Listening Guides

iTune link = Memphis Soul Stew

"Memphis Soul Stew" is a novelty number featuring legendary rock tenor saxophonist King Curtis. Curtis played what has been commonly titled "tough Texas tenor," a sound and style of saxophone descended from jazz great Coleman Hawkins and continuing through artists like Arnett Cobb and Illinois Jacquet. Curtis played the raucous saxophone solos on many legendary rock recordings in the fifties and sixties and also recorded an occasional instrumental feature number. "Memphis Soul Stew" is one of those features. This recording was chosen over more famous Stax vocal numbers because, while it is essentially a novelty number, it is a from-the-ground-up demonstration of the Stax sound.
     Having said that, it must now be revealed that this recording was made on July 4, 1967, at American Studio in Memphis, not Stax, and that the Stax stable rhythm section (guitarist Steve Cropper, bassist Duck Dunn, organist Booker T. Jones, and drummer Al Jackson) are not the instrumentalists on this date. However, this illustration is still valid, because the musicians on this session–Reggie Taylor or R. F. Jackson on guitar, Tommy Cogbill on bass, Bobby Emmons on organ, and Gene Chrisman on drums—sound remarkably like the Stax rhythm section, indicating perhaps there was as much a Memphis sound as a Stax sound.
     The number opens with a busy, funk bass line. Curtis begins reciting the recipe for the ultimate soul groove. The drums are the next instrument to join in, laying down a strong snare backbeat and constant eighth notes on a closed hi-hat. The guitarist is next, playing a distinctive line that is equal parts blues and country. The organ adds a bluesy trill, followed by King Curtis himself on tenor sax. Like the guitar, his sound is as country as it is blues.
     The line "beat well" launches the band into a rollicking series of blues choruses, with Curtis soloing over the top. In the first chorus, listen particularly to the stabbing riff played by the organ and the masterful fills played in between the riff by the guitar. In the second chorus the horn section is added to the organ riff. At this point they are playing in their middle register. In the third chorus the horns continue the riff but in a higher register, constantly building the excitement of the solo. Leading into the fourth chorus the drummer plays a climaxing fill that is technically simple but unmatched in its effectiveness. At this point Curtis's saxophone is screaming. Over the span of the fourth chorus the recording slowly fades, the whole band still wailing away underneath Curtis's solo.

iTune link = Where Did Our Love Go?