Three major record labels have the history of African-American rhythm and blues written, Motown Records in Detroit, Atlantic Records in New York and Stax Records in Memphis. The latter celebrates its almost unbelievable story of the great successes and bitter defeats with a new edition of about 25 The Very Best Of "albums and reissues of groundbreaking originals of its biggest stars. Of Stax had plenty to offer, such as the excellent compilation CD, Stax 50th Aniversary Celebration 'with their 50 soul hits from more than 30 artists impressively demonstrated that just starting to conquer the American R & B charts. It all started in 1957 with a white, moderately talented Country violin player Jim Stewart and his sister Estelle Axton The two opened a music studio in an old movie theater, the Capitol at 926 East McLemore Avenue in Memphis. What was first conceived as a rockabilly, pop and country label, hence the label name Stax., was founded in 1960 with the release of Rufus and Carla Thomas , Cause I Love You 'slowly but surely become one of the leading black music label in the US. On the one hand, the vicinity of the Capitol was increasingly becoming a majority black city district, there was the record store in the building of the studio, the rapidly to communication center between producers and consumers developed and there was from the outset Chips Moman of the Mar-Keys, who was not only the right hand of company founder Jim Stewart, but also led the in-house horn section. Another factor was the special architecture of the house, Steward was the old, sloping forward floor, ceiling and all the walls are curved and built his recording studio with minimal effort in the old theater. That gave all shots an incredible live feel, because the energy from the start before just so bursting sound is never played at right angles itself. So there were the pianist and organist Booker T and his guns, and the young Isaac Hayes and the Mar-Keys, later known as the Memphis Horns who created the Stax sound, like their brethren the Funk Brothers in Motown , The special at Stax was the juxtaposition of wise and black musicians and the mixing of musical styles. Rock and country, so pop found its way into the R & B, soul and funk of the young emerging labels. Opposite Motown Stax was the harder, the more authentic black Gettho sound that should accompany the equality movement of Martin Luther King. The horn-sections often played the role of backup singers, the guitars, keyboards and saxophones gave you space for free improvisation. Also to 1968 was waived on string instruments, the singer was at the center rather than in front of the musicians and a strong gospel influence with the juxtaposition of Piano and Organ has always been present. But the special was the Soul Lecture all artists who literally sang the soul from the lungs and used their voices as instruments. Often you just made and musical errors in the recording when the rest liked mix was mostly top priority, Stewart pushed the knob up and down, depending on your taste. Overdubbing was frowned upon downright at Stax in the early years. So there were Carla Thomas and her father Rufus, William Bell, Otis Redding Sam & Dave, Eddie Floyd, The Bar-Kays, Albert King, Johnnie Taylor and Booker T and the MGs, which formed the impressive artist roster, plenty of hits were written and arranged by the team Isaac Hayes and David Porter. Then came the year 1968, when Stax everything changed. Superstar Otis Redding and 2/3 of the Bar-Kays were an accident at the beginning in an airplane, Martin Luther King was shot and the previous black marketing director Al Bell bought from Estelle Axton and became a 50% partner of Stewart. Bell put the label on the head, wanted to get away from mom-and-dad-cotton-Southern flair wanted "label and towards national R & B label, the bigger its audience significantly and expanded its geographical range. He bought musicians and producers Detroit and New York, led overdubbing and the large orchestral sound one. The gospel group Staple Singers were soul-Stars, Johnnie Taylor and the Dramatics were ambassadors of the new sounds and a sat waiting in the wings, the Stax the greatest success in its history should bring, Isaac Hayes., Hot Buttered Soul ', Hayes first major solo album should change R & B from the ground up, the new Black Moses "did not want to express to only 2 minutes 30 seconds itself, but took with Glen Campbell's By The Time I Get To Phoenix "a song on 18 minutes - I have pulled them apart and milked until I had everything out there," says Hayes today. He mixed rock, soul, pop, jazz, funk and classical, Hayes rapped minutes in his songs before they had ever heard of Rap and the LP was. In four charts, jazz, pop, R & B and easy listening, a huge success The Isaac Hayes Movement "and To Be Continued" followed the debut on the track of success, in 1972 the black magician became world famous in the golden chain mail and fur boots in one fell swoop, his soundtrack to the film Shaft "is a classic of the genre. The Emotions, Jean Knight, Little Milton, Frederick Knight, Mel & Tim or Shirley Brown struggled to position itself as a new artist of the label in addition to the all-devouring Hayes. Then came the break between the putting on expansion and national success Al Bell and the company founder Jim Stewart, the back wanted his small Southern "-family. 1975 had to announce Stax bankruptcy, one of the most influential musical centers of R & B made to its doors, music that was gecovered until today by the Rolling Stones, to ZZ Top on Salt-N-Pepa to Will Smith, was suddenly without a home. Today Concord Records have reactivated the label and also committed to new artists. Angie Stone is here in October to release their new album and the great Isaac Hayes want to come back and go back into the studio. The Little Label That Could "is therefore not die, but the memory of greatest moments of R & B keep awake and hopefully add new.
