The Bar-Kays

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The Bar-Kays
Origin Memphis, Tennessee, United States
Genres R&B, soul, funk
Years active1966–1989, 1991–present
Labels Stax, Mercury, Rhino, Island Records
Associated acts Otis Redding, Albert King
Members James Alexander
Larry Dodson
Willie Hall
Past members Ben Cauley
Ronnie Caldwell
Carl Cunningham
Phalon Jones
Jimmy King
Marcus Price
Vernon Burch
Ronnie Gorden
Michael Toles
Winston Stewart
Charles "Scoops" Allen
Alvin Hunter
Barry Wilkins
Lloyd Smith
Mike Beard
Frank Thompson
Sherman Guy
Larry "LJ" Johnson
Harvey Henderson
Tony Gentry
Archie Love
Bryan Smith
Carl Sims
Daroll Hagen

The Bar-Kays are an American soul, R&B, and funk group formed in 1966. The group had dozens of charting singles from the 1960s to the 1980s, including "Soul Finger" (US Billboard Hot 100 number 17, R&B number 3) in 1967, "Son of Shaft" (R&B number 10) in 1972, and "Boogie Body Land" (R&B number 7) in 1980.

Rhythm and blues, commonly abbreviated as R&B, is a genre of popular music that originated in African American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a heavy, insistent beat" was becoming more popular. In the commercial rhythm and blues music typical of the 1950s through the 1970s, the bands usually consisted of piano, one or two guitars, bass, drums, one or more saxophones, and sometimes background vocalists. R&B lyrical themes often encapsulate the African-American experience of pain and the quest for freedom and joy, as well as triumphs and failures in terms of relationships, economics, and aspirations.

Funk genre of music

Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when African-American musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of soul music, jazz, and rhythm and blues (R&B). Funk de-emphasizes melody and chord progressions and focuses on a strong rhythmic groove of a bass line played by an electric bassist and a drum part played by a drummer, often at slower tempos than other popular music. Like much of African-inspired music, funk typically consists of a complex groove with rhythm instruments playing interlocking grooves that created a "hypnotic" and "danceable feel". Funk uses the same richly colored extended chords found in bebop jazz, such as minor chords with added sevenths and elevenths, or dominant seventh chords with altered ninths and thirteenths.

A record chart, also called a music chart, is a ranking of recorded music according to certain criteria during a given period of time. Many different criteria are used in worldwide charts, often in combination. These include record sales, the amount of radio airplay, the number of downloads, and the amount of streaming activity.

Contents

History: Black rock years

The Bar-Kays began in Memphis, Tennessee, as a studio session group, backing major artists at Stax Records. In 1967 they were chosen by Otis Redding to play as his backing band and were tutored for that role by Al Jackson, Jr., Booker T. Jones, and the other members of Booker T. & the M.G.'s. [1] Their first single, "Soul Finger", was issued on April 14, 1967, reaching number 3 on the US Billboard R&B Singles chart and number 17 on the Billboard Hot 100. On December 10, 1967, Redding and four members of the band—Jimmie King (born June 8, 1949; guitar), Ronnie Caldwell (born December 27, 1948; electric organ), Phalon Jones (born 1948; saxophone), and Carl Cunningham (born 1948; drums)—and their partner, Matthew Kelly, died when their airplane crashed into Lake Monona, near Madison, Wisconsin, while attempting to land at Truax Field. Redding and the band were scheduled to play their next concerts in Madison. Trumpeter Ben Cauley was the only survivor of the crash. Bassist James Alexander was on another plane, as the plane carrying Redding held only seven passengers. Cauley and Alexander rebuilt the group.

Memphis, Tennessee City in Tennessee, United States

Memphis is a city located along the Mississippi River in southwestern Shelby County, Tennessee, United States. The 2017 city population was 652,236, making Memphis the largest city on the Mississippi River, the second most populous city in Tennessee, as well as the 26th largest city in the United States. Greater Memphis is the 42nd largest metropolitan area in the United States, with a population of 1,348,260 in 2017. The city is the anchor of West Tennessee and the greater Mid-South region, which includes portions of neighboring Arkansas and Mississippi. Memphis is the seat of Shelby County, the most populous county in Tennessee. As one of the most historic and cultural cities of the southern United States, the city features a wide variety of landscapes and distinct neighborhoods.

Session musician Profession; musician hired to perform in recording sessions or live performances

Session musicians, studio musicians, or backing musicians are musicians hired to perform in recording sessions or live performances. Session musicians are usually not permanent members of a musical ensemble or band. They work behind the scenes and rarely achieve individual fame in their own right as soloists or bandleaders. However, top session musicians are well known within the music industry, and some have become publicly recognized, such as the Wrecking Crew, and The Funk Brothers who worked with Motown Records.

Stax Records is an American record label, originally based in Memphis, Tennessee. Founded in 1957 as Satellite Records, the label changed its name to Stax Records in 1961 and shared its operations with Volt Records, a sister label created to avoid the impression of favoritism among radio stations playing their records.

The re-formed band consisted of Cauley; Alexander; Harvey Henderson, saxophone; Michael Toles, guitar; Ronnie Gorden, organ; Willie Hall, drums; and later Larry Dodson (formerly of fellow Stax act the Temprees), lead vocals. The group backed dozens of major Stax artists on recordings, including Isaac Hayes on his album Hot Buttered Soul .

Willie Hall (drummer) American drummer, actor and musician

Willie Clarence Hall is an American drummer best known for his work with Isaac Hayes and as a member of the Blues Brothers band.

The Temprees are an American soul vocal trio from Memphis, Tennessee, most popular during the 1970s. The band released several albums on We Produce records, an offshoot of Stax Records. In 1972, the band performed in front of more than 100,000 fans at the famous Wattstax festival in Los Angeles.

Isaac Hayes American singer-songwriter and actor

Isaac Lee Hayes Jr. was an American singer, songwriter, actor, and producer. Hayes was one of the creative forces behind the Southern soul music label Stax Records, where he served both as an in-house songwriter and as a session musician and record producer, teaming with his partner David Porter during the mid-1960s. Hayes and Porter were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2005 in recognition of writing scores of songs for themselves, the duo Sam & Dave, Carla Thomas, and others. In 2002, Hayes was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Cauley left the group in 1971, leaving Alexander, Dodson (vocals, vibes), Barry Wilkins (guitar), Winston Stewart (keyboards), Henderson (tenor sax, flute), Charles "Scoops" Allen (trumpet), and Alvin Hunter (drums) to create the album Black Rock. [2] Lloyd Smith joined in 1973, and the band changed musical direction during the 1970s, forging a successful career in funk music. With the Stax/Volt label folding in 1975, the group signed with Mercury Records. [3]

Mercury Records record label

Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. In the US, it operates through Island Records; in the UK, it is distributed by Virgin EMI Records.

Career: Funk years

In 1976, Dodson (vocals), Alexander (bass), Lloyd Smith (guitar), Allen (trumpet), Henderson (saxophone), Frank Thompson (trombone), Stewart (keyboards), and Mike Beard (drums) brought their "Shake Your Rump to the Funk" track into the R&B Top Five. [3] In autumn 1977, the group came out with Flying High on Your Love, an album that featured "Shut the Funk Up", a "near-perfect disco song punctuated by the funky horn triumvirate of Charles 'Scoop' Allen, Harvey 'Joe' Henderson, and Frank 'Captain Disaster' Thompson and dominated by vocalist Larry 'D' Dodson's call to 'get on up or just shut the funk up'". [4] . Group peaked as funk band from late 70s to late 80s. They released funk single such as "Move Your Boogie Body [5] " (1979), "Hit and Run" (1981), "Freak Show on the Dance Floor" (1984), "Satisfied True" (1987), "Struck by You" (1989).

<i>Too Hot to Stop</i> 1976 studio album by The Bar-Kays

Too Hot to Stop is a 1976 album by American funk group The Bar-Kays, and their first for Mercury Records. It includes the hit "Shake Your Rump to the Funk".

In 1983, Sherman Guy left the group, and Larry 'LJ' Johnson took his place on vocals and percussion. Charles Allen left the group just before it took a more commercial direction. [6] The Bar-Kays continued to have hits on R&B charts well into the 1980s.

Guitarist Marcus Price, a member of the band, was murdered after leaving a rehearsal in 1984; the crime has never been solved by the Memphis police.

The band took an extended break in the late 1980s but regrouped in 1991, with Alexander once again being the only original member. Since 1991, Larry Dodson, Archie Love, Bryan Smith, and Tony Gentry have been added to the group.

Alexander's son is the award-winning rapper and record producer Phalon "Jazze Pha" Alexander, named after Phalon Jones, who died in the 1967 plane crash. In 2013, the group was inducted into the Memphis Music Hall of Fame. [7] On June 6, 2015, the Bar-Kays were inducted into the Official Rhythm & Blues Music Hall of Fame in Clarksdale, Mississippi.

Trumpeter Ben Cauley died in Memphis on September 21, 2015, at the age of 67. [8]

The Bar-Kays appeared in the 1973 film documentary, Wattstax .

"Freakshow On The Dance Floor" was featured in the first breakdance scene in the 1984 movie, Breaking.

In the 1985 movie, Spies Like Us , starring Dan Aykroyd and Chevy Chase, The Bar-Kays' hit "Soul Finger" was being played by the crew of a Soviet mobile ICBM platform on patrol in the Tajik S.S.R. Their songs "Too Hot To Stop" and "Soul Finger" are featured in the 2007 comedy film, Superbad . "Soul Finger" is also featured in the 2012 remake of Sparkle.

The Sugar Hill Gang's 1979 single "Rapper's Delight" contains multiple references to the Bar-Kays.

Discography

Albums

Singles

See also

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References

  1. "The Bar-Kays on iTunes". Itunes.apple.com. December 10, 1967. Retrieved October 14, 2015.
  2. Strong, Martin Charles (2002). The great rock discography. The National Academies. p. 144. ISBN   1841953121 . Retrieved March 19, 2012.
  3. 1 2 Thompson, Dave (2001). Funk. Hal Leonard Corporation. p. 74. ISBN   0879306297 . Retrieved March 19, 2012.
  4. Bogdanov, Vladimir (2003). All music guide to soul: the definitive guide to R&B and soul. Hal Leonard Corporation. p. 35. ISBN   0879307447 . Retrieved March 19, 2012.
  5. "AllMusic - Record Reviews, Streaming Songs, Genres & Bands". AllMusic. Retrieved January 25, 2018.
  6. Bogdanov, p. 34
  7. Bacle, Ariana (September 23, 2015). "Stax Records trumpeter Ben Cauley dies". EW.com. Retrieved October 14, 2015.
  8. "Ben Cauley, Sole Survivor of Otis Redding Crash, Dies at 67". The New York Times, September 24, 2015. Accessed May 10, 2016.