing upward on either side of the top of the cabinet to capture the tremolo spinning sound referred to above. Three RCA 77DXs were used on the drums: one inside the bass, one under the snare and one overhead to catch all the cymbal and tom tom work. This goes a long way towards explaining why the hi-hat ride patterns are nearly subliminal on many of these recordings. The hi-hat did not have a microphone of its own. Later on, in the early 1970s a fourth microphone was used on the mounted tom tom. The three horn players stood in a circle and played into a single Neuman 47 microphone, while the lead vocalist nearly always used a Newman 87. When background vocalists were used, they would all sing into a single Neuman 87. All the 87s used at Stax were the older tube models. When distortion occurs on a tube microphone, only the even harmonics are distorted, while with a transistor microphone all harm6nics are distorted. As a result of this, tube microphones have a particularly warm sound. 318 Rob Bowman

Finally with regard to microphone technique, Tom Dowd had all the Stax vocal microphones modified so that there was virtually no way that any of the vocalists could 'pop' the consonant 'p' while singing. Stewart and Cropper tended to place the vocalist lower in the mix than most engineers at the time. This was an important part of the Stax sound. 'I'm not an engineer per se,' explained Stewart. 'I'm an ear person. I engin­ eered out of necessity in the sense that originally I couldn't afford to hire an engineer. I probably did some very unorthodox things at the board because I wasn't guided by any rules. A lot of people have been very critical of my mixes in the early years because they say the voices are not out [front] but I always made the voice part of the band rather than out front or on top because of the kind of stuff we were doing. It was that funky dirty R & B Memphis-whatever funk. Whether you like it or dislike it, that was how I was hearing the total picture.' This aesthetic of the mix was a long-standing source of tension with Atlantic Records. At least one version of Redding's '(Sittin' on the) Dock of the Bay' sent from Memphis to Atlantic's offices in New York was rejected, as in Atlantic co­ owner Jerry Wexler's opinion, Otis was too deep in the mix. Stewart also wanted to pack a lot of volume onto his forty-fives. But by not using compressors, he made this very difficult to obtain. 'I used to get mad as hell with the mastering people 'cause they couldn't get it on the record [because the needle would jump since the original recording hadn't been compressed]. I'd say, "Why in hell does the level sound here [so low] when Motown records would sound here [up high]." I'd get them to cut them so hot sometimes they wouldn't track, and they still wouldn't be hot enough for my ears. I fought that for many years. But a lot of it was the way I was cutting. I would have to sacrifice something in that mix if I wanted to get that level on the record.' Recording was for years done without any equalisation whatsoever, some­ thing Stewart felt was integral to their unique sound, 'When we went to our fancy consoles and equalisers, to me everything started dulling. We started sounding like any other record label.' The microphones that Stax used were state of the art. Given such equipment, one would have expected greater clarity in the recordings. I suspect that the equip­ ment was not properly maintained and that cleaning, demagnetising and align­ ment of the record heads was probably done on a haphazard basis (remember how often the piano was tuned). This could account partially for the 'muddy' sound on so many of these records. It is equally possible that once Jim Stewart first got this sound, it became his aesthetic ideal. For years he simply refused to upgrade the equipment. His attitude was simply, 'If it ain't broke, why fix it.'

Aesthetic ideals in praxis As much light as the forgoing discussion sheds on the component parts of the 'Stax sound', it is important not to lose sight of the fact that all aspects of composi­ tion and performance practice in this music were geared towards an overall aes­ thetic ideal on each recording. I would suggest that there were two basic aesthetic ideals operative at Stax: one for dance/groove tunes such as Rufus Thomas's 'Walk­ ing the Dog' or 'Do the Funky Chicken' and one for 'love' songs, slow or mid­ tempo, aiming for emotional catharsis. The latter is predominant and is tied dir- A musicological analysis 319 ectly to the fact that soul music has borrowed heavily from black gospel music where everything is subservient to invoking the spirit via catharsis. One of the finest examples of this is Otis Redding's 1966 recording of a Tin-Pan Alley ballad, 'Try A Little Tenderness', written and first recorded in the early 1930s. Redding's manager, Phil Walden, had wanted Otis to record the song for quite some time. 'This was when we were talking about career songs,' emphasised Walden, 'where he could be on the Ed Sullivan Show or playing the Copa. These things were terribly, terribly important. They were a sign of success.' Sam Cooke and Aretha Franklin had recorded the song for exactly the same reasons. Cooke's version was cut live at the Copacabana in New York in 1964 as part of a medley with another Tin-Pan Alley ballad, 'For Sentimental Reasons', and his own 'You Send Me'. Earlier recordings had been made by Frank Sinatra in 1945 and Bing Crosby, Ruth Etting and the Ted Lewis Band, all in 1933. Sinatra, Crosby, Etting and Lewis's versions could all be described as detached, unemotional interpretations of a fine, albeit rather predictable, 32-bar AABA Tin-Pan Alley composition with an extended vocal introduction. Redding dispenses with the vocal introduction and instead starts right into the first A section, calmly laying out the song's scenario over 'out of time' accom­ paniment consisting of an arpeggiated guitar chord and single root note from the bass at the beginning of each bar. In bar 4 the piano appears, bar 7 sees the introduction of organ, and in bar 13 tenor saxophone and guitar begin to play fills. The whole section is structured in an additive fashion. The second A and B sections are sung 'in time', with drummer Al Jackson ser­ ving the role of a metronome tapping crotchet beats on the rim of his snare. No other percussion appears until two-thirds of the way through the song at bar 13 of the third A section where Jackson finally uses the full drum kit. In that same A section guitarist Steve Cropper increases his activity, playing a two-bar rhythm pattern

Redding's performance finishes with two C sections that do not appear on any of the earlier versions. These C sections consist of a series of four-bar ascending chord sections that progressively increase the tension before resolving over the next four bars. The third time around the whole song climaxes with an explosive two-bar break consisting of Redding, bass drum and hi-hat. The effect is cataclysmic. Catharsis is achieved in this performance in at least seven different ways. Volume (the dynamic of each instrument), density (the number of instruments play­ ing at any given moment), and the rate of activity of each instrument are dramatically increased over time. The song starts 'out of time', adds a pulse figure and gradually increases tempo over time before exploding with a drum beat. The height of pitch is continually raised. The quality of timbre of all instruments, but especially of the voice, goes through marked changes as the song progresses. Finally, over the course of the song Redding moves from linear 'word' sense to 'sound' sense as he moves away from the written lyrics of the song in the climactic break of the final section, becoming impassioned to the point where he is reduced to vocables. It is a masterful performance. All four members of Booker T. and the MGs, plus Isaac Hayes on organ and the Mar-Key horns, play at their absolute best, their interplay pure alchemy. 320 Rob Bowman

Perhaps it is fitting that Stax owner Jim Stewart has the final word of this article, , "Try A Little Tenderness", that's my favourite. Of all the things he ever did from a standpoint of the production, everything, the way it's laid out from the bottom to the top, it's the best thing he ever did. The drum part always killed me because Jackson was like a metronome, how he changed the tempo. I defy any drummer to do that exactly the same. It's one of my favourite Stax records of all time. From beginning to end it's like the history of Stax is wrapped up in it.'

Endnotes 1 All quotes unless otherwise credited derive from interviews conducted by the author from 1985 to 1994.

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