Booker T. Jones was one of the architects of the Memphis soul sound of the 1960s as the leader of
Booker T. & the MG's, who scored a number of hits on their own as well as serving as the Stax Records house band. But
Jones' accomplishments don't stop there, and as a producer, songwriter, arranger, and instrumentalist, he's worked with a remarkable variety of artists, from
Willie Nelson and
John Lee Hooker to
Soul Asylum to
the Roots.
Booker T. Jones was born in Memphis, Tennessee on November 12, 1944. He developed a keen interest in music as a boy; while working a paper route, he used to pass by the house of jazz pianist
Phineas Newborn, and would often stop and listen to him practice as he folded newspapers. By the time
Jones was in high school, he helped to direct the school band and was proficient on saxophone, trombone, oboe, and keyboards; he also played organ during services at his church, and would occasionally sneak out and sit in with R&B combos at local nightclubs. In 1960,
Jones, a frequent customer at Memphis' Satellite Record Shop, was recruited to play sax on a
Rufus and
Carla Thomas recording session when the proprietors of the store, Estelle Axton and
Jim Stewart, decided to start their own record label. The label soon evolved into Stax Records, and
Jones, along with guitarist
Steve Cropper (who was managing the record store when he met
Jones), bassist
Lewis Steinberg (later replaced by
Donald "Duck" Dunn), and drummer
Al Jackson, Jr., would form
the MG's, who would back up Stax artists
Otis Redding,
Sam & Dave,
Eddie Floyd,
Albert King, and many others, as well as releasing a steady stream of instrumental recordings on their own, including the smash hit "Green Onions."
Jones' productivity in the early to mid-'60s is all the more remarkable as he was also a full-time student at Indiana University, where he studied composition and music theory while playing shows and recording sessions on weekends and vacations.
Booker T. & the MG's enjoyed considerable success in their heyday -- cutting hits, backing Stax's leading artists, touring Europe and the U.K. with the Stax/Volt Revue, and accompanying
Otis Redding for his legendary set at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival -- but between internal disputes at Stax (mostly regarding the spoils of their successful distribution deal with Atlantic Records) and the increasingly busy schedules of the various members, the group was on the verge of breaking up, and in 1970,
Jones relocated to Los Angeles. He had already been branching out, appearing on
Delaney & Bonnie's 1969 album
Home and
Mitch Ryder's ambitious The Detroit-Memphis Experiment, and after 1971's
Melting Pot,
the MG's quietly broke up.
Jones stayed busy with session work, playing on albums by
Bob Dylan,
Steven Stills,
Kris Kristofferson, and
Rita Coolidge, and in 1971 he released Booker T. & Priscilla, the first of two albums he would record with his then-wife,
Priscilla Coolidge-Jones (the sister of
Rita Coolidge). The same year,
Jones produced
Just as I Am, the outstanding debut album by
Bill Withers, which featured the hits "Ain't No Sunshine" and "Grandma's Hands." In 1975,
Jones and
the MG's were working on a reunion album when
Al Jackson, Jr. was murdered; the group continued to record with drummer
Willie Hall, but they parted ways again in 1977. In 1978,
Jones released his first solo album, Try and Love Again, and enjoyed one of his biggest successes as a producer with
Willie Nelson's
Stardust, a collection of pop standards that established
Nelson as one of country's biggest crossover acts.
Session work and production assignments with
Nelson dominated
Jones' schedule in the '80s, though he released a second solo album,
I Want You, in 1981; another followed late in the decade, 1989's The Runaway. In 1992,
Booker T. & the MG's were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and that same year, the group reunited for a special, high-profile gig: they served as the house band for an all-star tribute to
Bob Dylan staged in honor of the songwriter's 30th year as a recording artist.
Neil Young, one of the artists who appeared at the concert, was impressed enough with
the MG's that he invited them to serve as his backing band for a major concert tour in 1993. The tour sparked new interest in the band, and in 1994,
Jones and
the MG's cut a new album,
That's the Way It Should Be, and they supported it with a number of live dates.
Jones soon returned to a steady schedule of session work, and he produced as well as performed on
Neil Young's 2002 album
Are You Passionate? But in 2008,
Jones stepped up for one of his most ambitious solo efforts to date, Potato Hole, in which he was backed up by country-influenced hard rockers
the Drive-By Truckers, with
Neil Young adding additional guitar on several tunes. The album earned enthusiastic reviews, and
Jones supported the release with a number of live dates in America, Europe, and the U.K. In 2011,
Jones returned with another inspired collaboration,
The Road from Memphis, in which he teamed up in the studio with Philadelphia-based hip-hop/modern soul collective
the Roots.
Jones returned to Stax Records, now under the Concord Records umbrella, for 2013's guest-laden
Sound the Alarm. After a few quiet years,
Jones returned in 2019 with a new album called
Note by Note and his memoir, Time Is Tight: My Life, Note by Note. ~ Mark Deming