Memphis Mayhem

Starred review from July 6, 2020
Music writer Less presents a fascinating history of the music of his native Memphis. He begins by saying he isn’t attempting to write “the ultimate, comprehensive story of Memphis music,” and rather focuses on “the events, personalities, and circumstances that led to Memphis’s rightful recognition as a key capital on the map of American music.” In doing so, he captures what makes Memphis special: “The great paradox of Memphis music is that it transcends race and genre while simultaneously being defined by both.” Less explains how, from the early days of Beale Street in the 1940s—which offered big-band music in concert halls, country blues in parks and on street corners, and barrelhouse boogie piano in gambling joints—Memphis was a cohesive community that broke racial barriers in music. Less expertly shows how this interracial spirit infused Memphis music: in the early 1950s, the rise of Sam Phillips’s Sun Records and of Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Elvis Presley, coincided with that of bluesmen Howlin’ Wolf, Rufus Thomas, and Ike Turner. The late 1950s saw the emergence of HI Records, founded by record store owner Joe Cuoghi and singer Ray Harris (and which featured soul singer Al Green as well as the Bill Black Combo). Stax Records—founded in 1957 as Satellite by siblings Estelle Axton and Jim Stewart—would release records by Otis Redding, Isaac Hayes, and Booker T. & the M.G.’s. Less brings to vivid life the music of Memphis.

July 1, 2020

Music writer Less breezes through a potpourri of rock, jazz, and soul stories within the context of changing white, Black, and Jewish relations in Memphis. Using interviews and research gleaned over the past 40 years, he focuses on well-known figures such as Sun Records owner Sam Phillips and more obscure musicians, including Harmonica Frank Floyd. The author deals with high school jazz bandleaders, such as Jimmie Lunceford, who trained a cadre of jazz luminaries, and early bluesmen Furry Lewis and Gus Cannon, as well as gospel star Sister Rosetta Tharpe of the Memphis-based Church of God in Christ. Less reviews the histories of two major Memphis record labels: Stax, which reached a national audience with Otis Redding and spawned the racially integrated group Booker T. and the M.G.'s; and Hi Records, which hit with the soul of Al Green under the musical supervision of Willie Mitchell. The author also discusses Memphis radio/television personality "Daddy-O" Dewey Phillips, Chips Moman's American studio, Poplar Tunes record store, and music as a Memphis tourist attraction. VERDICT This quick romp through Memphis music from a racial perspective will complement Robert Gordon's books, as well as James Dickerson's Goin' Back to Memphis.--David P. Szatmary, formerly with Univ. of Washington, Seattle

Copyright 2020 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2020
A Memphis musical insider chronicles a signature chapter in the city's history. For most of the 20th century, Memphis was a cauldron of creativity for the most vibrant strains of American music, including blues, jazz, country, gospel, soul, and rock 'n' roll. In his debut, musical historian Less captures it all, combining social and musical history into a coherent narrative. The author discusses the city's beginnings as a rambunctious river port; the achievements of the musician W.C. Handy, who first annotated the blues of the Deep South; and the contributions of Memphis' Black high schools, which, from the 1920s through the 1950s, burned with the beats of virtuoso teachers and talented jazz and blues musicians. Bluesmen roamed the city's streets and squares, and nightclubs packed in mixed-race crowds. In 1954, Sam Phillips of Sun Records, who had already recorded numerous Black musicians, persuaded Elvis Presley to record Arthur Crudup's "That's All Right." Black music and White musicians converged, and Phillips launched the careers of blues-influenced musicians like Presley, Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, and others. Meanwhile, an astonishing array of talent emerged from the city's studios: Isaac Hayes, Carla Thomas, Al Green, Otis Redding, and Booker T. and the M.G.s, whose mixed-race makeup made its members the "poster children for racial harmony in Memphis in the turbulent 1960s." It was a glorious time, but as Less notes, it didn't last, as the region's network of record stores, radio stations, music producers, and musicians crumbled, undone by the tragic deaths of signature musicians, industry consolidation, the rise of disco, and racial estrangement after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. The author is an engaging writer, but he indulges in many digressions. It's the dilemma of the regional historian--who to include or leave out? Most readers will conclude that more is better, and the book will fill in the blanks for anyone interested in this unique period. A lively combination of personal observation, scholarship, and insider knowledge of an important era of American music.

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